Well, we had a pretty good two days of riding. Only rode about 116 miles, but I had my share of problems, so that limited Sat morning riding.

Friday, we rode at Bear Wallow, and was pretty fun. Went pretty deep into some mud holes, came out pretty good. Got hung up once, but made it out without winching. It was on the way back to the parking lot that I had my little blunder. I was leading our group of 6 on a black (difficult) trail. It wasn't too bad in the beginning, just a little narrow. Well, running about 13-15 mph, I hugged the right a little on this narrow patch to avoid a large rock on the left, when I hit a rock sticking out of the bank, which was covered by a small branch with leaves. My front right wheel caught the rock and jerked the handlebars to the right, jabbing the right handle into my gut, right below my ribs thank goodness. I immediately jumped off and held my stomach, since it knocked the wind out of me. It took about 5 minutes to recoupe, but my wheel was severely bent, and the tire was totally flat, off of the bead. We spent about 10 minutes trying to hammer it back into shape with a few rocks to no avail. So, I rode the last 12 miles with a front right flat tire. I think my arms were hurting more than my stomach was when we got back to the trailers .

Well, I thought I'd just go to a Polaris dealer in the morning and get a replacement wheel and Rawhide tire right? Wrong. The two closest Polaris dealers were closed down and out of business, and the two other ATV parts and tire stores that I stopped at didn't have ANY wheels to fit a Polaris. The only place that I found that DID have something in stock to fit was at a Goodyear tire place in Logan. BTW, I drove about 120 miles that morning looking for wheels and tires! Anyway, I figured instead of getting one mismatched tire and wheel combo, I might as well get 4 new wheels and tires. They ended up having the wheels that I wanted, but not the tires, so I got what they had. 4 ITP C-Series Type 4 wheels, and 4 ITP Mud Lites 25x10-12 rears and 25x8-12 fronts. I was desperate, so I bought them $542. I also noticed a bolt missing from the rear of my quad, bottom part of the A-arm. No problem, there was a hardware store, Baisden Bros., right down the street, I'll just stop and get a new one.

Well, when I went to get my trailer ready, I noticed that I had a broken leaf spring on the right side of my trailer. Great, what else can go wrong? I had the guy at Goodyear take a sawzall to my bolts that were holding the fender on, since it was rubbing the tire. Then I went to the hardware store to get a bolt for the A-arm. Well, of course, it wasn't missing the bolt, just half of it. So I pull the bushing out, check some measurements, go back inside the hardware store, bought a drill bit, easy-out, and borrowed a drill. I went back outside and got the broken bolt out and installed the new one, at least without anymore problems.

By now, it's 1:30 pm, and my buddies are waiting for me at the Rockhouse trailhead. I drive slow, sort of, at least over bumps, and make it there around 2:00. Then after unloading, we ride to Gilbert. I christened the wheels with a 'lil ding within the first 3 miles, then, while at the car-wash in Gilbert to wash the mud off, noticed my flat rear tire, with a 'lil slice on the side. So, I borrow a friend's DVX 400 and ride sown to the Rite Aid to pick up some Fix-a-Flat, which took care of it. Luckily, the ride back was drama-free.

I finally posted pics and a bio, and some of the pics are of the new wheels/tires, some of the flat, and some misc.

Turned out to be an expensive weekend, but a fun one none-the-less. Next time, at least I'll have a spare set of tires![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]