Mark Kariya | January 23, 2023
If you followed motocross and especially women’s motocross in the early 2000s, Tarah Gieger was a familiar name and face. When she turned pro in 2003, it would’ve been easy to overlook or dismiss her. After all, the number of successful motocrossers born in Puerto Rico is a small one.
(L-R) Tarah Gieger, Brandy Richards and Becca Sheets pose after clinching the Women’s World Trophy title at the 2019 ISDE in Portugal, a triumph that Gieger lists as probably the most memorable recent milestone.
Words and Photography By Mark Kariya
But her talent was impossible to miss and her forays to the U.S. mainland soon showcased that. She eventually moved to Florida, eliminating the burdensome overwater travel that a Puerto Rican base required.
It was a wise move.
Gieger began to write her résumé with the Women’s-class title at the 2003 AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s, adding another in 2006 and defending it in 2007.
She wasn’t done. Not by a long shot.
Shortly after her Loretta’s Championship in 2007, she became the first woman to race in the prestigious Motocross of Nations, though the team didn’t qualify for the big show.
The following year, she claimed the inaugural Women’s Moto X Racing (a supercross-style event) gold at X Games XIV with silver at X Games XVI in 2010. Those weren’t her only career X Games medals.
Gieger did double duty at X Games XVII in 2011 and went home with a pair of silvers—one in Women’s Moto X Racing and the other in Women’s Moto X Enduro, the X Games version of AMA EnduroCross—and she followed that up with another Women’s Moto X Racing silver in 2012, the Women’s Moto X Enduro bronze in 2013 and a final Enduro silver in 2015.
Perhaps inspired by being around X Games athletes, in 2004 Gieger became the first female to successfully complete a backflip on a motorcycle. (Technically speaking, it was a KLX110, but it was onto dirt and not a foam pit. Jolene Van Vugt is credited with a flipping a full-size bike to dirt in 2005.)
The 2019 season was a great one for the JCR Honda trio of (L-R) Preston Campbell, Trevor Stewart and Gieger, who won the Pro Women’s crown in the AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC) Series.
On the personal front, Gieger married fellow Nitro Circus athlete Dusty Wygle in 2017.
However, Gieger’s forays into Women’s Moto X Enduro marked a turning point in her career and after more than a decade in Women’s Pro Motocross, she shifted to the off-road side of the sport, hitting AMA EnduroCross at first, then AMA Hare & Hound Nationals and the AMA National Grand Prix Championship (NGPC).
She found success in all facets of off-road racing, claiming her first EnduroCross Women’s triumph in 2017, four H&H wins to start the 2020 season and the 2019 NGPC Pro Women’s crown.
Her motocross-honed speed combined with an aptitude for all things off-road caught the attention of the AMA who drafted her onto the U.S. Women’s World Trophy team for the 2016 FIM International Six Days Enduro in Spain, with the team finishing fourth (often overlooked since the American men won the FIM World Trophy category for the first time). She came back for the 2018 edition in Chile where the U.S. women’s team finished second and in 2019 saw perhaps her greatest off-road achievement when she, Brandy Richards and Becca Sheets topped the competition in Portugal (where the U.S. men won for only the second time).
Gieger took a sabbatical from racing in the latter part of 2020 and most of 2021 when she and her husband decided to start a family. After Mason was born, however, the desire to race was impossible to put on the back burner, so she hit the final few rounds of the NGPCs, finishing second in Pro Women at the final two rounds.
She was back.
With a belly as big as a basketball, pregnant Gieger missed the last half of 2020 and much of 2021 as she and husband Dusty Wygle embarked on the road to parenthood.
That set the promising stage for 2022 and despite missing two rounds, Gieger proved a consistent, speedy presence while finishing off the box only once. Admittedly not able to keep pace with Brandy Richards (who would claim the championship with her third-consecutive undefeated season), Gieger earned third in the final NGPC Pro Women’s points.
However, unknown to all but her closest friends and Johnny Campbell—owner/manager of the Johnny Campbell Racing (JCR) Honda team she’d ridden for over the past few years—Gieger found her focus was no longer solely on racing. Fittingly, Mason (and Dusty, of course) played an ever-growing part of her familial responsibilities as a mom (and wife), and at the NGPC finale, Campbell announced that the race that day at Lake Havasu City, Arizona, would be Gieger’s last as a full-time professional racer.
We sat down with the accomplished sportswoman there in the relative quiet of the JCR box van before she went out for that last race later in the day to get her take on her career and transitioning out of it—at least on a full-time basis.
For those curious about the Puerto Rican motocross scene, while smaller than on the mainland U.S., Gieger grew up in an active moto community along with her dad; she has an older brother who was more into surfing, another sport she enjoys.
“I got sponsored by Honda of Puerto Rico and was on a team with several guys who were winning expert championships there. On the motocross side, there were probably 150, 200 riders and there was a 12-race championship. I know there’s a big off-road scene, but I’ve never been part of that there.”
Husband Wygle and son Mason were the first to greet Gieger at the finish of the NGPC finale in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, her final race as a full-time pro.
While women can often face hurdles in many parts of life that are dominated by men, Gieger doesn’t remember being particularly stymied in her racing pursuits.
“I never really thought there was ever really a hurdle, I guess. I kind of took everything in stride. I didn’t really realize what I was doing at the time; I was just doing the best I could do, and people would tell me, ‘That’s huge! I would like to do that for women’s racing.’
“That was never the reason why I did anything. Selfishly, I’ve just always thought about what I wanted and how I wanted to do it. Luckily, from the outside, that always was appealing to girls and women, and they appreciated and looked up to it and, hopefully, I inspired a bunch of people. I’m not one of those people who toot my horn and say, ‘I did this for women!’ or whatever because I didn’t really—I did it for myself. I knew the side effects would help women out, but it was a personal thing. Motorcycle racing’s dangerous, so if you don’t want to do it for yourself, then you really shouldn’t be out there.”
“I didn’t really realize what I was doing at the time; I was just doing the best I could do, and people would tell me, ‘That’s huge! I would like to do that for women’s racing.’”
No racer can remain at a high level forever, of course, but with Gieger being a pro for nearly 20 years, many took it for granted that she’d be a permanent fixture in the sport.
But the affable and always gracious moto icon explains bluntly, “Well, I’m getting old. I’m 37 already. I don’t know; I’ve just been racing for a while and this year was a year where I wanted to come back after having my kid, Mason.
“I planned always to race until I was ready to have kids then I had a kid and go, ‘You know, I want to race again and come back from this.’
“That’s kind of what this year was. Then I’ve been racing the younger girls coming up—that was a lot of fun going to the races—but it’s tough to catch Brandy. I tried for a while. She just keeps getting faster and faster while I keep riding less and less so that wasn’t really happening.
“But it was just time. My kid’s getting super-busy, and he’s a toddler now. My husband’s still doing all his stuff with Nitro Circus and mountain biking, so it was just hard to find a balance. It’s been a struggle this year with being able to even be fit enough to race, so I was showing up to the race without even getting to ride that much during the week—and it was fine doing it that way. It was just one of those things where I’ve done it and don’t need to keep doing it at this point.”
Fair enough. Everyone retires from their job at some point. Given that, what are some of her favorite memories from each of the varied disciplines she’s competed in.
Gieger quickly adapted to EnduroCross racing after many years racing motocross.
Without hesitation, she offers, “There’s been so many facets to each one of them. Really, they’re their own story. In motocross, winning three Loretta’s titles, racing X Games and winning the first gold medal there in supercross.
“Being invited to race EnduroCross after that—global X Games—then EnduroCross racing the U.S. series. That kind of transitioned me into off-road racing which also coincided with the end of women’s motocross on the professional level. It’s just all these things [in off-road that kept me interested and learning something new. Then a few years ago, I started trying the [AMA Hare & Hound National Championship Series] after doing the NGPC series for a few years prior. It’s one of those things where it has to keep me interested to keep trying. That’s where I was able to go into different disciplines and learn new things.
“Being with Johnny and the race team helped a lot and kept it fun, and they’re so knowledgeable that everything was almost easy to do what I needed to do because the bike was ready for whatever I was wanting to do.
“It’s been fun hitting all these different things. You kind of live in the moment so you don’t think about it but looking back there’s definitely a lot of milestones that would take years to remember!”
Asked to single out a specific memory, Gieger paused before replying: “I think most recently what I put the most work into was Six Days and being able to win in Portugal [in 2019] with the team. That was super-fun! I wish my performance was better, but that was kind of the cards I was dealt. But I was able to help the team out, and we were able to win, so that was super-cool after trying for a couple years on a personal level.
“I wish I had more time to get better at it, though, but that’s all right.”
Credit for Gieger’s off-road success must go at least in part to her motocross-honed speed.
Regarding Six Days, it demands the successful competitor to be well-rounded and not just a speedy racer. In addition to the riding component, there’s the self-sufficient mechanical aspect demanded of the rider who must perform practically all maintenance on the bike with no outside assistance aside from verbal coaching.
Yet, Gieger claimed, “Well, that was easy because I was always hands-on, working on my own bikes. My dad raced when I raced until I turned professional in motocross then he put his racing off to the side to help me full time. Doing EnduroCross, that was all on my own when I was on a KTM. Even when I got back on Hondas, Johnny was helping me, but I was still on my own program doing all the work. And I always worked on my own practice bikes.
“Going to Six Days, that was one of the things that gave me confidence that I could do it because I understand it, and I’ve done it all, and I’m pretty calm and able to work quickly under pressure.”
On the topic of her backflip, she laughs and remembers, “I think I was 18 or something and met Travis Pastrana, and he invited me out to his place with Sarah Whitmore. We had a little competition to see who could do a backflip first.
“It was on little bikes; I tried it on the big bike, but I couldn’t do it, so I just did it on the little bike. I always had the 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.”
“Doing EnduroCross, that was all on my own when I was on a KTM. Even when I got back on Hondas, Johnny was helping me, but I was still on my own program doing all the work. And I always worked on my own practice bikes.”
Successful racers are often self-centered; out of necessity, they need to focus on themselves 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 difficult, no,” she says. “It was just something new. It’s funny because one of the first times I was riding after Mason was born, I totally forgot that I had a kid I actually 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 I’m exhausted and don’t really want to race anymore!’ You put yourself second so when you come to the races it’s tough to be ready for 90 minutes in 90-degree heat.”
“Going to Six Days, that was one of the things that gave me confidence that I could do it because I understand it, and I’ve done it all, and I’m pretty calm and able to work quickly under pressure.”
Off the bike, Gieger has many fond memories that trend toward the moto-related. “Experiencing the stuff I’ve experienced, and being able to travel around with global X Games; we went to Brazil and Spain and Germany and Los Angeles—or maybe it was Austin, Texas, that year; I’m not sure. Experiencing Motocross of Nations was really cool and [so was] being able to represent the U.S. at Six Days and experiencing all that with the team.
“I don’t know, I think everything—and the people—is pretty much what kept me wanting to do it for so long, too. Getting those experiences and with the people I was able to experience it with are unforgettable.”
As with many female riders nowadays, Gieger spent most of her career on 250Fs, though she did try 450s for some training, and she has a fairly strong opinion on the bigger bikes.
“I never raced a 450. I did have one for a while I lived in Florida, so I could ride it in the sand. It’s a lot. I always thought it was crazy when girls would race the 450s; it should definitely be just 250s. I don’t even think the guys should be racing 450s!”
Many times, the most recent memories are our favorites, and Gieger confirms this when asked which team over the years has been her favorite.
“Definitely the JCR team has been the best. They’re the most knowledgeable, I think. Also, the point I was at in my career when I started riding for them, it was not necessarily no pressure, but I didn’t really have to prove anything—I could just go out and ride and do my best. I wasn’t worried about the results so much as focusing on accomplishing what I was setting out to accomplish and that was really great. Johnny was always supportive of whatever I had in mind and whatever series I wanted to be at; he had a bike ready for it.
“I learned a lot on this team. Yeah, I think that’s the best team I’ve been a part of.”
Lots of people—widely accomplished or not—would do things differently if they had it to do all over. For Gieger, however, the regrets are few, though she ponders, “If I could do it different, maybe I’d train a little harder earlier on—or train differently! But that’s just knowledge you gain through the years, right? I don’t think there’s any regrets on anything. It’s just experiences and learning things and changing the way you do it in the future from what you learn. I guess I wouldn’t change anything the way it happened.”
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.
Finally, as a successful motorcycle racer and now mom, Gieger insists she won’t push Mason into a life on two wheels, though she wouldn’t steer him away from it either.
“Mason’s shown a lot of interest; he loves it! Obviously, we don’t pressure him. He’s only a year and a half old; you can’t force that kid to do anything he doesn’t want to! But he’s starting to ride his bicycle a lot and he loves going on motorcycle rides. He’ll hear a bike and scream, ‘Bike!’ He definitely loves it; it’s one of his favorite things.
“It definitely doesn’t scare me. He’s going to do what he’s going to do, so if he can learn those skills earlier in life, it’ll be better, I think, than learning it later on. It’s too early to know where to go and once you start putting money into something and how much you want them to commit. I always would focus on one thing when I was into it, but Dusty is definitely completely different. He’ll do one thing for two days then want to do something completely different where I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m into this’ and I’ll do nothing but that for months.
“It’ll be interesting to see what path Mason takes, if he’s competitive or if he just wants to have fun.”
Either way, Gieger and Wygle will be on a new path and satisfied with the one they’ve traveled thus far. CN
