Another question from the FNG,
Do you ride your Ute on the trail by yourself? Just curious because I have areas that I can ride (Pismo Dunes or Nat'l Forest trails) during the weekdays and being that I'm self employed, I have the occassional opportunity to take off on short notice. I don't really know anyone that I can go with as this is all pretty new to me. I'm pretty conservative when it comes to riding. I'm not in to the "go fast" thing at this point, just more in to the trail exploration thing and I do so carefully while I learn my limitations as well as those of my Ute. Nobody ever plans on getting hurt but I think my chances are somewhat reduced by my cautiousness. I happen to be a pilot also and am a firm believer and practitioner of filing a "flight plan." I plan the flight and fly the plan and can see no difference in applying this to ATV usage.

What would you do?

 

I ride alone most of the time and I kind of like it like that. I see a lot more wildlife when I'm by myself. I do enjoy riding with others once in a while. It's fun watching them get stuck. Most of the time I ride within 12 to 15 miles from my house. So I always tell someone where I'm going and about how long I'll be gone. I've tried GMRS radios but they didn't work well with the terrain. (5 mile) I might try the Midland 10 mile radios. I leave one at home and check in at certain times. I always go to different sites to view aireal pictures to map out the long. and lat. of trail paths and transfer them over to a topo site and then to my own maps. I guess the most important thing to do is be careful and don't drive outside your limits. It probably is best to ride with at least one other person.

One question for you, have you ever seen a UFO or something questionable while in the plane?

 

I ride alone once in awhile. But when I do, I make sure my cell is charged and working , and also leave my riding area, and expected return time with my family.. but usually, the only time I ride alone is around my own property, and neighbors propertys.... so it's only about 100 acres

 

I have ridden dirt bike, ATV, and mountain bike solo for years. Never had the slightest problem of any kind! I carry a cell/sat phone, and somebody always knows where I am. I call them as soon as I am back at the truck.

 

I ride, hunt and fish alone. My wife used to get nervous but I always make it back so she stopped worrying, could be because of the life insurance I too out. In fact I took it out just for that reason. I tell people where I am going but in Alaska that could be problem, you tell them what trail and area you are going but the trails are long and the brush is so thick you could get attacked by a bear and it would be impossible to find you. I carry a handgun with me all the time and inside my Goretex jacket I carry a survival bag of goodies, lighter and matches, hard candy, tea, salt packets{helps with cramping}, compass, buck folding knife, 5o feet of 550 cord, small flashlight with extra set of batteries, chicken broth, pepper and tobasco sauce and a energy bar. My friends laugh when I make sure it is there everytime I go rideing or hiking but everything in the bag will help you thru some hard times, I need to add a survival blanket. All this fits in quart size freezer bag and of course I carry a extensive first aid kit on the wheeler and when I go hiking it goes in my backpack. AlaskaBoy.

 

My wife and I ride two up on our ATV and ride alone probably 80% of the time. All our kids have moved out and our friends can't pick up and go like we do. We go every weekend in better weather and have been very far in the backcountry away from anyone lots of times. We are as well prepared as we can be and ride within our limitations the best we can. An accident is an accident and we have been able to dodge those so far. We tell someone where we are going and call as soon as we can or if we are running late. Its really hard to set a time we will be back. We ride until we are done. There have been times we are loaded up and pulling out the driveway and haven't decided where we are going.

Some of our friends think we are crazy and always bring up some scenario like if we crashed and got pinned under our ATV and our cell phone didn't work, then what would we do? Well, we could get killed on our way there with the ATV still in the back of our PU, and then what would we do.

We enjoy good company and the camaraderie to go along with it, but we also like going where and when and how fast we want. We like stopping where and when we want for as long as we want. We like putting along and looking at the flowers or zipping along so we can take the long way around. There have been times we only went 15 miles in a day and times we have gone close to 100 miles and no one wined, because no one was there.

Be careful and ride safely.

 

When riding solo, you just have to realize that you will need to be RESPONSIBLE FOR YOURSELF. If you have a mechanical problem, you will have to either fix it, or stash the bike in the bushes and hike out. Same with a physical injury, bad trail conditions, weather, etc. Unfortunately, our culture teaches us to always depend on somebody else!

 

I ride alone occasionally. For the most part when I do I usually avoid some of the deeper mudholes, steeper ditches, etc. that wouldn't be a concern when there's somebody else with you to help pull you out if need be.
The nice thing about riding alone though is that I like to ride fairly fast through the woods and don't have to stop every 5 minutes to wait for others to catch up.
Hey Treedoc, I'm riding my Super Glide out your way this July. I'm planning on going to BJ's again to rent a quad for 4 hours (got a 300EX back in '95, probably a 400EX this time), probably sometime around the 12-14th. Maybe if you could take off for a few hours we could hook up for a ride.
Have a good one!

 

Wolverine,
Hit me up before you come out! I should be around that time of the year....there ain't no hunting season then!! BJ's is still renting Quads as is another outfit in Grover Beach called Steve's ATV Rental. I don't know what it cost now but if you need help with any arrangements, let me know. Where will you stay? Coming alone or a group of HOGS?

 

It's still up in the air if I'll be doing the CA and Vegas trip alone or not. My friend in Colorado and a friend from here that's talking about flying out and renting a H-D there, may ride with me to Pismo, then back to Colorado when I head down to see my Uncle for a day (around Oxnard), so I don't know yet if they'll be out for the Pismo trip yet or not. When I leave CA for Vegas my wife is going to fly out to meet me for a few days. We haven't been there since '97 so she's pretty excited.
I'll keep you updated as I know more what's going on. Right now I'm just looking forward to a 3 week trip on the bike and getting some time in the dunes while I'm there! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]