Back in 1983 Canadian Rocker Bryan Adams came out with a song called “Cuts Like a Knife”. Adams talks about his girlfriend who he thought was in good with. He then finds out that she has moved on with some one else. Some of the lyrics from the song run through my head as I consider the future and what role motocross will play in my family’s lives.

I have been involved in motocross for a good number of years. Back in 2001 my first son Joey was born. I never really exposed him to motocross, he just picked it up. Even as a baby he would sit almost in a trance watching Supercross and motocross on TV. Cartoons didn’t even have this effect on him. As he grew his love for bikes and racing increased. He always had a bike toy in his hand and honestly his first “real” word was bike.

Of course, being a motocrosser I was pretty stoked to see my son showing such an interest in the sport that I love. I helped him along buying him a Power Wheels battery powered quad for his second birthday. By the time he reached three it was trashed so we got him a 50cc quad. I was always impressed with his ability to ride safely. He rides cautiously and picked up on the rules of the track quickly. If he were a loose cannon, his riding days would have ended long ago.

Fast forward to today, he is now six and has been riding a two wheeler for over two years now. His current ride is a Yamaha TTR50, I got one too. His started racing last year and is having a blast. He has pretty good form, where he got it from I will never know. My riding style closely resembles that of Robbie Knievel. Stiff as a board is a good description. We have a little track in our backyard. There has been some epic father-son battles back there that I wouldn’t trade for the world. Some of my most memorable riding experiences have been riding with Joey.

Here is my dilemma, he is starting to look a little too big for the stock trail bike. Many folks tell me that it is time to move up to a real motocross bike, KTM and Cobra are names I keep hearing. At the track I see some of the better riders getting some pretty big air on these bikes and going pretty fast. Up to now I haven’t been alarmingly worried about him getting hurt. His bike doesn’t really go that fast. The thought of seeing him out there on one of those tiny rocket ships scares the be-Jesus out of me.

I am really in a pickle right now. I love motocross and plan on competing as long as I physically can, I’ll be forty this year. I know that I can’t ride and race myself and then tell Joey that he can’t. That just would be torture for him. On the flip side, if he ever got seriously hurt while riding it would kill me. The thought of my little boy getting injured due to something that I encouraged just rips out my heart.

I am pretty sure that we will keep riding and racing. It is both of our blood. All I can do is keep him wearing his safety gear and continue to teach him to ride within his abilities. I still haven’t decided what to do about his next bike, but I think that plan will be to have him try riding a KTM or Cobra first. I am hoping the snappy power band will scare him away. One refreshing thing is that my younger son Matthew, who is three wants nothing to do with bikes. So I won’t have to worry about him.

So like Bryan Adams says in his song, “It cuts like a knife, but it feels so right”