In '05 I attended the Dallas SX just as I usually have done for many years. This time I decided to try to track down "The Man" 5 time World Champion and Suzuki Race Team Manager Roger DeCoster in an attempt to offer him a copy of one of my pictures. He was busy doing his job so I had to wait over an hour for him to find a spare moment but I was patient. I was able to present one to him and he signed one for me. I was surprised that he took as much time as he did visting with me and he seemed genuinely pleased by the picture as much as I was thrilled to meet him. He studied it closely and even knew exactly where the picture was taken without me giving a hint to the track location.

I have been a bicyclist off and on since the mid '80's.  Kids and career took up much of my spare time so it was hard to be very serious about it.  By 2004 I was into cycling on a more steady basis.  Before long I realized how much I loved it and I was challenging myself by riding longer miles and with faster groups.  It might've been middle age crazy time but I figured if I was getting back into being physically fit I might as well go for a dirt bike as well.  I wasn't getting any younger.  

These days I am more serious about being a bicyclist and I ride more now than at any other time in my life.  Every weekend I am able you will find me out on the backroads of the area in a pack of cyclists.  I ride with some seriously strong riders including local and traveling race teams.  A typical Saturday ride includes a group of 50 riders/racers out on a fast 60 mile route.  There are a handful of us more experienced at life, fifty plus year olds mixed in with the mainly younger crowd.  I do alright and sometimes even hang in long enough to finish with the lead riders.  It takes some dedication so I have to put the training miles in during the week to be strong enough to handle the pace of the weekend rides.  I average over 6,000 miles in the saddle annually not including the hours on a trainer when the weather is bad.   There must be something about the two wheeled competition or the pain we suffer in our sports but I have found there are several ex-motocross racers of my generation who are also into the cycling scene in the North Texas area.  I have even heard from ex-Pro Motocrossers who have visited my site who are also cyclists.  I have met some great people from cycling and it reminds me of the common love of a sport like the motocross friends from my youth.   

Here I am  in my 4th decade of riding dirt bikes.  There are times when I feel the need for speed and for a moment or two the years melt away and that old confidence is there even riding right on the edge, or at least close enough when you have been doing this as long as me.  Yes those are the same 30 year old Hi Point boots.  I swear they are still more comfortable to me than newer Alpinestars!