Rat’s Ramblings- More on the Fall Trail Ride, and lots of other thoughts…

 

  First, let me apologize for the severe lapse in newsletter production as of late. There are several conditions that have contributed to this. I started a new job a couple of months ago, which in itself should have no big effect, but there was also the lack of additional input from other club members. More on that in a bit. Anyway, all of the various factors balled up together created this delay that you are seeing now.

   As you have surely by now read the article (s) submitted by Emma Dryden on the past couple of pages, you will see that many of us have been wheeling or pants off lately. That is a figure of speech, and should not be taken in such a way to create the image of any of us wheeling pants less. There is a difference…

   On that note, the (hopefully) 1st annual Boonie Riders/ IFWDA Fall Trail Ride held at the French Lick Springs Resort was a success. Not so much in that the attendance was extraordinary, but in the fact that everyone who did make it had a great time. I won’t recap what you already read, but I will try to touch on what happened on my rides. Saturday, after a fairly short to the point drivers meeting, everyone lined up behind their trail leaders up in front of the hotel in the big circular driveway. I was the leader for the easy/ moderate group. To call this group’s adventure “easy” is a stretch of the imagination. Due to the wet conditions, I decided to take the “easy” trail up the hill. Well, the first hill tool most of, if not more than an hour for all 13 to crest. That done, we pushed on relatively uneventfully for another 2.5 hours. This was definitely a weekend full of throttle wheeling. IF you didn’t use some petrol, you used a strap. After finishing th trail, we went into town for some lunch, and met back up to hit another trail that afternoon. This is where it got interesting. One tame looking side slope on the blue trail turned out to be the nemesis of nearly everyone in our group. OF course, with our home field advantage, the Boonies were able to make quick work of it. Once at the top of the blue, we headed down the yellow. The yellow trail, when dry, is about an hour long trail for a group of our size. Lets just say that it wasn’t dry. The first half is mostly downhill, with only one tricky slope. As you may have guessed, the other half is mostly uphill. This was another example of (coining a new phrase) throttleized wheeling. Good mud tires (Swampers, really to be brutally honest) were needed to get up most of these hills under one’s own power. The very last hill is a tight, twisty, rutted, gnarly 70 or so foot rise, that is fairly long. When this hill is dry, you need to build some momentum. Again, it was not dry this day. 13 vehicles later, it was just starting to get dark. I didn’t realize this until I noticed that some of my group were actually running their headlights! I had originally planned to have everyone back to the Hotel by 5:00, so we could get showers before dinner (which was at 6:00). WE hit the pavement at 6:00, and walked into the banquet room at about 6:10. Even after all of that, everyone in my group thanked me for such a great ride (gasp!) and told me I did a great job leading (huh?- well, at least I didn’t get us lost this time…)  I too can’t wait for the convention. I am confident that we will have more people than you can “shake a stick at”.

   In the WCRD news, Interlake I again closed for Deer season. This was an expected and understandable safety concern. Additionally, there has been some confusion as to whom can use what trails or haul roads on the property. According to the DNR office in Indianapolis, the trails and the haul roads are all open to OHV’s. MY concern regarding this property is that we need to just not ride there unless it is for a WCRD work day or other WCRD function. Eventually, if everything goes right, the area will be turned into a multi use recreational area. This is pretty much how the property functions now, except that there is currently no guarantee that it will be there tomorrow.

   In other land use arenas, so to speak, I would like to remind everyone not to take anything we currently “have” for granted. I know everyone really appreciates using Hank’s almost at will, but remember that this is his property. We MUST respect his wishes while there. At the very least, we need to be proactive about taking all of our trash with us when we leave. In the past, we have simply left the barrels near full, and forgotten to haul it to the dump station (right up the road!) At least once Hank has had the displeasure of cleaning up what the raccoons decided to play with. He should NEVER have to do that. I will purchase some drum liners to take up there, but still it is our (club’s) responsibility to see that it is hauled off.  Rant : OFF

   As you may know, the club officer election was held at the October meeting at Heath Eckerle’s. I was elected President, with Steve Cain getting Vice President, Melissa Reisz getting Secretary, and Daniel Weisman getting Treasurer. We will continue to move forward with the club, and to do the best job we can, we will need to hear from you, the club members. Until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Rich