Education Narrative

            Ever since I was a little girl I have been around dirt bikes and quads. I would spend most of my weekends at a few different race tracks. If I wasn’t at a public race track then I was hanging out at a family friends personal track that they had on their property. The people I spent most of my time with when I was younger were all into riding dirtbikes and quads. I have been asked countless times throughout the years about whether or not I wanted to learn. I never wanted to. I thought getting dirty was disgusting and I only wanted to play with barbies and other girly toys with my friend Cassie. Cassie’s family is the family who had their own personal track. Our families spent a lot of time together throughout my childhood. Even as I got older I still had no interest in learning how to ride. Hanging out with my friends seemed like more fun to me than getting all dirty. Eventually I changed my mind. Thirteen years later I finally decided I wanted to learn. I’m first going to learn how to ride a quad because I imagine it would be easier since it has four wheels. That seems safer to me than two.

            During the summer of 2012, a few friends of mine and I were planning to go on a little trip along the Oregon coast for one last little vacation together before my life has a big change. The month before we were leaving for our trip we were thinking of cool fun things we could do. Everyone was throwing out some ideas. We could go to Seaside, Cannon Beach, the Newport aquarium, a helicopter tour over the Seaside/Cannon Beach area, sea lion cave near Lincoln City, play golf on one of the many golf courses, and rent quads at the sand dunes in Florence. Everyone liked the idea of renting quads at the sand dunes. My friends have rented them before and they really wanted to do it again. They all said, “It’s not expensive and you’ll have a blast.” I thought it sounded like a great idea because after all I finally wanted to ride a quad after all these years. I was excited and couldn’t wait for our trip. I just wasn’t sure it was a good idea for me to do it now because I was about 15 weeks pregnant.
            Waiting for my next doctors appointment felt like a really long time. The days felt as if they were going by slower than usual. I could hardly wait to ask my doctor, a tall old man with gray hair, about whether or not I was allowed to ride a quad. When the day finally arrived I was excited for my appointment. Not only was I excited to hear my baby’s heartbeat and to find out how my baby was doing, but I was also excited to ask if I was allowed to ride a quad for the first time. When I finally asked my doctor he answered with, “I don’t recommend it if it’s your first time, but as long as you don’t go too fast over bumps, around corners, or don’t do anything crazy then it would be alright.” Hearing that he doesn’t recommend it made me a little upset. I had been excited for this moment for a while. Later that day when I saw my friends I told them the news. They knew how excited I had been so they tried cheering me up by thinking of other fun, more safe things we could do. Eventually, my friend Ryan talked me into being excited again to rent quads because after all my doctor did say if I don’t go too fast or do anything dumb it would be okay. Ryan is the type of person who likes to take risks in life, so no wonder he was able to talk me into feeling comfortable with riding a quad while pregnant.
            The day has finally arrived! It’s time to learn how to ride a quad. As we were on our way to the sand dunes I was feeling extremely nervous. Hearing my doctor say he doesn’t recommend it was making me change my mind. I kept thinking to myself, “Do I really want to do this? Maybe I’ll just sit and wait while everyone else does it.” When we arrived at the rental place I told everyone I no longer wanted to do it. They were all trying their best to make me feel comfortable, even the workers were telling me it’d be okay and that it’s really easy especially since their quads you don’t have to shift to change gears. After a while I decided I would do it. A young lady with big curly brown hair and dirty jeans then helped us get everything we needed. My goggles felt really loose so I tried adjusting them but I was having a difficult time. My friend helped me and as she was putting them on she accidently let go and they smacked me in the eye. It hurt of course. It was now time to begin riding after the lady with dirty jeans went over the rules and explained everything to us. As we were going down the long bumpy three mile trail I was starting to wish I would have just stayed behind. I wasn’t comfortable. I kept giving it too much gas so I’d have to quickly press the brakes. I also didn’t like the way it felt when going around corners. When we got to the dunes out by the ocean I told everyone, “I’m worried. I don’t think this is a good idea.” They talked me into being comfortable with it. They said, “Go slow and only go where you feel safe.” There were huge random drop offs created by the wind at the top of some of the hills and if you weren’t careful you were going over and would be seriously hurt. Because of the big drop offs I only felt safe going in other peoples tracks. Once I felt comfortable with that I started going off where I wanted to go. I didn’t know you were only supposed to stop while facing down hill otherwise you’d get stuck. I had to have friends help me get unstuck a couple times. One of them said, “weren’t you listening to the lady when she was explaining everything?” I replied, “I was, but at the time I was so nervous I probably just forgot.” While wandering off on my own I also learned that if you go too slow by the water you’ll also get stuck. Once again my friends had something to say about that. After a while I finally felt comfortable with everything. The hills, turning, going by the water, and going faster.
            After our two hours were up it was time to return the quads. I actually enjoyed the trail ride back. I wasn’t scared like I was the first time we rode on it. When we returned the lady said to me, “you don’t look scared anymore. Did you have fun?” I told her how much I enjoyed it after I got comfortable. On our way back to the hotel I was telling everyone that I wanted to do it again. My friends were glad I didn’t stay behind. I’m also glad I didn’t. It was a fun experience.