I need to rant....

I went riding the other day... and utes/sxs's had literally destroyed the trails and open feilds...
It used to be a really nice place to ride- i know the guy pretty good that owns the farm.. The trails stay on the outsides of feilds and in the woods.

Well i started out- and I got to a creek crossing with a pretty steep bank on the other side. From the looks of it sxs's had gassed it up the hill making some very deeep ruts, making it almost impossiball for me to get up- so i had to go around the side close to a bunch of trees.... My tires never even slipped going up that hill before!!

Then i come to an open feild... Well, it used to be an open feild... Now it was mud.......


I really have to rant about this- everytime i see the utes out they are craving mud- seems like their goal is to get their quad muddy....
Meanwhile, the trails are rutted out and pretty much destroyed





Im a little concerned....

 

I find it's the total opposite around here- sport quads and dirtbikes winding out those sra's trying to climb hills and get through mud that a 4x4 just crawls through with no spinning tires or rut making or tilling up grass roots.

one trail near my house got so beaten up by sport quads spinning tires trying to get over a large tree root, their front tires would get stuck, so they'd pin the throttle basically digging a 2' deep hole just before the root- now they made a "go-around" trail just next to it which is all worn out too-
the 4x4's just easily crawled right over it and stayed on trail...

I'll take pics of it when the snow melts and show you how much more damage those spinning SRA's do the the dirt trails

 

it's funny that "Muddy400ex" is bitch'in about atv's riding in mud, with a screen name of "Muddy400ex"

dirt bikes make even more ruts with their narrow tire and revv'ed up 2-strokes- they are always messing up atv trails!

 

Respectfully, an sra quad can only dig down so far. I have ridden plenty of trail systems where the irs machines have dug ruts 7-8" or deeper. The reality of it is, we are all in this sport together. We need to be supporting to each other. Proper trail design and maintenance are the big issues here, otherwise we start to sound like the bitchy mx dirtbikers(and I support them as well, to a point)

 

Fact of the matter is that if you're going up a hill and you remove the grass by repeated riding over the same spot it's going to erode in the spots where the tires have torn out the overgrowth. Once that's gone the rains dig ruts. I've seen trails that had no ruts going into the woods and after getting caught in a severe downpour, coming back out seeing a rut over a foot deep. I've seen sport quad riders spinning tires trying to get traction and I've seen utility guys and MX bikes doing the same thing. If you can't get traction it's going to get torn up. Only way to truly stabilize hills is put down a material that doesn't get washed away. Best thing is to get out there and help when you can get out and contribute to a trail project.

Also, if it's wet and a trail goes through the area material is going to get picked up by the tires and thrown off the trail, eventually digging a deeper hole that fills with water and becomes a mudhole. I've never seen a single quad going through a wet section not pick up some mud and fling it elsewhere. Only way to keep that down is to fill the holes that are starting with rock.

Personally, I don't think utility machines should be on MX tracks and I wince a bit when sport quads (Jgar exception here) go on rough, wet trails. Often times they end up going around wet spots and widen trails instead of staying "on them". Again, a little maintenance helps out this situation. If we all contribute to fixing trails all the better. If you haven't been out on a maintenance day I hope you would. It's kind of like not voting and then complaining about your elected officials. If you don't get out there and fix things they are going to go to pot and just get worse. Venting is okay, but actions are a lot more powerful to me.

If I were to give a percentage of what type of riders I've seen out on projects I'd have to say 95% of them were utility riders improving the trails for everyone (in our case helping the snowmobilers too on shared trails). Maybe that's more due to the nature of trails up here where rocks, mud, and water are all part of the riding experience but I'm sure there are local clubs that everyone can pitch in with.

 

yes, there are times where 4x4's spin tires- but mud pit spinning isn't the problem- you expect to find ruts and high / low spots in mud pits! The problem is when the rider does not know the limits of his machine- and ends up destroying the trails. sleds get pissed off at 4x4 ute's for doing it, and 4x4 ute's get pissed off at bikes & sporties for doing it.

I've physically watched sporties with sra's dig a 20" hole trying to get up a hill or over an obstacle; the zig-zagging back & fourth (like dragging a chain saw over a log) just keeps digging deeper & deeper. The constant hi-rev spinning while trying to climb a soft hill in 2wd is what causes bad erosion and ruts and exposes roots and rocks-

case in point- these kids on sport quads could care less about carving up this trail that their machines weren't designed to be on. How long are they gonna sit there spinning tires, pinning the throttle trying to climb a hill that a 4x4 would burp up?

I've seen this too many times- idiots like this start slipping off the side from lack of traction & control- then to correct themselves, they pin the throttle and just carve the trail up- my 4x4 outty would climb that with minimal tire spin. the vid below shows the reality of how sporties around here destroy dirt trails trying to get through'em- next time I'm out on my local trails I'll take pics of all the uneven ruts on hills where bikes & sporties dug holes so deep it prevents any atv from using it- and this drives me nuts!



2:14 - perfect example of him pinning the throttle, spinning the tires trying to get back on the trail- a 4x4 would crawl right over that.
3:40- kid gets stuck and just pins the throttle spraying dirt everywhere on the side of the trail-


-

 

beergut, you picked an xc race. I saw what 25-30 sporties, a lot of spinning on what is obviously a steep and slick hill. I saw not one rut made... BTW, that right there is my type of riding, lol.

The specific case I am talking about was a relatively flat piece of property that was in the Trailpass system here in NY the first few years after Trailpass started. There were FLAT sections of trail with 12" deep ruts. Not runoff induced ruts. I talked with the property owner at length the day he let me on the property, and he said he was closing due to the ruts from the utes and the general disrespect he had gotten from a few ute riders.

My point is not to diss sport or ute riders. Trail erosion can be caused by ANY type of machine. We all need to be respectful of each other and the trail systems, not blame those that choose to enjoy our sport differently.

 

I've seen a passenger vehicle make some MAJOR ruts in a flat campsite (private field)...disrespect runs through more than the ATV community.
The helicopter that landed in the same field didn't do any damage

 

I was just using that vid to give an example of what I was talking about-
I was just making a point that- proper traction control prevents ruts.
4x4 atv's have better traction in all circumstances. 4 spinning tires get better traction than 1 or 2 spinning tires 100% of the time. I'm not saying that 4x4 riders don't create ruts with an over zealous throttle- but when climbing out of a pit or up a steep hill or over an obstacle, 4x4 atv's are less prone to dig ruts simply because they have the 4x4 option where as the only way a sporty can get traction is to just hammer the throttle and hope it created enough friction to push the quad through the obstacle. 4x4's don't create steep banks- sporties spinning tires trying to get up them do.

few stories of how sport quads and dirt bikes ruined atv'ing here in southern central mass for everyone-

one local outdoor track in uxbridge was closed because of the obnoxious aftermarket exhausts kids were putting on their 2 stroke dirtbikes & sport quads while riding at the track- houses within a mile complained about the 2-stroke smell and the high pitched buzzing noise. the town shut the track down. The same bikes and sporties now hit the local trails where 4x4 atv's have been riding forever without incident- within 2 years nearly every trail had be blocked with gates, fences and concrete barriers due to the residents who lived along those trails complaining about noisy quads & bikes.

douglas state forest used to allow off road vehicle use on some of their trails- then, because the dirt bikes and sport quads didn't want to go through the wet / muddy areas during spring- they made other trails to get around the spots where the 4x4 atv's could get through. Destroying wetlands and riding on designated hiking trails because they were groomed for walking. The park officials tried posting signs to "stay on the trail" and put logs to block the bikes & sporties from making trails around these tricky spots- the signs were kicked / run over and the logs pushed aside. Now all vehicle use is banned on the state trails. I had many conversations about this with park officials when trying to set up an atv charity run-

There used to be a single / double track & atv trail in franklin mass- dirtbikers petitioned the track owners to ban double track atv's because they said atv'ers were taking up too much parking area with their big trailers, where as bikes fit easily in the back of trucks- and they complained that quads were stopping in the middle of the trails trying to get around obstacles and bikes would hit them around the blind spots- they succeeded in banning double track atv's...

I'm also not saying all sport riders do this- ime- it's the young kids who can't think 2 steps ahead on how their actions effect others who love the sport, or don't think about the house within 100' of a trail having to listen to their stupid obnoxious loud pipe 10x a day... There's a right place & time to open throttle and do donuts and dig ruts- I loved my sport quads! the only reason I ditched the sport quad was because this area was not an area where sport quads could really be used- a 4x4 utility made more sense. If I lived on the west coast and could access dunes- I'd have a sporty for sure!

 

seems like the complaining is the problem...not the quads.
Why do some think their way/viewpoint is so much more important/right than the rights/ways of others ?
one word...intolerance.
Isn't that one of the seven deadly sins....or is it jealousy? Hatin' is bad.

Some of us really like the sound & smell!!!!!!!

RESPECT!!!!