Faces of the Valley: 10-year-old Allegheny Township girl revved to compete in national trail bike competitions

Dirt, leaves and blue smoke spray up from the trail bike crisscrossing a wooded hillside every afternoon on Markle Road in Allegheny Township.

The chugging engine of the small Husqvarna dirt bike roars with a twist of the throttle, sending the front wheel airborne as it takes a short hill before cutting hard left, and then right to weave around the trees, logs and rocks along the trail.

The countless hours the young rider has spent in the woods over the past several years have been a fun and exhilarating, but it also has been the key to being able to compete at the national level.

“’Seat time’ is the most important thing,” said Kaylee Burford, 10, as she removes her helmet to reveal her blonde wavy hair after a ride. “It’s like anything else: it takes a lot of practice. You have to be on the trails all the time to learn how to control the bike and get better.”

Kaylee will be among the riders honored at a banquet on Friday, Dec. 8 for participants in the Grand National Cross Country Series in Crawfordsville, Ind., in October, where she finished in eighth among 17 racers in the “micro” division for kids 7 to 9 years old.

She was the only girl to compete in the race.

While it’s rare to find other girls competing in trail races, Kaylee said she never experienced pushback from the boys she has gone up against.

“Some of the boys would say things to me when I tried ice hockey for a while, but that never happens in racing,” she said. “I don’t care if I’m the only girl; I just want to race and try to win.”

Steve Stiller, who organizes the American Woods Racing Championship Series event, said the growth in off-roading as a family activity helped spur overall interest in racing and attracted more women and girls into the sport.

The owner of Stiller Motorsports in Kittanning said children who start out riding ATVs with their parents and siblings frequently express an interest in racing.

“When we host events using small cycles to introduce kids between 3 and 6 years old to riding, we’ll have 40 to 60 children show up,” he said. “Interest in the sport has grown tenfold over the last decade.”

Unlike sports where a person’s size and strength can play a major role in their success, it doesn’t take an athlete’s physique to master a motorcycle.

“There are divisions for women in racing, but most of the women want to compete against the guys,” Stiller said.

“This is a sport that requires a high level of skill and focus. I don’t think there’s any difference between the men and the women when it comes to that,” he said. “And we’re seeing that some of the girls who are racing are kicking the boys’ butts.”

To prepare to compete on weekends, Kaylee said she typically rides an hour or more a day after classes end at Kiski Area Upper Elementary School.

“We pack everything up after work on Friday and head out,” said her father, John Burford. “It’s usually about 12 hours of driving to get to a race.”

Kaylee said the “traveling part” is the only downside to the sport.

“I don’t like (the travel) at all, it’s so boring,” she said. “But you have to get there if you want to race.”

This year the Burford family, which includes Kaylee’s mother, Cynthia; and 5-year-old sister, Kendall, have traveled regularly to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina so she could compete in the All Woods Racing Series.

The competitions are held on 5-mile trails through the woods that are littered with obstructions, hills and turns that test a rider’s skill, focus and endurance. Adults compete in 12.5-mile races, often for cash prizes.

Kaylee said she can’t remember a time when she wasn’t riding a motorcycle.

“My dad and uncle were always riding, and I remember the first time I tried it,” she said.

Burford said his daughter was at a race track watching him compete when she was only 5 days old and started riding shortly after turning 5.

“She didn’t even know how to ride a bike,” Burford said. “But I would adjust the throttle down, hold the back fender and walk alongside her. One day I just let go and she was doing it herself.”

Burford began riding while growing up in Tarentum and competed briefly while in his 20s.

“I finished sixth my first race but really could never afford to continue competing because it can be pretty expensive,” he said.

In addition to the cost of buying and maintaining a racing bike, entry fees and the cost of traveling to events can add up.

To help defray some of the cost, the Burfords are considering several endorsement offers Kaylee has received since she started competing nationally.

Rather than igniting a fire to race, the first solo ride Kaylee took when she was 5 could easily have been used as an excuse to hang up her helmet for good.

“I remember that I looked back and saw my dad standing there while I was riding and then my front wheel hit the back of the bike that was in front of me and I went down,” she said. “But I got right back up and started riding again.”

Once she got the confidence to ride on her own, it didn’t take long for her to figure out how to undo her dad’s work and adjust the throttle back to pick up speed.

The wreck at age 5 served as an early lesson about the dangerous and grueling nature of the sport.

Multiple riders coursing through narrow, winding trails with obstacles at every turn often results in pile-ups.

“I’m pretty good at getting around them, but sometimes you just can’t,” she said.

Even if a rider escapes injury, racing along rough woodland trails on a bike made for speed and agility instead of comfort can take its toll.

“My whole body is sore after a race,” Kaylee said. “Once I did back-to-back races and had to go to the chiropractor afterwards because I was so sore.”

One of the biggest steps in developing the skills Kaylee needed to compete came with the switch from the 50cc automatic transmission motorcycle she learned on to a higher horsepower standard-shift bike.

“I’m always working on how to use the clutch better because it’s so important when racing,” she said.

Breaking away from a pack of racers requires a mastery of shifting up and down through the five-speed gearbox and manipulating the throttle, clutch and brake for sharp maneuvers and quick stops and starts without stalling.

While she’s too young to know exactly what she wants to do when she grows up, the thought of racing professionally is intriguing.

When asked if getting paid to race was something she might pursue, she paused and her eyes grew wide before responding: “That might be a lot of fun!”