Full Throttle
Sergio Rondon's Road to Redemption
Written by Brian Bushard
Photography by Kit Noble
Sergio Rondon has spent thousands of hours on his dirt bike, racing over 40 mph on dirt tracks, over jumps, sharp turns and treacherous terrain, so when he took his bike to visit a friend in Dorchester, he wasn’t thinking too much of the rainy weather and slippery Boston roads. The car came out of nowhere. Rondon’s bike slid sideways on the road as he tried to avoid the car, but he was unable to get traction on the road. He collided at full speed with the car, launching the bike mid-rotation into the air as it flipped over itself. Rondon broke every rib on the left side of his body, ripped open his knee, dislocated his collarbone and hit his head on the landing, giving him a major concussion. Then he lost consciousness.
Rondon, who was only 20 years old when he suffered the accident, spent months in a cast and in physical therapy, but he made a full recovery. “To be honest, the moment my ribs were fine, I was back on a bike,” said Rondon, who lives on Nantucket. “I had a pretty nasty scar. It was so ugly, even the people who treated me didn’t want to see it.” It took eight months before he got back on his bike. Now, two and a half years after the accident, he’s riding his bike almost every week, navigating the winding half-mile course of jumps and berms east of the Nantucket Memorial Airport. He’s also part of a growing community of young dirt bikers on the island.
“I still have a little bit of fear of breaking my legs. But at the same time I don’t [have that fear] because I know I’m doing what I8 love, so it doesn’t matter what happens,” he said. “It pushes me to be better so I don’t hurt myself. I try to be the best I can so I can go race and not hurt myself because I have more control.”
Rondon grew up watching dirt bikers on the back roads of a small town in the Dominican Republic. “I was always fascinated by them,” he said. “I would tell my buddies I wanted to ride, but it wasn’t really possible to buy a bike. That’s $5,000,that’s a lot of money.” When his family moved to Nantucket, he procured an old 1985 Kawasaki his friend had lying around and taught himself to ride by watching dirt biking videos. It was a lot of trial and error. He fell a lot at first. But he was persistent.
Later on, he bought a Honda 300 Rally, a desert bike that he would take through the dirt bike track on Nantucket and on races in the Dominican Republic. “It’s honestly the most mind-clearing thing you could experience,” he said, standing at the dirt bike track. “You’re not thinking about anything but the bike. You’re in the air and nothing else is going on through your brain except the bike and the trail you’re on."
On the track east of the airport, you’re bound to see at least one biker on any given day. Since the Nantucket Land Bank laid it out over 10 years ago, the track has become one of the conservation organization’s most popular properties. Unlike the miles of dirt trails criss-crossing the Middle Moors, the Land Bank track provides a safe space for bikers to pick up speed and hit jumps without fear of hitting dog walkers or someone on a leisurely stroll.
For Rondon, it’s also become an escape from the stress of the world. When he hits the throttle, he can forget about his day job. Biking at speeds of 35-40 mph requires tremendous focus. As soon as he’s going, all he can think about is the trail ahead of him. “I talk to a lot of people struggling through mental health,” he said. “When I struggle with my own mental health, I hop on a bike. I tell people to hop on a bike, just go out and ride it, and it takes those problems away from life.”
As for the inherent risk of dirt biking, Rondon argues there’s a risk in everything. “You could be playing baseball and a ball could hit your head,” he said. “It’s what you want to risk and where you want to take a risk.” There’s no doubt that Rondon would take that risk over and over again at the dirt bike track. He’s also hoping to continue racing in the Dominican Republic in the winter and around New England throughout the year. “It clears your head,” he said.
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