The Title says what my life has consisted of over the past few months since I have posted here. And you know what? Once again, I believe this is the best summer I’ve ever had. I told some friends down at the car wash last week that each year of my life has been getting better, and it is certainly holding true.
My goal at the beginning of Spring was to go quad riding every weekend when it started to get nice out. I have been holding pretty true to this goal. Since I haven’t posted to my blog in a long time, and I know, reader, that you are interested in my personal life very much, I have compiled a list of where we’ve went riding. Enjoy!
#1 April 16th: Inaugural Tri-County ATV Pit Trip – Went with GCExtreme (Glenn) and Matt from Alexandria. A guys Scrambler rolled down a hill and got handlebar damage. A very wet and sloppy day!
#2 April 24th: Tri-County ATV Pit – Went with LEP7MM (Dave), SkiDood, and other Lurkers from ATV Connection. A guy busted his knee rolling his utility quad on him with a big bracket on the back. He went to the hospital. Myself, I jumped over a hill smack dab into a dirt pile twice, almost spraining my wrist, and hurting my shoulder a bit.
April 30th-May 1st: OFF (Shoulder)
#3 May 5th: Parents Place
#4 May 6th: Inaugural Summit Pit Ride – Went with BlackRaptor (Chad) from ATV Connection, and his friend Jack.
#5 May 15th: Tri-County ATV Pit – Met up with MikeyClark and zbutcher (Shawn) and family from the ATV Connection. A guy rolled a utility quad down a hill, and then there was a stupid kid trying to start his quad with the electric started while it was drowned over the intake in a mud hole.
#6 May 27th: Parents Place
#7 May 30th (Memorial Day): Tri-County ATV Pit – A guy that raced GNCC down in Iowa was there.
#8 June 5th: Tri-County ATV Pit – Went with BlackRaptor (Chad). Both Chad and I clogged our radiators in a thick mud hole, and needed to run to Northfield to use the car wash pressure wassure. Chad’s Dad also showed up.
#9 June 12th: Tri-County ATV Pit – Met up with PreddyFast (Dave) from the ATV Connection. Mr. Bob Bartlett from Bartlett Racing showed up at the pit with his KFX700, and he let me ride it. Man, those four-strokes are sure torquey!
#10 June 18th: Tri-County ATV Pit – Went with my friend Jeremy. We had a Honda 450R sighting today (rare to see them actually riding them). We met TRLYFZ450 (Terry) from the ATV Connection Forums, and his son. They had a YFZ450 and a RCR Stage 1 modified Trailblazer 250. A guy with an Arctic Cat DVX400, that was ready to ship out to Iraq, let Jeremy ride the DVX400. Now he wants a sport quad.
#11 June 24th-26th: The Big Spider Lake OHV Trip – Went with GCExtreme (Glenn) and his brother Matt from the ATV Connection. This was one of the most fun trail rides I’ve ever been on. We put on 150 miles over about a day and a half. Some trails were slow and challenging, others were fast and open. A perfect place for a weekend getaway and camping.
#12 July 1st: Tri-County ATV Pit – My friend Adam just purchased a Raptor 660, and talked me into coming down to the pit on this Friday Night. Low and behold, I had an “incident”, but the quad continued on as if nothing had happened. We also met two local guys with Predators out there.
#13 July 2nd: Tri-County ATV Pit – Usual company: The dad with the banshee and the 12yr. kid with the Raptor 660. Those guys are awesome riders.
#14: July 9th: Summit Pit, the return to – Went with Adam and his Raptor, and met up with Chad, Jack, and Jack’s Girlfriend. We also took out my radar to get some top speed testing
#15: July 16th: Tri-County ATV Pit – The July heat is now upon us. It was about 96 with a dew point in the mid 60s. I only stayed out for an hour before packing it in. I noticed that the pit was smoothed out quite a bit.
#16: July 23rd: Summit Pit – Went with Adam and his Raptor again, as well as my friend Justin and his Dad’s Yamaha 250 Dirt Bike. We met up with Chad, Jack, and Jack’s Girlfriend, once again. Adam had an interesting splashdown in a mud hole. He was soaked. Justin did a pretty damn good job riding considering that he hasn’t done it in ages. I hope to get him back out here riding again soon!
#17: July 30th: Tri-County ATV Pit – Went with my friend Jeremy. Once again, the dad with the banshee and the 12yr. kid with the Raptor 660 were present. The guy with the Predator from the July 1st trip was there, and another utility quad that really seemed to enjoy the circle trail at the top of the pit was there. Jeremy and I made some 50-55 degree jumps, which we all proceeded to try. GREAT weather finally! Afterwards, I went to Rainbow Car Wash, and let Chris and Brian B. ride my quad in the Feed Mill Parking Lot. I had to do a donut in the parking lot myself…
#18: August 4th: Tri-County ATV Pit – Met up with Adam and his Raptor 660, and we played out there for a while Thursday night. We played cat and mouse with a YFZ450 and a Honda 450R (WOW!). The guy with the 450R actually rode it. Unlike most 450R’s I’ve seen.
Are you still with me? Good…
It’s been an awesome summer. Meeting new people, hanging out at the Car Wash (which amazingly has been pretty amusing), and improving my riding skill. It is hard for me to believe how much my riding skill has improved over the last few months of riding. I feel like I rode like such a pussy before April this year, and I feel like I actually know what I’m doing now. Now, my friend Chris W., has just purchased a Yamaha Banshee, and he’ll be going out with us too. Undoubtedly more fun to be had this month…
I’ll try to update my blog more often! But don’t hold me to that…
I’ll leave you with a Funny Quote from the ATV Connection forums about the difference between a dirt bike and a quad:
“As far as getting hurt on a bike versus a quad – I crashed on the 250F and broke my left leg and my ankle and separated my left shoulder so I sold the bike for the Raptor. Then I crashed on the Raptor and broke my right leg and ankle and dislocated my right shoulder. So it’s not a matter of how bad you are going to get hurt, it’s a matter of what side.”
Starky, Pro Rider, Inkster, North Dakota
