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	Name: Blake Berlin Age: 46 City: San Antonio yrs member: 1 Current bike(s): KTM 525EXC and KTM640 Adventure R

	Q: How long have you been riding and what got you started riding? I started at age 12, but took a long hiatus while experimenting with maturity. The experiment failed, and now I'm riding again. My dad starting me in riding. He shipped home a 1966 Honda 90 that he used for commuting when he was stationed in Taiwan in 1969. The bike came in three crates that were filled with smaller boxes and bags of parts. We made that a project and reassembled the bike, and he taught me to ride in the back yard of our house in Abilene, TX. On my second or third lesson, in which I progressed to the shifting phase, I crashed into our cedar fence. While fixing the fence, I contemplated the need to continue focusing on direction and obstacles while shifting. Q: Have you done any racing? Sort of. I entered one Enduro years ago when I was a teenager. I had a Suzuki 185 that was quite unreliable. I got about 5 miles into it when the bike quit running. I don't recall what the problem was, or even if I knew at that time. My dad rode only occasionally at that time, so I didn't have a great deal of family support for my riding, and I just never got around to racing. I had some good friends who rode MX, but that just never got my interest.
	I did enter the Caney Creek Enduro earlier this year, and I had a lot of fun. I almost finished, but a soil sample rendered me and my bike unviable. But I got enough of a taste to decide that I'm going to run several enduros this year. My first goal will be to finish without houring out. After that, my goal will be to improve my performance. If all goes well, I expect to compete more seriously the following year, especially if they develop a new class for the "fat and slow."
		Q: So far, what's your favorite discipline of racing? Discipline and racing don't belong in the same sentence with me. However, I most like off-road endurance racing, like our enduros and the rallys that they hold in Europe. I find the Dakar rally an absolutely amazing event. That's one of the reasons I got my 640 Adventure, so that I could get on it and with my eyes squinted just right while looking at my reflection, resemble Jimmy Lewis and Richard Sainct. Q: What's in your Racing future? Enduros. And perhaps the recovery room of the orthopedic surgery wing. Q: Where is your favorite place to ride? Zars ranch, because it's a great piece of property and it's accessible. However, my absolute favorite place so far is in the San Juan mountains of Southwestern Colorado. Q: What's your favorite thing about being in the club? The people. I have found that riding,
	especially off-road riding, attracts people from across a broad spectrum of society. If it weren't for riding, I'd probably still be attempting to play golf every weekend, and I'd probably be playing with people whom I already know and who are a lot like me. Being in the club has given me a great opportunity to develop friendships with people whom I would not have otherwise met. The club is also very encouraging to people of all riding levels, and that has created the huge added benefit of getting my wife involved in riding. The grass had to be cut before I could play golf, but now we both look the other way when we want to ride. Q: What's your favorite spot on Zars Ranch? I love the trails where there are big elevation changes. And the pit area, because that's where I'm as fast as everyone else. Q: Do you have a favorite crash story? Favorite implies good, and the only good crashes are the crashes that don't happen. I wish I had more of those. Q: How about your worst crash story? In February of this year, I was on a Dual Sport ride with another member (Andy Snell) going to Ft. Davis. It was a fun ride, with a nice mix of pavement and dirt. But about 200 miles into the ride, on the other side of the Pecos river, the dirt road we were on took a hard right just after a drop in elevation, so it wasn't visible until you were right on it. I had a split second to either lay it down or ride it out off-road, so I opted to ride it out. The last thing I remember was hitting a large rock. I was thrown quite a ways from the bike and was knocked out. When I regained consciousness, I could barely breathe, and when I stood up I just fell back down. After Andy found me, he told me that he had barely made the turn, and had a good idea of where to look when he could no longer see my dust ahead. I was in pain, and we were on an unmarked dirt road on a sheep ranch in the middle of nowhere. We waited for awhile, and just about the time that Andy was going to ride out to send help to the GPS coordinates (my GPS was still working!), a rancher came by. A looong time later, the helicopter arrived and hauled me to the hospital in San Angelo, where I spent 4 days after being treated for a broken clavicle, 4 broken ribs, and a punctured lung.
	Q: What's your favorite piece of gear? My chest protector. It seems that after almost every ride, it get scratched or gouged in a place and to a degree that makes me appreciate it. Q: Most respected rider? One who is famous, and two who really have earned my respect. The famous rider is Malcolm Smith, a name which should be spoken in only hushed tones. Of the other two, the first is my beautiful wife Kim, simply for riding at all and being enthusiastic. The other is another member, David May. David is FAST on a DRZ400 dual sport! He stripped the street gear off and won his class at the Zars Hare Scramble earlier this year, then he put the lights back on and used the bike to commute. David is the guy with whom I ride most frequently, and I have tons of respect for him personally and as a rider. Q: Favorite motorcycle video? On Any Sunday. Although OLN's coverage of the upcoming Dakar has me salivating like Pavlov's dog. Q: Favorite music? Old country and new rock, plus Led Zeppelin. Oh, and the piccolo solo of "Stars and Stripes Forever," especially when played by my daughter. Q: Any advice to new riders? Watch me, and then do the opposite.
		Kim & Blake Berlin

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