I recently went to Little Moab with Jared and my father-in-law. This will be the first video in a monthly podcast we are making. Sit back and enjoy. Look for another video in about a month. We'll let you know as soon as we have our exact release schedule figured out.
This past weekend Sam and I went up to Salt Lake to ride at the Jordan River OHV park. It has 3 MX tracks and 1 grand prix track. I was pretty excited since this would be the first MX track I'd ever ridden on.
The first thing I noticed when we got there was that I was the only guy on a quad. Everyone else was on a dirt bike. I'm still not sure if this was a sign of things to come, or if dirt bikes are just that much more popular in Utah.
After surveying the scene we found that the 3 MX tracks are are divided into novice (less than 125cc has right of way), beginner (greater than 90cc), and advanced (greater than 125cc Motorcycles only).
Since we both could, we both headed for the beginner track to see what this MX hype was all about. After the first turn there was a nice tabletop that got me pretty excited about how things were looking. After the second turn I ran into the mud. This track was had some very muddy sections. Two small jumps were totally unjumpable due to the mud, and one huge tabletop that should have been the biggest air of the whole track was trashed because of the mud.
After we both did a few laps, and repeatedly hit a long step-up at the end of the track Sam decided he wanted to see if the advanced track was in any better shape. Night and day difference. The advanced track was well groomed, had no mud and had about 3 times the amount of jumps. While many of the jumps were above Sam's current skill level, he ended up spending the rest of the day there because the track was in such better shape.
I hope you can feel the frustration pouring out of my words. If we are both riding quads, Sam and I are very similar in skill level. However, since he just picked up dirt biking, I am a much better rider on a quad than he is on a bike. Being delegated to the beginner muddy track while he was able to ride on the nice advanced track soured the experience further for me. It's clearly not a matter of keeping up. I'm not a great track rider, and I don't have the best track quad, but I'm still a better rider than many of the dirt bikers I saw there.
I'm hoping that I just hit the park on a bad day, and the beginner track is usually in far better condition. I do want to go back again some time (hopefully just after the beginner track is groomed) so I can experience the track with my riding ability holding me back not the riding conditions. However the fact that by the end of the day I'd only seen one one other quad riding MX made me think that this wasn't an isolated experience. Quad riders weren't coming then leaving early, they weren't showing up at all.
I hope Sam chimes in with his thoughts on the advanced track as well as the beginner track.
I did find that for track riding my Z is really underpowered. The one nice tabletop that wasn't muddy had too short a runway for my Z. No matter how hard I tried the furthest I could jump was about 5 feet before the down slope. I'm sure on a 450 I could have easily cleared it.
Overall I had a lot of fun, but not nearly as much as I feel like I could or should have. It's not somewhere I'd go every weekend especially with the $10 per rider fee and the hour drive. However I would like to go once or twice a year just for the experience. I hope in the future they do a better job of grooming the beginner track. As well as either letting ATV's on the advanced track, or building ATV's their own advanced track.
Well the trip turned out great. We got off to a bit of a slow start, Jed said we could use his trailer so I didnâ??t unload the snowmobiles off of mine. After work we went to get his trailer and realized it wouldnâ??t work. It doesnâ??t really have sides for motorcycles and my truck doesnâ??t have room for them with the box. So we had to unload the snowmobiles off my trailer. Since I didnâ??t do that during lunch, we ended up being about an 30 minutes later than I thought we would be.
We ended up with an odd crew. Jake was on his new bike, Jed was on his bike, Tiffany was on their 400ex, Will was on his 450r, Katie was on Burkes 80, and Kate and I were on my Grizzly. Thatâ??s right Kate went on her first real 4 wheeler ride.
We did end up going to Monks Hollow. I always forget far it is off the highway. For future reference if you are trying to find it, the turn off is the first paved road after you pass some huge cliffs. The cliffs, and the paved road will both be on the right side of the road, if you are coming from Highway 6.
Monks Hollow was the same as always. Pretty dusty, gorgeously green, and all around a blast. We went up to the summit, but decided not to ride down the Long Hollow side.
My wife was a little worried about the dust for Kate, so we ended up giving everyone a large lead every time we started. Add that to the fact that we drove about half our normal speed, we ended up driving by ourselves most of the time. While we were driving she kept saying â??Dad whereâ??s your friends?â? And when I would tell here that they were ahead of us she would say â??Letâ??s catch them.â?
On the way back from the summit, Kate decided we should sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. So I sang at the top of my lungs all the way down the canyon. We mixed a few 3 blind mice and other songs into the mix, but mostly it was TTLS. Jed, Will and Jake took a detour up Teat mountain on the trip home and said they could hear us singing from on top of the mountain. Iâ??m sure it was the most beautiful singing theyâ??ve ever heard.
Despite leaving my house at 6:30 instead of 5:30 like I had wanted too, I think the trip went near perfectly. We got in a good couple hours riding. No one got hurt. And Kate came. I guess the only downside was that Tiff wasnâ??t feeling very well. She was a trooper, but I think sheâ??d have just as soon stayed home in bed. Poor girl.
We decided that it was time to go and ride Long Hollow up Spanish Fork Canyon. I don't know who's idea it was to get up and 5:15 am to ride but we got up anyhow! We met Jim in Covered Bridge and loaded up his quad. We waited for Rich, and Jake to show up because they forgot to get gas which turned out awesome because Jim was out of gas.
We arrived at our destination, unloaded and watched some dude get out of his VW bug that he was sleeping in. I think he was pissed at us because we probably woke him up. We headed up the trail one by one. We were met with the cool mountain air, but we went fast enough to numb our hands. Once we got up on top the layers of clothing started to come off. It was really sunny and the switch backs got your blood running a bit. After a short break we raced towards our final destination (Teat Mtn).
We started on the trail that is considered a black on the trail rating system. This trail was pretty knarly on a bike but short work on a ATV. On the steep rocky switch backs caused some concern, I think this is the only time I have heard Jake complain of spinning out (hinting that his bike maybe was too powerful!). We crested the ridge and rode for a bit and came to a huge drift. Mike decided to ride his griz over it to see if this was just check out the pics one of the road blocks. I rode my bike around and down this really steep hill. But we should have listened to rich.
A few corners down from the first snow bank was a downed tree and more snow. We decided to turn back but now we had to get my bike and Mike's griz up the snow bank. I knocked out a ledge for my bike tires, and Mike helped me push it up the steep drift. We then had Jim film Mike, Rich, Jake, and I attempt to help push the Griz up the snow drift. I thought we would have to give it a few try's but I was wrong we were able to push him up the bank on the first try. Since our road was blocked we went back down the trail and road to Monks Hollow which ends up in a parking lot up Diamond Fork.
We cruised down the trail and arrived at the Parking lot were we took a break. The whole time we were riding Mikes tire was losing air, and it was showing when we stopped at Monks. We headed back up the trail towards the trucks, stopped a few times to enjoy the beautiful scenery. When we got back to the truck Mikes tire had 0 psi in it! Radial Maxxis tires are awsome. All in all it was a awesome trip that was well needed. but Next time we will get up at 4:30 am
Saturday Jed invited me to go riding. His sister Katie has a friend who is building a track up Goshen Canyon, so he decided to go camping with them. I ended up driving there in the morning.
We got ready to ride and Jeds brother Will told us that we weren't supposed to ride on the track. This made us kind of frustrated, since it was the whole reason we came. We decided to explore the surrounding trails instead.
Let me tell you something that really frustrates me. We ride down this trail that goes up and over the mountain. We get to the bottom on the other side, get ready to turn around and see a sign that tells us the road we just came on is restricted to motorized vehicles. I promise there was no sign where we started. I try my best to only ride on designated trails.
I know that there are lots of people doing their best to shut down as much of the world as they can to ATV's. It just frustrates me when there are no signs, or more likely, someone has vandalized the signs and torn them down. The guy who owns the track did say that it was private land, but the owner doesn't mind people riding on the trail, at least on his side of the mountain. So hopefully we didn't contribute to the negative attitudes towards ATV's.
Anyway back to riding. This "Illegal" trail we rode on was pretty cool. It had some really steep and rocky sections. Jed ended up flipping a rock lose and doing a 180 on his bike. I know it kinda hurt when is handlebars hit him in the side, but I must admit it looked pretty cool from behind.
I have to say though, that this trail really helped impress me with how good a rider Jed's wife Tiffany is. Some of these sections were quite steep with rocks all over the trail. There was also a long section that was very off camber. She kept up with us and didn't complain a bit. I know my wife would have made me drive up some of the hills.
I did say this was about a track didn't I? When we got back from our little private property excursion, we drive towards camp and see Will and his friend racing around the track that we were told not to ride on. Apparently he was wrong, and we could ride on the track. It's a good thing too, because there were no trails around. Everything trail but the one we had gone on was gated.
The track is pretty sweet, however it isn't quite finished yet. First of all it has no jumps. This kind-of disappointed me because I love jumps. One S turn about 3/4 of the way through the track wasn't quite finished yet and had some rough spots. It was also very very dusty.
I've never ridden on a real track before so I was pretty excited to give this one a try. This track had some crazy turns. There were 2 U-turns on the down hill slope of very steep hills. I have to admit my first lap around the track I wasn't ready for how steep the hills were nor for the turn I would have to make on them and I went off the track both times. Despite my set backs, I was able to get around the track faster than Jed on his bike, Katie and her friend on a Raptor 660, and Tiffany on their 400ex.
After our first race we lined up with Will and his friend on their CR450's, Jed on the Raptor, and me on my little Z. Let me just say that power makes a big difference. There are a few straight-away's that go up some hills and the bikes and Jed were able to really pull away from me. I tried to catch them in the corners but between the golf ball sized rocks Will was spraying at me and the dust so thick I couldn't see 5 feet in front of me I decided I really didn't mind losing this 1 lap race.
Jed, Will and I then did 2 Timed laps each. Will went first and did his first lap in 2 minutes 35 seconds. I went next on and did 2:38. I must admit it felt pretty good to be so close behind will. Jed then did a lap on the raptor at 2:36. For lap 2 Jed rode his 400ex and got 2:51. Will got 2:33, and I shaved a second off to get 2:37.
For comparison one of the top racers in the country did the track a few weeks earlier and got 2:18, and Katie on the raptor was able to do a lap in 3:05. That means I'm about as much better than Katie, is a Pro is better than me. I think I can live with that.
I have to admit the competitor in me really wanted to beat Jed. It did make me feel a little better to know that on a similarly CC'd machine I beat him by 15 seconds, and and he only beat me by 1 second on the Raptor.
After our timed laps we headed back to camp for a snack. We asked the owner if we could use the bobcat sitting there to build a Jump. He said yes, so we tried to build a table top out of a bunch of dirt that was lying around, but the bobcat was having issues. The track owner then came over and started to build us a jump with his back hoe. He was making good progress, but then started too feel paranoid about people suing him for using this jump on an unfinished track. So he stopped.
He turned a dirt pile into the worlds smallest table top. It was OK to jump off of, but definitely not what we had in mind. Will found a way to jump off the side and land on the jump which was pretty sweet on his bike. Jed and I kinda just drove over the jump a few times. I tried to actually jump it twice, and came as close to crashing as I have in a long time. We're talking landing on 1 tire leaning completely the wrong way and getting slammed forward on to the other corner of your quad. This was a bike only jump it seemed.
I know Tiffany got several pictures of us hitting the jump, although she missed me almost crashing because she was too busy waiting for me to die. I'll try to get Jed to post the pictures.
When the track is done I think it will be awesome. They are hoping to have it ready so it can be used for WORCS this fall. There will also be at least one more track added to the area. I hope to go back in a month or so when things have come closer to completion and there are actually jumps.
Sam and I went riding on friday. We debated going a few places, but ended up going out by Elberta. It's only about 30 minutes from Sam's house in Payson, so we figured we could get 3 or 4 hours of riding in before it got dark.
Sam was on his bike and I was on my Z. Unlike the Grizzly, the Z and a bike can fit into the back of my truck, so we were able to ride in 1 vehicle without a trailer which was nice.
We went there last year, but this year we stopped just after we got off the highway where we saw some tiny sand dunes. Did you know there were dunes in Elberta? Neither did I. Don't get me wrong, this is no little sahara. We're talking 1-200 yards wide and maybe a mile long, but boy was it fun.
There were no big dunes, and therefore no big jumps. We mostly found ourselves finding little drop-offs or bumps to jump off of. We found one little hill that we were able to double off of that was a blast. It didn't have much of a lip, so if you hit it too fast you would buck your back end too much, and if you hit it to slow you couldn't clear the second jump. When there is are no big jumps around I love finding little technical things like this. They may not give you the same rush, but there is a certain satisfaction you get from hitting a jump just right.
There was also a bit of a loop that ran thru the dunes then west into the desert. It had some long whoop sections which were pretty fun to cruise on, although they did get a tad tiring. It's hard for me to imagine doing a long cross country race with long whoop sections. After 2 or 3 times I was definitely ready for a bit of a rest.
Once I was cruising down a long whoop section in the sand that ended in a wash. Luckily I had gone that way earlier in the day and new the bottom was mostly flat, so I slowed down as much as I could and then just jumped off of it. Tearing through whoops only to see the trail drop off ahead of you is one of those moments where you have to pause just to let your heartbeat slow down.
Along the loop there was also an old gravel pit that people have been apparently using as a target range. It's too bad people left all their old junk there. I like target practice as much as the next guy, but there aren't many things uglier than old shot up cans, Computers and VCR's.
This pit did have a nice ledge we were able to drop off of in a few places. The landing was very steep, and therefore very short. Like most things do the first time I try them jumping off this ledge scared the crap out of me. Barely goosing it off the top and I landed just before the bottom. The picture doesn't really do the landing justice, and sadly the batteries died after that shot so I wasn't able to get another. Despite that I think the shot looks pretty good.
Overall this was a very satisfying trip. There are still plenty of trails for us to explore and it is relatively close so I plan on going again soon.
Next time you find yourself in Elberta. Look for some sand.
Last weekend I went to visit my parents in St. George and we brought along the quads for a short trip to Sand Hollow.
I forgot the camera again. I really can't believe I did. I went through a ton of effort making sure we got the camera to St. George, and that it had fresh batteries and enough room on the memory stick. Then I left it on the kitchen counter at the condo. Ugh. We managed to get a few videos with Jared's phone, but I expect the quality will make YouTube look like HD.
Our group of six consisted of my brothers, my brother in law, and myself. Ken rode my Grizzly 700. Joe rode his Brute Force 650i. Jason and Ben rode our uncles Raptor 700's. Jared rode my dads 400ex and I rode my z400.
The dunes in Sand Hollow aren't set up like they are in Little Sahara. From the launching area you look north into the lake, and south into a long hill of red sand. After the hill are some sand trails thru the red rock that always go longer than I expect them to, and then you get to the real dunes.
Forgetting the camera should have been a sign that things weren't going to go perfectly that day. At the top of the big hill on one of its dunes, and before the sand trails Keni flipped the Griz. He came over the hill a little too fast and the came over to 2 different transitions. One tire was on a steeper hill than the other and with his speed he couldn't maintain control. He hit the sand pretty hard, got back up to right the quad, then fell to his knees and blacked out for a few seconds. Joe was there to help him, and after a few minutes they got moving again.
We barely got through the sand trails when we noticed Keni had a flat. He and Joe went back to the trucks to try to pump it up, but it was no good. I think it is just off the bead and the dinky little pump they had didn't have enough power to push it back on, but I haven't had time to really look at it yet. We did have 2 trucks so they loaded the quads on the trailer and headed home.
After they left things went much better. I didn't have paddles so I did a little rock crawling which was a blast. We found a bunch of nice dunes and we all had fun jumping. Jason didn't jump much, but he enjoyed riding around. Ben was really getting into it, and he really liked the Raptor. We'll have to take him to Little Sahara with us sometime. Jared got to ride the EX and he says he quite likes it. He isn't super happy with how low the seat sits, but says it jumps and rides great.
For my part I loved every second of the trip and was sad when we had to leave. Ben kept trying to get us to go back to the truck but there was always one more dune I had to hit a few times. The Z is still treating me great. I still want to pipe it, but a pipe is pretty low on the priority list right now.
I wish Keni's trip wouldn't have been short and painful, but overall it was a good trip. It's the first time I've ever ridden with all of my brothers, and I hope we can do it again sometime.
Jared, Sam and I went to Little Sahara last weekend. This is the first time I've gone to the dunes in the middle of the winter. Sam rode his bike, and Jared and I switched back and forth on my Grizzly and my Z. It was a different riding experience than we normally have in the dunes, but it was still a blast.
The biggest difference about this trip compared to others is there were very few jumps. Snow on the sand, or poor lips, or old hard tracks from previous riders made big air non existent. We hit a few small jumps but mostly ended up just riding around. Since we had the grizzly in tow, this turned out great. No one felt bad not jumping and we were able to just cruise. We did a lot more exploring than we usually do. I think wintertime is a great time to see the places you rarely go to at the dunes. I think we might try one of the other campgrounds next time we go down.
Despite the cold (it was about 30 degrees the whole time we were there) I think the dunes are a great alternative to parking the quads in the winter. Your small quads and big quads can get in on the action and everyone will have about the same amount of fun. It might be hard for me to get people to go, since I know Jed and Sam would rather snowmobile, but I plan to make several dune trips this winter.
I've gone riding the last 3 weekends in a row. I have to ask myself why didn't I do this all summer long? These haven't been long rides. We've been back by noon every day. It has been a blast however. Sure I wish I had time every week to camp for a few days on the Arapeen or Paiute trails but I don't. What I do have time for is a few hours of Saturday morning riding at one of the trails close by. I know I couldn't have done it every Saturday, but I could have done it a whole lot more than I did.
We haven't gone anywhere new yet. Just the old standbys Lake Fork and Monks/Long Hollow. Both trails are located just a few miles up Spanish Fork canyon. Monks Hollow and Long Hollow are different entrances to the same trail. Monks Hollow is much more domesticated with a nice parking lot and outhouse. It is located up Diamand Fork canyon about 6 miles or so. Long Hollow is located just off highway 6 as soon as the road goes from 4 lanes to 2. Lake Fork is located just off highway 89 less than a mile off highway 6.
Our first trip was just me and Sam and we went to Monks Hollow. I really hadn't been there for about 10 years and was surprised by how much I liked it. The trail system connects to a bunch of trails up Sheep Creek as well as Benny's mountain. Making the system lots bigger than it used to be. When I rode there 10 years ago there was just the Monks Hollow to Long Hollow trail which is only good for about an hour or two of riding. With the new connections to Sheep Creek and Benny's I'd say you could spend a whole day on this system.
We did go to the summit, but instead of going down Long Hollow we turned around and headed up the "Most Difficult" rated trial to the tower and Sheep Creek. It's quite a fun ride although I didn't think it was that difficult. I guess these big 700 4x4's make everything easy. The tower is a good place to enjoy the view and have lunch. However, since we had no lunch we just enjoyed the view. After our non lunch we headed down towards Sheep Creek. That trail was also pretty fun. We rode down to within shouting distance of the Sheep Creek road. I hear you can ride into the cafe off Highway 6, but since we had left our wallets in our trucks we decided turn around and call it a day. I wish I had brought my camera. It's beautiful up there this time of year and there are some really gorgeous views. I really had a blast, and can't wait to go back. Next time we go I think we'll try lunch at the cafe.
Week two Jed, Sam, and I went to Long Hollow. It was freezing cold. Like 19 degrees when we got out of the truck. I had mostly brought warm enough clothes but I forgot warm gloves. Luckily Jed had some leather gloves that I was able to put on over my riding gloves. Still my fingers just about froze solid on the way to the summit. We then headed up to the tower. We had a snack, threw some rocks at beer cans someone had left up there, and then came home. It was a shorter trip, but we still had a lot of fun.
After riding the two trails back to back I'd have to say I prefer the Monks Hollow side to Long Hollow. Long Hollow is chock full of cow crap and loose rocks. Lots and lots of loose rocks. Monks Hollow also has some nice water breaks that make nice jumps. While Long Hollow is closer I'd say its worth the extra 5 minute drive in your truck to go to Monks.
This past weekend Sam and I went to Lake Fork. I was able to take the camera this time so we got a few good pictures. It was not as cold as last week, but it still got a bit nippy when you got further up the canyon. This time I brought my snow gloves though, so I was able to stay nice and warm. This ended up being extra beneficial because I ended up riding thru the river several times at high speed and had my gloves not been waterproof I think that would have ended my trip. As you can see from the picture it was a blast.
Lake Fork is quite a bit different from the Hollows. While it has a few branches that go off that are two track only the main road can be done in a car. This leads to more fast riding and a little less enjoying the scenery on the main road. Most of the side roads end up dead ending after a mile or so, but they are still fun to see the end of. One trail we always go on every time we go to Lake Fork is Smiths reservoir.
The trail to Smiths reservoir used to be a lot rougher. They apparently graded it this summer. So while I didn't find it quite as fun as I have in the past it was still worth the trip. Once we got to the reservoir we had a snack and enjoyed the view. The lake itself is pretty, but I also love looking off the cliff where the reservoir drains. I'd say this is a must stop destination if you go to Lake Fork. Bring a lunch and enjoy it. We were on a bit of a time crunch because my honey-do list was pretty big so after lunch we headed home.
Between Lake Fork and the Hollows I think choosing one or the other really comes down to one thing. Camping. Up Lake Fork you can take your fishing poles, find a nice spot to camp with your truck, and make a nice night out of it. There are plenty of camping spots off the main road with some that can fit a sizable amount of people. I have camped up Monks Hollow, but we only had a few people and we had to haul everything in on 4 wheelers. There are also a lot fewer places to camp. I'd say for camping choose Lake Fork, and for good 2 track riding choose Monks Hollow.
You can see pictures are from our Lake Fork trip here
We went up to Joe's cabin for the 24th. The weather was awesome. It had just rained so it wasn't horribly dusty and the temperature was great. The altitude helped with that I'm sure.
We went for a few rides with the girls and kids. With them it was mostly just cruising around the main roads. I was packing Kate the whole time and boy does she love riding. For some reason though, she thinks a quad is some kind of mechanical rocking chair. It puts her to sleep every time.
Natalie got to drive the Grizzly for the first time somewhere besides our lawn. She really likes it. She was able to get everywhere we went with confidence. It always makes me feel better when she is excited about quads.
Once we ditched the girls and kids, Joe and Brad and I went for a ride. Joe had his Brute Force 650. Brad was on his Sportsman 800. And I was on my Grizzly. Charles tried to come with us on the Foreman, but the breaks on it have never been great and he wasn't comfortable taking it on the super steep trail we were going on.
There are probably more trails than those we went on, but we didn't have tons of time to ride. We mostly spent our time riding this one really deep ravine. The trail crossed it only twice, but where it did it was pretty tall, and very steep. These big quads are amazing. They ripped up and down those hills like they were nothing. I started trying to find stuff to hit on the way up.
Not as fun as say our last dune trip, but it was still a blast. Last year I kept waiting for the "Big Trip" to come and I ended up hardly riding at all before the fathers and sons. Once we got there I remembered how much I really love this sport. I also realized how much fun a short ride can really be. Not every trip can be an all day thing, but adding up all the little trips can easily make up for one.
We got loaded up on Thursday and left the office by 5:15. Natalie and Megan were iffy up until the time we left, and neither ended up coming. Our crew ended up being Jim, Jed, Sam, Mike, Richard, and Jen and Christi (sp?) friends of Jed and Richard.
Counting gas and getting everyone loaded we left Spanish by about 6:15. Not bad compared to how long we usually take. About half way to the dunes we realized Jed who was gonna be an hour late had all the keys in his glove box. Ugh. Luckily this wasn't some kind of foreshadowing of the rest of the trip.
Once Jed arrived we hit the dunes. The girls didn't feel comfortable driving so they doubled with Jed and Richard. We found some pretty good jumps, and being this late in the day the weather was pretty good. Probably high 80's. We found a few cool jumps. I found a fun little step up but the camera wasn't around for it. Sam found a gap that looked way scarier than it ended up being. And we found one pretty nice jump that we all hit like 50 times, although we only got a few pictures and clips of it.
Once it got dark we loaded the quads in the trailer and headed over to sand mountain. With all our stock 400's sand mountain doesn't really excite me that much. But we had Byron's YFZ and Jims raptor so we decided we had to try em out. Besides, what else are you gonna do in the dark?
The mountain ended up being a more fun than I expected it to be. Don't get me wrong I won't be camping there anytime soon, but it was a fun night trip. We did a few drags with each other, and some kids from cedar city hooked up with us for a while as well. In our group the YFZ was the fastest. But the kid from cedar had a TRX450R that stomped us. Really most of the people who camped there could stomp us. Which brings me back to my reason for not loving sand mountain. If you don't have a built machine, driving up the hill maxxed out in second gear isn't all that exciting.
After riding an hour or two at the mountain we headed home for bed. I should comment on the crowds. There were none. When we got to White Sands and didn't see a soul. Usually we just look for the first empty spot to pick a camp spot. This time we actually had options and hardly knew what to do with ourselves. We only saw maybe 15 riders at White Sands the whole trip. And even though there were more rigs than that at the mountain, when we were there we probably only saw 15 guys riding.
We got up with the light, and were riding by 5:30am. The weather was great. High 60's. Early on we found a pretty awesome gap. Sam and I hit it several times before the runway got too messed up. We also found the jump where we got our nice group shot at last time. It wasn't wide enough anymore to get another group shot, but we got a few cool train shots.
Now the part I've been dying to type. Right next to camp there was a jump I wanted to hit. After we stopped one time for a snack and started to go again I told everyone I should it it. It was a big step up. Everyone said no. Punks. So I said I'd hit it later and we went to ride some more. After an hour I said it was time. Sam was pretty adamant I shouldn't do it. And everyone kinda agreed. But I was sure I could. So I did.
This was the biggest jump I've ever hit. Jim counted 65 feet from launch to landing. And the step was only 10 feet from the landing so it was a good 55 foot gap. After I hit it competitive mode kicked in for Sam and he cleared it also. It was so freaking awesome. We hit some other jumps and did some that were pretty fun but nothing could compare to this one. My head is still in the clouds and I've probably watched the video 100 times already.
All in all I'd say this was the best trip I've ever had. We ended up leaving by 11:00am because it started to get hot. It was high 90's by then. But with our night rides and early departure we probably rode as much or more than we usually do in a day.
Enough talk. Picture and video time. "Click here":http://atvcowboy.com/atvgallery/?g2_itemId=10388 for the whole album. "Click here":http://atvcowboy.com/atvgallery/?g2_itemId=10852 for the video compilation and "click here":http://atvcowboy.com/atvgallery/?g2_itemId=10390 to see the biggest jump Sam and I have ever hit.
John, Sam, Bruce and I went to long hollow on saturday. Long Hollow is the other side of Monks Hollow. It is a tougher route, but a little closer to the highway. I was the only quad, I need to get some more people to represent.
We had a blast. Bruce's tires were a little over inflated, so he had trouble staying on the trail at first. But after we figured out the problem he started to have fun. We didn't ride too far, just up the main trail to the summit, and up a few side trials. It was very cool that time of day (we got there around 7:00 am), which was a nice break from the 100° weather we've been having.
The only bad part about the trip was the cows. There were cows all over the trail. And since it is a pretty tight canyon, instead of getting off the trail when you came up on them, they just ran up the trail in front of you. Taking their time I might add. After you finally got past them, you'd realize they left you a present. My fenders are covered in cow crap. And I got a fair amount on my jersey as well. The road was narrow enough that I couldn't get around ever pie, and since they were fresh they spray all over. The Z isn't know for having super fenders. Stupid cows.
We only had one roll that I know of. Sam took Bruce's bike up a really steep hill and when he got to the top he snagged a rock, put his leg down to catch himself, and realized it was the downhill side. The bike went down on his side and stopped. One good thing about bikes is that it didn't keep going down the mountain. Luckily I don't think anything was hurt but his pride.
There was one little muddy section I found that I wish i'd had a 4x4 for. It was a steep ravine filled with rocks and mud. I got high centered about 50 times, but working it back and forth, reversing several times, and picking just about every possible path, I was able to conquer the muddy hill! Man I love quads. If I end up getting a 4x4, I'm gonna have to find that mud hole again because I think it would be a nice place to test clearance and 4WD.
Well since no one would go riding with me yesterday I went by myself. I got there and the track was empty, which was good because I had forgotten my goggles and dealing with other people's dust probably would have ruined the trip. I forget how rough that track is. There are just a million little bumps everywhere. I got several blisters even with my gloves on, and my back and arms are pretty sore today.
I had a blast though. There are basically 3 good jumps. One is on the north side of the track. You hit a little berm going north which sends you east into the jump. It's basically just a big roundish hill, but you can get some decent air on it. The scary part is if you hit it too fast you can clear it, although i've never quite hit it that fast yet. I did miss the landing to the left a little bit once, which was pretty scary. The second jump isn't big or anything it is just smooth and fun. It is a little double near the entrance.
And the best jump of course is the big one in the middle. You just have to make sure you hit it going south west and not south. If you hit the side that seems like it would be the most natural jump it almost always throws you sideways, and the landing is pretty flat. But if you it it going south west you can get some pretty decent air. I did have it throw me sideways a few times when I hit it on a tad wrong angle. Landing on the front right tire is pretty scary, but I pulled out of it every time I'm sure it helped with the blisters. Most of the time though, it is an awesome landing. I must have hit it over a hundred times, and I was only riding for about an hour.
No pictures since I was alone. Maybe next time I can con someone into going with me. Like I said before, it's not as fun as West Mountain, especially since it is so small. But at 5 minutes away it can be a good quick hour of fun.
I've been waiting to write about this trip till I got the pictures up, and I was too lazy to encode all the video for the web. I finally did it today though. There is a compilation video and a few pictures in the gallery.
We had a good time. Jed and Sam were on their bikes and I was on my Z. There are a ton of crappy jumps there, so at first we were kinda disappointed in the place. But if you looked hard enough, you could find some pretty fun jumps. Nothing spectacular, but fun none the less.
There were some pretty steep hills near the track, and one of them turned out to be a pretty fun jump. I think it is the one we got the most video's of. Sam never did it on his bike, but did hit it on my Z.
Jed hit the table top a few times, and said it wasn't nearly as scary or cool as we thought it would be. I was too chicken to hit in on the quad because it had these metal beams poking out the jump and the landing. The bikes could fit between them, but I couldn't really on my quad.
There is a pretty sweet double that I want to try again once I get my shocks upgraded. I'm not positive I can get enough speed, and if you watch about half way thru the video you'll see me not clear it. It is my official nemesis.
Towards the end of the day we found a little jump that had quite the lip for a landing. It took me a while to talk myself into jumping it. And in the end of course, it turned out to be quite an easy jump. Jed and Sam both cleared it. Although the first time Jed did you can barely see in the video him casing it pretty hard.
Not the best place to ride, but not bad either. I'd rate it better than the SF trackthing, but miles behind the dunes. Still, for a short 3 hour or so trip, it was pretty fun.
Finally the stars aligned and all of the 4 wheeler cowboys were able to go on this trip. It started out to be a huge camping trip. But now that families are the most important it ended up only a few could stay overnight. Jed, Rich and I loaded all of the quads on Friday. Later that day Jed and Rich headed off to the dunes and I headed north to spend the evening with my in-laws. I was about 10:15pm before I arrived at the dunes because of all the things we all forgot to bring. When I arrived Jed and rich told me that they had waited in line for more than 40 minutes at the entrance of the Dunes. So as usual we got the camping spot nobody wanted.
The people at camp consisted of our cousin Aaron, his budddy Rick, Katie, and Trent. So we chilled around the camp fire for a while and tried to make things exciting by making a stream of old mixed gas on the dunes and then light it on fire. Lets just say it was very retarded! So we all decided that it was time to retire. Rich and I pumped up my huge air bed and Aaron couldn't seem to understand why I needed to have such a sweet bed for camping (Its the only way to go!). After sleeping for a few hours I woke up in a rage after the sound of a piped fourstroke screamed by our trailer. Some loser was riding at 3:00 am. So needless to say the sleep wasn't as good as it should have been. I was the first to get out of bed (6:30ish). I started the chain of everyone slowly getting out of bed. We ate our healthy breakfeast of cold cereal. By this time the sun was just coming over the mountains (quite the view). I started warming up the bikes and sorting through my gear. We decided that we would go for a quick ride before everyone else showed up (John, Dave, Jim, Doug, and Dan) . I started out riding my CRF250x because the sand still was a little wet from the dew which makes the sand harder and easier to ride on. I was happy when Katie jumped on Mike's decked out TRX400ex. This meant I could switch her when needed (thankyou Katie)!
We crested the dunes and found some really good table tops. We rode around a bit, I laid my bike down on one of the big tables which wasn't the scary part. The scary part was that Jed was right behind my and missed me by a prayer.
By this time John and Dave were scheduled to arrive so we went back to camp and sure enough Johnny's Duramax was there so we fired up another quad for Dave and John was riding his CRF250x. After a quick ride and rad wreck by Rick on his pit bike. We again headed back to camp. Mike and showed up without Jim because he had left them because they weren't ready to go. We went on another ride this time finding even better jims and so I switched back the mikes 400ex to test out the new upgrades (also I'm not all that good on the bike yet). I tell ya mikes EX rocks. I was able to out jump everyone except Mike, but there were a few times that the EX flew a little better than the Z but most of the time mike was jumping further. Jim, Jed, and Rich were both jumping well also Jed seemed to really like the raptor 700. Rich probably would have out jumped us all but he didnt have paddleson the YFZ450. John was also getting vert with his bike which made me excited. It was Dave and Dan's first time to the dunes and they seemed to enjoy it. But I have to say the Mike's EX is one of the best flying quads I have ever ridden. The shocks are close to being perfect (thanks to the 450R and GT Thunder rebuild). We really found some sweet jumps we had a ton of people so the riding was a little slower but all the riders were awsome so it was way fun also no one was hurt. You will have to check out the pictures.
I've been dying to go riding but didn't have much time, definitely not enough to go to the dunes. So I decided I'd try that little track/field off of highway 6. Jim said he could spare an hour so we headed over. I forgot he doesn't have a truck anymore, which made it even nicer that it was a close trip. We were able to just do 2 trips from my house to haul the quads over. It took about 20 minute to get both quads from my house to the track. This obviously would have been faster with a trailer, but I don't have one.
I've known about it for years, but always thought it was private property. Well I asked my neighbor, and he said he rides it all the time and has never seen any signs. So I'm guessing whoever owns it doesn't care.
It's not the best track. There are whoops everywhere. Almost every jump is has a horrible runway of whoops. But for 2 hours of fun, I can't complain at all. The one jump that produced the best pictures, had a lip that easily threw you off balance to the right, and the landing was a little slanted to the left. This can make for a pretty crappy landing. If you hit it just right though, it wasn't bad.
My biggest problem is the shocks on the Z are set up way to light. I was definitely maxxed out on my landings. I'm hoping once I get my Elka's I can risk a little more air time. The EX handled the landings better, but I'm so used to the Z that it felt weird getting on the EX and I wasn't very comfortable flying with it. I'm sure if I spent the whole day on it i'd be OK, but I'd rather ride my own quad.
Not a bad place to ride for a quick trip, I hope to make a habit of riding there for an hour or 2 after work. Waiting one or two or even three weeks to ride is killing me.
Because Jed's birthday is next month, we decided that any time we want to go camping in the near future we can use that as an excuse. Since it was "for his birthday" Jed picked our location. We headed out past Eureka, but instead of turning south towards the dunes we went west a few miles and found a nice camp spot out in the sand.
Natalie didn't really like the location, she said she'd way rather be somewhere with less sand, and more shade. Like Lake Fork or Dairy Fork or Monks Hollow or something. Anyway, there was no snow there, so that meant good traveling on sport ATV's and motorcycles. Natalie and Kate and I brought my father-in-laws camp trailer, so Kate would be tied down.
The riding was pretty good. When we were with the girls we rode down a couple OK trials, but nothing spectacular. Once we ditched them we found this endless ravine. It could have been a bit more fun if there wasn't so much sage brush and dead wood in the bottom, but it was still a blast. It opened up every couple minutes of riding and provided some OK to crappy jumps. I think it was built a little more for motorcycles than quads.
On our way back to camp from our long "guy only" ride, we found another ravine that was a little more open and provided some better jumps for the ATV's. Hopefully I can get the pictures from Jed. Still nothing like the dunes as far as jumps, but we had a lot of fun nonetheless.
The weather was perfect while riding, but did get a little hot at camp. And the lack of shade from the tree's is probably why Nat didn't think the location was all that great. I think the area would have been better if there had been more side trails. Jed claims there are somewhere, but I didn't see them. All around it was a fun trip, but I'd rather do Nutty Putty or Dairy Fork.
So we headed out to the west side of Utah Lake near nutty putty caves and had a blast. We were hoping to have some pictures, but the camera Eric brought had dead batteries. Bummer. Our crew consisted of Me (z400), Sam(CRF250X), Jed(400ex), Jim(Raptor), and Eric(Raptor).
This was the first real ride of Jim and Eric's "GYTR Raptors":http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelhome/542/0/home.aspx (Sure they've been ridden at CBC, but in the winter time there aren't many places to go off the road). They are awesome. They are very roomy and the ride is very plush. I love the torque they put out. I like my handlebars better, as they are a little wider and taller. I've really want to ride an outlaw to compare, but of the quads I have ridden, I'd rate it the best sport trail quad out there. Especially for a bigger rider. Once we hit the dunes we'll see how it jumps.
The conditions were pretty good. It was in the mid thirties, which is warmer than its been in a while. There were a few inches of snow on most of the trails which made the riding slow for sam on his motorcycle, but was tons of fun on the quads. We only had a few hours to ride, so we didn't venture very far from the truck. I forget how many trails there are out there.
We ended up spending most of our time jumping out of a few ravines, and hitting a tabletop someone made. The ravines were fun. Didn't make the best jumps, especially since they had flat landings, but still a lot of fun. We also dropped into a few of them. I was still a little hesitant to hit the drops after my crash a few years ago up at CBC. But after Jed dropped a few times I gave it a shot. It was pretty cool, but a little shallow at about 8 to 10 feet. Barely goosing it off the top and I landed my front tires just as it started to get flat. Sadly while we were in the ravines Eric got a flat, ending his ride.
We finished the day hitting the table 20 or 30 times. It had a weird lip that took some getting used to. It basically had a very weak lip, followed by a second lip. So if you didn't give it pre-load on the first lip, you would tap the second. Sam jumped the furthest (on the raptor, it had an Icy as crap entry and a snowing landing so he didn't really try on the bike), and I jumped the highest . We figure the difference was the shocks. Mine are set up a lot stiffer which gave me more pop, and sam just hit it going a lot faster smile
Overall it was an awesome day. The few things I'd change would be no flats, a longer trip, and a camera.
We did try a drag race on the way back to the truck. Jed won on the EX, but we blamed the fact that it was icy, and Jim and I suck at dragging. We'll give em a real test when we can find some dry ground.
So since we took Jeds digital camera this time, instead a crappy disposable like usual, we got a ton of pictures. We also got some video footage. A first for us on a dune trip. They were real short clips, but being video they were pretty hefty in size. So instead of just uploading all 347 megs worth or trying to compress all the different vids, I threw together a little vid in iMovie.
I think it turned out alright. It's just under 17MB and just under 8 minutes long. I had the camera most of the time, and Jed did a lot of jumping, so most of the footage is of him. Everyone got a lot of camera time still. Way better than the old disposable days, where we are lucky to get 2 or 3 pictures each.
It was a good trip. We got an early start getting to the dunes around 9:30. It was pretty cold. Probably 45 when we got there, with frost still on some of the dunes. It has been so wet recently that the dunes were weird. It was the greenest I've ever seen the place. Every bowl or half bowl had something growing at the bottom. Sometimes it was hard find a trail between dunes without riding over stuff.
The recent rain also made the sand kinda weird. On the tops of some dunes it wasn't smooth at all. There were big divits in the ridges. Also because some of the sand was harder than other places you could easily get stuck. Not because it was softer than normal, but because in some places is was kinda hard so you let your guard down, then 10 feet away it got as soft as it ever does.
It was Charles' first trip to the dunes and he did really well. He started off reallly small, but after he got the feel of things he started catching decent air. Joe made sure he never rode the Z, so next time it can be his turn to ride it the whole time. We'll see about that. Jed is really comfortable on his bike now. he caught some good air and we have some awesome pictures. I rode the Z, and got a few good jumps in as well.
We were thinking about going again this weekend, if Sam had gotten a deer. But since he didn't, and i've gone riding the last 3 weekends in a row, my wife thinks its time to clean out the office. This may mean we had our last 4 wheeler trip of the year, but there is always snowmobiling. Besides, if I do end up getting a new grizzly soon you know I'm gonna ride it somewhere.
Today was a great day. Jason and I woke up early so we could be to Wade's house by 8:00 am, thinking we could get to the dunes by 9:30 or 10. Promptness just wasn't an option it seems. After getting all their gear ready we were and moving the cows from one pen to the other we got in the car and were ready to go. Little did we know that after grabbing a new flag so we had enough for all the quads we would drive by the house to notice some calves were out. We spent another 20 minutes or so chasing the calves. To sum a long story up, we got to the dunes around 12:30pm.
Who went? Me, Jason, Will, Harrison, Burke, and Wade. Kindof an odd crew I know. It was Jason's first time to the dunes, and while he was a little hesitant he had no trouble getting around. He says he had fun, and I hope he can go again with us sometime.
It is UEA weekend so the white sands area was pretty packed. We ended up camping way north in some grassy field. This put us a ways away from the dunes, but since we arrived so late we figured we would only do one real trip anyway.
After not too long Will found a pretty sweet jump. It was a bit of a table, so if you didn't jump far enough the landing was a hair rough. He caught some awesome air and did a heal clicker that I think/hope we got on camera.
There was also a small jump next to the big one Will and I were hitting that Burke caught some sweet air on. He just kept hitting the thing and getting braver and braver until he hit the end of his landing zone and did a little bit of a nose dive.
After that we did the usual dune riding hitting anything small we could find searching for the next big jump. We found some bowls and a half bowl that Jason really liked. He said doing bowls was his favorite thing to do in the dunes.
We did find one more big jump. We didn't quite go as high as the other, but it had a great landing, and was a ton of fun. I think I should have mb tried hitting it in fourth because I had it pretty much pinned in third and just wasn't jumping as far as I wanted. Even though I did get some good air. This is when Will decided he was ready to give the quad a try and he got some serious air on Jason's 400EX.
I see all these posts on forums all over and everyone bags on 400's. "They cant jump at all." "No Power". Man, I love 400's. Sure the 450's are nicer, they are also more expensive. And on a 400 I can jump as far or further than I'm comfortable with. What does it matter if a 450 could jump further. It can't with me as the rider.
Anyway enough with that rant. After this jump some random kid asked if he could hang out with us a bit before he went back to his camp. That sounded fine to us. He had a z400 with a pipe. Well he hit that jump a bit with us, not catching much air, but more than Burke and Harrison were.
So we travelled pointed our quads in the directly of camp, because we were all starting to get thirsty. On the way there we found an awesome step up. I wasn't even thinking of using it as a step up as we drove up to it, but after jumping a little further than I planned and barely clearing it w/ my fronts, I decided it might be cool. It was =-). Will and I must have jumped it 20 times each.. It's hard to describe how cool step up's are. But they are probably my favorite thing at the dunes.
I told you about this kid who was riding on the z400 right? Well he decided to try it. Nope not quite far enough. He hit it 5 or six times, in just the wrong spot. Fronts barely clearing, backs slamming into the second lip. He could have had it easily, he had the speed, but he would always let off that gas right at the top of the jump. After I told him to pin it all the way up like 4 times, with him slamming the wall each time, he finally left. Poor guy.
Sounds like an awesome day right? It was, but I haven't told you about the best part. Right after that kid left, Harrison shows his stuff. He'd been jumping ok today, sometimes beating Burke sometimes not, but nothing spectactular. We're talking about this kid thinking of leaving the spot and Harry goes to do the step up. We think he's gonna do it like he and Burke have been doing, just a small jump so they land before the step. Nope. Harry clears it! It was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Here comes Harry jumping with the big boys.
It was an awesome day and I can't wait to go again.
It Seems I've hardly been riding this year. Basically the Fathers and Sons was my only ride the whole summer. I rode a bit on the first of October with Sam, Just up in the canyon. You can see some pictures here).
So when Jed said they were gonna take the rhino's up Lake Fork I got really excited. I haven't been there in forever.
We ended up only taking Jeds rhino. Sam took byrons rancher instead of his six-wheeler and Jim ended up coming. Natalie and I rode on Joes Brute Force. Katie also came with her boyfriend on thier rancher.
I love Lake Fork. It is such a great place to ride. It is pretty, there are ruts and hills and rocks and puddles and rivers and everything fun to ride in on a big 4x4. Nat and I planned on getting wet and muddy so we hit just about every puddle. It was a blast. My fingers did start to get cold towards the end of the day, but there were no other negative side effects of the water.
Jed seemed to have tons of fun on his rhino. They went thru some ruts and had the think almost completely sideways. Same would go back and stand on the side to keep them from tipping over. Once they tried a rut with the lockers engaged, but they just evened out and drove out of the rut, so they decided to wheel drive was best. What's the fun if there is no challenge?
I was a little dissappointed because Joes quad kept overheating on us. We decided when we got home that it didn't have enough coolant. I forget quads are liquid cooled nowadays, so I didn't think to check it. I just stopped every time the light went on and let it cool off a bit before going again.
Nothing too amazing happened, it was just plain old fun. I'm not sure I'll get to make it up there again this year, but whether It's this year or next I can't wait to go to Lake Fork again.
Well our latest trip to the dunes was pretty fun.
Most everyone went down on friday night, but I wasn't able to get there till saturday morning. We had a big crowd. Jed invited 2 friends who brought girls. Jim invited 3 girls. Mere came with her boyfriend. Then there was Me, Jared, Doug, Katie, Will, and Sam. Putting our initial number at 15 people.
Jeds 2 friends both had YFZ450's with paddles which I was really hoping they would put them to the test, so we could see how good they are. However, they aren't as good of riders as us, so we weren't able to get a real comparison. Maybe someday.
I gotta say, Will is amazing. That kid has the perfect combination of wight, nuts, and talent to get some awesome air. He jumped the highest and the furthest on pretty much everything. Jed is getting tons better on his bike. His skill and confidence are both improving enough to = big air. He's not on the same level as Will, but he's still fun watching.
The only other notable thing that happened was that I wrecked. I was hitting this pretty big stepup, and hit it at the wrong angle. So i caught my back left tire, and started bouncing all over the place. I think I could have pulled out of it, except after one of the bounces I was kindof doing a handstand on the handlebars, and my front tires caught a lip in the sand which threw me off and flipped the Z over. Luckily the handlebars acted as an anchor in the sand so it didn't smash me. The damage amounted to some bruised and bloodied knee's on my part, and bent handlebars on the Z.
I wish we could have had the wreck on film, but at least we did get some good pictures of the day which should be up soon.
Mike
Absolutely incredible, the best two words for my first trip to the dunes with a few of the other four wheeler cowboys. Jed, Mike and myself. Also Harrison and Burke, and last but not least Jed's new girl friend. (by the way this is Jared). Well although Mike and Jed were a little disappointed with the sand it was pretty hard and the peaks had some pretty huge drifts so it was tough to find the perfect jumps, that Mike and Jed were accustomed to. But the riding was still great, and the weather was pretty good too. We found a jump that Jed and Mike liked quite a bit pretty early off, but after hitting it for a while we drove around for a long time couldn't find anything to awesome.
After taking a quick break for water and rest we headed back out and we found a pretty good jump that everyone enjoyed. We were catching pretty good air, not too high but we could fly pretty far. Jed was the only one who had a real hard time jumping, he rode his bike the whole time which wore him out. After completely hammering the lip off of that jump. Jed and Melissa headed back with Burke. So Harrison, Mike and I stuck around for awhile and we found a pretty awesome Step up jump.
We were flying at least 40 feet up the step up it was pretty awesome, and the landing was awesome too. We got a few good pics, hopefully at least one decent one of me, took me pretty long to get used to the sand. Although my mishap off of a lip by the step up was probably the best jump of the day. I was cruising over to hit the step up one more time and took off the lip in 4th. I had no Idea it was such a big lip and big fall! But I caught pretty big air. In a whole the trip was great, I had a blast and I think everyone else enjoyed it. And nobody was injured. Cant wait till next time!!!!
Jared
Wow what a great trip. We had a good turn out. Sam, Sarah, Jed, Katie, Jim, Eric, Joe, Micah, and Me. That trailer of Jed's is awesome. We got 8 Quads in it. And by putting His bike in the back of the truck we were able to carry all the quads and gear in 1 vehicle.
We camped at White Sands like usual; although there were a lot of people so we had to camp clear down the road. It wouldn't have been a great camp spot, but since we slept in the trailer and didn't have a fire, it was pretty much perfect.
There is 1 handy thing about camping in the dunes. There is always some crazy person who wakes up early to ride. So there is no need to set an alarm. Around 7-7:30 there are always a few quads tearing around, to wake everyone up.
Sam and I were in charge of the food which is always a mistake. Jed was in charge of the dishes. We ended up with 1 gallon of milk and some Marshmellow Mateys. The dishes consisted of bowls and cups. Everyone ate their Cereal out of a cup. I think the highlight of our meal time dilema's was when Jed walked up to us around lunch time and said "These things have so much sugar they aren't that bad with just water." Yuck!
We started riding at about 9:00am and after about the second jump I went of kinda sideways and had to bail. Thank heavens for helmets. I ended up w/ a sore left hand and a bruise on my lower back. The quad landed on all 4 and coasted to a halt about 5 feet from me.
We returned around 11:00 to pick up Joe and Katie (they didn't camp over with us, and Jed picked them up at the front so they didn't have to buy a pass. When we got back to camp we found some guy and his 12ish year old daughter and 6ish year old son building a jump right next to our camp. It was pretty cool. The dad and daughter both had z400's and the son had an eTon Viper. It was funny to watch them hit it. They invited us to try it as well and I was very pleased with how impressed they were at how much further I jumped that them =-).
The next few hours we cruised around and found a few good jumps. Jim and Micah wanted to go to sand mountain, so we split up. Much to my dismay we found a huge table top and realized Jim had the camera. The Z Really performed. It has a lot more power than the EX's. I was the only one who had the power and suspension to clear the table. I love being the one who jumps the furthest, even if it is only because I had the toughest quad.
Around 3:00pm we returned to meet up with Jim and Micah, and then Joe, Jed, Sam, Eric and I set off for the Last Hurrah before we closed shop. Amazingly, we found more good jumps in that last hour than we had the whole day. Which was good, because we still had about half a roll of film left.
We wrapped up around 5:00pm. And headed home. Just in time too, it started sprinkling right as we got on the highway towards Eureka.
It was great for me to be able to ride with one of my brothers. Joe loved it. I think he's hooked. I'm excited to take Jared and Jason some time.
You can find pictures here.