[roadkill]

I crashed into a stopped dirt bike yesterday.... sent the bike and rider flying.

I was on a generally high speed trail at Hollister Hills SVRA and was WOT in 4th. Came around a turn and there was 2 dirt bikes stopped having a conversation right in the middle of the trail. No place for me to go and no time to stop... I locked up my brakes and slid my quad sideways. I hit one of the dirt bike's back tire with my back tire. No damage to me or my quad because it was rubber to rubber contact. The dirt bikers yelled at me saying that I'd have to pay for any damage to the dirt bike. I replied, no I won't... you were stopped blocking the trail... what did they think would happen if someone came around that turn. The arguing continued a bit till the ranger came up to see if everyone was OK... He saw the whole thing from his position on a hill in the shade. The ranger agreed with me that it was their fault.
Turns out, they were parked near me in the staging area and even their friends said they shouldn't have been stopped blocking the trail like that. I guess they won't do that again.

roadkill

 

[M_Quick]

glad no one was hurt and, lol yea someone had to school the kids!

 

[fraiolib]

See the same thing snowmobilng all the time, what are some people thinking...

 

[Britalican]

also lucky the ranger was around to see it. hate it when people do that. I have had a few close calls from this type of situation.

 

[traitor08]

As a personal rule of mine, I never go fast on public land unless its wide open area. What if someone was wide open heading towards you and got in a head on collision at speed. Just a precautionary step I take. Glad no one was injured..

 

[KTM265]

As a personal rule of mine, I never go fast on public land unless its wide open area. What if someone was wide open heading towards you and got in a head on collision at speed. Just a precautionary step I take. Glad no one was injured..

AMEN... save the WOT for the tracks. I take my boys riding with me, they have their own machines... I generally ride out front and they follow and when we have people coming fast I try to wave them to slow down for the little guys...most do but every now and then you get a @$$hole who keeps it pinned...I have had a few parking lot conversations with throttle jocks before...

Glad no one was hurt...that is never good cause the greenies just eat that up and use it to get our riding areas closed.

 

[MadMav]

See that around here every now and then. GET OUT OF THE TRAIL TO TALK.

That is all.

Mav

 

[M_Quick]

I also try not to go to fast in public areas. The ones I ride in are two way traffic, and as courtesy most riders use hand signals to let you know how many more riders are with them. ie if there's 3 behind me, I'd hold 3 fingers, if I'm last it's a closed fist. Also when we pull over to take a break and bs we pull over, not just park in middle of trail! Now if some one breaks down or has accident, we flag traffic if at a blind corner.

For all we know roadkill was riding a one way trail, not riding wot hoping no one was coming the other way. Because that surely could have been far worse than finding parked riders in the trail. Weather it was a one way or 2 way trail, them 2 should now, know not to bs in the middle of the trail.

 

[roadkill]

I also try not to go to fast in public areas. The ones I ride in are two way traffic, and as courtesy most riders use hand signals to let you know how many more riders are with them. ie if there's 3 behind me, I'd hold 3 fingers, if I'm last it's a closed fist. Also when we pull over to take a break a bs we pull over, not just park in middle of trail! Now if some one breaks down or has accident, we flag traffic if at a blind corner.

For all we know roadkill was riding a one way trail, not riding wot hoping no one was coming the other way. Because that surely could have been far worse than finding parked riders in the trail. Weather it was a one way or 2 way trail, them 2 should know now not to bs in the middle of the trail.

Correct... It was a one way trail as are 99% of the trails at Hollister. This particular trail is more of a road than a true trail and is in flatlands. I wait at the trail entrance for other riders to get to the other end before I make my run and there is no other point to enter the trail. I should not have been able to catch up with the dirt bikes because of their speed (they were not just putting around)

As for hand signals on 2 way trails, I highly agree that everyone should use them.

I guess that you'd have to know this particular trail to understand why it's generally safe to go WOT. If anyone ever goes to Hollister Hills SVRA, it's called Rancho Road.


roadkill

 

[jacekrsx]

....as courtesy most riders use hand signals to let you know how many more riders are with them. ie if there's 3 behind me, I'd hold 3 fingers, if I'm last it's a closed fist. ...

It reminds me when I was a noob and drove first time on ATV trail up north in MI, as I passed other riders I would just show my whole hand to say "hi" because they did similar thing.
Later on I figured out they meant something else lol
I guess they were very surprised passing me, expecting 5 more atvs and there were none lol

 

[quadmonkey700xx]

Although those guys should have known better. and you were in the right, still..... I never ride faster than I can stop in the distance I can see on public trails. You never know when some idiot is gonna do something stupid. And I dont want to be responsible for someone being injured or worse.

 

[roadkill]

Although those guys should have known better. and you were in the right, still..... I never ride faster than I can stop in the distance I can see on public trails. You never know when some idiot is gonna do something stupid. And I dont want to be responsible for someone being injured or worse.

I understand and agree to a point. Here in California, almost all our riding areas are "public" to some degree or another. Forest Service, BLM or State off road parks... (SVRA). When you ride on such public areas, you never know what is going to be around the next turn... No matter what your speed, you can find yourself in an "Oh Shit" situation at any time. All you can do is take reasonable precautions. I consider sitting at the trail head for a period of time and letting riders time to clear the trail as being reasonable. Also, when you start to pick up dust from another rider, I always back way off on speed. In this case, there was only one entry point to the trail and it's only about a mile long... I was sitting there for about 10 minutes to make sure the trail would be clear for my run... There was no dust warning to let me know those idiots were blocking the trail.... So, no matter how hard you try to NOT have something like this happen, it still can. And this is just one of the risks we take riding off road. I just try to remember... "stupid hurts".

roadkill

 

[Baxter]

It's just on the trails this happens. I had so many close calls and run over a few db's on a local MX practice track that I stopped going.