Make vroom for fun: Why I like to ride dirt bikes

One of my favorite hobbies is riding dirt bikes. When I ride dirt bikes, the speed just makes it so fun. The bikes I have now are a Baja 70 Dirt Runner and a SSR 125 manual pit bike. A manual dirt bike is much faster than a semiauto. Manual means you have to pull a clutch and shift gears with your feet.

The bigger the bike is, the more gear you need to wear. You need a helmet, gloves, pants, boots, fire suit, chest protector, pads for knees and elbows, and confidence. When you get a bigger bike, it also means more CCs. CCs means cubic centimeters, which refers to the size of the engine.

I like to ride upstate at my aunt’s house. She has lots of hills, woods and trails on her property. The woods are filled with downed trees, windy trails, ditches and man-made jumps. Downed trees are more fun to go over and get stuck on. It’s fun to get stuck on downed trees because it makes you work to get your bike unstuck. If you have a skid plate on the bottom of your engine, you can get stuck more easily. If you don’t have one on your bike, you might be able to clear it.

Overall, I think kids should ride dirt bikes.

Lori Shyman’s sixth-grade class, Clarke Middle School, Westbury