Yesterday's Humphrey,NY Ride

[hydromike]

A bunch of us headed down to Humphrey yesterday for the Ribit Rider's Halloween Ride. I wasn't expecting such a great turn out, but we must have had about 25 machines there. There were folks from PA, IN, and the remainder were scattered from WNY. I got my first view of the MudOx, and even raced it down one of the logging roads. It's an amazing machine. The riding day was a bit cool, and windy, but it was a great day with lots of woods trails, logging road trails, mud, rocks, and just general all-around great AATV terrain. Even the woods trails were so smooth, you could have taken a faster two stroke machine and had some really dangerous fun. There were long stretches of road that just let you take in the beautiful hilly scenery. You'd turn around and there was a seemingly endless line of amphibs following you down the road. I brought the RIM down, which, aside from (another) broken shifting pin on the diamond shifter, performed flawlessly. I couldn't believe it, but a club member actually had another shifter, which I plopped in the T-20, and rode the rest of the day. Not bad for a 30+ year old machine.

This was the first time I rode at Humphrey, and the place is just great. I like it better than Copper Ridge, and there are a lot more trails than Ledges. (oh, it was cheap, too...) Thanks to Chief Lockwood for hosting us all at the Fire Hall. We'll be back again. I'll have to wait till tomorrow to post the pics. There aren't too many action shots. I was too busy riding...

~m

[George]

Hey Mike,

I went there 5 or 6 years ago when they had the Jamborees. I loved it! Please let us know when they have another event. I'd make that trip again in heartbeat.

[Joe M]

Yeah, post it next time they have a ride. I'd like too go.

[Mike]

I can't wait to see the pictures!

[mark m.]

While your at it Mike tell them about the Rim without you in it sliding backwards down the hill. Sorry I just couldn't resist.

[jpswift1]

That sure was one heck of a ride! I wish there were a few more mud holes but it was tons of fun. I took my Max II w/ the 18HP Vanguard and I had a great time. There were some very serious hills, and this one that was soooooooo steep the rocks sticking out at the top of the hill made it seem like the nose of your machine was aimed completely straight up at the sky. I absolutely loved this ride, and it was close by and reasonably priced to attend. I would have to admit that my favorite part of the ride was hitting that huge mud hole with steep muddy inclines all around it and with a little bit of rocking the machine back and forth and working the laterals correctly, I was able to crawl right out of it. Matt O. from Indiana had his 8x8 that he built and he also went through the mud hole without a problem. There was a pretty good size group there and a a bunch of people snapped pictures, so Im sure we will be seeing them appear on the site soon.

[mudbug3]

jpswift1,

I enjoyed reading more about the Mud OX in action at the 6x6 rides. I can,t wait to see the Mud Ox when it becomes a real production machine , and not just a prototpe. I,ve watched a short video clip of the Mud Ox in action , on the Bad Lands , DVD , that John Schwab made. As you said,,its an impressive machine .

[hydromike]

SUPER RIM

While your at it Mike tell them about the Rim without you in it sliding backwards down the hill. Sorry I just couldn't resist.

OK, OK.... it wasn't necessarily the high point, but it does deserve some explanation. After I broke the shifter, I wired the diamond shifter into forward only... That meant I had to accomplish the rest of the ride in forward-only...

Relax folks; It's a RIM...

We got to a point on the trail where the entire group had to turn around. Since I didn't have reverse, I went off the trail and pulled a 180 to get back up the hill. I had get out of the machine and move a fallen tree out of the way in order to get back on the trail, but I forgot to set the parking brake. As I was moving the tree, the RIM started to roll down the hill backwards. DOH! I didn't even see it, so I only found out about the horrific event through the generous annoucement by one of the riders. I was able to catch up to it, but not before it ran into a tree at about 15mph. It slammed into the tree and smashed in the back end of the whole machine. To my utter amazement, I pulled away and there was virtually no damage to the machine. The body snapped right back into place. The exhaust pipe was smashed a little bit, but I was able to get it back into serviceable shape.

So what lesson did we learn from this whole episode?

Always set the parking brake?
Always park sideways on hills?
Don't break the transmission in the first place?

Nope; what I learned is:

The RIM is friggen indestructable!

~m



P.S. Thanks Mr. Gerber...

[whipper-ag]

I wasn't going to comment until I heard what happened from you, Mike. Glad your Rim's O.K. It's a creepy feeling to watch your car rolling away. I know, I almost lost the Spider over a 30 ft cliff on that ride that we took to Lake UnPleasant. I didn't have a parking brake & I didn't park sideways & it started rolling away. With the help of Bryan & Rob pushing & Bridget pulling, we caught it in time. Looking forward to your pics.

[Mike]

Great story!

Relax folks; It's a RIM...

Mike, that needs to go in your sig.

[jpswift1]

I didnt even realize that the RIM rolled down a hill. I was riding behind Mike for a few miles and didnt even notice any damage until he posted up about it. There were a couple times when the group broke apart into two or three smaller groups and I must not have been with him when that happened. What a tough machine!

[mark m.]

Mike, at least you have the option of putting the parking brake on. My Tiger does not have such provisions so I have to remember to park it when on a hill with that in mind.

It surely was a great ride. I couldn't believe how different it looked with all the new logging roads. I only recognized a few trails.

[liflod]

I'm sorry I missed that ride. I have my Ribits Riders app sitting here on my desk. Never got around to sending it in. Hopefully I'll be at the next one.

[hydromike]

Humphrey Pics

I never realized that it was going to be this big. I would've sent out an e-mail announcing it, but I honestly thought it was going to be about 6 machines tops. When I showed up in the parking lot, there were already about 15 machines... then they just started filing in after that.

I posted pics of the ride in my gallery under Humphrey Ride . There aren't many pics, and they were all taken with my "field camera" so they're a little fuzzy. I wasn't a formal member of the club either, but they let all of us ride nonetheless. It's truly a great, friendly, helpful bunch of folks to ride with. I could've stayed for a couple more days. I hope they can hold an event here in the summer. The terrain is perfect for all machines. I don't know the legality of running the logging roads unchaperoned, but it would be the most incredible Pike's Peak style raceway. You could easily hit 50 on the smooth gravel roads. Even anti-trail-riding DonK would love it. You could easily pull 50mph WOT power slides up the road the entire way.

Somebody post some pics of the roads!

~m

[Mike]

Mike, thanks for posting those pictures. They were great! I can't believe you guys had such a big turnout. that's great.