So, we rented ATVs (Honda 250 Sport Quads) at the Oceano Dunes over the weekend as part of the bachelor party activities. I must say that while riding around in the ATVs was a lot of fun, it's actually a bit scary at times.
For the most part everyone who hadn't really been on one before started off overly cautious since the sand dunes were pretty damn steep at times. But, after a little bit of taking on the various drop-offs, everyone would get a bit too confident. Not long after you enter the stage of overconfidence, you'd pretty much get jacked in one way or another, and you'd revert to being cautious.
I think most of us got messed up at one point or another, and I'd say that getting hurt on one of these vehicles is probably not uncommon. At least two people got completely thrown off their machine, and one guy had the ATV roll over him... I'm surprised he wasn't seriously injured. Several of us banged our helmeted heads into the handlebars after being jolted around after catching air. At one point I managed to slam my leg into the side panel so hard that the fairly thick plastic completely cracked. My leg got really bruised up as a result of that.
Anyway, my opinion is that the activity is definitely dangerous, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for everyone. But, maybe this means nothing more than the fact that I'm just a wuss.
3 comments:
If I was trying to be mean, I'd say you're a bit of an idiot---LOL! Hey, taking some spills is part of the sport being exciting and fun! But, really, man-- you recognized there are places calling for caution and then got complacent anyway. Boys will be boys...
When you're a beginner, you are supposed to take it easy for a while. We have enough fruit-cake whack-jobs down here calling to close the entire beach saying it's too dangerous. It's not; but you have to ride within your limits.
Hope the Bachelor Party was less "dangerous"... and perhaps you didn't have to pay for the broken plastic as well.
Cheers to the newly wed prisoner!
Hah, ya, well like I said I'm kind of a wuss. It was definitely fun. Some of us had to pay penalties for 'rolling' the ATVs, but overall it was OK.
And, yes, getting complacent was a bad idea. All of us except for maybe one or two guys were total beginners, and so it wasn't unexpected that most of us got jacked in one way or another.
And, no, they should definitely not close anything down due to the activity being dangerous. Perhaps dangerous was too strong a word.
Good times, man!
I'm friends with all the ATV rental places, and trust me, they know when it's been rolled. They usually go easy on breakage if it's not too bad.
I dump my dirt bike all the time in the sand. Try skiing or ice skating without falling. It's perfectly normal. Dangerous is what you make of it---skiing straight down hill into a stand of trees is dangerous.
Part of the thrill is pushing the limit a bit. Being smart is leaving room for error. The rest of the thrill is getting outdoors and roaming about nature. I love dunes, beautiful, and expansive!
Come down again and let's ride.
"Brute Force", eh? I'll bet you're a software engineer or an EE. I'm into C#, .NET, and previously, 8051 embedded systems and machine language.
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