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

I posted new pictures under the “Quad Riding” section from my trip to Summit Pit today.  Thanks to Chad (blackraptor on ATV Connection) for inviting me along.  This place has the best jumps.  I had a blast!

Due to popular demand (one person), here’s a video I made in the Summer of 2005, back when I still rode my Polaris Scrambler weekly. Most of the excitement here is from the couple of Honda dirt bikes. Enjoy!

So, I was eager to get out on the quad now that the snow has melted, and riding season is once again starting.  I am a member of the ATV Connection Forums, and there is several guys from Minnesota that are members also.  GCExtreme (Glenn), his brother Matt, and myself set up a group ride for the Tri-County ATV Pit for this weekend. 

Now, Glenn and Matt are two displaced Arkansasans now living in the urban Siberia of Alexandria, Minnesota.  They have been here for only a few years, and their southern drawl still comes through strong.  Glenn and Matt are both new to quad riding, but were ambitious to try the varied terrain that Tri-County has to offer. 

We got geared up, and got out to Tri-County at about 10:30-11:00 a.m. or so, and it was just starting to rain.  I unloaded my Scrambler 400, and Matt unloaded his Raptor 660 from the trailers.  While we were waiting for Glenn to finish unloading his Honda 250EX, Matt and I headed down the main path between the parking lot and the pit at nearly full throttle … just testing out the waters for later. 

After all three of us were ready, we headed into the pit. 

The pit mostly consisted of sand and rocks.  There is a trail that circles the top of the pit, and many steep decents (greater than 45 degree angles) that go to the bottom of the pit, probably 75-100 feet or so below.  There are many U-shaped berms on these steep hills to whip around on, if you care to play with the benefit of centrifigal force.  In the bottom of the pit, there are several smaller sand mounds to ride on and jump off. 

We were taking it pretty easy in the pit at first, as everyone was adjusting to the new riding area.  Naturally, when you get 3 guys with quads in a gravel pit, someone is going to start the progression to more challenging obstacles.  Through the next few hours, we all had our close calls getting up on two wheels, almost rolling.  As the rain picked up, the right hand grip on my Scrambler slid off when hitting a berm, almost making it a bad deal for me. 

Easily, though, the award for the “closest close call of the day” went to Matt on his Raptor 660.  I was following right behind him with my Scrambler on a large hill, about a 30 degree incline, with a grove of trees and brush just down to our left.  Just as we were cutting sharp to the left to sidehill it uphill from the trees, Matt’s brand new Holeshot tires start setting up roosts of sand down the now rain-soaked hill.  The damp sand on the hill is starting to give way!  The more he gives it throttle, the more his rear end starts sliding downhill.  Even though his front wheels are pointed uphill, he is heading down sideways, fast!  I come to a pretty fast stop, just in time to watch his quad slide about 5 feet further down the hill, now to an area with about a 45 degree decline.  The quad STOPS, with Matt still on it, just inches from rolling!  Smart ass Brian, as usual, needs to make a comment, so I do. 

“Need a new pair of pants?”, I ask.  This was easily Matt’s closest accident ever, and he was definitely shocked at how fast it happened. 

All three of us approach the Raptor with it’s front-right tire slightly in the air.  For the next 15 minutes or so, we pull, push, and lift the Raptor out of its situation, and to a safer area.  Naturally, since I was right behind him with my Scrambler, we need to do the same for my heavy ass quad.  By the time we’re done, we’re pretty tired, and need to take a break! 

By this time, it is POURING!  You might think we are ready to leave, but we’re not.  Matter of fact, we can’t figure out why there’s no one else down here having fun!

Finally, after another hour or so of follow-the-leader, muddin’, and havin’ fun, we finally see a few more quads in the pit.  Ironically enough, another ATV Connection member, MN250R, had his Suzuki Quadracer LT500 out there, along with a friend of his with a newer Scrambler 500.  These guys were insane, and obviously have been riding for quite some time.  I saw the Scrambler go up large hills I’d never think of climbing.  Unfortunately, it all caught up about 15 minutes later…  Hitting some object buried in the dirt while coming down a hill, the Scrambler rolled 5 or 6 times, bent handlebars, broken plastic … amazing more damage wasn’t done.  He was alright, but had some repairs to do in the pouring rain. 

We called it quits at about 2:30 in the afternoon, loaded the quads back up, and headed home.  We grilled out on my very-ghetto “gas grill on a big black barrel in the garage”, as pictured below.  Unfortunately, because of the constant rain, I wasn’t able to get ANY action shots like I wanted to (although I came prepared for anything).  I have included a few shots of Glenn, Matt, and myself below. 

Overall, it was great fun, and my arms, legs, and back still ache as I write this.  Once quad riding gets in your blood though, you know you’ll be back next weekend doing it all again!  Thanks for coming down guys, and thanks for the good time!