Auto-Injury
I always say that I make a great spectator of most action sports, but as a participator I am not only putting myself at risk, but also anybody around me.
A few weeks ago my friend CFT, some of her friends from Alabama, and myself all drove out to her family’s property to do a bit of 4 wheeling (ATV’ing for all of you less country folk). I hadn’t been on an ATV since I was about 11 years old, so to say that I was nervous is a definite understatement.
The drive out there seemed as if it lasted forever. Driving from Tallahassee to the little known town of Quincy is scenic, yet as boring as it gets. You cross through towns that you can hardly pronounce with a maximum of 3 stoplights in each one.
Once we finally arrived CFT’s set all of the 4 wheelers out and let us pick which one we wanted. Her friends both chose the two automatic Honda FourTrax Foreman 4×4’s and I was stuck given the manual kick start Honda TRX450r. They promised that after a bit we would all switch off so I could give it a go on the automatics. Her dad gave me a crash course in how to operate this mammoth and I was off (with him following close behind). As all of my friends zipped around the full supercross track, I was putting behind, hoping that I wouldn’t die and trying to figure out how to change gears without stalling out. I began to get the hang of it, but the second that her dad offered me an automatic I jumped at the chance.
The Foreman was a bit heavier, and not much easier to operate, and at first I was actually (sort of) wanting my little TRX450 back. None the less, I got the hang of it, and I was driving around feeling like a new person. I zipped around the property and the track and finally found my rhythm. There was a massive hill that I had been charging on every lap on my little 450 so when I was finally on the Foreman I thought that it was going to be just as simple
I was rudely awakened
I made it a little over half way up when all of a sudden my ATV completely stopped. I began rolling backwards and the only thing I could think was ‘what a way to go—backwards—at my friend’s parent’s property.’ I unsuccessfully attempted to brake and I believe that a few swear words even exited my mouth when all of a sudden CFT’s dad came out of nowhere and positioned his ATV behind mine just in time to stop it.
He asked me if I was ok
I apologized 87236 times.
We turned my ATV around.
And I was off again.
As I rode off I felt as if I learned so many things:
1) The TRX450r is so light
2) Automatic does NOT always mean easier
3) && what I already knew before—it would be quite difficult to blog in a full body cast
Peace & Love
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