ATV MX Racing & Raising a family

[DBF1972]

To all ATX MX racing dad's out there:

I am a new dad (wife and I have a 10 month old daughter), and an avid ATX MX guy. I do not race anymore, sold mostly everything I had LTR450, trailer, etc. (still have gear, pressure washer, tools, etc) to prepare for the new baby and help pay some of the fertility clinic bills that my wife and I had. I am very serious about getting back into riding ATX MX, and doing some racing in 2009. Was wondering how you guys juggle riding / racing with raising a new family? My wife is "almost" for the idea of me riding again, and she loved the quad MX racing scene and the camping out. Is this possible to do? And still make time for a new family?

Thanks for reading...

DBF1972

[jiffers]

it can be done but not easy i live in the uk and have 2 young boys from my marriage so i pay half the morgage on there house and maintence and a morgage on my flat as well as my bills i have had to take a year out of any championships this year and only do the odd round until i can get sorted but next year i will hopfully doing the full year with the help of overtime and priviate work as sponsors over here are very hard to come by
just start small and work up

jiffers

[protraxrptr17]

It depends alot on your job. If you have plenty of money and time off, it's not too bad. If money is tight and you don't get to see your wife and baby much during the week, it kinda hard. For one, when you are at the track you're gonna be too busy to spend time with them too much. Then, if you get hurt, it puts a big financial strain on you. It's much easier when the kids get big enough to participate. I know all this because I've been through it. I have two kids. I got hurt pretty bad in 2004, and luckily I had a job at the time that allowed me to take off for awhile. Now, my son is old enough to start racing and my wife is a little more enthusiastic about going to the track because of that. It also depends on how much your wife likes it. If she didn't really really enjoy it before the baby was born, she is not gonna have much fun with a baby to look after. If your wife has alot of friends at the track, it helps because she won't feel left alone while you're riding or helping your buddies.

[DBF1972]

I really appreciate the response. It was a well put, and explained very well from someone who has been through it all. I think for now we are going to wait until early spring of '09, and re-evaluate the situation. My wife really did enjoy going to the quad mx races, and she was very supportive. I agree, when our daughter gets older, it will probably be easier. Thanks again.

Kind of hard too wait, since the '09 KTM450SX came out....

[QuadJunkies]

1st of all, congrats to you and your wife on your new Daughter..

I am a Mom who used to race,as well as my Husband for 6 years.
We took in riding as a family event and took on the racing slightly afterwards....
As my kids got bigger and faster,it got harder for us to all 4 take on the racing scene. ME and my Husbnad starting slowly cutting back more and more and I decided to take on photography to stay close to the sport and to my kids.
We always hope it never,happens but injuuries also started to play a role in thinngs more. My Husband and myself both suffered from some injuries that was quite an eye opener to my Husband and his thoughts on providing for his family. It was very tough financially a time or two with both of us down with injuries,yet the passion to be out there was still there.
We now both ride at different levels and have to keep it in our minds that those competitive days are not there anymore and it sucks.. I only wish we would have had the chance at the sport at the young ages my kids do so I could have taken in more years riding. It is a big financial risk when your a Parent. We ride more reserved now .

As far as time with family thats always a toughy in my house. family is ALWAYS #1 but there are days when its cut short when we have to head out of State for a National and it gets pretty stressful. I do alot on the side as well as my full time job and sometimes I just dont want to do anything!(like right now hehe!) .With work,play and trying ti balance it all its not always easy,but somehow you do find a way to balance it all. ;)

[protraxrptr17]

Originally posted by DBF1972
I really appreciate the response. It was a well put, and explained very well from someone who has been through it all. I think for now we are going to wait until early spring of '09, and re-evaluate the situation. My wife really did enjoy going to the quad mx races, and she was very supportive. I agree, when our daughter gets older, it will probably be easier. Thanks again.

Kind of hard too wait, since the '09 KTM450SX came out....

Yeah, right now is an exciting time to be involved with the sport. I still don't get to compete as much as I want to. Now, I own my own business and I must stay healthy so I just focus on being safe and having fun when I ride. I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but I still hold my own against all the young whipper snappers:D I just don't jump all the big doubles and triples. I actually have alot more fun because when they are all uptight and worried about some monster jump, I'm relaxed and focused on going fast everywhere else. Spring of '09 isn't too far away anyhow. Weather will be getting better by then too.

[DBF1972]

Thank you all for the kind words, and incouragement.

protraxrptr17, your explaination of how you ride now, is exactly on what I intend to do. Have fun and be safe, don't jump so many of the big jumps, and make up time elsewhere on the track.

I appreciate it...

DBF1972

[bwamos]

You could do volunteer work for the series as a family. Get most of the perks with a lot less of the negatives, and will save a lot of money to boot. ;)

[quad59]

We raced a local series with three boys all of summer of 07. we did 23 races from march 16 till Aug 4. My boys were 6,5and 3. We had fun but it was alot of work. We had an enclosed trailer with a generator and had a t.v,dvd and a v-smile video game for the kids to play with. They like the camping out part and most of the tracks had a playground for them to play on. At the time the kids had some yard quads to mess around with and they would ride those at home. I was hoping all the exposure would get them excited about racing but they would rather play soccer at the moment. They dont want anything to do with the track except for the 3 yr old who is now 4 and asks everday when he can get a race bike. Hopefully next spring if the tax man is easy on me this year.

[IdahoMX]

Its dang near impossible to be good at both. They both take so much time that it doesnt leave room for the other. Practice 2-3 times a week doesnt happen any more becouse there is always somthing else to do. Myself, I go play when I can but try to make the riding thing a family event. That doesnt leave much left over to go fast. I hit up 2 races all last year anf none this year. I used to be at the track 4-5 days a week.

[diangelo#67]

my little girl is 3 now, I never stopped racing. missed a few races here and there but never stopped. I race for media allstars now, I did slow down on the track alot but I think its in my head......still workin on that. Things are different my wife makes most of the money in our family I have a family owned plumbing co in balt. and do air brush work here and there to pay for stupid stuff like blown trannies or tires etc...