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By: Jason Giacchino
Email:
offthepegs@atvsource.com
October 2007 - Off The Pegs
New Trails
& New Friends
Typically I don’t mind the cooler nights of
fall or for that matter the crisp early mornings
that follow. There is something magical
about shredding blackened loam while dew
glistens on your rear fenders. This was
one such weekend; temps reached a high of near
60 in the days and the nights dipped down into
the 30's. Aside from swilling coffee and
poring over ATV magazines, I had to take moment
to dig out my trusty Alpinestars hoody.
Yeah, it was that cold! Anyway, I snuck a
couple of picturesque rides in while the leaves
were just starting to hint of fall with yellow
veins crisscrossing the green that remained.
While my group of riding buddies and I are
fairly comfortable and confident blasting along
our usual network of trails, every once in a
while we get the urge to venture out beyond the
borders we’re used to. It probably didn’t
help that we just so happened to come upon a
fairly fresh looking extension jutting off the
grape-vineyard roads we often frequent.
Curiosity got the best of us, and our small band
of three quads veered off the beaten path into
the unknown.
The main trail, like much of the terrain in
my area, was hard-packed clay and fairly dry.
It extended in both directions and was quickly
obscured from view because of its many twists
and turns. From there it appeared to offer
several side routes which periodically popped up
on both sides. Best of all, the terrain
was clearly carved by ATVs as indicated by the
twin footprints that accepted our Dunlops as if
fitted just for us. We slowly explored the
main trail for several miles before finally
coming upon a camp-site complete with a
stone-lined firepit and surrounding semi-circle
of benches. To the right was a steep sandy
hill with (much to our delight) more
double-track quad trails spider-webbing across a
field of green.
Naturally, we zipped up the hill-climb single
file and onto the field beyond. Fallen
trees were chain sawed cleanly where the trail
crossed and overhanging foliage was trimmed to
perfection several feet above our helmeted
heads. The field we were crossing suddenly
gave way to a vista point that would have looked
right at home as the background on your computer
screen. Rolling green hills and a pasture
of tall corn stalks sprawled out before us.
We shut the quads off to enjoy the view when, to
our surprise, the distant rumble of a thumper
continued to echo off the hillside. It was
definitely the exhaust note of a performance
machine and growing steadily louder at that.
We waited patiently until the source of the
noise revealed itself: A black 2003 Bombardier
DS650 burst around the corner ahead of us and
came to a rest on the path in front of our
parked caravan.
It turned out that the machine’s operator was
a friendly fellow also named Jason (one of many
things we would have in common). We all
got to talking and discovered that he was the
owner of the land that we were trespassing on
and that the trails we were exploring were the
result of countless hours of his manual labor.
“You mean you’ve built all of these trails
without any equipment?” we asked, trying to
conceal our surprise.
He just shook his head.
“All of this by hand. It’s taken me several
years but I’ve finally got my trail system to
connect to the vineyard you entered from.”
It also turned out we had many friends and
acquaintances in common. We took turns on
that sunny Saturday examining each other’s quads
with questions and answered with tales of
adventure that each scratch and ding carried
with them. We apologized for not getting
permission to ride on his land to which he
officially invited us to enjoy the fruits of his
labor anytime (except hunting season). We
exchanged cell phone numbers and offered labor
assistance for the next time he decided to work
on his trails. Despite some prodding, we
couldn’t get him to accompany us for the
remainder of our ride, but we parted with a
hardy handshake and a silent nod.
I suppose I really shouldn’t be surprised
with the land owner’s welcoming attitude and
friendliness--he was, after all, a fellow rider.
My buddies and I assured him that we would tread
lightly on his terrain and made certain to thank
him for allowing us to enjoy his beautiful
property. Fall has always been one of my
favorite times of the year to ride and making
new friends out on the trail makes a good thing
even better.
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