LYNDHURST - Three years ago, in the spring of 2015, some family friends offered to sell Tara Welch a dirt bike for her 7-year-old daughter, Gracie Sheets.
"We didn't know what we were getting into," said Welch.
What they were getting into was a complete lifestyle change every year when the weather starts to warm up. This is the fourth summer that Sheets has been racing her dirt bike, taking part in the Virginia Championship Hare Scramble Series (VCHSS).
Hare scrambles are off-road motorcycle races that take the rider through woods and fields and over hills.
Welch and Sheets travel throughout the state to compete. Already this year, Sheets has raced in Ruckersville, Martinsville, and Lynchburg, finishing in the top 10 all three times. Her best finish came her last time out when she finished fifth. Her next race is in Surry on May 27.
There are girl-only classes, but Sheets has chosen to ride in the co-ed division, racing in the Junior Mini II class this year. And while it is co-ed, currently she's the only girl in her class.
"I think [boys are] way more competitive than the girls," she said.
Sheets also said none of the boys have ever said anything to her about being the only girl.
"But now I think that I was in the top five," she said, "they're going to start to really care."
Sheets is a fourth-grader at Wilson Elementary. She also plays basketball and soccer, but dirt bike racing is her favorite sport.
And it can be a little dangerous.
In one race her throttle got stuck and she ran into a tree. She's also been run over by a fellow competitor, but said it didn't really hurt. And last year she flipped over the handlebars, hurting her thigh in the process. She didn't finish that race, getting helped off the course, only the second time that's happened to her in three-plus years of racing.
Even though her mom has been very supportive of her, did the wreck last year frighten Welch at all?
"Oh yeah absolutely," Welch said, "but she didn't want to stop. And it wasn't anything life threatening. It was a bruise."
It helps that Sheets is Welch's fourth child. She's learned to not be as protective through the years.
"You should see her ride a horse," Welch said. "The dirt bike was a lot safer."
During races, Sheets wears racing boots which come up to her knees, a chest protector, knee pads, shin guards, a neck protector, goggles, and a helmet.
The mother and daughter put in a lot of miles for races, going as far as Bristol to compete.
When asked how much they travel, Welch just started laughing.
"A lot," she said. "A lot."
They call it Tara and Gracie's Great Adventures. They'll usually load up their trailer on Friday evening and then, whenever Welch gets off work on Saturday, head out. Races are usually held Sunday mornings.
During the week, Sheets will come home from school and get on her dirt bike, riding throughout the 21 acres where she lives.
For Sheets, the sport is unique. That's part of why she loves it. She is the only one of her friends that races dirt bikes.
"All my friends that are girls think that it's really cool that I'm racing," she said. "And the boys, they don't really care."