Is Your Off Road Future About Passion or Apathy? - Dirt Rider Magazine

You may have heard, or even told others, that riding off road is like having someone spray you with a hose while his buddy hits you with a hammer and their accomplice pulls Benjamins out of your pocket. We drive overnight to events, spend long nights wrenching, stretch home budgets for bikes, gear and accessories, regularly risk personal injury and even relationships pursuing what for most of us is a hobby. Like an entrepreneur who considers a good bankruptcy or two part of the path to success, we consider broken bones or "it'll all work out" going sour a few times just part of the ride because we've caught the dirt bike bug and we wouldn't want the cure if there was one.Are we nuts? Or are we so passionate about riding that we'll do whatever it takes to continue? When I spoke with off-road champions Dick Burleson, Randy Hawkins, Shane Watts and others for this article they were very clear about the passion we dirt bikers bring to our hobby, sport and, for some, livelihood.You may have also run into a few of us, perhaps even in your bathroom mirror, who feel angry, defeated, overwhelmed and ineffective dealing with those who think we're all criminals, the miles of red tape required to host a legal off road event and the Hollywood elite who pour millions of dollars into anti-access efforts. Not to mention uninformed politicians determining our future. Some of us have decided we're clearly outgunned politically, that eventually we are going to lose it all anyway so why bother fighting. Others have adopted 'let's just get ours while we still can' as their off-road battle cry and ride pirate tracks or 'remove plates and registration stickers, ride fast and stop for no one' as their preferred riding style.Keep reading...

[Click here and download the full Trail Rider story from October 2011.](http://image.automotive.com/f/39550935/TR 5 The Future.pdf)