1) When riding through deep sand, snow or mud, deflate your tires slightly to increase the tire’s footprint and provide better traction. Deflated tires will decrease your ground clearance though. Remember to re-inflate your tires before going on-road again.
2) Use a steady momentum to carry you through. Keep your speed up and use higher gears. Don't spin your tires, and don't stop till you're out of the deep sand. If your wheels start to spin, ease off the throttle just a bit and allow the tires to slow down and regain traction.
3) If you lose traction and the vehicle is barely moving, turn the steering wheel quickly from side to side in short strokes (only 1/8th turn) to allow the front tire walls to find extra grip.
4) If muddy conditions force you to drive in the ruts, know where your front wheels are pointed at all times. Your vehicle will follow the ruts, even with the wheels turned to the right or left. If you encounter a dry spot with the wheels turned, then the front wheels can regain traction and suddenly throw the vehicle out of the ruts, resulting in a loss of control and possible damage.
5) Remember that hard snow crossed in the early morning can be impassable when soft in the afternoon.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
ATV riding continues as popular pastime
Julian Welch, an upcoming seventh-grader, loves playing football and basketball.
But when he’s not participating in either of those sports, he enjoys riding his Kawasaki four-wheeler.
It's a pastime that continues to be popular in the Rockmart area, despite rising gasoline costs.
Welch, who was taught by his cousin Deshawn Glanton, learned how to ride an ATV when he was 9 years old and said the one thing he isn’t too fond of, is going mudding.
“I don’t like getting wet,” he said. “I get too dirty.”
Although he doesn’t like getting all messy, he's experienced it once before.
“One time he came home,” Welch’s mom, April Welch said, “with mud all in his eyebrows and his ears.”
“But I don’t like that,” he said.
Most kids, and some adults too, would disagree with Welch about riding in the mud. He on the other hand said he prefers to ride when it’s dry outside.
When it comes to playing it safe, Welch said he doesn’t do as much on the four-wheeler he has now, as he did on the smaller one, because it’s scary.
“On the other one,” Welch’s mom added, “he used to do doughnuts.
”But since the ATV he has now is bigger, he said he doesn’t do doughnuts because it might flip, adding, “And it’s heavier.”
He hasn’t had any major accidents and added wrecking is something he’s trying to avoid.
He recalled seeing one of his friends wreck while riding up a hill.
Welch said the ATV flipped backwards, but his friend was OK and he helped him turn the four-wheeler back over.
”I always stress safety,” Welch’s mom said. “Wear his helmet, be careful and go slow.“
Stop at stop signs,” she said. “And always watch for cars.”
When riding at night, he turns on his light and wears clothing that is viewable to others.
He said at times he wishes they had other places to ride.
“I want to ride different places,” he said. “But riding in the streets is illegal.”
But when he’s not participating in either of those sports, he enjoys riding his Kawasaki four-wheeler.
It's a pastime that continues to be popular in the Rockmart area, despite rising gasoline costs.
Welch, who was taught by his cousin Deshawn Glanton, learned how to ride an ATV when he was 9 years old and said the one thing he isn’t too fond of, is going mudding.
“I don’t like getting wet,” he said. “I get too dirty.”
Although he doesn’t like getting all messy, he's experienced it once before.
“One time he came home,” Welch’s mom, April Welch said, “with mud all in his eyebrows and his ears.”
“But I don’t like that,” he said.
Most kids, and some adults too, would disagree with Welch about riding in the mud. He on the other hand said he prefers to ride when it’s dry outside.
When it comes to playing it safe, Welch said he doesn’t do as much on the four-wheeler he has now, as he did on the smaller one, because it’s scary.
“On the other one,” Welch’s mom added, “he used to do doughnuts.
”But since the ATV he has now is bigger, he said he doesn’t do doughnuts because it might flip, adding, “And it’s heavier.”
He hasn’t had any major accidents and added wrecking is something he’s trying to avoid.
He recalled seeing one of his friends wreck while riding up a hill.
Welch said the ATV flipped backwards, but his friend was OK and he helped him turn the four-wheeler back over.
”I always stress safety,” Welch’s mom said. “Wear his helmet, be careful and go slow.“
Stop at stop signs,” she said. “And always watch for cars.”
When riding at night, he turns on his light and wears clothing that is viewable to others.
He said at times he wishes they had other places to ride.
“I want to ride different places,” he said. “But riding in the streets is illegal.”
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Fueling big trucks' extinction
Will the jacked-up pickup truck with big tires go the way of the Model A and Edsel?
I never would have thought so until recently, but the explosive rise in gasoline prices may burn out even the most dedicated monster truck drivers.
People like me who drive standard-height four-wheel drives are feeling the heat, too.
It wouldn’t bother me if huge rigs disappeared. I don’t like the way they hog parking spaces and their doors take paint chips out of neighboring vehicles.
Sure, they really need that big truck to drive to the grocery store and drop the kids off at school.
Now, at least, I can smirk about how much they’re paying to fill their tanks.
I’ve always been a small- to medium-sized vehicle person.
My first car was a 1966 VW bug. On a cross-country trip in the mid-1970s, I remember paying 49 cents for a gallon of gas for it.
I replaced the bug with a VW camper bus. I drove it to Longview, where I, um, noticed that a lot of people like to drive pickup trucks.
Later came a VW Rabbit that I piloted up many a forest road for hiking, despite its bad habit of stalling when the temperature rose above 90 degrees.
It’s a lot easier driving on logging roads with our ’96 Ford Explorer, which has a six-cylinder engine and four-wheel-drive. I haven’t checked its gas mileage in a long time and really don’t want to know.
When my mother recently stopped driving, we gladly bought her Toyota Camry, which gets around 30 mph in mostly freeway driving. The SUV is in storage.
I commute about 80 miles a day to work, round-trip, on scenic I-5. Rising gas prices have made the commute easier. Much of the time, I can cruise at 70 mph in the lane closest to the median. There aren’t as many drivers with lead-feet tailgating and passing on the right at 80 or faster.
Reportedly, Americans are buying a lot more cars like Camrys than Explorers these days.
The future of our driving may resemble what’s been happening for decades in Europe, where gasoline today costs from $6.50 to more than $8 per gallon (and you thought it was high here).
A decade ago, my wife and I spent three weeks driving around Ireland in a rented Ford Escort — with manual transmission, of course. After a few days of remembering to drive on the left side of the road, something dawned on us. We hadn’t seen a single four-wheel-drive pickup truck, an odd feeling for people from Longview. We finally spotted an Irish farmer driving through a muddy field in a four-wheeler.
Two summers ago, we drove around France, where gas now costs about $8.50 per gallon. Not surprisingly, SUVs were scarce and the few RVs we saw were much smaller than those here.
However, French drivers don’t go slowly on their motorways, which you can’t call freeways because they have toll booths. Beware the Audi in the rear-view mirror.
I can’t see most Americans resigning themselves to tooling along at 60 or 65 mph on our freeways for long. Once the shock of higher gas prices has sunk in, we’ll revert to our hurried ways.
Sooner or later, we’ll at least get used to expensive gas, if not accept it.
That’s when we’ll turn to smaller vehicles, though as long as there are fishermen with boats, there will be trucks to tow them.
Already, you can buy a hybrid-powered SUV. Conspiracy theories are rampant about oil companies stopping the development of electric cars in the past, but it’s a new era now.
Who knows, maybe high-clearance muddin’ rigs of the future will be with us forever, even if they get plugged in to recharge the batteries for their electric motors. Just don’t park yours next to my Camry.
I never would have thought so until recently, but the explosive rise in gasoline prices may burn out even the most dedicated monster truck drivers.
People like me who drive standard-height four-wheel drives are feeling the heat, too.
It wouldn’t bother me if huge rigs disappeared. I don’t like the way they hog parking spaces and their doors take paint chips out of neighboring vehicles.
Sure, they really need that big truck to drive to the grocery store and drop the kids off at school.
Now, at least, I can smirk about how much they’re paying to fill their tanks.
I’ve always been a small- to medium-sized vehicle person.
My first car was a 1966 VW bug. On a cross-country trip in the mid-1970s, I remember paying 49 cents for a gallon of gas for it.
I replaced the bug with a VW camper bus. I drove it to Longview, where I, um, noticed that a lot of people like to drive pickup trucks.
Later came a VW Rabbit that I piloted up many a forest road for hiking, despite its bad habit of stalling when the temperature rose above 90 degrees.
It’s a lot easier driving on logging roads with our ’96 Ford Explorer, which has a six-cylinder engine and four-wheel-drive. I haven’t checked its gas mileage in a long time and really don’t want to know.
When my mother recently stopped driving, we gladly bought her Toyota Camry, which gets around 30 mph in mostly freeway driving. The SUV is in storage.
I commute about 80 miles a day to work, round-trip, on scenic I-5. Rising gas prices have made the commute easier. Much of the time, I can cruise at 70 mph in the lane closest to the median. There aren’t as many drivers with lead-feet tailgating and passing on the right at 80 or faster.
Reportedly, Americans are buying a lot more cars like Camrys than Explorers these days.
The future of our driving may resemble what’s been happening for decades in Europe, where gasoline today costs from $6.50 to more than $8 per gallon (and you thought it was high here).
A decade ago, my wife and I spent three weeks driving around Ireland in a rented Ford Escort — with manual transmission, of course. After a few days of remembering to drive on the left side of the road, something dawned on us. We hadn’t seen a single four-wheel-drive pickup truck, an odd feeling for people from Longview. We finally spotted an Irish farmer driving through a muddy field in a four-wheeler.
Two summers ago, we drove around France, where gas now costs about $8.50 per gallon. Not surprisingly, SUVs were scarce and the few RVs we saw were much smaller than those here.
However, French drivers don’t go slowly on their motorways, which you can’t call freeways because they have toll booths. Beware the Audi in the rear-view mirror.
I can’t see most Americans resigning themselves to tooling along at 60 or 65 mph on our freeways for long. Once the shock of higher gas prices has sunk in, we’ll revert to our hurried ways.
Sooner or later, we’ll at least get used to expensive gas, if not accept it.
That’s when we’ll turn to smaller vehicles, though as long as there are fishermen with boats, there will be trucks to tow them.
Already, you can buy a hybrid-powered SUV. Conspiracy theories are rampant about oil companies stopping the development of electric cars in the past, but it’s a new era now.
Who knows, maybe high-clearance muddin’ rigs of the future will be with us forever, even if they get plugged in to recharge the batteries for their electric motors. Just don’t park yours next to my Camry.
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