Gough works for American Supercamp – Yamaha learn to ride day on the Dew Tour.

As a part of the All AST Dew Tour, Yamaha is giving kids 12 and under a chance to ride on an interactive dirt course, most of them riding for the first time. Who better than Danny Walker and his American Supercamp team of Instructors to help teach these kids how to ride? With a bit of instruction and supervision from the folks at American Supercamp, these kids get to ride on a small dirt track clad in all the appropriate gear and even get to stand on the podium and get their picture taken.

In need of an extra instructor for the Baltimore, MD event, Walker called up recent attendee and helper, Luke Gough. “As soon as I got the call, I was thrilled. I knew it was going to be heaps of fun” said Gough. The first morning of the event, while in the final stages of getting everything set up, the other instructors told Gough to be ready, that as soon as the gates opened, there would be a flood of kids waiting to get on the bikes.

“Sure enough, when the time came, the kids flew in! It was great to see all these excited kids wanting to ride a motorcycle for their first time. I was really thrilled to be a part of the experience” Gough said. “Having never done this before, I watched ‘Dred’ (Eldred Bristol is a full-time American Supercamp Instructor) prepare his student and get him moving along. Then I stepped up and took a youngster and got him going.” Gough was excited about working with the kids, and they really paid attention and were thrilled to be riding. “It took me just a bit to really get the hang of the whole program, but once I did, it was loads of fun. It was great to see the smile on their face when they actually got to ride by themselves.”

The Instructors worked with the kids on body position, throttle control and looking where you want to go as basic skills. Working with one young rider in particular on the second day, Gough was running backwards in front of the rider, trying to keep his eyes off the hay bales on focused on him, where he should be going. “I had done a couple of these backward running laps already, so was pretty comfortable. All of the sudden, going around a corner, I ran into a hay bale and fell on me butt! Since the kid was doing as I told him, following me, he rode straight into me! Neither of us was hurt at all and we all laughed about it.” Gough chuckled.

“By the third day I was starting to get a little sore and tired, but it was still heaps of fun. From watching the other Instructors, I had picked up a few tricks that made things tons easier” said Gough. “I had such a great time working with Danny Walker and the rest of the Instructors and the entire American Supercamp crew.”

Over the three days they had over 700 kids learn to ride and hone their skills. “It was a great deal and I just had the time of me life” said Gough. “I really want to thank Danny for inviting me to help out with this event and I hope I get to do more in the future.”