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Bill
Member
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Posted: Fri Feb 20th, 2009 04:55 pm |
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Ever since I bought my bike a couple of years ago; I've wanted to take it to the Silver Lake Sand dunes. After a couple of trips that were canceled during the planning stages Margie, my (ex) wife, and I finally made it out. I was to ride my bike and she was to ride her TRX400EX. Due to work, kids, and pets our time was limited to one day. Drive there from our home just north of Toledo. Ride as long as we can. Then drive all the way back with a stop near Detroit to pick up our kids from my parents, who took care of them for us. It was a long day that took 26 hours to complete, but it was worth it.
The previous fall we bought her the quad with this trip in mind. I taught her how to ride on private property before honing her skills on a many trail rides throughout the fall and the following spring. She even spent some time at a couple of local tracks. By the time our planned trip came about I was confident in her abilities to tackle the monstrous sand hills.
The whole week before we left for our trip I kept a close eye on the weather in the Mears area. It was not looking promising. Rain was predicted all week long, with thunderstorms highlighting our planned ride day. The night before my computer was set to the weather site. Silver lake was getting hit with a torrential down pour. Having lived on the west side of the state for 4 years (I attended GVSU) I knew that the weather could change instantly and that heading out would be worth the risk.
We woke up at 4AM and started getting ready. I had everything packed and set the night before so all we had to do was load the machines and get the kids in the truck. We had to take a longer route and swing by the Downriver Detroit area to drop off the kids with my parents before starting our 5 hour drive. During the trip out we were hit by scattered rain patterns but the many breaks in the clouds gave me hope. We arrived right on time for once to a very empty parking lot. My choice of planning our trip for a weekday really paid off. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. The rain had stopped hours before and the wet sand looked like I was going to have good traction all day long. Good thing too because I did not spend the extra money for a paddle tire.
Riding in sand this soft took me by surprise at first. My bike wanted to wander and I almost fell over a few times. That’s when I discovered that my bike prefers to go fast in the sand. Much like when a boat gets up on a plane my bike would float across the top of the sand. It also was not lacking for power to make it up any of the dunes. This is the first time I have truly used all of the power my bike has to offer. It was fun.
Margie was intimidated my the size and steepness of the dunes at first. She would not carry enough speed to keep momentum all the way up the hills. Then she would get stuck because the tires would dig in. I spent a lot of my time stopping my bike to get her unstuck. Once we found the other play areas that did not involve sand giants we had a lot more fun. Riding near the beach and stopping to walk along the water were a couple of the highlights of our day. Right about the time of our second gas stop the quad threw it's chain. I was puzzled by how loose it had become. I told her to ride back to the truck slowly and I would tighten it up there. While following behind her I could see something was not right. The whole axle was wobbling badly. Back at the truck and on the stand I could see the problem more clearly. The axle bearing broke apart and the resulting movement chewed up the bearing carrier. We were done riding and the day was only half over. We loaded up the toys and pulled out.
We decided to find something to eat in town when we noticed the rental companies! There were 2 located side by side and both had plenty of toys to offer. We opted to go to Wild Bill’s Quad Rentals as they offered a smaller quads and Margie wanted to try something less intimidating. We rented a Honda TRX 250 ES which is a cute little utility quad with electronic push button shifting. They even delivered it right to the riding area for us.
We were back to riding. I was surprised at how well the little quad handled the sand, and by how much faster Margie was with it. There is something to be said about comfort levels and the confidence it gives a rider. She started making it up all of the dunes without a hitch. I did not need to get her unstuck the rest of the day. I think a lot of this new found confidence came from the push button shifting because afterward she mentioned how she would have liked a little more power. By this time of the day I was beginning to have a hard time keeping up with her. The sand was drying out and became very soft. I was losing traction, and getting stuck. A lot of the bigger dunes became impossible for me to go up, but I was still having a lot of fun jumping the smaller ones.
We stretched out the day for as long as we could, but still it did come to an end. It was getting dark by the time we were loaded up and ready to go. I was exhausted and we still had a long drive home ahead of us. Now every time I throw a leg over my bike I think about the fun I had there. I am looking forward to making the trip again, and next time I am getting a paddle tire.
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Bill Horrigan
2009 Polaris 600 Switchback
2000 Honda CR250
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