OMRA

About me: I have lived on and off in the Rogue Valley since 1976. After completing High School and a short stint in College, I ended up living and working at a non-profit in Jerusalem, Israel for about 4 years, where I met my wife Rhonda (who is from Australia, go figure). Married 15+ years, and truly blessed with two exceptional kids (Katie and Zeke), a dog, and a house in the country. Just before 9/11, I got a hankering to serve and joined the Army National Guard. The recruiter said we ‘never get deployed’. 6 years and several deployments later I am done with that, but was fortunate enough to have been allowed to serve around the world and do some very cool things all funded by you, the taxpayer. They actually PAID me to jump out of airplanes and rappel from Blackhawks. Fools!

I currently own www.BatteryStuff.com While working for myself has it’s challenges, it has also allowed me to make all the XC race series for the past couple years.

My favorite riding area: I guess I never thought much about that. I pretty much will ride what I can, when I can. I’ve got a riding area just a few miles from my house, so I ride there most often. I do enjoy EFR, and grew up riding John's Peak. I also have a 3 mile loop at my house. I guess I am pretty easy to please, though I am not a big fan of mud.

My first bike/ATV: I believe it was about a 1974 XL 70, though I have vague memories before that of a Briggs and Stratton powered mini-bike and a barbed wire fence…. With the rare 2 stroke mixed in, I have been riding 4 strokes pretty much since the beginning.

My riding experience: I would have got my first bike back about 1978, sometime around my 9^th birthday. I rode a bunch, but I never thought about racing, in fact I believed I was pretty unskilled. I spent most of my early riding days trying to catch up with an ‘old guy’ that was a friend of the family. What I did not know was that ‘old guy’ (Bob Krsch) was pretty fast. On a whim, I went to a race in Millican valley with Bob in ’92, which I ended up winning my class on a beat up, bone stock 1986 TT350. I raced that entire season (XC and ISDE) and won my class. I pretty well stopped riding dirt bikes after that, but went on to do a 7, month, 22 country tour of Europe on a 1982 Honda Silverwing. Now THAT was an adventure…

I really got back into dirt bikes again about 3 years ago, and at 40yrs old, I am racing locally and living vicariously through myself.

My favorite saying: Suck it up, cupcake.

Why I became an OMRA Officer: I lost a bet. I think Kent egged me on. I did it for ‘the children’. Whatever, I figured it was simply ‘my turn’. When is it your turn?

I'd also like to say: I am typically that guy that would rather sit in the back and watch people than actually get involved, but some things call for us to put up, or shut up. Keeping this sport alive is one of those things, so don’t shut up - get involved!.