All the DIRTY DEETS: #BabesInTheDirt
Brenna Leigh Noguez | @BZLeigh | @thelitas_sgv
It was 2016 in Joshua Tree when I had my first Babes Ride Out adventure. I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea who was going. I had no idea what to bring. I had just had it! Missing out on two things I love, motorcycles and camping.
I went to Bro4 not really knowing anyone and left with friends that I met up with at Babes In The Dirt 2017 and will then after be riding to Babes Ride Out East Coast. What I am trying to say is I made a shit ton of moto friends over one weekend. This year was my first time at Babes In The Dirt. I do not own a dirt bike. I have not been on a dirt bike in over 12 years? I went with a friend and we posted up with all the best cocktails and camping gear we had to offer up in trade for two wheels. Boy did we hit the jackpot. So many brave, cool, independent, badass women rolled up in big trucks and jeeps with their plethora of dirt bikes. Let’s just take a second to think about that. A woman; possibly a mother, daughter, sister, aunt or even a grandma; loaded her bike(s) in the am by herself and took off for the weekend to brap brap with a bunch of other strangers in the dirt. I couldn’t help but pause and take a look around every five minutes at the environment I was immersed in all weekend. The type of women I was surrounded by. Do you know what it is like to ride a dirt bike? It is challenging, exciting and as close as I am ever going to get to the feeling of having a super power. I went from thinking maybe I’d get to ride a 125 Husqvarna in a demo for an hour, to being offered a dirt bike every fifteen minutes. My feet never hit the ground. I remember telling my friend Amanda, when she didn’t go on the first run, “DUDE you have to come with me, I scared, I literally have no idea what the hell I am doing!” she shoved me out the tent and said “You know how to ride, just get out there and do it.” She’s a really good friend. Day one I rode a 140 Kawasaki and a 125 Honda. I did things I never thought I could do. I took trails that looked impossible. I rode with skilled, experienced women that were nothing but genuinely encouraging and supportive. I was on such a high by the end of the day, throwing back the 805, burning...logs on the fire thanks to WLFenduro and satisfying my drunchies at the Alegria Gourmet Food Truck.
Day two, I am pretty sure I have never in my life woken up that early without at least 4 alarms. I popped up bright eyed and bushy tailed with my Flat Track Coffee, watched Thousand Oaks Powersports team fix up a girls bike, loaded up with all the Fox Moto swag I could snag and took off with the first girls down to ride. I rode all morning up until the very last minute before my Husqvarna demo time slot. I got off my bike at my campsite and ran, literally a woman stopped me and asked me if everything was okay because I was running in my gear in the heat, and I just yelled back at her “I can’t miss my demo!” I signed up for intermediate, which was awfully brave, and for the first time ever I got on a FC 350! If I leaned to one side my toes could touch. I thought, this is fine. We started up the bikes, you know the sound, and we all lined up behind Ashley Fiolek and Natalie Simmons. Are you kidding me? Did I just become best friends with an X Games gold medalist?! Yes. Well not really, but I’m pretty sure we made eye contact and we had a connection. Anyways, we took off and rode the coolest trail I had been on all weekend and the power I was riding with blew my mind. It was like nothing I had ever done before. I actually floated over the sand, I am sure of it. As I rode on the ridge of this hill I looked around me and saw miles of green hills covered in trails. I don’t say this very often but the moment was epic. I then took a turn too tight, dumped my moto on my hand and bled the whole way back to camp. I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. Proud that I got my bike back up and jumped back on. My new dirtbike sisters doctored me up, handed me an 805 and we headed over to karaoke.
The weekend was more than I could ever imagine. A dream come true. Sounds cheesy but try me. Show up to the next one, find me, I’ll tell you all about it. I’d be happy to treat you as all these awe-inspiring women have treated me. These events are put on by extraordinary women but what you make of it is up to you. It is an opportunity I am grateful for and all it has done is opened my life up to more friends, more adventures, more love and more motorcycles. This post doesn’t to the event near enough justice. Everytime I get on my motorcycle I am not of this world anymore, I am something more. Give yourself that gift, you deserve it. Don’t ever stop being brave, don’t ever stop being bold and don’t ever stop craving that feeling when you get on two wheels. Thanks for a rad weekend Babes Ride Out, looking forward to the next event. Brap Brap.
