2 Sunk and 1 Blew Up

[CJM]

Wish I got pix but at the time we didnt seem to think of them. You can understand why obviously the further you read lol..

This past sunday I went riding, had a decent group going consisting of a few buddies and some other guys one of them invited. Motley group of 400ex's, 450s, ltrs, a polaris utility and an old zuki 250 quad racer.

Everything was going fine till we were riding near a semi frozen giant puddle. The utility guy decided to ride along the edge. Apparently its alot deeper than it looks cause he sunk it almost to the top. None of us carry a tow strap (I did it broke and I havent replaced it) but even so your not pulling an 800lb quad out with a 400lb one all too easy.

We managed to throw the guy a ratchet strap someone had in their pack and we all pulled him out ourselves with him in 4wd. Amazingly even with a airbox full of water and a soaked paper filter it ran, drained it out and no issues lol.

Later on a friend of mine was riding his 400ex along a one sided bowl. Over time the sand pit has carved this bowl from being 5 stories high and flat at the top to barely enough area on the top to ride or mostly gone, to cutting most of the bowl away, to its current state of about 20ft high with a sharp cut off.

Gotta understand they dredge the lake and there is literally maybe a 3ft wide shore in most spots if anything at all.

So my buddy is riding along, were telling him hes gonna eat it sooner or later (been there done that myself and it isnt fun). its cold outside and the sand is wet making it harder to slide along.

Sure enough he eats it, flys right into the water.

We manage to use the utility and that ratchet strap to yank him out once we float the quad to the bank. Airbox isnt even that full somehow. I think his quick thinking of trying to pull the quad out asap mighta helped. he was keeping it as high as possible near the snorkel. I Yank the plug and somehow not that much water got in, its not hydro locked like mine. Put it back together and whatya know the ol 400 starts up. He runs off to a nearby friends house to use his dryer as hes soaked.

Then the kid with an old pos quad racer was flying along and it just shut down and locked up. I cannot understand how people can buy utter junk and think they will be fine. The thing hadnt had any service in eons, he just bought it and it ran-apparently good enough for him. I surely was gonna tow it back.

So that was my sunday, anyone else have fun this past weekend?

[DragonGunner]

Love days like those with some buddies.....what was you riding, the 450R or 400EX? Weekend before several of us hit the woods and had a good fire going an some food cooking and go ride, just enought snow to make things fun....buts it been a dry summer and all the swamps and water holes are dry.....ride the creeks in a few places.

[CJM]

I was on my EX. In the process of rebuilding the R slowly but surely.

I managed to fly headfirst off my 400 as well lol. Was in the woods on a trail and a guy shot out of another trail with a state police beanie on. I looked too long and hit a small stump and flew off. Wasnt going fast tho. Thankfully he wasnt a cop.

IDK that day was one of the worst riding days I ever had. Almost fell numerous times and hit all sorts of junk in the woods due to all the downed trees from hurricane sandy.

[DragonGunner]

Earlier this summer a couple guys showed up to ride our area called the "Bog"....i was on my EX, a guy on a ATC an friend on some Yamaha 4X4.....we stopped an talked about all the weeds growing up and being careful to stay on trails, venture off and you can hit a unseen stump and such....the guy on the 4X4 has only been riding about 2 yrs, about my age 51. So he takes off and I follow, he goes along the river and....ready for this......decides to go off trail through tall weeds..I stop wondering what he is doing. Looks like he going to turn around, bounces over a log while standing up...stops and flye head first over the bars, then fall back onto his seat....I cracked up laughing then realized he isn't moving.....I get off quad an walk up to him.....He wasn't wearing a helmet..(I was) ...he had hit a hidden stump which stopped him and his face slammed into his wench and WENCH HOOK on his front rack.....it broke his jaw, broke his nose which was bleeding like a stuck pig, and broke his eye socket and cave his face in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was going into shock, I told him it wasn't that bad...took my shirt off to soak up the blood, trying to keep him calm we called a my riding buddy that owns the property, he called a ambulance...and then drove back into the woods to get him. My friend said he could ride to the bridge, and he managed to ride his quad a couple hundred yards and met the truck which took him to where the ambulance was coming.....he had no insurance either....man he was bad shape, but at least he didn;t go into shock....later this fall he is back riding and has been calling me his 'angel' cause I helped him get out...doctor told him if i hadn;t been there to help he probably would of gone into shock and or bled to death.....learned in the Army no matter how bad it looks tell the guy anything but the truth, keep them calm....anyway the CO had to come out an took him to take pictures of accident scene.....an he took my 400ex s/n.....just to check to see if it was stolin......good grief.

[DragonGunner]

This is my friend...don't be my friend.....ride safe......he had reconstruction surgery....the giant dent in his face has been filled with swelling when this pic was takin......

[CJM]

OUCH! Luckily no one was hurt this trip, except their pride. Im annoyed I fell off but it happens sometimes. Least I was ok.

I swear after seeing multiple accidents over the years I always wear a helmet too!

Last year some guy brought his sister, her bf and some others there. We have a spot we like to drag race on. In one direction its about 1/4 mile and flat. The other side (where we start from) is all flat except for the very end where theres a small hump. Sister borrows brothers blaster with the helmet on but not strapped. She was wearing short shorts and a tank top and sneakers.

FLEW topped out towards that hump from what we gather and cartwheeled the quad. Flew off the quad and the helmet flew off and she smacked the crap outta her nose/face/head.

Concussion for sure and the quad was of course done for. Guy with a razr took her back and I took the brother whose quad she totaled. Thankfully she didnt break anything...

ALWAYS wear a helmet!

[rf928]

In the dunes dad and I were riding (we both always wear full MX gear) when we came across a flipped Grizzly 700, pinned under it were 2 (17ish) girls, nothing but shorts, tank tops, and flipflops on, out in the middle of nowhere. The one girl must have broken her leg, we flipped it off them and they rode back to their camp.

[fastredrider44]

Golly, these are some horror stories. Luckily I've never seen stuff like y'all are describing. I race XC and have seen my fair share of wrecks and broken bones, but there is always an ambulance on the premises. I don't mind cruising around my dad's with no helmet, but I'm not going riding without being fully geared up. Helmets and gear have saved me more times than I can count. I have a nice Fox helmet split in half displayed in my garage if I ever need a reminder.