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| Another
great fall weekend in Pennsylvania |
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Well Sunday morning arrived
& after breakfast, the
Parking lot was full of anxious ATVer's ready for another day of
adventure. Since hunting season is in, Sunday's route was scheduled
as such as to NOT disturb the hunters & make sure one of us
was not injured by a hunter's stray projectile!
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| Steve Harkins
from Paatving.com showed up Saturday night with his trusty 400ex to
bang bars with us & see for himself what the SPEEDBALLS do on
a typical day of blasting across the mountains of Pa. |
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His web
site has published a few of our misadventures & photos, so Steve
decided to experience firsthand & take some cool photos for our
next story on his web site. I'm
doing the story & his photos will chronicle our misadventures.
I will notify everyone when this postcard is open for viewing at Paatving.com. |
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So with
bellies full & spirits high we set out for Ashland to unload our
quads & enjoy the glorious day God has given us this 21st day
of October.
Once at the parking area off Route # 54 it didn't take long before
all quads were cranked
up & headed across the mountains of Pa. |
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| The action
picked up fast even after we discussed starting out slow, because
once we hit Speedball Ridge the SPEEDBALL fever set in BIG TIME! About
10 minutes into this mad dash across the mountains, |
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as I BLASTED
up the trail I noticed something BIG & BLACK moving fast in front
of my 400ex!!!! It seemed to fill the entire trail in front of me!!!!!!
As I slowed enough to make out what I was bearing down on,
I realized it was a HUGE BLACK BEAR doing its best to get away from
us & our pack of noisy quads!!! I slid to a stop, with Steve Harkins
almost crashing into me, as I frantically pointed to out to him the
BIG BLACK bear moving away from us. |
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| We both sat
in utter astonishment as the bear made a hasty exit off the trail
& disappeared into the thick underbrush!!! This was an omen of
things to come! |
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Since
everyone was disappointed in not being able to hill
climb yesterday, we headed straight for Three Corners to do some serious
hill climbing! With dusty conditions & the youth movement in our
club, the pace slowed in order to accommodate the younger & less
experienced riders. |
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There's
nothing like finding a fresh pile to carve some new lines in
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| Once at Three
Corners we stayed & let the younger folks play on the smaller
hills before we crossed Rt. 125 to the SERIOUS hills across the road. |
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| Chrissie
& John got in some quality time learning to hill climb. As we
watched the newer members play around a " LOUD " roar was
echoing from across the road at the more challenging hills! Curiosity
finally got the best of us, so off we went to investigate the source
of all this noise! |
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A group of
SERIOUS hill climbers from Delaware were making a mockery of the most
radical of the hills that this location had to offer!!!!! A few 330r's
ate up the hills, but the " BEAST " was a " Suzuki
Quad racer" with a 1264cc, 4cylinder 4-stroke street bike engine
stuffed into the frame!! The quad was SUPER clean & done professionally!!!!!!!!!!!
It ate up hills like NOTHING I've seen
before!!!!!!! |
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| Below
is an Mpeg vidio clip, To view Click on the camera download and view |
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| We all sat
around & watched it do the most incredible things any of us have
ever witnessed a quad do!!!!! We couldn't match them, but still some
serious hills awaited our adventurous atver's. Me being the leader
& all, I picked out a challenging long twisty hill climb &
blasted upwards towards the top! At first the 400ex had a hard time
finding enough traction & almost shut it down, before it got to
the point of no return. But I scratched & clawed my way to the
top! |
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Caleb &
his Wolverine's newly Mickey Dunlop modified motor also blasted up
the hill! Josh & his 440ex was showing off & climbing the
damn thing in 4th fear as most of us were restricted to 2nd gear or
in my case 1st! Dave & his 600 lb. Grizzly even got in on the
action &
scared us all as he clawed he way up the hill to the amazement of
us all! Steve Harkins & his 400ex love the hills & were seen
following suit before long. Bobby & his mighty Raptor was the
last to get up the courage to conquer this hill & succeed. |
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| Butch Biesecker
the man riding the " BEAST " upon hearing about our upcoming
trip to the " 500 Hill " wanted to know if we'd show them
how to get there???"Sure "I said " Top off your tanks,
so you don't run short on fuel & we'll take you over & watch
as you have some fun " |
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So after topping their tanks we set out for the
" 500 Hill " to watch the hill climbers do their thing.
Once at the " 500 Hill " they proceeded to make a mockery
of even this HILL!!!!!!!!! Next thing you know they are going sideways
ACROSS the face of the " 500 Hill " !!!!! Next to show
just HOW MUCH POWER the " BEAST " had, he put a SECOND
rider on the back of the " BEAST " & slid down the
" 500 Hill " ! NO WAY!!!!!!!! NUTS!!! CRAZY!!!!!
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Were just
a few of the words we used to describe this lunacy unfolding before
our eyes!!!After successfully making the descent to the bottom, the
man & the " BEAST " & his piggy back rider
line up for a run at the " 500 Hill " with TWO riders on
the " BEAST "!!!! I'm saying to myself " NO WAY "
!!!!!!!! But up came the " BEAST " with TWO riders throwing
20ft rooster tails & |
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| the piggy
back rider slapping his butt like he is hitting the back of a horse
as he squeals with delight at what's transpiring!!!! Just blew us
all away!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Below
is an Mpeg vidio clip, To view Click on the camera download and view |
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| Well the
son-in-law gets inspired & sets out to outdo the " BEAST
"! As he is traversing the side of the " 500 Hill"
he makes an error & misjudges the angle & speed at which is
needed to successfully reach the top! Only ONE path down & since
he is traversing the " 500 Hill ", NO way safely back down!
We stand in amazement as the 330r begins its downward descent towards
the trees & drop off at the bottom!!!! Near the bottom the quad
flips & rolls & the rider is ejected! SILENCE!!!! A mad scramble
in his general direction is underway!!! |
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( 1200cc deuced
up) 5.2 meg
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As I await
the fate of the rider, I realize that it won't be good one-way or
the other! The rider is moving, but in great pain, as ribs & possible
collarbone are broken! Once quad & rider have been brought to
the top, we head for the nearest extraction point to get rider picked
up & headed for medical
attention. |
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| View
looking up from the scene |
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| Below
is an Mpeg vidio clip, To view Click on the camera download and view |
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After leaving
injured rider & friend at easiest pick up point, I
take the rest of our group & theirs back to our trucks. Upon saying
good -bye
to our group Dave, Steve & myself head out towards Shamokin as
fast as
possible to get the injured riders friends back to their trucks, so
they can
return & pick them up! Once we have the Delaware riders at their
trucks we
head back for Ashland. |
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(330r on the
500 hill) 5.2 meg file
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Such
a beautiful day! So now the last three riders are in no hurry
to reach the trucks, the pace slows & we savor the day! I head
back & take almost an entirely different route to the trucks.
Somewhere along the way, Steve starts to rev his quads engine &
push at my back end! He wants to PLAY!!!! HA! HA! So I find the muddiest
trails & all I see behind me are large walls of water coming at
me as Steve slams into every mud hole full bore! Once we cross Rt.
54 the pace picks up! By the time we hit the
first open road its " SPEEDBALL " time the whole way back
to the trucks!!!! Through tight trails, open roads or rocky downward
loops the speed is almost insane at times!!! HA! HA! I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!
Dave & his Grizzly is no match for the two 400ex's as they bang
bars the entire way back to the trucks!!! |
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Trx430ex
retorts,,,,
Let me tell you that speedy racer is one pesky aggressive gear banger
to keep up with let alone pass. Speedy having tricked myself into
crossing an assortment of large deep standing mud holes getting me
entirely soaked I decided it was time for payback. I could not have
gotten any more drenched so I decided to switch from defensive mode
of trying not to get wet to the faster line down the trail at any
cost to gain position waiting for the opportunity to pass.
Having learned earlier in the day that speedy could here my pipe when
nipping at his heels. I decided to use a stealth maneuver in an attempt
to gain the inside line on a downhill switchback turn wrapping left.
So I punched third gear to hammer down the hill to the switchback,
then pulled in the clutch and cut the throttle two-thirds from the
turn. Closing in on speedy at a rapid rate, I could tell he would
not here me arrive to pass him in that turn. Cutting to the inside
we arrived in the turn at the same time (my right front tire glancing
his left foot peg) exposing a surprised speedy look that greeted me
at that moment. But the attempt on my part was in vain as I pushed
speedy to the outside of the turn lining up speedy to gain traction
as my ex slide sideways for a split second losing momentum. (Darrrrrrr!)
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Hammering back up the hill hot on speedy's tail
I was pelted by an assortment of rocks from BB to tennis ball in
size. Buying my time weaving in and out of meteor showers I awaited
my opportunity having it only to show up in hindsight.
The trail brought us to the last mud
hole of the day, bringing speedy to a slow around line, eluding
it. My fatal mistake was following his line, (like a Chaz Rice camera
tip) then running into him half way through it. What I should have
done is played water bug straight over it, which would have completed
two goals.
1 -Soaking speedy with a tsunami wave through the hole
2- passing speedy at the same time
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| But
it was not to be, as speedy executed great lines of attack through
the forest this day. I did get by the man at the end of a short hill
climb when speedys trek came to an instant stop having glanced off
a large rock exiting trail stage right!!!! Opening up a passing lane
to the crest of the hill. All in all it was a great day! |
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| What a way
to end the day & weekend! Steve loads up & heads home &
Dave & I head for Atlas to wash up our quads & get some supper.
Everyone in our group survived another adventure in the hills of Pa.
& plan to do it again real soon!!!! See you all later! SPEEDY
RACER |
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Attention Pennsylvania
Riders
Paatving.com
is looking for pictures, stories and adventures to share with your
fellow riders here in the great state of Pennsylvania.The postcard
page was created to feature these Pictures and stories in an effort
to promote this fine sport and to provide a place on the web that
all Pa riders can exchange ideas. If you have a picture or mpeg and
story you would like to share with your fellow Pa riders, you can
email them to postcard@paatving.com
,how do I make a postcard? |
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