I'm sure you've had this happen, you're out riding on a overcast [lowlight] day where trail structure is hard to see and all of a sudden there's a 3 foot hole that runs right across the trail 5 feet in front of you. What do you do? Try and ride it out, or pin it and hope for the best?

Stand up and hold on! Then :doh:

get my azz off the seat and my tongue in my mouth......

frigg how many times has that happened. its ussually not bad in the trials through the woods but out in the fields that can be crazy. yup, i guess all i do is hold on, get off the seat and hope for the best. :nervous:

Trail visabillity is a real problem for me with all the damn fogging up of my visoror goggles so this happens alot. I slow down as much as possible and lift up of the seat........ youch, my back still hurts!

Ihit a monster once riding down some powerlines,going about 70mph and came up to a hole 30 yards in diameter and 20 ft deep punched it and didn't make it,crushed 2 discs in my back instantly.
them cloudy days can be tricky,on the trail i stand a little and squirt the gas my ZRT takes them nice.
:D

After you curse yourself out for over-riding your vision, and depending on what's beyond the hole -- pin it, and pull back HARD on the bars at the last second -- it's all you can do!

I hit one of those "invisible holes" on a poker run at about 75. It broke one of the arms on the front of the rear skid clean off. Luckily I know someone with a welder :D

Happened to me last year. I went out in the morning and it was a really grey day. Hard to see the contours of the bumps. Got going to about 70 across a field and I forgot that there is a road through the middle of the field that is not plowed in the winter. Hit the ditch on one side :doh: bounced out and cleared the road and smacked into the far side ditch :cussing: I hit the bars and windshield and landed about 20 feet passed my sled. No broken bones but I gotta wear a knee brace still. Helmet did it's job and I only broke the black trim around the windshield. Lucky. You bet. Stupid enough to do it again. Nope. Learned my lesson.

I was flying down the ditch and this wash out got in my way about 3 weeks ago......hit the gas nosed into the other side face hit the hood chest on the bars and windshield......I got off easy with mild whip lash and frickin sore shoulders ......Thats what happens when you ride in low snow conditions cause that hole should have been full of snow...like it has been every other year :D

Pucker when you see the sucker, and get your meat off the seat!!

A friend and I were cruising across a snow covered field at about 50mph with me just a little behind him and a little back when we rode up a small knoll and once on top saw a about 10 feet of downgrade and the a narrow driveway cut into the snow to service a remote oil rig. It ran across our path and had 4 foot snow banks. My buddy tried to gun it in the split second that we had and he cleared the other side but smashed his face into his bars, cracked his face shield, broke his primer knob off and got a bloody nose. I didn't react quick enough to gas it so I wasn't sure if I'd make the other side so I just pushed off the sled and landed in the powder on the other side and rolled unhurt. The sled impaled itself in the snow bank on the far side of the driveway without any damage. It goes to show that you have to make quick decisions and you don't want to be tired, drugged or impaired!

My brother-in-law and I were playing around on some trails in farm fields that run through some gentle rolling hills in western Wisconsin. Our speed kept creeping up as we ran. Well, the rolling hills aren’t so gentle at 90-95mph. As I crested the top of one of the hills, my sled decided to take flight. I landed on the next not-so-gentle hill. It was a hard and flat landing but I kept going and the sled was fine, but the rear shocks needed to be replaced. My brother-in-law is airline pilot and said I flew farther but not as high as the Wright brothers did on their first flight. This was two years ago, and last July, after several x-rays, and a MRI we found that I had a full focal tear through one of the tendons in my left shoulder. I had the operation in October and they found that I completely destroyed the cartilage in the shoulder socket and it had been bone to bone for almost two years. The sled shocks were replaced last year, the shoulder is about 90%, and in the middle of January the doctor released me to ride. Now that we finally got some snow, we can see how the shoulder works. It's not the size of the sucker hole, but the speed at which you launch into it that does the damage. :thumbsup:

I've did this many times, me and my friend were riding double last weekend(his coil or cdi went on the trail) and he hopped on with me, we hit many of these in the ditch, first time I was in these, I would just pin it and lean back.

A friend and I were riding on a river once, well not riding but flying and we came up to a small bridge that goes over it. We had been on this river alot in the past and never worried about it. I slowed a little, maybe to about 80, but he kept going. When we got within 75 yds of the bridge you could see a hump on either side. (When they plow bridges it falls and make a ledge on both sides. These were about 1 1/2' high.) I was studded and grabbed a hadfull of brake. Hit the first lip around 35 or so and flew straight into the second. Didn't really get any air, but my chest hurt for days from hitting the handlebars.

My buddy wasn't so lucky. He wasn't studded and hit them going around 60. He had to duck his head to not hit the bridge because it was only about 8 feet high. When he hit the second lip, his sled went completely vertical and he flew about 30 - 40 feet a foot of the ground. Never bailed. When he landed he snapped his handlebars and one of the carbs came of his engine.

Luckly neither of us was hurt. But we both learned alot that day. :doh:

I hit one at about 70mph on my old 99 MXZ 600 and broke both rear torsion springs instantly. Luckily I was already riding standing up and it didnt hurt me a bit. Whenever its getting bumpy ride standing and you shouldnt have a problem, takes the thighs some getting used to but once they are you wont sit and take a beating ever again.

:) I am glad to see so many of you learn a lesson but I fail to see how so many people ride so fast in unfamiler trails or fields.

yeah, you guys are insane............................. :withstupid: :doh: and people say alcohol is a problem, if i ever do what you guys did,i'd better be close to a beer store just to numb the pain.

Originally posted by alindazip@Feb 5 2003, 04:35 PM
:) I am glad to see so many of you learn a lesson but I fail to see how so many people ride so fast in unfamiler trails or fields.
It is entirely possible to have a field that you have been through 20 times on any given day have a surprise in it. In my case, the farmer had dug a drainage trench and it had been covered with snow since a week or so before I'd been there. I didn't see this surprise till it was too late.

Joe

I`ve modded my suspension for those, with springs rated for 400# rider and being only 220 myself, theres lots my susp. can absorb. The only time it hit bottom was on a 40' long, 12' high jump and landed on hard pack. My custom seat riser has also made a big difference for my body to absorb bumps. My bro and me exchanged sleds and mine was better in all types of bumps with what I've changed on my sled. BTW, he has a REV ;)

Sucker Holes. Yup a good term and up to now one I'd only heard applied to flying where the non-instrumented pilot gets got above the clouds and gets 'suckered' into coming down through that wee opening...
For sure on our sleds, even if we're being careful, with no sunshine generating shadows one can be in for a surprise sometime. Dave.