BOWDOIN — The sound of revving dirt bike motors filled the air on another busy Tuesday at Wheeler Spring MX. It’s the sound that Alex Lapierre loved growing up as an avid rider.

And it’s a sound that he loves to hear now that he has a place of his own.

“My favorite part is seeing all the smiling faces of the little kids that come off the track and they’re really pumped about riding,” Lapierre said. “And then, just the great feedback I get from parents and even family members. That’s basically the joy that I see out of it.”

Pickle Mason, 4, of Lisbon, adjusts his goggles before heading back out onto dirt bike track at Wheeler Spring MX in Bowdoin on Aug. 25. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Lapierre, 25, owns Wheeler Spring MX, a motocross and dirt bike venue in Bowdoin. Originally just a small track set up by his step father, Wheeler Spring under Lapierre’s watch has become a go-to site for bike enthusiasts in the area, one of only a handful of motocross tracks in the state.

“We’re really lucky to have a place like Wheeler Spring,” said Travis Steward, 35, a rider from Farmingdale. “To have a place like this that they groom and they take care of and they water, it’s really valuable to us, the community. … We have select few people in the area that want to be track owners because there’s a lot of work that goes into it, so we’re really lucky to have this.”

The track got its start in 2001 when Lapierre’s step father, Everett Brown, built a half-mile track for Lapierre to exercise what began as an interest and quickly grew into a passion.

“I always looked forward to it,” Lapierre said. “I always wanted to get home from school, some days I couldn’t even think of school. And I just wanted to go and ride.”

Soon after graduating from Mt. Ararat in 2013, Lapierre’s passion came calling again. He returned to the track, intent on building it back up and making it a busy riding spot again.

“I had this thing in my mind where I wanted to do something with it,” he said. “That’s basically where it started, and usually when I get something in my mind, I just kind of go with it.”

By then, the track was showing its disuse.

“We called it a goat path,” he said. “It was basically a single lane, all grown in, thorn bushes. It was all overgrowth. You could barely see one end of the track from the other end. I took that and started by just clearing it up, so you could ride more than one person in single file, basically.

“Once I started doing that, more visions started coming to mind.”

Lapierre began first restoring the track, and then upgrading it. He added more jumps, extended the track from a half mile to a mile, added safety fencing, installed a spectator tower and put in an office near the entrance to the site.

He had no grand design, and built it more by just adding a bit at a time.

Travis Seward II splashes through a puddle while riding at Wheeler Spring MX in Bowdoin on Aug. 25. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo

“(It was) more make a move here and there,” he said. “At first, I didn’t really have a big vision on how I wanted it, so it was kind of going with the flow of things, really.”

He did, however, have hopes of drawing other riders, and went through the legal steps to acquire the land from his grandparents, set up insurance and formally start a business.

“I always had that point of opening up to have people come here in mind,” he said, “but if it never got to that point, then I’d better find a spot for me and friends and family to ride.”

It didn’t take long. After starting the work in late 2015, Wheeler Spring was opened to the public in 2017, and held practices for riders coming from near and far for two years. In 2019, he began hosting races as part of the Maine Motocross Series. His races drew 230 fans in 2019. He’s hosted two races this year, and each drew roughly 430 fans at the gate.

On race day, that spectator tower he built, which stands in the center of the track, is a prime viewing spot.

“That’s always full,” he said. “It’s hard to find a place to stand there, because from up there it’s a nice central location and you can see just about every part of the track.”

Wheeler Spring now has a busy schedule, with practice days on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The practices draw a good crowd of riders, many of whom enjoy the track for its suitability for all skill levels and local appeal.

Lee Gosselin, of Manchester, flies off a jump while riding at Wheeler Spring MX in Bowdoin on Aug. 25. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo

“It’s really good dirt here, the jumps are really fun,” Steward said. “It’s really tight, so you can see everything. All the racing that’s going on, you can see it from one place. It’s not huge and spread out. It’s that feel of a Maine track. It’s a different feeling when you go to a local track compared to one of the big national tracks.”

Lapierre doesn’t do as much riding these days. As Wheeler Spring has grown in popularity, so have the demands on the man running the show, whether it be working on the track or in the office.

“The way I like to say it to people, ‘it’s a full-time, part-time,’ ” said Lapierre, who owns half of a fence and landscaping business. “It’s basically part-time, but I’m out here as much as I am, if not more, at my full-time.”

Lapierre doesn’t mind. He’s just found a new passion.

“I’m just happy that it’s gotten to the point where people come and they love to ride it,” he said. “It’s always improving. Especially when a lot of the little kids come and ride, it kind of makes me happy to watch the parents be happy, watching their kids race and ride. It’s a good feeling.”

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