Look up dirtbike videos posted by local and national news media on YouTube or their own websites, and you’re not likely to like what you see.
Blame the mass media outlets and their never-ending quest for ratings if you want to, but the reality of it is that these folks, who are largely uneducated when it comes to the true sport of dirtbike riding, will always gravitate toward sensationalistic stories photos and video footage that often portray motorcycling in a less than positive light.
And it isn’t just the mainstream media. Many who have followed road racing, for example, might remember one of the few MotoGP stories that ever made it onto ESPN’s Sports Center in the early 1990s. Was it a feature on then three-time World Champion Wayne Rainey or coverage of an exciting finish at a racetrack such as Assen or Laguna Seca? Nope. Sports Center instead elected to run this crash involving Alex Barros, Mick Doohan and Kevin Schwantz at Donington Park in England, for no other reason than because the carnage was horrific. The network didn’t even bother to tell the audience who won.
Recently, a viral video from Southern California found a home on television news stations across the country when freestyler Kyle Katsandris jumped a freeway on his dirtbike. We have to admit that ran with it, too, although we never once condoned Katsandris’ stunt. Katsandris was subsequently injured seriously after attempting to perform another sensational jump.
The latest videos we’ve seen are even more dire, as they portray folks riding dirtbikes and ATVs on city streets in major metropolitan areas. The spate of clips on the web make it look like a damned epidemic. One of the most recent accompanies a story penned by Rick Ritter on CBS Baltimore, this video showing how Baltimore police are cracking down on the illegal and often reckless riding being conducted on the streets in and around the Baltimore, Maryland, metropolitan area.
Here’s our take on it: What these riders are doing is not dirtbike riding. True dirtbike riders don’t ride on city streets without helmets and other safety gear. True dirtbike riders don’t run from the police or contribute to car accidents by surprising unsuspecting motorists. Call these people whatever you want, but they’re not dirtbike riders, and this isn’t dirtbike riding.
Sure, we can debate the causes for this illegal activity all day long. It may be due to a lack of available riding areas, or it may simply be an act of rebellion brought on by social or economic conditions, but whatever the reasons, dirtbikes and ATVs are being used in ways they were not intended by their manufacturers. Our biggest fear is that the focus is less on the people who are riding these machines and more on the machines themselves. And that’s a bummer.
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