The Hobby that Rivals my Love of Books...

Is this hobby a part of my personality? Yes, yes, it 100% is. I'm not lying when I confidently state it rivals my passion for books; it's been in my life just as long... if you knew I was going to say ATVing, you would be correct!

I have been on a sports quad since childhood. My dad started me out on his '86 Yamaha Warrior 350... let's just say the first time I drove it, I had difficulty figuring out how to release the clutch and twist the throttle without stalling. With some frustration, I twisted the throttle too hard, did a wheelie, and fell off as it drove away on its back wheels. I have come a long way since then, lol.

My husband & I on our sport quads in 2016 at a family friends farm.

In 2016, I bought my first sports quad, a 2007 Yamaha Raptor 350 SE and man did I have a blast on it. I named her, Asterin after my favorite book character in the Throne of Glass series. I put so many hours on her... took her to Colorado & the Dakotas, Upper UP, along with to majority of the OHV parks in Iowa. During this time, my husband had bought my godfather's 2002 Yamaha Warrior 350. Somehow, I ended up lucky marrying a man who grew up on dirt bikes and understood my love of riding. We are weekend warriors and sometimes mid-week riders as well.

When I first began getting jumps down

Through this time, my skills began to grow on my raptor. My speed increased and I started tackling black diamond trails. I am by no means a track rider, the woods are where it is at for me. Zipping through woods and drifting around corners give me such a rush. During nice weather, anticipate finding me at one of Iowa OHV parks. Bluff Creeks in Oskaloosa is my absolute favorite, which is where the picture of me jumping was taken. The hubby shortly after upgraded his warrior to an '08 Yamaha Raptor 700R.

Then the hubby got back into dirt biking; he bought a Suzuki and, within a year, upgraded to a '21 GasGas 300. During all that time, I had pretty much taken over driving the 700R, because it was faster and the shocks were far friendlier on my body than my 350's. After about 2 years of my quad sitting there, I made the tough decision in 2023 to put her up for sale -gasp- no worries, there was a reason for it. She was collecting dust, and I was starting to struggle riding in the parks. For you see, the SxS (side by sides) started gaining popularity and rutting things up, I would get sucked into their ruts constantly. Meanwhile, the hubby on the dirt bike could just follow their tire ruts with ease. I can blame operator error here, but honestly when you continuously are pulled into ruts too wide for your machine, the fun wears off pretty quickly. Especially when you never experienced this much frustration in the prior 10 years.

The 2 machines I ride: '08 Yamaha Raptor 700R & '23 Husqvarna 150TE

I took the money from my quad and, in July 2023, bought my first dirt bike, a '23 Husquvarna 150TE, and let me tell you, she is a BLAST. I named her Erilea after a character in my FaeVille Series and she has beyond treated me well. Initially, I had been planning on buying a new Yamaha Raptor 700 SE when I liked a years plastic colors (sorry yamaha, but the last how many years SE colors have not tripped my trigger....). So, for me it was a tough decision to give up the new quad for a new dirtbike, a machine I had practically zero experience on. My experience was maybe 30 minutes on the GasGas 300 in a farmer's field, and that bike is peppy. But the reminder stayed in the back of my head: if I don't like dirt biking, I can always sell the bike and go buy myself another quad. Now we're entering 2025, and I still have my bike; sooo, needless to say I fully am hooked on dirt biking. Am I as skilled? By far, no! I had years and years with countless hours on the quad to improve those skills. The dirt bike, I can tell you exactly how many hours of experience on it, and it's not even over fifty yet... my main motto is "when in doubt, throttle out" and I use it almost every single ride 🤣

Will I ever write a book that includes my passion? I'm not certain; that is something we will have to see what the future brings... but if I did, I'm telling you right now, the main character will be female, she'll be driving a clutch regardless if it's a sports quad or a two-stroke dirt bike.