Almost exactly a year ago to the day that the dynamic duo of Glenn Cox and Matt Rayburn came down the first time to go riding in Rice County, the two came down again, this time for an extended four-wheeling outing. Not only were Glenn and Matt along, but also Adam, Joe, and most of the Short Bus Racing Team were able to make it to Summit Pit near Ellendale for a day of riding on Saturday. Even Justin and Anna were able to make it along for the fun!
I had broken my steering stem on my RcR Scrambler 400 the last week at Tri-County just entering a jump, and it was over at J&J Powersports to get a new one installed. Time went on, and we were still waiting on the part. I was getting nervous that my primary machine may not be ready to go by the weekend. Finally, the part came in Friday at noon, and the Scrammy was finished at 4:30 p.m., barely enough time to spare. Whew!
I brought the Scrammy and my new Yamaha YZ250 along for the ride on Saturday. Summit Pit itself was in good condition this time around … a lot less wet than the early April run. My goal was to get proficient with shifting and to get going a little faster on the YZ250. Joe was definitely leaping past me as far as the bike was concerned. He gained a lot of skill today … I suppose I could say I did too. Both of us weren’t doing too bad for being on a bike for only our second times. The YZ250 is definitely a scary choice of a learning bike, but yet it got less intimidating as the day went on.
The original Short Bus boys … Chad, Todd, and Travis were each on bikes, and they were definitely putting on a show! They were crashing left and right, and they were all attempting very steep hill climbs and jumps, at times almost straight up and down. Chad admitted that his riding skill had gone way up already this year, and he was attempting stuff he would have never attempted last year.
We took a break at noon for a cookout consisting of Hamburgers, Nerstrand Weiners, and Brats. It was almost perfect weather for riding … a little on the cool side, but you didn’t have to worry about heat tiring you out. After lunch, Adam and Matt with their Raptor 660s, Glenn with his 250EX, and even Justin with his YZ250 were ripping up the pit. Anna, you sure know how to take Justin for a ride on my Scrammy too! He was hanging on for dear life! Oh yeah, so was I with you driving…
We stayed out until dark. And we loaded up and headed right back out Sunday early morning, this time to Tri-County ATV Park. Glenn, Matt, and I met up with several regulars out at the pit, including Ryan Volk on his Suzuki Quadracer LTR450 and his friend on a Predator 500. Even Bob Bartlett, the GNCC Racer from Jordan was down testing a new dual exhaust system for his highly modified Kawasaki V-Force 700! This year, he is also sporting a bottle of Nitrous, and he claims to be pushing out near 85 horsepower on the thing. I once again lucked out, and Bob offered me the opportunity to ride his beast. I rode it once last year, and this year it was definitely a faster and more intimidating machine! The slightest blip on the throttle would make the rear tires spin. Bartlett stated that it’s down right dangerous to ride on pavement, because all the thing wants to do is have the front end in the air with all the traction…
It was a super weekend! At the end of the weekend, I was tired both physically and mentally …. mostly because of the coordination necessary to get a trip planned out that people were able to make, and of course worrying that the weather may turn out less than perfect. When it was all said and done, of course it all came out just fine.
Enjoy the pictures below of this great outing. I have many more pictures, in the highest resolution possible, along with 3 videos (including one of me getting my butt kicked by Bartlett’s KFX700 at Tri-County), here, on my home-hosted picture site. Note: This link may go away in the future, so check it while you can!
Plans are already in the works for next week’s ride!
As a sidebar, here’s the list of the outings so far this year, leading up to this “big one”:
1. January 2006 – Summit Pit Warm Scouting Run – Brian/Adam/Brian B/Chad/Doug
2. March 10th – Tri County ATV Pit – Brian/Chad/Doug – Chad and Doug first time out with Predator.
3. March 26th – Tri-County ATV Pit –
4. April 1st – Tri-County ATV Pit – Brian and Jeremy – Very crowded pit – DNR was there
5. April 8th – Summit Pit – Brian, Jeremy, Joe, Chad, and Doug. Others. Brian’s first time riding dirt bike. Doug crashes bike into Ford truck. Joe crashed twice on bike. Cookout.
6. April 9th – Tri-County ATV Pit – Brian/Dave/Joe/Tyler/Bob Bartlett … One Scrambler crashed on jump and trashed front axle and a-arm … Even the master Tyler almost crashed.
7. April 14th – Tri-County ATV Pit – Brian/Doug/Chad/Todd – Todd’s first time out … Doug wheelies his Predator and tips it over on the grab bar. Brian breaks steering post on Scrambler … Brian first time riding 2 predators … Brian best rider in pit for first few hours . 2 guys with Raptors doing nothing .. Banshee and Warrior or something going slow as well.
