Matt Schmitz invited me out to Birchwood, Wisconsin once again this year, to enjoy a weekend full of four-wheeling adventure.  Adventure was certainly an understatement about the weekend, and before we wrapped up day #1, broken chains and flat tires were the least of our problems.

I knew that the trails we would be taking this year would definitely be more intense than last year, since many of the guys, like Matt’s brother Scott, had moved from sport quads to utility quads, and had put big mud tires on them.  I expected we’d be in some deep mud, and that my Scrambler may have a few problems along the way.  Last year at Birchwood, my day ended after about 90 miles, with a soaked air filter, that was completely choking off air flow to tne engine.  I thought I was a pretty good rider back then, but the Birchwood trip was a huge wake up call.  I found out that not only did I need some skill, but my ATV wasn’t too well-equipped to handle the very rocky terrain or the wet conditions.  This year, I vowed I’d make it through the trip.

Everyone’s quad went up on one of two large trailers.  Matt, his best friend Dustin, his boss Dan, and I headed up there in Matt’s Beretta early Saturday morning.  Once up there, we left “camp” at about 11 a.m. or so to head out riding.  

We were pretty much right away hitting some muddy, rutted trails.  The Scrammy was doing well, and most of the utility quads were having no problems.  There was a kid with a Banshee there that was having a little difficulty, but he was doing amazingly well for the terrain.  Dan’s rear-brake locked up on his Raptor after the 1st big mud hole, but that was an easy fix.  We were back on the trail right away.

Just before lunch, Spencer broke the chain on Scott’s Raptor he was riding.  He hit a mud hole that was rutted on the bottom, and the chain snapped, taking the case saver with it.  He was pretty much done for the day.  After lunch, the trails really started to get gnarly.  Many stretches of trail had sometimes 2 feet of water covering them, with rocks hidden underneath.  Some holes had less water, but had soft mud underneath.  The Scrammy was doing amazingly well, with the Kenda Claw tires that are made more for dirt than deep mud.  The 4×4 was in almost constant operation through these, and the 2-stroke 400 was spinning the Claws enough where mud was flying 10 to 15 feet in the air.  Despite my best efforts, I needed to get winched out a few times.  The kid with the banshee had the throttle wide open, bouncing on the back of the quad, moving it from side to side, and the thing was just not moving.  He ended up fouling out a plug and ingesting a little water, and he was pretty much done too, and got towed the rest of the way.

All this mud, rocks, and sticks on the trail eventually started to take its toll on more machines.  Two King Quads went down with flat tires, and needed to be repaired trailside.  My Left-front CV Joint on my Scrambler started to develop more and more play as we continued down the trails.  It was getting to be about 4 p.m., and we had only traveled about 30 miles.  The trails were very slow go, and very difficult.

Finally, my CV Joint broke altogether, leaving me with no 4-wheel-drive.  I continued on the trail, knowing there wasn’t too much more of a choice, and we all eventually got to a gravel road.  At this point, everyone agreed it was best to head back to the trailer to do some repairs, and for me, to get my quad back on the trailer.  Scott headed out first, with me limping my quad back at a slower speed, a few quads behind.  Our quads were well spaced apart, due to the dusty roads.

I came around a corner, and I see the rest of the guys off to the side of the road.  I pull over, and notice right away that we had a HUGE problem on our hands.  Scott was laying in the ditch, his left leg bent underneath his right, and he was in A LOT of pain.  At first, it appeared that he had rolled his quad.  I immediately got off the quad, and went over to the scene to find out what happened.  One wheel on Scott’s quad was broken, and two tires were off the beads.  One rock, about the size of a beach ball, embedded in the ground, had been moved out of its spot, and over a few feet, with deep scratches in it.

Things didn’t look too good right away.  At least we were off of the difficult trails, but we had no cell phone coverage at all to call 911.  Scott stated between breaths that his upper leg really hurt, and his lower back was really sore.  Three of the group were sent up the road to get help, while one of the guys was holding and elevating Scott’s left leg up on a helmet.  I was trying to keep Scott cool by damping down a glove with water, and throwing it on his forehead.  He looked to have a roll of quarters in his left pocket, but when asked if he had anything in his left pocket, he stated, only a driver’s license.

It felt like a long 30 minutes, but the ambulance came quickly down the fire road where we were at.  Scott got loaded in the back, and his brother Matt rode with him to the Hospital in Rice Lake.  The Rice Lake hospital didn’t have the needed tools to do surgery, but they did say he had a dislocated Pelvis and a clean break on his left femur, near the top of the bone.  He was airlifted that evening to Regions in the Twin Cities for surgery.

We all rode back to Faribault last night, a riding weekend cut short by a very bad incident.  Even though what some might say was the worst case scenario come true, things could have been far worse.  It could have been a compound fracture, with blood loss and shock, or it could have been miles and miles down the muddy, rutty trails that an ambulance would have never have gotten to.  Scott had a helmet, but he wasn’t wearing it.  If his head would have nailed that big rock, it would have been all over.  After my CV joint broke on my quad, I was disappointed I hadn’t achieved my goal of making it through, but it seemed miniscule as soon as the true tragedy struck that day.  It got everybody thinking, and even though none of the guys I rode with going up to Birchwood in the Beretta had seat belts on, I noticed that everyone was wearing one on the way back.

If only everyone could think of safety beforehand, instead of after the fact.

I drove up to the Staples, MN area and met friends Glenn and Matt from Alexandria/Fergus Falls for a weekend of camping and riding.  Thanks to Glenn and Matt, we had a simply kick ass camping spot!  Just a few feet from the trails, LAKESIDE, and it even had its own ghetto pontoon!  Thanks to Becca for driving up from Park Rapids to hang out with us for a few hours Saturday evening…

Until I write more here, enjoy the pictures below…

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!