I'll add one thing to what Moose said about riding in your comfort zone. Don't ride faster than what you're comfortable with. But I don't always follow my own advice. Sometimes I go faster than I should to keep up with my friends, but I know I don't have to. My friend who knows the trails best almost always leads, and if his boys are with us they're next, with me right behind them. There may or may not be someone else behind me. If I don't keep up with the guys on sport quads, I know the last one will stop once in awhile to see if I'm coming or not. If the trail splits, or if it turns and there's no obvious sign, they'll wait there to keep me headed the right way. If the trail keeps going straight they'll stop every few miles or if we cross a busy road. If I don't show up in a reasonable amount of time someone will come back to check on me. Hopefully I haven't left the trail.

 

Those are the guys you want to ride with. The ones that think about the people behind them.

 

I don't ride in big groups often but it seems when I do, the pace isn't that fast anyway. Usually there's at least one atv in the group that isn't as powerful as the rest and you can't go too fast without leaving them behind anyway. The people I ride locally with sometimes, the fastest of the group are machines at about the same performance level with mine. One guy has a Z400 and another has a Mudpro 700. Another has a Kodiak 400. The fastest machine we rode with the last time was a Wildcat Sport but the trails were so tight that it couldn't go that fast anyway. Actually im not sure its faster than my King Quad, I think in a drag race it would probably be about a tie. For fun, next time we just might have to find out. The Z400 is probably a little faster though in a straight line.

 

David,

Haven't been on here in a bit so haven't been keeping up... I certainly haven't ridden every trail out here but for the life of me I can't figure out where you may be talking about. What general area or trail are your friends referring too?

 

They're a good bunch of guys and I'm glad I have friends like them. None of them would leave me to die in a ditch, that's for sure.

 

I sure appreciate the comments on safety first and consideration for a newbie's comfort zone. ATV riders with this frame of mind are much less likely to get hurt riding their machines.

Hi RedRocket204: Hope you made it through this mild winter okay. The riding season may start a few weeks earlier in Colorado this year. I don't know what trail my buddies are referring to when they talk about traversing big washouts. I'm sure they were not talking about "canyons", and while both of them are 25 year riders here in Colorado, they are also of a safety first mindset.

I was asking for advice on how to drop my ATV into a washout and climb back out again without a roll over or flip over. I certainly will get winch help or find a way around if I consider it beyond my riding skills. Me and my friends are real sticklers for staying on the trail. We all frown on go arounds or short cuts. Heaven forbid someone says "I don't want to ride through that mud puddle. My machine would get dirty. I'll just go around".

David

 

It's against the law to leave the trails here, but when trees are down that people can't go over, they go around. Maybe sometime in next year or two the trail will be cleared out, but as likely as not, the "go-around" will be the trail and the old part of the trail isn't anymore. The exception would be if the trail is also used by other vehicles. If it's a snowmobile trail too, the tree will be removed, any rough spots smoothed out, and you wouldn't even know the trail was blocked off. If there are places you can't cross a washout and someone has gone around, that's where I would go too.

 

Yeah, Stay The Trail org is very particular about not going around mud/water. STT definitely advises to go through it and don't widen the trail be going around, what you seem to be in agreement with.

I'd be interested in learning which trails or riding areas your buddies are referring to when you find out... if you can PM me that'd be appreciated.

Some already mentioned it but you don't need to always bring out the winch cable/rope to get through precarious situations. Sometimes just having a fellow rider, off of their quad, and holding onto your rack, front or back, and applying some weight or pressure will help safely get you through. Also nice to carry a 20 foot or so tow line and you can use that hooked to the front or back and someone holding it. Could be enough to keep the quad from going over and much quicker than winching.

Use whatever method is safest but there are multiple options for being safe through obstacles.

 

thats why i always have a chain saw on my machine.. Very few rides where i do not get it out. Now on my second saw as the cheap first one i bought started having issues after 2 years

 

I HAD a really nice DOLMAR chainsaw. They were the first company to make a portable gasoline powered chainsaw back in 1927. It was 15 pounds lighter than the electric powered saw Stihl made that also required a big heavy generator and power cord to be hauled around with it. But someone else wanted my saw and stole it.

My friends and I all pay $36.25 for 2 ORV stickers per vehicle per year to ride the trails, and some of us have more than one. My friend's family of 4 has to pay $290 a year for stickers for all 8 vehicles or else leave some of them at home. All of that money, minus 25 cents per sticker the stores get for printing them, is supposed to go toward trail maintenance which rarely gets done. The state isn't paying us to do it, but maybe they should. It's not like we never do it anyway. But as long as they take money from us instead of giving it to us, I feel no obligation to buy another chainsaw and haul it everywhere I go.

P.S. If Zrock and David coordinated, they could take some of the trees Zrock cuts up and fill up the washouts so David and his friends could drive right across. Both problems solved thanks to yours truly.