Labor Day…A Day of Rest (yeah right!)

Taking a vacation can be an awful lot of work, especially when your idea of a vacation is an overnight stint at you favorite riding locale.  Unlike most vacationers we can’t just hop on a plan and relax all the way to our destination, only to exit the plane and commence more relaxation, all while in the shade of a palm tree with a fruity drink of our choice complete with a little umbrella.  No for the ATVer its much more work to plan even a simple two or three day riding excursion.

Changing from paddles to knobbies or vice versa, re-jetting, looking for that whip flag you know you put somewhere that you’d be sure to remember, gathering an endless amount of camping gear, grocery shopping since you’d like to eat while your gone, and then wrangling the kids into the rig only to spend an un-godly amount of time on the road all the while convincing yourself, “Its gonna be worth it.”  Yes vacation for the ATV enthusiast can often times be a lot of work as I was recently reminded while making plans for Labor Day weekend.  From my experience, I’ve discovered what I believe to be the 4 most important steps for a stress free vacation. If nothing else, feel free to laugh at my misfortune and by all means, share one of your own vacations that took a turn for the worst.

#1 If it’s broke….FIX IT!!!

After returning from Dune Fest my trusty 1991 LT250R was in need of a new rear brake hub.  I managed to strip the threads on 2 of the 3 holes that hold the rear brake rotor in place.  Rather than tear into it immediately upon returning from Dune Fest, I allowed nearly a month to go by without giving fixing it much of a thought.  This was fine until some friends made plans to spend Labor Day weekend at the Christmas Valley Sand Dunes merely a week before hand.  In addition to the brake hub, I had a Lonestar Racing swingarm collecting dust on a shelf that I had been neglecting to put on, so I decided this would be a perfect opportunity to finally make use of that.  The only problem is that I was in need of several parts including bearing kits, sprockets, and a new chain guide to make the new system work and time was of the essence.  I ordered the new brake hub from Durablue on Friday a week before Labor Day weekend and the rest of the necessary parts the following Sunday.  With any luck, they would arrive by Wednesday leaving me two nights to make repairs, a night to pack and I’d be off for a 3 day weekend of fun in the sand.  What I didn’t expect was for one of the imperative parts to be on back order or for Fed Ex to have trouble finding the same place they’ve delivered to numerous times before (who would’ve thought?).  No matter, several phone calls later, an exchange of parts, and too much money, everything had arrived and I began installing my new swingarm, all the while cursing myself for waiting a month to fix the initial problem.  Let this be a lesson, if you know its broken, take care of it right away.  You never know when you’ll have the spontaneous itch to ride and you don’t want to be left at home with a broken machine.  My week would have been much less stressful if I wasn’t racing to get my quad back together.  

#2: Know Where You’re Going

There’s nothing worse than having the excitement of roosting a dune or tearing through the woods prolonged by getting yourself lost.  This only makes the Christmas Eve-like anxiety worse.  This was my third trip to Christmas Valley and each time I’m reminded of how long and boring the drive is.  Convinced there was a shorter, more direct route I spent a great deal of time on Google Earth scoping out potential short cuts via old farming roads that looked like they could lead me straight to the dunes.  Content I had the correct route, I set out, like Columbus in search of the new world, to find the new shortest route to Christmas Valley.  (At least I had the assurance that the dunes did in fact exist).  Just in case the road turned out to be rougher than expected I had the names of the main highways in the area so I could fall back on one of those if need be.

After merely 12 miles I decided the road was too rough and going to be too far for me to risk, and because I was traveling alone in the central Oregon desert I thought I’d play it safe and go back to the paved highway.  100+ miles later I found myself heading southeast away from Christmas Valley towards Reno, Nevada.  Google may be taking over the technological world as we know it, but their navigation system needs some work.  I managed to find the road I was looking for, just a lot farther southeast than it appeared on the map.

#3 Plan Ahead

This can mean so many things.  Asking a few simple question before hand can save a lot of time and energy in the long run.  What will we do if the weather turns ugly?  How far is the nearest hospital if someone were to get injured?  Or in my case, what will I do when I find myself in need of repairs?  More specifically should I throw in an extra set of bars?  I managed to snap my handlebars landing from a jump on my first ride out. Let me tell you…I was upset.  After all I’d been through to get the bike ready, a frustrating and misleading road trip, to finally make it out to the sand then…snap, two hours from the nearest ATV shop.  I asked around in camp if anyone had any extra bars but it was a lost cause.  Fortunately, the break was right next to the bar clamp so I was able to slide the bars over until the break was directly in the middle of one of the clamps. This provided enough pressure on the crease to make the bars last the rest of the weekend. Thankfully my trip was not ruined however, had I simply taken 6 seconds to grab an extra set of handlebars, I would have been able to avoid what could have been a real disaster.

Michael Joos Airing it out while the wind was calm

#4 Know Before You Go

While I’d been there twice before, both trips were in the cooler, wetter months, not the middle of the hot dry summer. Sure I had heard that the wind tends to blow and that the desert sand when dried out gets a little dusty, but it wasn’t too bad on either of my prior visits.  I would have been much better off had I heeded the word of those that have gone before me.  While the riding was amazing at times, the dust and wind made it nearly impossibly to ride from early afternoon to mid evening.  What’s worse, sleeping in a tent doesn’t provide you with much of a place to escape the elements.  We were able to get a few decent rides in each day before noon, but not long after that the wind picked up and blew dust around making for less than enjoyable riding conditions and even worse for sitting around camp.  Take the time to ask around when visiting a new area, or when visiting during a different time of year.  Its in your best interest to know what to expect.

Alex Hendricksen

I hope you find these tips useful the next time your planning an ATV trip or at the very least you were entertained by my crazy story.  All in all the weekend was ok.  It cost too much and I didn’t get nearly the riding I had hoped for but you know what, all the great riding trips make up for a few lackluster ones and leave me coming back for more. I hope you’ve enjoyed my little rant and feel free to respond or share one of your own unfortunate ATVing vacations or whatever else you might have on your mind.

seth@LocalHeroesNW.com

Last 5 posts by Seth Fargher

• Quad FMX on Oprah? - August 28th, 2010
• Back in the Saddle, Kind of - August 7th, 2010
• MX Training School with WORCS Pro Tim Shelman - June 25th, 2010
• Bomb Squad WORCS Report - April 26th, 2010
• Bomb Squad Goes Nuclear!!! - April 19th, 2010

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