After almost 17 years away from racing bmx I found myself lining up at the Deseret Peak Raceway for a class and open race. I couldn't believe I'd stayed away for so long. I'd spent 14 years of my life, most of those years with my family, racing bmx all over the state of Utah. In 2004 I was able to step up my racing and traveled to more than 10 states for a handful of nationals, many gold cup and state qualifiers and a ton of double point races. My efforts earned my both district #1 in class and cruiser as well as state champion for class and cruiser that season. I wish I still had the spreadsheet but I had raced around 130 events, and winning about 110 of those events. It was an epic season to say the least. 

Around the same time I was wrapping up that season my life started to face a lot of turmoil. Parents divorced, I moved out of state for a new job and I lost my brother in law. Too much, too fast. I was left without a direction. And without the motivation to travel or even load up in a starting gate, I left racing. 

I found myself at a lot of skate parks and trails. I slowly built my trick list back up and competed some. My love for BMX never died. But something about the track had lost it's luster. 

2 years ago I brought my oldest boy to the track for a strider race. He LOVED it! And his enthusiasm for riding kinda got me pumped to get back out. It took another year but I built my old race bike back up and loaded up in the gate. I'm glad I did. I've been fortunate enough to find friends old and new. I'm looking forward to a new race season in 2023 and I'm hoping to find some portion of the speed I once had.

DJ