Adventures in ATVing

I got to go on a nice long ATV ride on the 16th, my birthday. Rode out to the DMV over in Palmer to renew my driver's license. It was not easy to sort out getting from Wasilla to Palmer on an ATV, at least not when following the Parks Hwy. The overpass out at the Palmer cutoff was the stumbling point, although there was this one hill just before Wal-Mart...

I was cruising along following the ATV trail when suddenly the little ATV realized it was no longer on a reasonably angled slope. I ended up shutting it down as I pondered what to do. I was committed, could not back up, could only go on down the hill, but the trail had been cut in a set of grooves and trying to let the bike go either way caused a worse tilting in the angle it was at (already had rear uphill facing tire hovering a few inches off the ground). So, I finally ended up kicking down to neutral and sitting back on the cargo rack and over to the left all the way, as far in the uphill direction as I could get. One foot balancing me, the other braced down on the foot peg. One hand holding in the front brake on the left handlebar (could not reach the right handlebar. Even with brakes full on the bike wanted to creep down the hill when I put it in neutral, so there I am, hanging off the side of the bike keeping it from rolling, and braced to leap back if it did, creeping it to where it would roll safely down the hill.

Took about five feet before it began to level out, then I got more firmly onto the bike and let it finish going down the hill using both the hand and foot brakes (much easier to control). When I finally reached the bottom and got it stopped it would not start. ARRRGH!!!!

It only took me a few minutes before I realize in the weird acrobatics I had done to keep it from rolling I had accidentally flicked the ignition kill switch. Flicked that back into the start position and ATV fired right up.

Other than that, and a few "not this way..." back-up and try again entanglements I made it to Palmer without much trouble and got my license renewed.

Not much more than a bit of time to ride

I got out on the ATV a couple of times this past week without getting the chance to post about it here, life just seemed to get rather chaotic at the time I was trying to get the posts up, but the important thing - for me - is that I managed to get out and ride. Did not get much free time other than to ride, but I did get the chance to get out there and ride.

I've taken the ATV both up to Houston and down into Wasilla over the past week, both very nice and fun rides. The trucks had done a lot of tearing up on the trails, leaving some nasty spots where there were ditches left by truck tires half as deep as my ATV, but easily avoided for the most part.

Got my ATV insured

I called up Geico a couple of days ago was told that my ATV insurance would cost me $275 a year for full insurance that includes theft insurance. I decided that I needed to look over my finances and determine if I can afford it, but had forgot to ask her if I had to have all the stuff, since my main concern is theft protection.

Went back online and checked into it - I didn't need all the stuff she had on there. It whittled down to only about $100 a year. Talking to the guy today I got everything i wanted for $23 to get started and $17 a month for the next 8 months. That's not bad at all in my opinion, and I've got a good percent of that already in my advertising payments account. Rest will be there next week, so I already have a full year's insurance on my ATV from my advertising work. And the piece of mind I get having that is well worth it to me.

Springtime ride & trail report Big Lake Rd

I just got back from riding my ATV up to the store and back. The trails look fairly good, few very deep puddles, particularly up just before Big Lake where the trail splits off to head up the hill behind Big Lake and goes on ahead toward Fisher's Y.

I did not try the lake in the trail at that point, I did do some exploratory creeping into the water but then decided it was just too deep to risk when I knew it got deeper over where the trails all converge and I was only halfway there at the point I backed out of the water.

Since I was backing up anyway, I went back to the gravel pit across from the post office and dug out the camera, videotaping the trail about halfway back to the Parks Highway, stopping when I hit a section where trucks had torn up the trail at some deep puddles and I needed to put the camera away so I could use both hands on the handlebars. I will try to get that video uploaded to YouTube when I get the time and share it over at AlaskaATV.info I'll post a link here when I get that done.

Cold ride, trail report, and early morning discoveries

Yes, that was me on the Wyvern that you saw out cruising down the trails around nine in the morning yesterday. I had to meet up with someone, so took my ATV out for a run. it was very nice to be able to get out and ride, but I will be making sure that the next time I do that I have better leggings on. My legs got really cold since all I have to wear is a pair of jeans and a thin cotton long-john type PJs deal.

Still, I can't complain too much about getting out to ride some. Was a really good ride even with the cold. I also found that the bike path is getting to be fairly clear. There is still some snow in places, and there was one point where there was a really deep puddle, but won't be long before the bicycles can be broke out and taken for rides. I think I'd wait a bit longer on the roller blades, since there is still a lot of gravel all over the paved trails.

I also found something along the bike trail that goes along the Parks Hwy - if anyone can identify what it was I found then I'll take that as proof they were the ones that lost it and will get it back to you. I will say that it's not worth a lot, not a diamond ring or a suitcase full of money - drat it.

Can't go riding today

As much as I want to get out and ride today, and oh is it a lovely day for riding the ATV, I'm afraid that I am going to need to stay home. I don't want to send my dad down to my sister's place, since he got too tired out being down there last night (until after 1 in the morning), and after a night of sleeping good he's spent all day asleep so far as well. He's sleeping good, but definitely too tired out to be going back down to the garage and hanging out again today. Might not make me popular, but I'm going to keep him home today and I am going to work rather than go riding on the ATV.

Finally got the ATV out and about this year

I got my ATV out on the trail today. It was good to get out and ride after all winter trapped indoors. I strongly suggest that if you have a machine you stop reading this and get out and ride! I took a few pictures, but won't get them loaded onto the computer until later, so I'll share them later on tonight. For now I'll just say that the trails are lovely and clear from the bit of riding I did earlier and it is time to get out there and enjoy the ATV weather while we have it.