Lacey Middlestead is a Montana native and freelance writer currently living in Helena, Mont. She loves meeting new people and helping share their stories. When she’s not busy writing articles for newspapers like the Independent Record and Helena Vigilante, she can usually be found indulging in her second greatest passion–playing in the Montana wilderness. She loves skiing and snowmobiling in the winter and four wheeling, hiking, boating, and riding dirt bikes in the summer.

A few weeks ago I wore flip flops outside for the first time this year. Freeing my toes from the confines of my Smart Wool socks is a pretty sound indication for me that summer is just around the corner. It also means it’s time to switch gears and transition from my winter sports over to my summer ones. With only the faintest bit of reluctance, I neatly packed away my snowmobile gear in my bag and hung my hockey sticks back up in the garage. I smiled knowing they would be back out again before I knew it, but for now, it was time to dust off my Trek cross-training bike and oil the chain on my new Honda dirt bike.

With the hectic chaos that usually defines my life, I have only made it out for one bicycle ride so far. I felt instantaneous elation upon first clipping into my bike pedals. There’s just a special kind of freedom one feels when biking along an open stretch of road with nothing but the sound of a headwind and the bike gears cranking to fill the empty spaces around you.

I headed west out of town along Birdseye road as it’s only a few miles from my house. I took spinning classes at the gym all winter long, but regardless of their intensity, my muscles always recognize when I start turning pedals on the real thing. I felt my quadriceps and hamstrings burning after only a few miles. But it was a good pain. I rode about 10 miles along the road before turning around to head home. I underestimated how quickly the sun still sets in early spring though and how the temperatures outside drop just as steadily. By the time I swung into my driveway, my hands and feet were numb with cold. I clunked awkwardly into my house with my feet still velcroed into my biking shoes. I cussed the whole way about how I shouldn’t have stayed out biking so long. But once I felt warmth flood back into my extremities I was reminded that, regardless of the cold, that first ride out was still worth it.

While I love the quiet and leisure nature of road biking, I also have a desperate need for speed at times. That’s where my dirt bike came into play a few weeks later. I had yet to try out my new Honda and was anxious to see how it felt.

One Wednesday night my dad and I loaded our dirt bikes into the back of his truck and headed toward Sheep Mountain in Clancy to do a little trail riding. It was a slow night of riding for me…..slower than usual anyways. My new bike is bigger and faster than my other one and I could tell instantly that it would take some time for us to get to know each other. But I sure loved the feeling of twisting the throttle and feeling the engine rev to life.

Although not quite as simple as riding a bicycle, I don’t think you ever forget how to ride a dirt bike either. Instinctively, my left foot clicked the gears up and down depending on my speed while my right foot found its way to the back break lever. A bigger bike means I’ve got a little more weight to throw around when taking sharp corners and rounding berms. But little by little that night, I began feeling my confidence come back and the bike started to feel like part of me. We rode for about two hours before calling it quits. The sound of the motor kept roaring in my head the rest of the night though.

On the drive back into town, I felt a sense of renewal having returned to two of my favorite activities. I also felt excitement build in me as I thought about all of the longer and warmer summer nights to come where I would find myself either pounding it out on the pavement with my bicycle or tearing up the mountain trails and motocross track on my dirt bike. There is so much good riding ahead…..some of it slow and steady…..some of it fast and furious. But either way, I will be shifting gears under the Big Sky of Montana where I can truly exist and feel alive.