For Flashback Friday, here’s the next photo in our series of The Story Behind The Photo, sent in by CMG reader Nicholas St.-Germain of Laval, Quebec.
This is a photograph of me when I was 13 years old.
In 1981, that’s the way most kids dressed when they were riding in woods around cottages. No aggressive helmet, no fancy shirt and certainly no Fox apparel. Open face, jeans and rubber boots, oh, and work gloves for sure. I bought this Yamaha YZ80 ’78 with my own money and I was paying for gas.
So back to the picture, this one was taken by a guy who enjoyed taking bird pictures. He wanted to do some action shots. So I did my wheelie with helped from the cement drain pipe and I’m giving it my all as you can see from the smoke coming out of the exhaust. It seems like I’m also using the strength of my body when you look at my face…
Well I learned one thing out of that photo session, and that lesson is all over the Internet nowadays. It is always DANGEROUS to do a STUNT for a photo or a video! Luckily I was bigger than the bike and when it continued to rise I was able to get on my feet and hold onto the handlebar to bring it down.
I’ve done other wheelie shots as a grown-up (not so because I still do it) but I always have that one time at the back of my mind, so I never raise that much any more.
Nicolas St-Germain, Laval
Nice, reminds me of my youth. I was a little younger and my bike wasn’t as cool as a motocrosser like that. I had a Kawi KM100 (street and trail version of a KD100).