INTERVIEW I OFF-ROAD RACER TARAH GIEGER
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offer to join their cast [at Nitro
Circus] and be on the TV show
side and the live show side, but
I always had more ambitions in
racing and goals I had, so I never
pursued that at all."
Successful racers are often
self-centered; out of necessity,
they need to focus on them
-
selves to achieve their goals.
This, of course, is
inconsistent
with the responsibilities attached
to becoming a parent, especially
a mother. How did Gieger handle
that transition and was it more
difficult than learning to race?
"I don't think it was more dif
-
ficult, no," she says. "It was just
something new.
It's funny be-
cause one of the first times I was
riding after Mason was
born, I
totally forgot that I had a kid I ac-
tually had to keep alive at home. I
was just
riding and I was like, 'Oh
yeah, this is what I do!' I fell back
into what I'd done for the last 25,
30 years. It was really nice, then
it came back into my head that,
'Oh yeah, I have to keep another
human alive now and it's kind of
a big deal!'
"Dusty's parents live in the Los
Angeles area and they would
come out and watch Mason
while we're at the races, but it
still falls on me to get him to
sleep and get him fed and that,
so it's a lot of work and a lot of
things I have to think about other
than just racing and taking care
of myself.
"This year I've been able to go
to a few races by myself, fly in
and be with the team. It's really
easy, and it makes me think, 'Oh,
could do this again!'
"Then this weekend [at
Havasu], Mason's here and I've
been part-time getting him to
sleep and feeding him and stuff,
and I'm like, 'Oh yeah, this is why
With the waning of professional
women's motocross, Gieger tried her
hand at off-road-style racing, starting
with X Games Women's Moto X
Enduro then AMA EnduroCross.
