Outlaws of Dirt, Frisco, Colorado

Dirtjump culture. Alex is in the red pants.

During the last week of summer, we took Alex down to Frisco, Colorado for stop two of the Outlaws of Dirt, dirt jump contest. He also attended stop one, back in May, where he got second place.

Big air, Frisco bike park.

Alex's main passion in life is dirt jumping. It's cool to see him navigate the challenges that he faces, the primary one being that there are almost no dirt jumps, and very few dirt jumpers, in Montana. And all of the competitions are far away, in Canada and Colorado. Nonetheless, he soldiers on and rides hard every day. I tell him, "Everyone faces challenges, and if it isn't early on, it's later; adversity is universal. So if you can't figure out how to get past this obstacle, it wasn't meant to be." He's determined to figure it out.

Three sixty

So we drive 1000 miles and he competes against kids his age that have access to some of the best dirt jump parks in the U.S. and he does well. This contest, he stepped up and performed better than he ever has, and in the atmosphere of a competition no less. He's a competitor, and it's cool to watch. Nonetheless, there were other tough competitors there as well and he got fourth, but was in the mix for the top three.

Tailwhip

This trip came at the end of a summer of a lot of travel for me. So it turned out not to be a vacation. In fact, it was more stressful than staying home and working would have been. I also ruined my cross bike driving it into a garage with it on the roof (ahhh!). And the drives were brutal: going both down and back, we banged out the 1000 mile trip in one shot. But it was worth the sacrifice to watch Alex compete and also to realize how much I love Montana. Colorado is staggeringly beautiful, but it isn't for me.

Tuck-no-hander