My Day With “The Dirty Crew” - by Wendy

(Note: this article was written by Wendy before she became a full-fledged member of The Dirty Crew)

Life doesn't get much better than this...

“What do you mean Jennifer’s not coming?!” There I was, 9 o’clock on a Sunday morning, steaming Espresso in hand and fully equipped with three “big brothers.” All able and willing to guide and protect me through my first official day of dirt biking; while equally able and willing to tease and heckle me throughout the day. And thus, my adventure with The Dirty Crew had begun.

Scott really wasn’t lying when he said the Ferry was just minutes away. The air was chilly, but I didn’t care. I was hangin' with The Dirty Crew. Once we boarded the ferry Scott led me directly to the deli area where I promptly decided my first day with TDC required yet another cup of coffee. Little did I know “Panini Time” would require even further coffee consumption.

Although my Panini was oh so cheesy and delicious, I’ll refrain from going into too much detail, for not all of us had quite the same luxury. Thankfully, Jesse is a trooper and much like with the slippery roots, he powered through what we will compassionately refer to as “the lack-o-cheese Panini incident.”

After entirely too much coffee, I found myself somewhere between nervous, intimidated and simply ecstatic about the adventures to come. On our final leg to the trailhead we paused. If that’s what you call jumping out of Scott’s truck, running down the street to a directional sign and posing for a photo documentary of the day's events. It was so worth it.

In the parking lot at the trailhead I found myself very busy braiding my hair into pigtails (which would have already been done if Jennifer had come along!), trying to cinch Scott's dirt biking pants tight enough and bundling up in too much fleece and my little Georgia work boots.

All the while, TDC was adjusting the idle on “my” bike and apparently they did a fabulous job. You should have seen Wilder and Jesse's eyes when I just about hit them in the face with my front tire. “Jesse told me all I had to do was pop the clutch!” For the record, this does not apply to your casual exit from the parking lot onto the trails of glory themselves.

Holy shnikies!!! The adventures had truly begun. And ever so selflessly, Scott was trailing behind me making sure I didn’t wreck his bike too badly.

Once we hit the narrow trails and Jesse and Wilder were nowhere to be found, I told Scott to go ahead, but he was quite stubborn as usual and stayed right behind me keeping an eye on his bike. After half a dozen failed, but humorous attempts, I finally managed to keep that bike upright through one of the several gigantic mud puddles and even successfully rolled over a few of those slippery tree roots Jesse adores so much.

Feeling relatively comfortable and quite confident in my protective gear, we rounded yet another tight corner and found Jesse and Wilder awaiting our arrival. Well technically, they were flying down the trail in our general direction, riding wheelies through a series of those mud puddles I had just managed to conquer on two wheels! .

Let me take this opportunity to retract my assumption that, although quite able, TDC would actually tease and heckle me at any point throughout my first official day of dirt biking. Even after I told Jesse I cursed his name when I got stuck on one particularly slippery root, I still felt nothing but support and compassion from the gang. They had obviously had way too much caffeine!!

After a few moments rest, several more wheelies (complete with a demo from Mr. Wheelie himself... Wilder!) and an apparently “graceful” digger of my own on the backside of a little hill, we were back on the narrow trails once again. Oh yeah, I may have had to change my water logged gloves and fill up on a slice or two of Beef Jerky as well. It’s what you eat when you’re riding with The Dirty Crew or if you’re just hanging out with Scott.

Fast forward over several more slippery roots and rocks covered by deep puddles and around endless tight and winding corners to what I thought was the parking lot. I was very wrong, but pleasantly surprised. At last, we had come to a wide opening with no risk of falling off the edge of a mossy cliff or right into one. Sweet!

At this point Scott decided it was a great idea for me to ride his bike (the “slow” XR250R) instead of the adorable one I’d been falling off of all day. Um, ok! And sure enough, without any narrow trails or slippery tree roots I cruised over those tiny rollers like nobody’s business. Ultimately I pulled a strong finish on the beloved TTR125.

One and a half pages later and my day with The Dirty Crew is not even close to being over. Thank goodness!
Apparently it was time for some place called “Crazy Eric’s.” All I’m going to say about this fabulous roadside, um, café is that their bucket of garlic French fries is out of this world!

A bit off subject, but did I mention I was a fan of Jesse's iPhone? Oh yeah! He tracked us all the way back to the ferry on time, along with Scott's lead foot, of course. Simply amazing.
What’s the rush? Well, Jennifer may not have gone riding with us, but she had made a sweet apple pie for the gang to enjoy after a full day's adventure. It certainly doesn’t get her out of riding next time, but it won her big kudos from TDC (and me!) at the end of the day!

Although nearly impossible to translate the adventures of a day with The Dirty Crew into words, here you have a quick run down of the days events none the less. Not to mention Scott's pictures and video to bring the whole experience to life. Jealous? Yeah, I thought so.