Dangers of Racing in the Desert

Caleb Bonneville
Sep 4, 2018 · 2 min read

I race dirt bikes in the desert and it is one of the funnest things that I’ve ever done but there are consequences that myself and every desert race out there has to face. There are a lot of risks to take like death.

As a racer the course is so unpredictable, for example I was probably going about 50mph through a dry river bed and went around a bend and there was a rock about the size of a medium sized watermelon and I barely hit it and I went fling over the bars for about 30 feet before I landed in the soft sand. Thank god it was soft sand or that would have hurt so bad, I mean as is I still saw stars for a moment. Now you might ask, “Why do you race in the desert if its so dangerous.’’ Well I do it because I like the rush of going fast and leaning the bike over to where your handlebars are almost touching the ground and ur railing around a corner, it just feels amazing.

Another reason why the dessert is a treacherous place to race your dirtbike is all the crappy people in the world that dump their garbage in the middle of the desert. I’ ve almost fallen into a tractor tire and the inside had a diameter of about 10 feet. I have even had to ride over a crashed airplane wing. It’s a lot harder than it sounds, you get no traction on a slick metal surface. The amount of garbage that people dump is so gross. The only thing that is kinda cool is when you have to ride through a field of tires which is really difficult but is a challenge and I like challenges.

The next reason why the desert is a dangerous place to ride is the fact that there are wild animals and that sometimes you don’t see a person for a few hours or like some 40 to 60 miles in some races. There are wild horses that you ride right next to and sometimes depending on the trail your riding on the horses will out run you and that is a super cool thing. But it’s scary at the same time because that horse could jump right in front of you and that would be the start of your bad day. There are also lots of free range cows and bulls. I’ve been chased by a bull once and I think that was because I got too close to his lady cows.

In the end the desert is a really harsh place to ride but in all, it is one of the worlds best places to ride.

Caleb Bonneville

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