One of the greatest things we have in the off-road world is actually the trails we ride. Finding incredible breathtaking scenery and amazing wildlife here in Colorado is only limited by the amount of time you can spend looking for it.
We just love the long distance adventure rides. Especially now that we have a bigger and more comfortable machine. If I could ride a 100 miles everyday …. on a different trail …. everyday !! I would be in heaven! And I know a few folks who feel the same way.
A part of my adventure isn’t just the awesome scenery and amazing wildlife …. its the driving part. I love driving my RzR. I love the sound, smell and the feeling of driving offroad. That’s why we bought it ….. to get us out there, away from our lives in the city and away from everyday problems.
Everything about this experience, the pre-ride prep, the post ride maintenance ….. all of it ….. I just love the whole thing.
Most people don’t know that they are already training themselves for long rides by doing all those short ones.
A seasoned SxS trail driver will always have strategies for overcoming even the worst trail issues and getting ready for a long day of riding is not as hard as it may seem. Pre-planning for a longer ride is all it takes. Extra fuel, more water, trail snacks etc. We always carry a “just in case” bag. Just in case we have to (in the worst case scenario) spend the night out on the trail.
Being Prepared allows us to ride for long distances with realitively no worries. This type of riding is a culmination of years of riding. The experience these rides have taught me is invaluable.
Machine preservation is at the top my list. Taking good care of my SxS off the trail is where it starts. Making sure it operates the way its supposed to and not taking stupid chances out on the trail will help me get back.
Depends on your definition of “off the road”???????
what ??????
I KNOW !!!!!
But just hear me out for a second ……… This for sure is one off the biggest misconceptions to non-off roaders there is. It’s really a play on words but my point is valid. If you’re not into this sport, hobby or haven’t been exposed to this lifestyle then the term off roading is what you know or the only term you have heard.
They believe we just go off the pavement and drive wherever we want? And in the process destroy our forests and deserts and in general annihilate the eco system. This is so untrue!!!!! 98% of all off roading takes place on designated roads and trails or in designated OHV play areas. I have talked to people who think we just park somewhere …. unload and haul ass into the forest, making our own trails and destroying everything in our wake.
We (99%) are not trail blazing and bush whacking the forest. (Side note: this would be awesome to do but we are more responsible than this …. way more responsible!) Not only is this environmentally wrong it is highly illegal. Staying on trail and within designated trail riding areas is the single most important and responsible act a “off roader” can do no matter the vehicle used to do it.
Many OHV designated roads and trails have been around for many, many years. Because of this …. the soil and rock are super compacted and only need occasional help from humans (drainage problems, tree’s and natural debris on trails etc. ….) to keep them open., very stable and can handle the weight of the OHV’s traveling over them. However, …. there are plenty of man-made OHV trails out there and they were constructed using natural trails as a model on how to build them.
The point I’m getting at here is ……. my SxS OHV hobby doesn’t deserve the amount of negativity it gets just because some non-OHV folks don’t understand what it is and how we do it …… especially when they don’t even understand the definition. Trail riding is what I typically stick to in a conversation and then define it when someone asks.
So …. yes, the term “off roading” is widely misunderstood and incorrectly used too much and I consider the context in which it’s used for the purpose of describing my hobby to be a: “BIG FAT LIE”!!!!!!!! Just Sayin !!!!!
Living in Colorado all my life, there are some things I know. One of these things is “if you don’t like the weather …. wait 5 mins and it will change!”. The other thing I know is “locals have secrets”! For this blog article I’m talking about trails…. secret trails. Colorado has thousands of trails …. marked and mapped trails, unmarked and undiscovered trails and even secret trails that only a few know about.
As an avid SxS enthusiast I will let you in on something …. some of the best SxS trails in Colorado are a secret. I know this because I hold roughly ten (10) of these trails in secret myself. Not the kind of secret where nobody knows except me but the kind you couldn’t even pay me to divulge. The reason there a secret is because the trail experiences these trails give, you remember for the rest of your life. You won’t find them on YouTube or Instagram, Facebook or even in a book.
There is a reason …. I will never reveal specifically the locations of these trails …. “I’m selfish” …. yes, I will say it again …. I’m selfish! How did I become so selfish? Let me explain …. in the last 5 years the number of SxS enthusiasts has doubled if not tripled …. yeah…there’s a lot of us out there and because of this there has been a lot of trail damage and echo system interruption due to trash, wear and tear and all the other things that go along with over usage. I won’t get into who or what is exactly to blame but all of us in one way or another are culprits.
Please don’t misunderstand me …. nature by herself is pretty destructive (floods, fire, wind) and can leave catastrophic imprints on a trail. We have had trail conditions change within hours. The conditions coming out were different then going in. It is super possible to get seriously stranded for hours because of weather and going prepared by knowing this is key to how your experience is. I’m talking about being stopped on the trail in a very gnarly section uphill while a beating of 3/4 inch hail fell from the sky and within minutes, we had a river of 8-inch-deep water and hail moving like a stream under us…. quickly realizing this and maneuvering the front wheels to hook some big rocks and riding it out was the only and safest option. Terrifying to say the least …. but was an overall part of the experience the trail can give you. Like I said … being prepared is key!
Not all the problems and issues on any trail (secret or not) are man-made. It just seems through the media …. the man-made ones are highlighted so that’s all we read or hear about. Without getting off track here (which if you know me? …. oh man! could go there very easily!) the subject of the secret trail and why locals have them and why their secret is understandable…. at least in my mind …. and is mostly …. because I am a local! But arnt we all a local to somewhere?
There might be maybe 5 people who know and understand my secret trails. I hold these trails especially one …. near and dear to my heart. These 5 people understand how special it is to my wife and I and why? One of the many reasons this trail is our favorite is because mother nature changes it year to year like a pencil with an eraser …. able to create and erase the shape and the feeling this trail delivers on a yearly basis. The seemingly endless things that nature does to this trail would blow your mind! The technicality has long been a filibuster to full sized rigs. Foot hikers, mountain bikers, horses and 4wheelers(quads) have predominately ruled this trail for a very long time.
The major reason the full-size rig off roaders isn’t popular on this trail has everything to do with accessibility …. and can be said about any mechanical trail vehicle…. and that is …. if you have a mechanical problem, you better be able to fix it on the trail because getting a tow would be virtually impossible. The possible trail damage to full size rigs just navigating the obstacles would be hard enough but to then have some kind of mechanical issue related to other parts breaking because of wear and tear or nonservice are huge to. A flat tire on this trail can turn into a serious exercise and safety becomes more important than the tire. I know … seen it happen! I’m not saying it can’t happen to SxS’s but our advantage of being lighter and more maneuverable makes it less likely.
The technical side of this trail isn’t the real reason I keep it secret (although I am adamant that a SxS was created for this trail by the Gods) …. the reason is…. in more than 20 yrs. of riding this trail my wife and I can only remember one …. maybe two times we didn’t see wildlife while running this trail. Both times we think we know why…. a wildfire and an extreme weather event? The weather event was a hailstorm that was biblical and a wildfire that was out of control. Every other time we have ridden this trail we have seen the number 2 attraction Colorado has to all visitors and locals alike…. animals.
The wildlife will leave you jaw-dropped! The scenery will leave you moved, and the journey will prove to you that sometimes a tool like a SxS is just a vehicle to get you there and if your prepared and open minded you get a memory that’s burned into your memories and something you will never forget the rest of your life. So, when I say “locals secret” that’s exactly what it means …. it’s my secret …. not that hundreds of people don’t know about it but more about why “we” locals hold it as a secret, how it makes us feel and in the way it makes us feel… that’s it …. the secrecy is more about the experience then the trail location, but it makes us selfish …. and if you think about that one trail that does that to you then you have a secret trail too……. Be Selfish!!!
The name of this trail ride is exactly what it means…. Get Off The Couch…. and come ride with us. Drive over Cameron Pass and into beautiful Gould Colorado and let’s ride. And that’s exactly what we did. Here are some pics.
We……meaning all of us “Just Plain Suck” at being good stewards and decent human beings out on the trail!
OHV’ers (mostly SxS’s) are pissing off the locals in Colorado’s mountain towns.
Infiltrated and overwhelmed by SxS’s…….local towns are trying to find a balance between welcoming the injection of SxS tourist dollars into their community and keeping their towns from becoming a scene of some kind of crazy mad max movie.
Yes…believe it or not…….. this is a huge problem. And we aren’t helping! Just look at the controversy it has created in the small mountain towns of Lake City, Silverton, Marble and Tin Cup because of noise, trash, trail over use, trail and surrounding echo system damage, damage to private property and heated confrontations between locals and SxS enthusiasts. (Just Google it and you too will get an eye-opening look at what we are and are not doing as good trail stewards to promote and save our OHV hobby.) The number of SxS’s out on our trails in Colorado has doubled if not quadrupled since Covid. And not only that but the influx of out of state SxS Tourists has gone up as well.
Back in the day you couldn’t come up with a better way to inject money into a community faster than promoting and having an event that just had the word “offroad” in it.
Do you see where I’m going with this?
Its plane as the nose on your face. It’s the reckless behavior, overuse and all the stuff that comes with a SxS Rally…and how the media is reporting on it that killed any chance of a SxS Rally or any kind of event like it from ever getting the approval from anyone for the front range to have any of these kinds of events. Our front range cities and towns don’t want the issues and problems they are seeing in towns up in the mountains.
Obviously, there is a lot more to it than just this…but we do have some responsibility to the cause of it. Even if you’re not one of these kinds of people out on the trail…. but… did you stop to pick up some trash on the trail that wasn’t yours??? Did you go through the mud…instead of blazing a trail into the woods …off trail to go around like everyone else??? See …. it’s up to all of us to do something about it…!
I implore you to help, pick up that bottle or can or at a minimum…donate to or become a member of the following organizations….
For most of us, trail riding is all about relaxation and enjoyment. When you leave behind the rigors and repetition of daily life, you can simply savor the experience of being away from it all and sharing the experience with family and friends. The apsolute magic mother nature has created is “AWE” inspiring!
For me …. trying to explain my thoughts about trail attitude and behavior is like having a CRANBERRIES song stuck in your head …. in your head …. in your head …. Zombie….Zombie! (Lol) yep! Some of you won’t get that…. I know… but it’s still funny! And now that song is stuck in your head…(lol).
Seriously….I know what I want to say … but how to write about it so it might help someone is a totally different! Trail etiquette is hard, and we’ve all seen the downside. We’re out on the trail doing our thing, all peaceful and one with nature, when suddenly one of “them” appears and ruins our day with loud music and dangerous behavior.
Your anger flairs…. Words are exchanged, the moment is ruined, and you fume about it for at least a week at a minimum!
You may think that the solution for this is that everyone just needs to obey the rules, and that would certainly help, but the real solution lies in the attitude and behavior WE bring to the trail. No collection of rules is going to make assholes into decent human beings, or make trail sharing perfect and peaceful at all times. Sharing is a complicated process that requires patience and …. tolerance.
This Metaphor of…. Carry-On Luggage is spot on and is a great description of what Im talking about. Bare with me…you’ll get it…I promise!
It’s not hard to see how futile even basic rule-making can be for trails. Just board any commercial airline going anywhere, anytime, and see how many people listen to the speaker announcement to “Please, put your second carry on under the seat.”
Inpending behavior is always the same:
Deferential Decent People …… 10% of people will go further and put both bags under their seat or in the seat-back pouch, because they want to make as much room as possible for others (or they just want all their stuff nearby lol).
Decent People ……70% of people will do exactly that, no more or less, It’s no big deal. It’s not like it’s hard. Why not?
Confused Decent People ……5% will do the wrong thing because they have no idea what’s going on. Maybe they’ve never been on a plane before, or they don’t speak the language, or they’re differently abled? (Easily confused with assholes.)
Assholes ….10% of people will ignore the request and put both bags in the overhead compartment, often sideways, no matter how crowded the flight is (taking their time, making everyone else wait). If confronted, they’ll grumpily do the right thing or defiantly tell you “It’s their right.” forcing others to have their bags checked. (Umm maybe names like Karen or Kevin come to mind??? Lol)
Psychopaths ……5% will put their bags, coat, and every other damn thing they can find in the entirety of the overhead space and then close the bin with it half empty so no one else can use it and so no one jacks with their personal stuff. (It’s a plane…. where is it going to go???)
These same people hike, run, mountain bike, ride horses and trail ride ATVs/SxS’s….. they have pets, carry guns and so on. It’s always the same; a majority go out of their way to make space for others, most just try to be reasonable about it, a few others are clueless, and then there are a bunch of assholes and psychos who ruin it for the rest. (See….I told you …. you’d get it)
I don’t mean this angrily. I just mean peoples attitudes and behaviors are fundamentally going to cause issues, because we are all different and our ideals of having fun,relaxation and being out in nature are DIFFERENT…no matter what, and that’s just the way it is.
When I’m out trail riding, I get frustrated and angered by idiots with the attitude that there the only ones on the trail and there’s no room for the rest of us! No matter how hard I try not to; it’s just annoying to feel constantly threatened by fast-moving metal objects and their inconsistently uncompetent and unsafe drivers or Karen and Kevin who think they rule the world telling me I have no right to be there! Or inconsiderate people who park there tow rigs behind you at a staging parking area with not a care in the world that you can’t get out( one time…I waited over an hour for people to return so I could load up a drive home).
When I’m driving down the trail I hate having to slam on the brakes at every blind corner and nearly run myself off the trail for other OHV’ers who stop and park for whatever reason …. on a blind corner…they have no clue how easy it is to wreck into you or kill myself trying to avoid your incompetence and lack of common sense?. You know you’ve experienced one or maybe all of these scenarios …Maybe the problem in this case isn’t them? Maybe it’s me? It’s the attitude I bring to a situation that is intrinsically imperfect. Maybe helping them get educated about how unsafe this is for both of us is a better attitude then anger?
We all do this to some extent, and the only thing we can do is work on our personal attitude. Try to put ourselves in their shoes. Try to understand their perspective, then take a deep breath and move on. It’s usually not worth holding onto the anger and irritation, because it will just build with each dumb interaction until you might as well be driving in rush hour traffic.
Attitude and Behavior…..just saying!
So do what you can to be a part of the solution not the problem. Use some common sense and pick your battles…
(I always try to pick the ones I have a chance to win)
We can’t change the whole world at once…but a little at a time all at the same time ….. we just might be able too!
Created a Logo and found a graphic designer to create a store on our page….and BAZINGA……we are selling Trail Geezers Merch…. With this many members I needed help…so i asked for volunteers to help admin. that’s when Jeff and I kind of found each other. He volunteered and has been the backbone of this page ever since. He’s got everything squared away and is like a watchdog…. no bullshit…. nothing happens on that page that he doesn’t know about. That page has a life of its own and is sometimes hard to keep up with. Honestly … I couldn’t do it without Jeff. To make matters even better…. I’ve rode with him, and we are like a cuff and a link in our thinking process… we both love to trail ride…. boy I lucked out meeting him.
This is us trail riding up on Bunce School Rd, we had an absolute ball.
Trail Geezers first official Trail Trip….I made this and posted it on the page to remind all these Geezers about our trial ride. With 20 minutes of posting there was a call to make this into a t-shirt. Jeff asked our graphics guru “Sister Wendy”(no she isn’t a Nun) …I just call her that because she’s Jeffs sister…he asked her to see what she could do? Well……just like magic…… she is making t-shirts and decals specifically for this ride. We will probably just give these away at the ride but in the future, each ride we do will have a ride t-shirt and a decal for purchase.
Trail Geezers is a Facebook page I started after attending the 2023 ROAR (Rangely OHV Adventure Rally). Some friends of mine had been talking about how it sucked to ride with younger folks. Not that there is anything wrong with them…. except that …… well…THERE YOUNGER! Everyone including me and the co-pilot wanted to really ride and socialize with age-appropriate people. So, I started this page on Facebook and have never looked back. You have to be over the age of 50 to join. So …… now we have a group to ride with that we have something in common with. Our age allows us to communicate in a way that everyone can understand, we have similar interests…”all things SxS”, and we all love to socialize. No more waiting to sop to pee on the trail…. us Geezers stop often. (LOL) I started this page a month ago and it’s grown to over 350 members from all over the United States and its still growing.
Geez …. its 2023 and you would think I’d know something? Maybe? I can hang as long as we are not talking about computer stuff. I’m about as dumb as a block of wood when it comes to this computer stuff. Thank God I have friends and family to help me. They do… (most of the time get inpatient) with me because of my lack of knowledge on things like…. logging in and which things to click on or not click on. I am however slowly figuring things out …. very slowly but moving forward. Blue Host and Word Press is a completely new thing for me and its very confusing. I know what I want my blog to look like but trying to get it there is a completely different story. So please be patient with me…I’m an old guy trying to swim in a world that seemingly has passed me by. most have stopped too long to smell the roses and the rest of you kept going without me. I will catch up!
