Life's A Dirtbike, So Hold It Wide Open

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        Alice Silver threw a towel over her shoulder and picked up her water bottle and took a long, refreshing drink. She was training hard for the first Supercross season with electric dirt bikes in history. The 2023 season was bound to be a good one. Switching to electric dirt bikes would prove what everyone's got, and how well they can adapt in a year.

"Crazy" Alice, the spectacular nineteen year old she was (being the only female racing in the 450 class in Supercross, and she was also one of the only riders to go pro at age sixteen) knew it was an absolute necessity to train as hard as she could, in order to stay in front of her rookie rival, eighteen year old Jack Reemer.

Jack was one of the most recent riders to move up to the 450 class, and he and Alice have battled for the top spot on the season podium for the last two years. Alice always had him beat by about six points. Not much at all, but enough to win. Jack was very confident on his new electric 450, compared to Alice, who was not as confident, but she was a strong and smart rider, and Jack knew he had his work cut out for him.

Jack and Alice crossed paths at practice a week before the kickoff to the first Supercross race of the season. Jack sat and watched Alice practice for a bit. Alice, still working on her skills on the new bike, crashed on the whoops and got frustrated. She sat on the ground and took her helmet off.

"How's that dirt treating you?!" Jack hollered at Alice, in a mocking tone. Alice just laughed and thought to herself cool it Alice. He's just jealous. And laughed aloud. Crazy Alice threw her helmet back on and jumped back on the bike and continued ripping around, improving each lap time by a tenth of a second on the next three laps. Alice was satisfied with this, and decided to pack up and head home. Jack was still sitting, watching as if he were in awe by her improvement in each of her final practice laps.

The adrenaline is pumping. All of the Supercrossers are so hyped up, you can feel the heartbeat of the person next to you at the gate. Thirty seconds to gate drop. The only thing going through Alice's mind is shift fast and keep an eye on Reemer. Three, one last thought. Two, one last breath. One. The gate drop at the first 450 electro-moto Supercross in history has happened. Jack pulls out in the lead on his perfectly tuned KTM, and Alice follows close behind Jack, on her built up Kawasaki.

Jack and Alice keep close tabs on each other, and trade positions four times in only the first of twenty laps. Alice, who is known to get faster with each lap, begins to pull out on Jack, and by the seventeenth lap, they only traded positions once, with Alice in the lead. Crazy Alice stayed in the lead for the remainder of the race and won. A great way to start off the season for Alice, but she was well aware that Jack had kept her on her toes.

While going back to the pits, all of the other racers shook hands with Alice and hugged her and congratulated her. Except for Jack. He just watched her get all of the attention. Alice could definitely tell his crew chief had chewed him out for all of the mistakes he made, and he was frustrated, and probably jealous. Alice didn't want to start anything so she kept to herself.

The supercross races throughout the season added up, and Jack and Alice were neck and neck. Only 3 points separated them. All of the supercrossers now had two weeks off before finals in Vegas, but that meant nothing to either Alice or Jack. They both still trained as if they had another race coming up. At this point in time, the only thing going through the supercrossers heads is "I have to get the top spot" but they all knew the one and only, strongest and smartest, would win it.

The next two weeks passed in what seemed like a few days. Four hours until gate drop time. Alice spent the next hour steadily pedaling on her exercise bike to keep her muscles warmed up for practice, and then the race. Jack walked on a treadmill with a two pound weight in each hand for the same reason Alice was pedaling.