Motocross

When Tarah Gieger started competing in motocross – only a decade ago – she was almost always the only girl in the lineup. There simply weren’t enough female competitors to fill a contest roster. Today, due to the visionary determination of Gieger and a few talented riders like her, a Women’s Motocross Association series not only exists, but is thriving; and the sport is surging in popularity worldwide. <br /><br /> But sparking a phenomenon isn’t enough for the Loretta Lynn’s and WMA Cup champion. She intends to be the phenomenon. “My goal is to win everything I enter,” Gieger says assuredly. “I am not going to be satisfied until I dominate the sport of women’s motocross.”

Determination

Born to a Florida couple who owned a surf shop in Puerto Rico, Gieger spent her childhood between both destinations. “I didn’t start riding until I was ten and racing until I was eleven,” she recalls. “I surfed and played baseball and begged my parents for a go kart – but once I got a motorbike, that was all I wanted to do.”

In her amateur races against the boys, Gieger developed an aggressive style that was fast and fearless, especially on the jumps. And just as her skills were growing, so was the grassroots interest in women’s motocross. Women’s competitions started sprouting up on season calendars, and by 2002, a seventeen-year-old Gieger could boast the honor of being named Florida’s amateur Winter Olympics Women’s Olympiad Champion (an achievement that, over the following years, she ended up three-peating).

By 2003, Gieger was dipping her toes in the deep end of pro competition, and the water seemed just fine: she finished the WMA season ranked fourth overall and captured third place in the Women’s Pro class of the WMA Cup – the biggest race of the year, with an international field.

Gieger’s first season competing on a four-stroke, 2004, was nothing short of remarkable. Not only did she win 2004’s WMA Cup, beating the previously undefeated Steffi Laier of Germany, but she landed on the podium in every round of the WMA season and finished the year as runner-up for the series championship. Simultaneously competing as an amateur, she also won the Loretta Lynn National Championship, snatching the title from three-time winner Sarah Whitmore. Gieger made the covers of Holeshot and Moto Playground magazines in the same month, and she was one of only two women on the list of TransWorld Motocross magazine’s “top 100 riders” for the year.

The following season was shaping up to be even more impressive, with Gieger winning two of the first three rounds of WMA competition. But in the fourth round, a crash left her with a fractured skull and chipped vertebrae. She was out of the running, yet – on the basis of points she had already accumulated – she still finished the year in fifth overall. After seven months of recovery, in her first 2006 contest the young charger was back to form, earning second place.

Dedication

Despite her ferocity in competition, in person Gieger is absolutely approachable, and when it’s time to sign autographs, her five-foot six-inch frame is typically surrounded by a swarm of eager admirers. “People are super-stoked on what we’re doing,” she declares with a big, open smile. “When people ask me what kind of advice I have for girls who want to do motocross, I tell them that you can do whatever you want – as long as you’re dedicated.”

Gieger’s own dedication keeps her busy year-round with a training regimen that includes cardio, weights, and incessant riding. “The two tracks where I train are both about an hour away – it takes up a large part of the day,” she notes without complaint. Besides her 2004 injury, over the course of her career she has sustained breaks to her wrists, collarbone, ribs, knee, and pelvis, but she doesn’t complain about that, either. “Support for women’s motocross just keeps getting better every year, and I’ve put too much into this to give up now,” she notes.

Domination

Foremost on the rider’s agenda is taking her number 68 bike all the way to the WMA series title – as many times as possible. But Gieger is not so focused that she won’t consider a future beyond racing. In fact, once she’s ridden the growing wave of women’s motocross to the top, there’s another wave she’d like to catch. Gieger’s favorite recreational (and rehabilitational) activity is surfing, the sport she’s been doing since childhood. Once she has proven her domination on dirt, she says, “then I want to dominate in surfing.”