As Eddie Rabbit said once, I don’t know where to start.
Look at this brat, he’s just a kid struggling to turn that handlebar. He’s bravely commanding the Derbi Panther, a quite advanced and flashing bicycle at that time, including a rear drum brake and a 3-speed cogset actioned by a shifter unusually placed in the top tube.
It was me and it was all fun.
Ooooh man, it was summer of 1993, I was 15 years old (young!, very). My father just got me this wonderful, even perfect, XR for my birthday. A whole new world opened in front of me since I took my first ride on a motorbike with 7 years old.
Things were different at that time, and I am not selling you that things now are worst or better, but at that time things were just different and you understand what you want pals.
I just need a picture like this to share with you my understanding of those years. If you focus on some details you will see a helmet, which I borrowed from a friend and that time it wasn’t mandatory to wear it when riding on the road so imaging off road. I was wearing regular boots and cargo trousers and some black tee. Safety in this case was not first, was just behind fun…
This picture had to be taken during the first days because I remember that tail light did not last too long and had to be replaced for a strong one.
It was a hell of a storm. One of the worst in my life if not the wildest. Scary.
While praying for my tent every now and then, I spent a couple of hours inside the restrooms of the campsite and I had a couple of visitors too!. Warm air to dry the wet clothes, a tiny corner to place all my stuff outside the tent and a plastic chair to read a little bit.
While waiting for the storm to stop, I walked towards the threshold of the door and checked whether the tent was still there or flying back to Bonneville.
The kindest neighbor in the world of campsites, come by my place and offer a cup of hot chocolate and nice conversation (as in 99,9% of the times in the States, I love that). We chat about fossils and we smoked.
Love for Iron 