I'm sure we all share some of the same hang-ups when it comes to taking time off to ride. When we want to go out and explore, our regular riding buddies are too busy with work or are out of town while we're chomping at the bit to get out of the house. What are the options in this situation? Well, you can either make a deeper indentation into the sofa while watching whatever sports might be on that day and your Rhino sits in the garage gathering unearned dust, or you can be proactive and explore your other options to expanding your list of riding buddies and locations.
This is a situation I found myself in recently, so instead of becoming a bigger couch potato than I already am, I turned to the Internet to create my own adventure. I wanted to take our Rhino out into the snow and enjoy a day of riding while making some new friends at the same time. I opened up my trusty computer and went to www.rhinoforums.net where over 10,000 Rhino owners regularly communicate with each other. At this site you can find endless amounts of technical knowledge from people who've modded their machines, the latest racing news, parts to be bought or sold and even folks in my situation. They just merely want to ride and have like-minded people to share their experience with.
The pre-ride driver's meeting...
The pre-ride driver's meeting let everyone know which trails we were taking and what the agenda for the day was.
I looked over my calendar and picked out a few dates and locations so I could start planning a group ride. Upon posting my idea on the forum for local rides, I began getting responses from quite a few people who were right on board with my idea. I was even lucky to connect with a regular, who goes by the screen name So Cal Erik, who had led large group rides before with great success and aided me in further planning this ride. Many site members had been on rides with Erik and had nothing but great things to say about them, and they were quick to jump on board for this one as well. To sweeten the deal, I pulled out a set of wheels and tires from a previous Rhino project and offered them as a raffle prize at the end of the run.
Our ride would be in the San Bernardino National Forest and would go from Silverwood Lake up to some good challenging trails that ended behind Lake Arrowhead and the Pinnacles staging area. This would offer a good mix of terrain and challenge for everyone who wanted to attend. By the end of the first full week after posting on www.rhinoforums.net, we had close to 20 people committing to show for my ride. Initially I had been excited when the number reached 10, and this many made me ecstatic.
With one week left before the planned trip, I kept an eye on the weather and continued to watch the list of attendees grow. With a day to go before the big ride, Erik called me up and informed me there were a few last-minute additions to the list and our final number would be close to 40 Rhinos in attendance. 40! A feeling of excitement and fear encompassed my body even as I wondered how we would be able to get this off smoothly. While I assured Erik that we could do it, I worried what kinds of problems we might encounter. This was my first time planning an event/outing like this, and I really wanted it to go well.
The Big Day
I woke up bright and early Sunday morning with both the RZR S and Rhino loaded up for this day's adventure and headed out to our meeting point. As I pulled off of the freeway, I saw close to 10 vehicles with Rhinos or some other brand of SxS in tow and wondered if they were with our group. I parked and finally met with Erik for the first time and went over some last-minute details as more and more people trickled in. As people showed up, faces were put with names and screen names until 8 o'clock rolled around. That was the agreed-upon time we would wait for before departing to the OHV staging area. Everyone quickly returned to his or her vehicles and our freight train took over the highway, which was an awesome sight in itself.