70 Mile ATV Ride
Re: 70 Mile ATV Ride
Almost 400 people, that is a good turnout.
Re: 70 Mile ATV Ride-UPDATE
Yeah, it's funny that some people complained about how many people there were, they complained about the Bronco. They complained about the DNR enforcing off road laws (a couple tickets were issued for various infractions) one jackass was doing donuts on the gravel forest road which tears of the road and causes ruts. They complained that it was the same route/course as last year and the year before.
My wife and I found it to be fun.They paraded us through town at the beginning. The stops and activities were fun. The food was good. The route was fine. We met a lot nice people, and were made to feel a part of the community. We will be inviting my brother(s) and wife(s) and my sister and her husband next year.
Here's the link to the facebook page...
https://www.facebook.com/GladwinCountyORVFunRun/
My wife and I found it to be fun.They paraded us through town at the beginning. The stops and activities were fun. The food was good. The route was fine. We met a lot nice people, and were made to feel a part of the community. We will be inviting my brother(s) and wife(s) and my sister and her husband next year.
Here's the link to the facebook page...
https://www.facebook.com/GladwinCountyORVFunRun/
Last edited by Mac66 on Fri Aug 16, 2024 7:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: 70 Mile ATV Ride
It is sad that few bad apples can cause issues at a very fun event.
I watched a video of the parade through the town. It looks much more civilized than the one I seen in St. Louis which was NOT an 'organized' event.
I watched a video of the parade through the town. It looks much more civilized than the one I seen in St. Louis which was NOT an 'organized' event.
Re: 70 Mile ATV Ride
Typical small town America...That was last year's parade. Pretty much the same as the year before and this years. That Chevy dealer is the on the edge of town and is the turn around place. The whole downtown main street is maybe 1/2 mile long. This was the tenth year doing this, though I only heard about it 2 years ago.
We met and rode with another couple on a two up ATV that were from Michigan but are full time RVers. They've been full timing for 12 years. They have a huge motorhome pulling a F250 with their ATV in the back. They come back to Michigan in the summers to visit friends and relatives. They boon dock in the Arizona desert in the winter. My wife and I talked about full timing at some point but with our mothers in their 90s and grandkids coming we chose to build the woods house instead.
We met and rode with another couple on a two up ATV that were from Michigan but are full time RVers. They've been full timing for 12 years. They have a huge motorhome pulling a F250 with their ATV in the back. They come back to Michigan in the summers to visit friends and relatives. They boon dock in the Arizona desert in the winter. My wife and I talked about full timing at some point but with our mothers in their 90s and grandkids coming we chose to build the woods house instead.
Re: ORV Fun fest
The 2024 ORV fun fest is next weekend. Even though we have a side by side UTV we decided the 2 UP ATV is more fun to ride.*
My brother and his wife are joining us as well as my cousin and her husband. Cuz have lived in Gladwin County for 30 years and haven't heard of the fun fest.
Should be fun.
* Edited to add.....now that I re-read this thread and how tired I was riding the ATV.
I'm rethinking riding the UTV. We'll see.
My brother and his wife are joining us as well as my cousin and her husband. Cuz have lived in Gladwin County for 30 years and haven't heard of the fun fest.
Should be fun.
* Edited to add.....now that I re-read this thread and how tired I was riding the ATV.
I'm rethinking riding the UTV. We'll see.
Last edited by Mac66 on Fri Aug 16, 2024 7:56 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: 70 Mile ATV Ride-Update
Update... Just looked at the weather, supposed to rain all day, I think we're back to the side by side.
And...there's 7 deer in the yard this morning. 3 doe, 4 fawns.
And...there's 7 deer in the yard this morning. 3 doe, 4 fawns.
Re: 70 Mile ATV Ride 2024
The ride is over. 112 vehicles, mostly utvs but about half a dozen atvs this year.
My brother & wife, my cousin & husband and my wife & I rode together. It was my brother and cousin's first time doing the ride. I rode my Apex 500 cheap Chinese crap (CCC) utv. It was the only CCC among mostly Polaris. Hondas utes.
The good...
-my CCC made the 74 miles without a problem.
-it even got through about 12 miles of trails that were all mud after 2 days of rain. I was impressed at some of the mud holes it got through.
-it was supposed to rain all day but didn't start until about 2pm. Light rain off and on for the next hour or so then the sun peaked through. The machines had windshields, roofs and rear window so the rain was pretty much kept off us.
-It was a fun ride. Brother and cousin are already talking about doing it again next year.
The bad...
-my machine is woefully under-powered*. It has a 471 cc/24 hp engine. Most of the ride is on dirt roads, some paved roads and about 12-15 miles of trails. The speed limit in Michigan for ORVs on roads is 25 mph but most people drive about 40. Top speed for my CCC is 35 flat/wide open downhill with a tail wind. My brother and cousin chose to stay with me but we got passed a lot. Which was okay since we weren't in any hurry. On some of the straight muddy roads on the trails, the best I could do was about 27 flat out. It did do fine in the mud/holes on the trails since I was in 4wd in low gear and top speed is 5-10.
-I bought a manually operated windshield wiper and installed it the day before on Friday. It rained all day Friday, so it was a good time to test it. First time out it scratched the plastic windshield. No matter how much I adjusted it I couldn't get it to work. Took it off. Next time I will take a squeegee and a spray bottle to clean the windshield as I go.
-Dang, that UTV is loud. I wore my Walker earmuffs to use the radio but the radio didn't work worth a darn so I just wore the earmuffs to deaden the sound. Looking at some UTV forum suggestions says they I should re-route the air intake and put sound deadener on the inside of the engine cowling. Going ot have to check into that.
-Even though we never got more than 50 yards apart the earmuff radios didn't work talking vehicle to vehicle. Didn't really want or need to drag the GMRS radios out. I do need to test those while riding. Maybe next time.
-gas tank holds 7.6 gallons. I used just less than half a tank so approx 3.8 gallons. At 74 miles that comes out to about 19.5 mpg which is not great (my 500cc ATV gets over 30 mpg). I would guess at more reasonable speeds on hard surfaces you could get 150+ miles to a tank of gas.
Other...
-It was the smallest machine of the 112 that were there. I had taken off the Apex 500 stickers off so most people probably assumed it was a Yamaha Rhino which it is a copy of, though they haven't made the Rhino in 12 years. No one asked, I didn't tell. Except for some of the ATVs it also had the smallest engine (500 cc). Used to be 500cc was the top of the heap. Now it's the bottom, low end. Awful lot of 750 and 1000 cc machines now. The only other Chinese machine there was my brother's which was a Bad Boy 550. His worked fine as well. It just goes to show you that you sometimes can get by on the cheap. Sometimes good enough is good enough.
*underpowered but okay for what I bought it for i.e., working around the property. Apparently a relatively low top speed is a known, common issue with these things.
More later...
My brother & wife, my cousin & husband and my wife & I rode together. It was my brother and cousin's first time doing the ride. I rode my Apex 500 cheap Chinese crap (CCC) utv. It was the only CCC among mostly Polaris. Hondas utes.
The good...
-my CCC made the 74 miles without a problem.
-it even got through about 12 miles of trails that were all mud after 2 days of rain. I was impressed at some of the mud holes it got through.
-it was supposed to rain all day but didn't start until about 2pm. Light rain off and on for the next hour or so then the sun peaked through. The machines had windshields, roofs and rear window so the rain was pretty much kept off us.
-It was a fun ride. Brother and cousin are already talking about doing it again next year.
The bad...
-my machine is woefully under-powered*. It has a 471 cc/24 hp engine. Most of the ride is on dirt roads, some paved roads and about 12-15 miles of trails. The speed limit in Michigan for ORVs on roads is 25 mph but most people drive about 40. Top speed for my CCC is 35 flat/wide open downhill with a tail wind. My brother and cousin chose to stay with me but we got passed a lot. Which was okay since we weren't in any hurry. On some of the straight muddy roads on the trails, the best I could do was about 27 flat out. It did do fine in the mud/holes on the trails since I was in 4wd in low gear and top speed is 5-10.
-I bought a manually operated windshield wiper and installed it the day before on Friday. It rained all day Friday, so it was a good time to test it. First time out it scratched the plastic windshield. No matter how much I adjusted it I couldn't get it to work. Took it off. Next time I will take a squeegee and a spray bottle to clean the windshield as I go.
-Dang, that UTV is loud. I wore my Walker earmuffs to use the radio but the radio didn't work worth a darn so I just wore the earmuffs to deaden the sound. Looking at some UTV forum suggestions says they I should re-route the air intake and put sound deadener on the inside of the engine cowling. Going ot have to check into that.
-Even though we never got more than 50 yards apart the earmuff radios didn't work talking vehicle to vehicle. Didn't really want or need to drag the GMRS radios out. I do need to test those while riding. Maybe next time.
-gas tank holds 7.6 gallons. I used just less than half a tank so approx 3.8 gallons. At 74 miles that comes out to about 19.5 mpg which is not great (my 500cc ATV gets over 30 mpg). I would guess at more reasonable speeds on hard surfaces you could get 150+ miles to a tank of gas.
Other...
-It was the smallest machine of the 112 that were there. I had taken off the Apex 500 stickers off so most people probably assumed it was a Yamaha Rhino which it is a copy of, though they haven't made the Rhino in 12 years. No one asked, I didn't tell. Except for some of the ATVs it also had the smallest engine (500 cc). Used to be 500cc was the top of the heap. Now it's the bottom, low end. Awful lot of 750 and 1000 cc machines now. The only other Chinese machine there was my brother's which was a Bad Boy 550. His worked fine as well. It just goes to show you that you sometimes can get by on the cheap. Sometimes good enough is good enough.
*underpowered but okay for what I bought it for i.e., working around the property. Apparently a relatively low top speed is a known, common issue with these things.
More later...
Last edited by Mac66 on Tue Aug 20, 2024 4:53 pm, edited 9 times in total.
Re: 70 Mile ATV Ride
Registration was online. Cost was $70 for vehicle & driver. $30 per passenger. For that you got a swag bag, a T-shirt, a door prize ticket, map, score card (for the scavenger hunt), bottle of water along the way, and a pulled pork dinner/beverage. You had to complete activities along the way to get your card punched. You also had to write down the names of sponsors on signs along the way to get full credit.
After picking up the swag bag they lined us up and we paraded through town. Then back to the fairgrounds where they let us go in groups of 10. We rode out the runway of the little airport and took the back roads up to the state ORV trail system which is about 20 miles north east of town but probably 30 miles on the back roads. Then about 15 miles on the trails and 25 miles back to town. Along the way there were activity stops and checkpoints. We left town around 9:30 and got back to the fairgrounds just after 3 pm. The last activity was the mud pit back at the fairgrounds. I tried it, got stuck but at least I got my card punched.
Some pics...
Cousin and her husband lined up for the parade. He has a 1000 cc Polaris General.That's probably a $25K machine. My brother/wife behind him
My brother/wife in his Bad Boy 550 lined up for the parade.
Out on the trails. Shot of me in the front and my brother behind coming out of a mud hole.
After picking up the swag bag they lined us up and we paraded through town. Then back to the fairgrounds where they let us go in groups of 10. We rode out the runway of the little airport and took the back roads up to the state ORV trail system which is about 20 miles north east of town but probably 30 miles on the back roads. Then about 15 miles on the trails and 25 miles back to town. Along the way there were activity stops and checkpoints. We left town around 9:30 and got back to the fairgrounds just after 3 pm. The last activity was the mud pit back at the fairgrounds. I tried it, got stuck but at least I got my card punched.
Some pics...
Cousin and her husband lined up for the parade. He has a 1000 cc Polaris General.That's probably a $25K machine. My brother/wife behind him
My brother/wife in his Bad Boy 550 lined up for the parade.
Out on the trails. Shot of me in the front and my brother behind coming out of a mud hole.
Re: 70 Mile ATV Ride
Going to try this for the 3rd time LOL...the other two disappeared.
General thoughts...
In my state the ORV trail system is divided into 3 different types of trails. Single track for motorcycles only. "Trails" for machines less than 50" wide and "Routes" for vehicles over 50" such as Jeeps, broncos. trucks and other full-size vehicles. Routes are 72" wide. My ATV is less than 50" so can ride on trails and routes. My UTV is 54" so can only ride on Routes. The minibikes can ride on all three. Needless to say, this Fun Fest ride was on routes since most vehicles were over 50". As I said my UTV is 54" wide. My brothers is 56" and my cousin's is 64".
I've mentioned before that in most counties all the roads are open to ORVs except for state and federal highways. Gladwin county is mostly rural but there are three state highways that go through it. Two go north and south, one at the west side, the other on the east side. The other goes east/west in the lower third of the county. You can cross the state highways, but you're not supposed to ride on them. There was one spot on this run where you had to ride about 1/4 mile on one of the highways. It was after the trails and if you didn't do that It's about 10 miles out of the way around a lake. The sheriff gave permission to ride on that road for the fun fest. My understanding is that most people ride that section anyway and take their chances at being caught. The sheriff's department isn't very big so the chances of them being in the northeast corner of the county for the minute or two it takes to ride that 1/4 of a mile is pretty slim. I suppose some enterprising deputy knowing that people ride that stretch could set up on it on weekends and catch a lot of people but that hasn't happened yet as far as I know. I don't get over to that side of the county very often. My property is less than a mile from the west border and maybe 2 miles from the north line of the county.
More later....maybe much later LOL....
General thoughts...
In my state the ORV trail system is divided into 3 different types of trails. Single track for motorcycles only. "Trails" for machines less than 50" wide and "Routes" for vehicles over 50" such as Jeeps, broncos. trucks and other full-size vehicles. Routes are 72" wide. My ATV is less than 50" so can ride on trails and routes. My UTV is 54" so can only ride on Routes. The minibikes can ride on all three. Needless to say, this Fun Fest ride was on routes since most vehicles were over 50". As I said my UTV is 54" wide. My brothers is 56" and my cousin's is 64".
I've mentioned before that in most counties all the roads are open to ORVs except for state and federal highways. Gladwin county is mostly rural but there are three state highways that go through it. Two go north and south, one at the west side, the other on the east side. The other goes east/west in the lower third of the county. You can cross the state highways, but you're not supposed to ride on them. There was one spot on this run where you had to ride about 1/4 mile on one of the highways. It was after the trails and if you didn't do that It's about 10 miles out of the way around a lake. The sheriff gave permission to ride on that road for the fun fest. My understanding is that most people ride that section anyway and take their chances at being caught. The sheriff's department isn't very big so the chances of them being in the northeast corner of the county for the minute or two it takes to ride that 1/4 of a mile is pretty slim. I suppose some enterprising deputy knowing that people ride that stretch could set up on it on weekends and catch a lot of people but that hasn't happened yet as far as I know. I don't get over to that side of the county very often. My property is less than a mile from the west border and maybe 2 miles from the north line of the county.
More later....maybe much later LOL....