Built For Speed
BY JONATHAN KANE
Jett Erickson, a junior at Wood River High School, is both an avid baseball player and a hockey player. He also finds time to pursue a wide range of activities, including skiing, hunting and riding motorcycles.
What’s his favorite?
“Whatever sport I’m playing at the moment,” Erickson said with a laugh.
Born and raised in the Wood River Valley, Erickson attended Bellevue Elementary and Wood River Middle School before high school.
“It’s been great growing up here,” he said. “There’s never a dull moment because there are lots of activities. I’ve really enjoyed it and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. I’m definitely not a city kid.”
Erickson also said growing up in a small town “keeps you out of trouble. Everywhere you go you know someone and everyone’s looking out for you. If I did something bad, my parents would hear about it.”
Erickson lists a number of his favorite activities as being hunting, fishing, hiking, concerts, skiing, sledding and outdoor hockey at night. “There’s not a ton of things to do at night, so being able to play hockey at night is great.”
But his favorite activity is riding motorcycles. To that end, Erickson just restored a 1979 Suzuki TS250 bike.
“It was sitting in a shed at my mom’s store after my grandparents left it there. It hadn’t been ridden in 20 years. My dad had it running before I was born. It was calling my name.”
Erickson said that he learned how to ride a motorcycle before he knew how to ride a bicycle.
“I was 3 years old and it was a 50cc bike,” he said. “My parents threw me on it. They figured that the sooner I learned, the sooner I could go with them on rides.”
What Erickson loves most is the freedom that riding provides.
“You can pick a trail and you don’t know where it leads. You can cover a lot more ground and see things that you otherwise couldn’t see. I also love the speed when you open the throttle and go into fifth gear. With a name like Jett, you have to go fast,” he says with a laugh.
Erickson put quite a bit of work into the Suzuki to get it up to shape and road worthy. This included a lot of electrical work, draining the oil and cleaning the bike and tires to make it look sharp.
“It starts on the first kick and it saves a lot of miles on my truck.”
Before hitting the road, Erickson had to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles and get his motorcycle license. That requires a written test and a road test, which included a trial on a course, including turning and braking.
“I only missed one point,” he said.
The bike can now reach a speed of 65 miles per hour.
“I’m pretty proud of the work that I did and I’ll take great care of it.”