My Coleman CT200 mini-bike sounded like empty soup cans having make-up sex. My bony ass cheeks got more bruised with every lap, and my hands felt arthritic. Every time I went to loosen my white-knuckle grip, the CT200 tried to buck me.
People were being hauled off the six-mile, off-road circuit with concussions and broken collarbones. A beautiful shit show, where everyone smiled through the pain.
Tate Morgan, founder of the Gambler 500, invited me to the Mini Moto Enduro, a 100-mile endurance mini-bike race somewhere outside of Sunriver, Oregon. He picked me up from Portland airport in a decommissioned ‘short bus’ spray-painted with MUD DAWGS—a little league team he coaches and abandoned for the Mini Moto Enduro—and we started the three-hour drive toward the campground where the race would be held.…