It’s good to have friends with different toys.

I rode a dirt bike for the first time today. Its similarity to a motorcycle, which I associate with suicide, made the thought of trying it out in the nearby field intimidating, but my curiosity got the best of me.

This was nothing like riding my mountain bike, except for having two wheels and changing gears. It felt odd to be on a bike so heavy, with a clutch on the left hand where I’m used to a front brake and the front brake on the right where I’m used to a rear brake. Gears shift with a pedal on the left, and the right pedal was the rear brake. The right hand grip twisted for throttle. It took some instruction to get me moving (stopping was easy, staying standing with a heavy bike less so), but after 5 minutes I was comfortable, providing I remained in the soft empty field. Balancing was as easy with any bike, and the shifting felt barely different than with driving, which made the dirt bike mechanics almost natural after a few circles in the field. It wasn’t long before I was increasing my speed to find out how much faster I could go.