Stalled

My Story

Angel Volkart

Written 6 months ago

I had to write my story out for an article recently that wont be used in its entirety so I thought id share it here if anyone needed some reading material

(Cover Pic is from one of the Jarvis Training Schools in Maine)

The story of Angel and dirt bikes is a bit different from most. I got into riding in 2018 at the age of 28. I had wanted to learn to ride since I was 5 years old and my uncle gave me a ride on his. I remember being so excited that I tried to jump on his bike later with the aid of my older brother and it fell over on us! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to start riding due to our financial situation.

Fast forward to 2014, I was hanging out with my then husband watching Red Bull TV. I was trying to look into snowboarding when I came across the dirt bike portion and clips from a little race known as Erzbergrodeo.

That was the year I watched Graham Jarvis sail through Carl’s Diner and I told my husband that I wanted to learn to ride and do that one day. That was the day I found out about Jonny Walker, Andreas Lettinbichler, Alfredo Gomez, Dougie Lampkin and Cody Webb as well as Mani Lettenbichler who was the youngest rider to ever finish the race at 16! These riders became people that I followed on social media and watched them excel in their careers. I still wanted to learn how to ride like them, but I never dreamed I actually would.

In 2018 I had some friends leaving the state and her husband was selling his dirt bike. It was an older suzuki and I convinced him to buy it with the caveat that he had to teach me how to ride. After we got it, I realized I was way too small to touch the ground so he traded it for a TTR125. That little bike would take me to some amazing places! He was christened Gary the Snail and I was so excited to finally have a bike and finally I was going to make my dreams come true!

Unfortunately those first few years I was in school full time, worked full time and I was married so I had very little time to dedicate to riding and improving, but I loved everything about it. I wasn’t really taught how to ride, I was just shown the controls and let loose. I wasn’t very good at all having never been athletic or on a bike before on my own. I always say I started below square 1, I was probably at about -20!

I wanted to learn to ride and race and get to Erzberg one day. The people around me at that time didn’t believe in me though. I was told I was too small, I would never get off the TTR and that I wasn’t good at riding so I would just putt around. That I was too small for hard enduro or anything really technical. My dreams were crushed but I still wanted to ride. My dreams were halted in 2020 though when I got sick and ended up spending the next year being tested and put on meds, gaining weight and not being able to move physically for long periods of time. Riding was on the back burner for a while.

In 2021 I had surgery which helped fix my issues, I got off the meds and I also started going through a divorce. That divorce totally broke me but I had no idea that breaking in that way was exactly what I needed to become who I am today.

My first venture to ride by myself was in 2022 and it was hard. I had a panic attack just showing up, then i struggled through some sand, but I was so excited that I had done it by myself. Maybe I could do this without having my ex with me!

Over the next few months I tried to go out and ride by myself, but it was really scary. I reached out on a local page and I connected with a few local riders including some amazing ladies! I found out there was something called technique that made this dirt bike thing a little easier. It was also recommended that I try racing because it’s the safest way to explore new territory so in 2023 I tried my first enduro, which I DQd in because I was so slow. I was then told about another discipline and I decided to try a harescramble when visiting my family in Arizona. I drove all the way down from Minnesota and I did the Copper Classic in San Manuel. I loved it even though I was the very last person to come in and I wasn’t really sure how I did any of that course because I was so inexperienced! I had a blast and everyone was so nice, I knew I wanted to make my way back to another event in Arizona at some point. It increased my desire to learn to ride better.

Shortly after returning to Minnesota I found out Graham Jarvis was coming for a training clinic. I signed up as soon as the link went live. I was so excited to meet my hero!

He spent most of that clinic yelling at me to slip the clutch and use my rear brake. I was so nervous! After the day I went to apologize for being so slow and not getting everything, but he told me I did well. We spent a few hours chatting with the group and he told me I had a lot of potential. He said that with practice I would be able to ride Erzberg if I truly wanted. That planted a seed that would be fed with fire over the next year! The next day was my 2nd attempt at an enduro at Akeley Minnesota at the Stompin Grounds, but my clutch was so fried from the clinic and it gave out completely in the first test. My 2nd DQ.

I decided I would try to implement the techniques I learned. I wanted to try for 2 months and see what I could do. Maybe, just maybe I could actually do this!

OVer the next year I moved states, started riding once a month or so and I threw myself into fitness and learning how to ride better. I met a bunch of amazing people in Minnesota and North Dakota and found an incredible community of women online in Northwest Woods Women. I realized that so many women are out here trying and kicking butt and that was inspiring! I ended up in North Carolina helping do media for a clinic and I fell in love with the woods! I rode a few different bikes while out there, all 300s and all of them I was able to handle. Not well, but I broke through the box I had put myself in thinking I would forever be on the TTR. In January 2024 I went to Full Throttle Motorsports in North Dakota where I was living at the time, and I decided I wanted to buy a new bike. My divorce was official and my house sold and I wanted to treat myself. I had never had anything new before so I was super excited. I had fallen in love with a TE300 I got to ride in North Carolina and I ended up walking away after purchasing a 2024 TE300 pro.

In February 2024 I quit my job and drove from the midwest out to California. I was helping a friend grow her business and I was really excited to try riding in new terrain. It was a whole new animal but I had a blast. I ended up traveling across the country to the Georgia/Tennessee border then worked in Maine and back to Tennessee. In that time I found the US Hard Enduro series and made some amazing friends that helped change the course of my riding, including Dylan Santoro. I started following the series taking pics for the KRD crew, amateurs and watching my friends. The fire inside me grew the more I was exposed to the riding I wanted to do and I was constantly out on my bike doing drills to improve. I tried to be on the bike at least twice a week and then every weekend that I wasn’t at the hard enduros. As time went on I was a part of several other clinics, doing media for two Graham Jarvis clinics on the East Coast and I continued to work on improving. I knew I wanted to work towards racing more as my skills increased. I figured, the more racing I would do, the better prepared I would be for a hard enduro one day. I met so many amazing people that all helped my improve and got me out for more seat time!

During this time I also decided to give back to the community and help grow the sport by helping tell the stories of riders. I created a podcast called Brraap Life. This was inspired by the story of Makana Barger and his family who I met in North Carolina and they are from Hawaii!! I learned that Makana was working hard to afford the rentals on the mainland, but very few people knew that! It was so inspiring to me and when I told others they felt the same but there wasn’t anyone telling the stories of amateurs at that time so I decided to fill the gap! Through my work in the podcast I have been fortunate enough to meet riders at every level across the world and the podcast is currently being downloaded in 30 countries!

At the end of 2024 I was in Texas for work and I was invited to a local GP style race by my friend Darcee. She was such a champion for me and my riding, it was amazing to meet her in the flesh! She convinced me to race and I was 6 seconds off a podium! The fire grew that day and I started discussing hard enduro with my friend Matt Adams, owner of Champion Brick Racing. We did a podcast and he inspired me so much in it that I decided I would sign up for my first hard enduro in 2025. I was fortunate enough to gain several sponsors to help with my racing for the season: Champion Brick Racing, Risk Racing, Plews Tires USA (through Risk), Decorum Art Studio out of Surprise, A Shared UniversePodcast Studio, Hermotox gear, RNduro, Proline Designs. With this help I signed up for Battle of the Goats at Brushy Mountain in North Carolina.

In January of 2025 I was doing media at King of the Motos in California and I met two guys who would help me and skyrocket my progress through their patience and willingness to be out there and coaching me through sections and taking me through real hard sections and pushing me to my limits but also helping me have some amazing breakthroughs. Mitch Toorop and Codey Bauchspies have been vital to the progress Ive had!

I was out of my element in North Carolina, it rained for a week leading up to the race. I wasn’t fully prepared, but I was there and I lined up for my first hard enduro. It was a dream come true! I decided to make another dream come true and I flew out to Erzbergrodeo in May to watch my friends race. I almost cried after making the hike out to Carl’s Diner with my friend Rebecca and I got to watch my friends/heroes race through the infamous section with several of them being in that first race I watched in 2014! It was closing the chapter of not being able to do things and opening the chapter of I am capable of anything!

I signed up for my second hard enduro and I did Tennessee Knockout in August. I also helped coordinate yet another clinic but this time with my hero, Louise Forsley! It was a women’s clinic and we had an amazing turnout! It was fantastic to see so many women excited about riding and once again it grew the fire!

I took 3 hours to do the hot lap at TKO, which took most of the A class about 20 minutes! I wouldn’t give up though, despite my exhaust being knocked off on the first log, I kept pushing and I was so proud to cross the finish line (with a lot of help from the staff to get through the endurocross section!) I made about ⅓ of the actual race lap but I was so exhausted, I pushed until I timed out. I have vowed that next year I will make it at LEAST halfway!

After TKO I had no plans to race again in 2025, but upon hanging out with my friend Lia, she told me she wanted to do the Flagstaff enduro. I told her I’d go and support her, but my bike suspension is out being redone so I didn’t have a bike. She graciously volunteered one of hers for me to use and after some discussion, we signed up!

I was super nervous because my biggest weakness is singletrack and especially on exposure. I was also going to be on a bike I had ridden for an hour, and it is very different from mine. I told myself, I just want to finish. I knew that I wanted to try my best, I felt that competitive fire after TKO but I also know Arizona has some amazing women riders in C class! I honestly didn’t expect a podium because there were 5 women in my class. I truly never thought I’d get a podium in my entire life. I have never been considered an athlete, I’ve never won anything. In my head, the goal was just to finish and have fun. I had an absolute blast, I enjoyed the rocks even though they beat me up. I loved the sweeps that were encouraging me the whole way and it was truly a great course. Flagstaff has some really great terrain.

When results were posted I was in 4th. I knew my score wasn’t right because I finished and it only counted me doing 2 checks instead of 3 but I also didn’t know if the woman in 3rd had the same issue. I went to the awards with no idea that my name would be called despite being told by numerous people that I would be up there.

I was so happy and in absolute disbelief. In true Arizona style, everyone was congratulating me afterwards and was so supportive! It was really cool to go there, only knowing a few people, and to leave feeling like I made a bunch of new friends. It was an incredible experience and it has fueled the fire even more. I like that feeling of being on the podium and feeling like I can truly make all my dreams come true. I will keep working and improving, I can’t wait for the 2026 racing season, both for AMRA as well as USHE and the World Enduro Riders Association! My current plan is to race as much as I can and I am hoping to sign up for the Red Bull Romaniacs in July 2026!

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