Incredible TRAGEDY! I'm crushed.

[6]

I took my dog for a walk, we went down to the old trails from my house onto the power lines where I learned how to ride a dirt bike. We walked all the old grounds. Found the old hits, all overgrown.. Burns in the trails mostly still there, people have been riding out there a little bit...

Then we went to my pits. It's an old gravel pit had a 40 ft cliff on one side, hill on the other, one in the middle that had a decent 30" table top. We had 5 or 6 big jumps, a small motocross track, and a track around the outside... Then trailers up over the cliffs.

This is where I learned how to ride a motorcycle. And not like throttle clutch shift turn, ltur where I really learned how to ride. Where I got good..

Walked my dog out there. I get to where the clearing should have been with the mud pit to cross that would lead you into the pits and to the back of one of the big hills that was used like a berm.

I'm staring face to face with a huge pile of dirt. I climb to the top of the dirt..

IMG_20220529_155538.jpg IMG_20220529_155540.jpg IMG_20220529_155545.jpg IMG_20220529_155545~2.jpg

This is what I found!!!!! The circled area, that was the tip of the cliff... They filled in the pits, all the way to the top of the cliff and graded it level.

It's gone.... Under 40' of dirt site my childhood.. the place that gave me the skill I'm most proud of in the world. ..


Some people call this progress, I'm sure it's going to be a subdivision. But wait is the next Andy find the place to ride. What's his escape from life?!?? Probably on the fucking internet.

I'm devastated..

[Maritime]

Bummer. I had a similar spot in our subdivision that just recently got leveled and built on. But for 45 years we had a dirtbike wheeler park right in the middle of all our houses. sad day

[6]

Bummer. I had a similar spot in our subdivision that just recently got leveled and built on. But for 45 years we had a dirtbike wheeler park right in the middle of all our houses. sad day

That's sucks!!!

Where do kids go to ride? The trials on the other side of town have now been made into dog walking areas..


Are the only kids who will grow up riding kids to a parent or set of parents who will take them to the MX track or state riding parks?

If that's the case I never would have learned to ride. My parents had about 15min a month to do things with me. They where busy, and people are not getting less busy these days..

Everyday after school I get on my dirt bike and I go out there. It was my happy place, my saving grace. The thing I could do that wasn't being out getting in trouble..

What do these kids do now that all these spots are getting bulldozed and subdivisioned??! Or it turned into places for yuppies to go pretend they're woodsy,.

The future looks bleak.

[bk94si]

Near where I grew up there were hills, a pond, an old abandoned house and some trees. I didn't ride there but my friends and I used to hang out there. Mess with pollywogs, slide down hill on cardboard, shoot air guns, ride bikes. It got all covered with houses and a shopping center many years ago. And they turned the house into a museum/historical landmark. Sad that kids today don't have wild rough places to explore anymore. Not that they would - too busy staring at smartphones.

[harpo]

Near where I grew up there were hills, a pond, an old abandoned house and some trees. I didn't ride there but my friends and I used to hang out there. Mess with pollywogs, slide down hill on cardboard, shoot air guns, ride bikes. It got all covered with houses and a shopping center many years ago. And they turned the house into a museum/historical landmark. Sad that kids today don't have wild rough places to explore anymore. Not that they would - too busy staring at smartphones.

So true! I've experienced similar with my childhood outdoor hangouts. All developed.

[Maritime]

We had a lake and a waterfall swimming hole. Cpukd fish, dirtbike ATV all in the area. It was heaven in the city limits. Now you have to drive 20 mins or more out of town to do any of it. They fenced the lake, took down the pit hills and built houses. Shame really

[bones]

Back when I was a wee lad, there was a huge open space with a large creek running through the middle.
Us kids used to ride our bicycles out there and catch crawdads, have epic dirt clod battles and ride all over.
You know, stuff that normal kids do in a large, open area with a creek running down the middle.
Well, one summer we were out there and some construction equipment showed up.
The result of all that construction was the Puente Hills Mall. The mall where they filmed the original Back to the Future.
Matter of fact, I recently drove through the area that I grew up in. Zero open space.
No more hills to slide down the dry grass on big pieces of cardboard.
No more orchards to run through and play hide and seek.
The entire area just looked crowded and tired. Sadly, progress has not been kind to my old stomping grounds.

I know how you feel, Andy.
And it sucks that today's kids will be missing out on some of the simple joys that we grew up with.

[ricksax]

On the hillside near Clackamas, Oregon, some guys made a "flat track" back in the fifties-- well, not exactly flat-- more of a tri-corner design with a center start. It then went up and down the hill. All the best dirt track riders on the west coast raced there. A challenging track, way out in the woods. Sorry I don't have a better picture of it, but you get the idea.

Then Portland expanded, home owners objected, and it was sold for development. Gone forever. RIP Sidewinders.

Sidewinders.png

[Enigma T]

On the hillside near Clackamas, Oregon, some guys made a "flat track" back in the fifties-- well, not exactly flat-- more of a tri-corner design with a center start. It then went up and down the hill. All the best dirt track riders on the west coast raced there. A challenging track, way out in the woods. RIP Sidewinders.

Sidewinders.png

...my friend's dad was part of the Sidewinders, circa mid-60s. Of course this meant my friend had the privilege of being raised moto-centric (born in '75) and remains so to this day. His dad still rode too, street not flattrack, until his death last December. RIP.

[6]

On the hillside near Clackamas, Oregon, some guys made a "flat track" back in the fifties-- well, not exactly flat-- more of a tri-corner design with a center start. It then went up and down the hill. All the best dirt track riders on the west coast raced there. A challenging track, way out in the woods. Sorry I don't have a better picture of it, but you get the idea.

Then Portland expanded, home owners objected, and it was sold for development. Gone forever. RIP Sidewinders.

Sidewinders.png

Very cool!

Love bits of history like that.