America's Best ATV Riding

We’re doing a story in the upcoming (July) issue of ATV Magazine about the 25 best (and our favorite) ATV riding areas throughout the country – based on our team’s experience, uniqueness of terrain, quality of the trails, regional amenities and miles of available OHV riding.

Some of the locations on the list include Southern California’s Imperial Sand Dunes (of course!), New Mexico’s Carson National Forest, Grand Lake, Colorado, Coal Creek in Tennessee and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan – among 20 others.

Where do you all recommend? What are your favorite riding areas, and why? We are always looking for new places to check out, so comment or e-mail and let us know where you like to ride.

Follow the conversation at the ATV Magazine/ATV Sport forum at www.atvmagonline.com/forum.cfm.

Props to the Man

Dad victoriously atop a hill on his Z400

If you’ve ever experienced the thrill of throwing a leg over an ATV you undoubtedly have someone else to thank for introducing you to this great sport.   A parent, a friend, a kid down the street, someone was kind enough to take you to the track, offer you your first ride, or show you the ropes and the rest is history right?
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Father of the Thumb Warmer

“Dude did you put your snow tires on yet?” What? Winter is still a couple of months away. “Yeah but you can’t be too ready… it’s going to be a killer season!”

OK I’ll admit I get pretty excited about the upcoming winter too. When the majority of riders are tucking their quads away for the winter we’re out there racking up the miles. Riding in the snow brings on a whole new set of challenges. It’s man and machine against the power of mother nature. Take the most mundane, boring trail add a couple of feet of snow and you have yourself nothing but pure white fun. When else can you ride in 4×4 Low for hours and hours. It’s like a never ending mud bog only you don’t get dirty.

Serious snow riding takes some serious planning and equipment. Safety is a major concern and should always be first and foremost in a riders mind before heading out on a great white adventure. My single most import piece of equipment are my grip heaters and thumb warmer. Riding in cold weather seriously affects the riders ability to control the throttle when your thumb and hands get cold. Without throttle control, you ain’t getting very far.

Enter Roland Knapton inventor and father of the thumb warmer. Roland’s invention has affected more snowmobilers, motorcyclists, and ATVers than any other single piece of equipment. A former 3M engineer Roland knows what it takes to build a quality product and in 1989 he founded Symtec. The company soon got into the handlebar heating business for snowmobiles. In 2002 new decisions were made regarding expanding the technologies and growing the company. New heater and electronic technologies were developed and those products are paving the way into a new exciting future with many more products on the drawing board.

I know this sounds like an advertisement for Symtec…. But I’ve tried the other brands and they just don’t deliver. Symtec’s kits are well thought out, easy to install, and reliable. Plus they stand behind their products 100% with first rate customers service. Now there’s something that is not easy to find these days.

So if you decide to brave the winter on your quad this season the first thing you’ll need is a set of grip heaters. Why not from the guy who invented them?