This month (July) I traveled back to my hometown of Michigan to spend some quality time with my family and friends. My wife (Jennifer) is busy with Microsoft shows this time of year so it’s a perfect time for me to travel.

This year we flew my Nephew (Cody Chesney) out to our home in Bend, Oregon so he could spend a few days riding trails and having fun in the West. I don’t think he had a clue of how boring the ride back was going to be but the beauty of being a 10-year old is that you can entertain yourself for hours with an iPad.

Cody is a cute little guy who always has a big bright smile on his face every time you see him. He couldn’t wait to get home because he knows how much I like to ride a dirt bike (even though I’m currently without a ride) and he’s been planning on riding with me at a track for months. Last year I took him on his first trail ride and he had a blast.

This year I told Cody that I was going to race a hare scramble with Ryan “Ryno” Weatherby. Cody’s eyes lit up as he said ‘Uncle Mike can I go too?”, “sure you can Cody but a hare scramble is probably not a great place to learn how to ride a track” I exclaimed. He was insistent that he wanted to go anyway.

The weather report was not looking good for the weekend so Ryno and I decided that it would be way more fun to just do a track day. Ryno was going to race Big-Air Motocross park on Saturday so we decided to ride the track for practice on Sunday. I spoke to my brother a few days before about our plans so we could work out the details of getting his bike and gear to the track for Sunday.

What Cody wasn’t privy too was that we had all schemed to pull a fast on him. Friday night Ryno met my Brother here at my folks house to pick-up the KTM-65 Cody was supposed ride on Sunday at Big-Air. We loaded the bike, gas and gear into Ryno’s trailer and they took off to camp at the track for the weekend.

The next day (Saturday) my Dad and I made a mad dash over to Grand Rapids to pick up a brand new (hold-over) 2012 KTM-85 SX motocross bike. Cody sat on this very bike just a week before while he and his family were shopping in Grand Rapids. O.B. and I picked up the bike, hoofed it over to the track in Newaygo, dropped off the bike and gave Ryno instructions for Sunday morning when Cody, his family and I would arrive.

My brother Don had a company picnic to go to Sunday afternoon so he was in a hurry to get to the track Sunday morning. We all left about the same time but Cody and his family got there a few minutes before I had arrived. Ryno had the new bike hidden in the back of the toy-hauler and his KTM-65 was in the back of the pick-up where Cody could clearly see it. We unloaded the 65 and proceeded to distract Cody by going over the maintenance pre-ride procedure before going out on the racetrack for the first time. Cody was already to go when I said “now, do you want to ride this bike or that one?” pointing behind him, his Dad was rolling the brand new KTM 85 out of the back of the hauler to where we all were standing!

I was immediately transformed back to my 13th birthday when my father called me on the phone and told me that Scott Pung was on his way to our house to pick up a bale of straw and I was to flag him down because he didn’t know where we lived. When he got there he had a brand new 1975 Honda CR-125 Elsinore motocross bike in the back of the truck. I will never forget that day and I’m pretty sure last Sunday had the same profound effect on Cody by the look on his face. Even though I’ve been buying my own bikes for years, the excitement of getting a new motorcycle makes me feel like that 13-year old kid all over again.

MM