The ride was fun & well worth the trip.
The weather forecast was intimidating, while the driveways & alleys were icy in the early morning hours. Fortuately for us, it didn't even start to show signs of a winter storm until the drive home later that day.
Out of the few hundred club members we have, only six were in attendance at "The Cliffs".
One of those six was a guest of Bill. Perhaps a new member sometime soon?
Yes, it was muddy (isn't it always at The Cliffs?) but that only added to the challenge that is "Insane Terrain".
Bill's friend
(we'll call him "T" so his wife doesn't find out the incriminating details) wasn't five minutes into the ride before he went up a too-steep hill & showed us [glow=red,2,300]"what NOT to do"!
[/glow]
I grabbed his quad before it went tumbling down beside him, but quickly found myself overwhelmed by the steep muddy grade & 400 pound beast unfairly using gravity to take me down with it. Luckily for "T", I managed to thwart the beast off its path to crushing him & it came to a stop once it tangled up into some trees.
It took four of us to get "T" back on the "rubber-side-down" and we hobbled our way back to the parking lot. Once there, we "doctored" him up with some new handlebars & grips.
On our next trip out Nick (MojaveLeClaire) showed everybody who is going to take the award for [glow=red,2,300]"Rookie of the Year".[/glow]
;D
For a guy who claims to have only ridden hills TWICE (Solon & The Cliffs) he showed little fear & backed it up with some good riding.
Later in that outing we met a couple guys (speaking Russian?) riding on a pair of Suzuki King Quads. One of them was having engine trouble so we got him started & on his way.
Bill discovered that he had a low tire on the far side of the park, so we meandered our way back to the parking lot for some air & lunch. Bill broke out the grill & brats & fed the whole club!
[glow=red,2,300]Bill's the man!!![/glow]
Then Matt (Piglet) showed up w/ his son to ride on a couple Polaris's.
While Bill was cooking the brats, Nick & I talked w/ some guys from Joliet who took an interest in our club banner. We shared some club mags & business cards with them & then they hooked up with us for some ride time.
It wasn't long into the trails before we figured out the riding skills within our larger group varied & we broke out into a few smaller groups.
Nick, myself, & one of our new friends found some "adverse" terrain to challenge us.
Going their own way, Bill, "T" & our other Joliet friend took a slightly less challenging route.
Matt & his son Todd kept to the low ground & tore it up father & son style! ;D
The day went on until closing time. Then we made a couple final runs through the creek, loaded up, ditched our cold, wet clothes and headed home just in time to see a light rain/sleet starting to fall.
Would I go again?
Only with the club (however small it may be).Would I like to go back when the ground is dry to try out some more of that "Insane Terrain"?
Definitely YES!