Motor X in Lewis

December 23, 2007 on 11:36 am | In Quad Biking | No Comments

I have always had a passion for motor bikes and suspect my children maybe getting the bug.  Currently there are six bikes in various states of repair in the barn. My own toy at the moment is a Buell XB9R Firebolt and no doubt when the weather improves there will be some awesome rides to be done throught the Highlands. However the latest purchase to hit the stable is a 90cc quad for Koren, my eldest daughter.

We are in an amazing position here in Lewis as we have a brand new state of the art Motor X track just outside Stornoway (http://www.westernislesmx.co.uk/). The interest is helped by the fact John Neil Mitchell lives just down the road and he has just won the European and British Quad Bike Championships. (http://www.johnmitchellatv.com/news_18062007.htm). John is just setting up in business doing bikes and kit and he supplied me with the quad etc.

So yesterday afternoon I loaded Koren into the car and the quad onto the trailer and headed for the track. The full track was closed for grading but that was no problem, as what Koren needed was to get used to and practice on the bike. So with her new flowery pink helmet and pink MotorX  jeans and top the bike was fired up.

She was very nervous of the bike at first, justifiably as it is not a toy and is a little sharp on the uptake whan you open the thumb throttle. But the start finish straight is fine gravel and provided a good place to gradually increase the speed and nerve. I still have the restricter on but I don’t think it will be long before it is off …

It is a little nervy as a parent as you stand and watch one of your children suddenly discover the thrill of a powerful engine and speed. I am often concerned, in today’s world, all to often we wrap our children in cotton wool; ‘don’t do that it is dangerous’  where is the opportunity to make mistakes?

I remember riding my push-bike over jumps and having a few crashes but I never did anything I thought was likely to hurt me (still doing the same on a moutain bike) …

I think we forget children don’t like pain any more than we do and are likely to avoid accidents. That said I still had  little heart flutter when she applied the power and slide the back end round in the beginings of a ‘doughnut’ (doughnut -spinning the bike round and keeping the front wheels in the same spot, do a google search for ‘quad doughnut’ to see some examples).

So I asked on the way home ‘did you enjoy it?’ to be faced with a big grin and the answer ‘yes, John Neil said the track is open on Boxing day, can we go?.

Tim Pickering
http://www.canoehebrides.com
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