BORN AGAIN
Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:30 am
Although this relates to the thread about the Granville June 7-9 Weekend - I felt it deserved it own topic 
As many of you know, we've had a Polaris RZR side-by-side for a couple of years (since the QOFE gave up riding the FrankenBeta 80) and have ridden it at Mountain Ridge, Boom Boom's farm, Michaud, and twice at Hatfield/McCoy. I have made a few wheel/tire and suspension upgrades and adjustments along the way.
It was always fun and the various drivers, Phil, Wingfixer, Dirty Girl, OFG sam, and most recently Kyler (on the INFAMOUS
Double Black Diamond trail climb at H/M 2013 
have given the QOFE different, fun and often exciting rides!
Well this weekend at Ratino's the RZR was "BORN AGAIN" as the Awesome SUPER RZR!
Ratino's has a variety of terrain and trails unmatched anywhere else that I know of. Plus we had not one but two ACE RZR PILOTS with skills way beyond my imagination - SUPER MAX and the JOKER. (Max is a major Jeeper with a highly modified custom Jeep AND he works at the local CanAm ORV dealer and gets to "test drive" their side-by-sides at Ratino's! The Joker needs no introduction to anyone familiar with this subject.) Thus, both pilots have INTIMATE knowledge of all the GREAT Ratino trails. This is truly an AWSOME COMBINATION!!!
As you may have heard, the QOFE has an incredibly voracious appetite for thrills and excitement and is virtually impossible to scare! Well, this weekend her appetite for thrills and excitement was FULLY SATISFIED! And, although she remains impossible to scare, she did tell me that she was gripping the RZR passenger grab bar so tightly that her hands are quite sore This happy state of affairs is because SUPER Max gave Gail several long THRILLING rides and Joker added his own version of same including a ride at sunset and then in the dark! The QOFE was in HEAVEN!!!
My daughter Stacey also got a ride Saturday and her quote was something like: "WOW! - PEOPLE WOULD PAY $200 FOR A RIDE LIKE THAT! I LOVED IT - BUT I'M NOT BRAVE EONUGH TO DO IT AGAIN! Way better than anything at the amusement parks! I was scared, but I probably would have been even more scared if we had gone slower. Because, at the speeds we were going, the terrain, was coming up so fast that I didn't have time to fully process it, so I didn't have time to fully process the related fears before the next thing was happening!"
On Sunday I finally got my SUPER MAX ride and can DEFINATELY relate to what Stacey said! IT was AWESOME! ONLY a highly skilled 21 year old could have the reflexes to do this at those speeds. During my RIDE, Max was constantly spinning the steering wheel from full lock left to full lock right AND switching from 2 to 4 wheel drive and back AND going from full throttle to locked up brakes and back to full throttle (as well as making frequent shifts between low and high gear). We went flat out on twisty double track then turned off to squeeze through 55" wide gaps between the trees onto narrow twisty trails, through the mud rock and grass, down 10 foot near vertical drops, over big rocks, up VERY long steep hill climbs then down the other side, etc., etc., etc., etc. We did everything you could do on a MC and a bunch that a MC wouldn't have a chance at. AND most of this was with the pedal to the metal! We were airborne several times and I think we were up on 2 wheels on some of the fast hard turns! I wouldn't have believed all this was possible if I hadn't actually experienced it! IT WAS AWESOME! An experience I will NEVER forget!
We ran over 10 gallons of gas through the RZR over the weekend! LOTS of folks, including some of the dads and kids got to ride. And BEST OF ALL, young James Ratino (Joker) got to take our gracious host, his 77 year old Grandfather Ratino, for a nice tour of his entire property - which he greatly enjoyed
I think the little red RZR is resting content that it did its job very well this weekend!
As many of you know, we've had a Polaris RZR side-by-side for a couple of years (since the QOFE gave up riding the FrankenBeta 80) and have ridden it at Mountain Ridge, Boom Boom's farm, Michaud, and twice at Hatfield/McCoy. I have made a few wheel/tire and suspension upgrades and adjustments along the way.
It was always fun and the various drivers, Phil, Wingfixer, Dirty Girl, OFG sam, and most recently Kyler (on the INFAMOUS
Double Black Diamond trail climb at H/M 2013 have given the QOFE different, fun and often exciting rides!Well this weekend at Ratino's the RZR was "BORN AGAIN" as the Awesome SUPER RZR!
Ratino's has a variety of terrain and trails unmatched anywhere else that I know of. Plus we had not one but two ACE RZR PILOTS with skills way beyond my imagination - SUPER MAX and the JOKER. (Max is a major Jeeper with a highly modified custom Jeep AND he works at the local CanAm ORV dealer and gets to "test drive" their side-by-sides at Ratino's! The Joker needs no introduction to anyone familiar with this subject.) Thus, both pilots have INTIMATE knowledge of all the GREAT Ratino trails. This is truly an AWSOME COMBINATION!!!
As you may have heard, the QOFE has an incredibly voracious appetite for thrills and excitement
and is virtually impossible to scare! Well, this weekend her appetite for thrills and excitement was FULLY SATISFIED! And, although she remains impossible to scare, she did tell me that she was gripping the RZR passenger grab bar so tightly that her hands are quite sore This happy state of affairs is because SUPER Max gave Gail several long THRILLING rides and Joker added his own version of same including a ride at sunset and then in the dark! The QOFE was in HEAVEN!!! My daughter Stacey also got a ride Saturday and her quote was something like: "WOW! - PEOPLE WOULD PAY $200 FOR A RIDE LIKE THAT! I LOVED IT - BUT I'M NOT BRAVE EONUGH TO DO IT AGAIN! Way better than anything at the amusement parks! I was scared, but I probably would have been even more scared if we had gone slower. Because, at the speeds we were going, the terrain, was coming up so fast that I didn't have time to fully process it, so I didn't have time to fully process the related fears before the next thing was happening!"
On Sunday I finally got my SUPER MAX ride and can DEFINATELY relate to what Stacey said!
IT was AWESOME! ONLY a highly skilled 21 year old could have the reflexes to do this at those speeds. During my RIDE, Max was constantly spinning the steering wheel from full lock left to full lock right AND switching from 2 to 4 wheel drive and back AND going from full throttle to locked up brakes and back to full throttle (as well as making frequent shifts between low and high gear). We went flat out on twisty double track then turned off to squeeze through 55" wide gaps between the trees onto narrow twisty trails, through the mud rock and grass, down 10 foot near vertical drops, over big rocks, up VERY long steep hill climbs then down the other side, etc., etc., etc., etc. We did everything you could do on a MC and a bunch that a MC wouldn't have a chance at. AND most of this was with the pedal to the metal! We were airborne several times and I think we were up on 2 wheels on some of the fast hard turns! I wouldn't have believed all this was possible if I hadn't actually experienced it! IT WAS AWESOME! An experience I will NEVER forget! We ran over 10 gallons of gas through the RZR over the weekend! LOTS of folks, including some of the dads and kids got to ride. And BEST OF ALL, young James Ratino (Joker) got to take our gracious host, his 77 year old Grandfather Ratino, for a nice tour of his entire property - which he greatly enjoyed
I think the little red RZR is resting content that it did its job very well this weekend!
