Well, not exactly something I'm proud of, but, something I thought I'd share. Last night me and a buddy rode around his house, (nothing exciting...a few hills and alot of trees) for an hour or so. In a particular valley section that was pretty heavily wooded I saw a clearing that was about ten feet wide going up a hill about twenty feet between some trees. Problem was, at one time, somebody used to dump some bricks and large rocks here, so it made for an interesting area. It was turning dark as we rode and I was just getting ready to load up when I passed this particular "virgin" section. We just had one heck of a wind storm here in N.W. MO that produced 75 m.p.h. wind gusts... no joke! This added to the area, some tree branches and small sticks. So now, the hill was loose bricks, rocks, sticks, and branches on already loose soil... the perfect formula! My buddy wanted no part of it, but me, just wanting one last challenge before calling it quits headed for the hill. First, to test the bite I merely crawled as far as I could (maybe 1/4). It was steeper than I first thought, as while sitting down the front was getting light. So I tried again, this time with one leg up on the seat to balance better on the steep grade. A little more momentum produced a run of about half of the hill. The loose terrain was just being spit out from behind me. It still felt pretty stable though, as steep as it was, there was just not enough traction to bring it over... or so I thought! This time I was ready to break for daylight. I gave it alot of throttle to hope for momentum to carry my up. At about my previous half way run, the holes that I had dug quickly destroyed all of that momentum. It began to lose traction fast so to adjust, I just opened 'er up a little more. The grizz lunged forward and past this half way point by a few feet. Now it was slowing again and moving debris from below me. Well, just a second or two of this was all it took to suddenly bite into the soil below the rocks, sticks, etc. My headlights went skyward and I let off the throttle, just a little too late. It sat in "limbo" at 90* for a second as I tried powerlessly to lean forward and set it back down. I the felt it coming over, so I decided to bail and save what can not be bought from McBride's Yamaha.... ME! I fell staight backwards down the hill, watching the quad follow me, I tried slide myself backwards away from the falling mass. The front rack slammed into the hill just inches away from my legs and somehow did not roll the rest of the distance of the hill. I was just relieved that I was not injured, although my back was cut up pretty bad from a rock that I landed on when I fell backwards. My buddy helped me flip the grizz over to survey the damage. Once off the hill we pulled the bars up into their regular position, pushed the dents out of the gas tank cover (from the bars), pulled the brake levers back up, and she was just fine. The gauge cluster is now almost flat (parallel to the rack), and there are a few dents and scratches from the rocks the rack landed on, but, overall great! I can certainly straighten that out. I guess I was due, not having rolled in some time, and I'm glad it turned out okay, could have been real bad. LEARN FROM EACH AND EVERY MISTAKE, AND DON'T TAKE A GOOD OUTCOME FOR GRANTED... THERE HARD TO COME BY!!! Later all! -Clint.
P.S. I put this under "skills" because there is no headline for lack there of. lol
P.S. I put this under "skills" because there is no headline for lack there of. lol
