Local girl biking to success

Quiet and perhaps a bit timid at first, Lili Nosekabel is anything but once you get her going. It’s just one of many ways she takes after her father, Josh.

The Nosekabels are busy folks. Josh works for Vermeer High Plains while also owning and operating his own taxidermy studio — Nosekabel Taxidermy, located in the southeast corner of Red Barn Campground just east of Tea. Lili is your typical elementary student with one exception: she races dirt bikes.

The Harrisburg third grader received her first dirt bike at the age of three when her grandfather purchased a Yamaha EW-15 for her as a gift.

“I rode it for a couple years and we just souped it up,” she said, adding that she and her dad put a lot of stuff into it.

“Yep, stripped it all down, painted it, put high performance parts on it,” said Josh.

But what is a bike without a place to ride it? The Nosekabels were on it.

“We built a little race track down in our field,” Josh continued. “There’s eight or nine jumps altogether. We were just having fun. Daddy/daughter time is what it was.”

His daughter’s new passion was nothing new for Nosekabel.

“I always grew up on dirt bikes,” said Josh, “if it had a motor, you better ride it and have fun.”

He soon realized Lili had inherited the same drive, instincts and talent, and the pair began to look at the possibility of racing.

“For someone who had never raced, overall, we got sixth place out of 18-19 riders our first year,” Josh recalled.

That was 2015.

As with anything, Lili soon outgrew her first bike. She started riding one bike before finally settling on a KTM 50 SX Junior. The Nosekabels are also working on a KTM 65 (a more powerful bike and engine), which Lili will ride in the next year or so, but there's no hurry — she’s already beating 65s on her 50.

This year, Nosekabel has come in fifth, fourth, third and second, but the competitor within her still isn't satisfied.

“I’m trying to make my way to first,” she explained.