Timm, Alan, and Mark headed back up to Utah on Saturday, April 25 to finish the pre-ride for General Steam next month. I'm still not allowed to ride (post surgery) for another month so I missed out. They all loaded their quads on our trailer and enjoyed the travel together. The weather was nice when they unloaded and took off an a new pre-planned route. They got up the trail 8 miles and hit a severe storm with strong winds that about blew them off their 4-wheelers at the saddles. They encountered rain, sleet, hail, and some snow so they turned around instead of heading into the storm further. They made it back to the truck, soaked and cold...and defeated again. I was shocked when they showed up at home at 1:30pm. After moving the muddy, dirty quads to their own trailers, they enjoyed lunch, complained about the weather, laughed it off and relaxed before heading home for the day. Pre-rides are normally so much easier than this one and now it's the principal of the matter...they will make it to their destination on May 16...one way or another.
P.S. Sorry they didn't take any photos this time around.
Showing posts with label pre-ride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pre-ride. Show all posts
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Pre-ride...part 1
Saturday we headed up to Utah with a handful of friends to pre-ride our scheduled ride for May. What a beautiful day it was, the weather couldn't have better. 
We headed out and within 6 miles, Timm had a flat tire. This is the first time ever for him on the trail. Had to fix it twice but it lasted all day. We ventured and followed the plotted GPS route but lost the trail. On the map it was listed as a 'pack trail', we wanted to see what a pack trail is and now we know. 
It became an oh so very faint single track as we headed further up the mountain. We finally had to turn around, this was not a direction to take a group. Reviewing the maps, we found anouther route but took up much further west and on a graded road than originally planned.
We headed out and within 6 miles, Timm had a flat tire. This is the first time ever for him on the trail. Had to fix it twice but it lasted all day. We ventured and followed the plotted GPS route but lost the trail. On the map it was listed as a 'pack trail', we wanted to see what a pack trail is and now we know. 
It became an oh so very faint single track as we headed further up the mountain. We finally had to turn around, this was not a direction to take a group. Reviewing the maps, we found anouther route but took up much further west and on a graded road than originally planned.We came to another 'trail' that mirrored the road and it was great for about 5 miles, then the valley narrowed and we were traversing the stream. We came to a washed out section, Timm ventured up a little further but came back to get another quad with a winch. He was dropping back into the wash and about rolled his quad. After the rescue, we turned around and went back out. 
Further up the trails we encountered snow still on the north side of the mountain. We bogged down and backed up a few times. Mark with his aggressive tread on his newer tires was able to blaze the trail. Around the curve, another snowbound section...aaahh...it was frustrating.
We made it back to the trucks about 5:30pm, we hadn't even made it to our original destination, we were all tired, Timm was disappointed...he had never not made it to a planned destination before. Don't get me wrong...it was a still a great day. Any day spent on a quad is better than a day at work. Look at it this way, now we need to go back and find another route...another day spend on a quad.
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