Riding Quads or Creative Ways to Bonk Your Head

So, for months, no, at least a year, our friend has been telling us how much fun she has out on her new ATV. She entertains us with breathtaking photos of her off road adventures. This past weekend we finally decided to join her and another friend for our first experience on a quad.

We were very eager to try this new to us motor sport. As experienced motorcyclists, we figured it would be no big deal, we'll be on four wheels, in the dirt, not even going very fast. Gloves, boots, extra layers of clothes, helmets? we don't need helmets with 4 wheels we should have no problems staying right side up.

We started out rather slowly, a bit of a problem with one of the rentals that was quickly rectified. Boy, this is not at all like riding a motorcycle, the clutch is a brake, the throttle is a little thumb lever. Shifting is done by buttons with up and down arrows.

Ok, so I'm getting the hang of this, slowly but getting there. building up some confidence going a bit faster. Someone might actually mistake me for someone who knows what she's doing. There I am, zipping along coming up to a corner and I'm thinking I'm coming in a little too hot. Reacting like a biker, I lean, lean, lean to the left while hauling the the bars in the same direction. The rear tires slide to the right, no big deal, I've been seeing my friends do that all morning. I'm sliding, sliding, sliding hitting the right shoulder, then sideways to the left. I'm thinking, I'm going to pull out of it, I've turned not quite 180 degrees when I hit the small gully and then the mountain causing the quad to flip while depositing me luckily into the gully.

As I am falling to the ground, I hear my co-worker's voice from the day before "you're not wearing helmets?" thunk...goes my head. My friends are there before I even realize that I'm under the quad, which is being kept from actually being on me because I'm in the gully and it is resting on the road and the mountain.

Thankfully, though shaken, I suffered only some bruises and very sore muscles. Moral of the story? Wear a freaking helmet.