Well ten quads showed up for the eauclaire river run to Lake Wausau last weekend. There was a lot more open water than expected. Several quads were drowned and had to be tipped on end to get the water out of the engine. I also have a couple of small vids in quicktime of some of the boys demonstrating how to cross open water if you want I can email them to you. I wish I had some pics of my cannondale doing its thing in the deep water but since I have the camera that doesnt happen very often. It was a very fun ride and we will try another less wet river soon. The pics are on my page.

 

One picture on your photo page:

"Sometimes you just dont know where the thin ice is. The 250x was completely submerged in this hole and so was the rider"


When the rider went in and was completely soaked it would seem hypothermia would set in awful quick, what was done to prevent this?

 

For one you need to buy good cold weather gear that can keep you warm when it gets wet. It wasnt to cold that day and there was no wind down it the river area so wind chill didnt play into it. That type of riding where it takes a lot of physical effort to drive over downed trees and pull quads out holes makes us very hot. The 250x rider said he was pretty cold for the rest of the day but not bad enough to keep him from riding. The water he went into was only a couple feet deep but the quad rolled over on its side with just 2 wheels out and he went with it .Several other occasions years back when it was colder we had to take a break and build a fire and dry off the snowsuits ,boots,gloves . I make sure to carry a first aid kit always with thermal blankets ,cell phones,lighters.
We also stay in rivers that are never to deep or flow so fast that if you fell in you would be swept away or drown or lose a machine(less than 2 or 3 feet) . This particular river is so shallow(6 inches) it is only possible to canoe during the spring thaw. I would never try deep water rivers like the wisconsin river no matter how thick the ice is on the lakes. And we only drive though water when it there is no other way through. I hope nobody thinks the water is like 10 feet deep ,that would be suicide to run a river like that.