Sport-Blog.com

Written by James Fohl

Recently I began riding on an all terrain vehicle, or ATV. A few short months ago, you could have came up to me and asked if I ever would ride on one of those machines and I would have most likely have screamed "No." and explained how I would never find myself riding such a piece of machinery.

You Gotta Get Over Your Fears If Its Gonna Work

I found myself in a position in which my new girlfriend owns a two wheel drive Kawasaki quad, and enjoys riding it whenever she gets the chance. Not one to ruin a relationship by not involving myself in my girlfriend's hobbies, I agreed one day to jump on the back of her quad and go for a short little ride.

At first, I of course found myself extremely nervous. The feelings of nervousness especially surged throughout my body after my girlfriend yelled back "Hang on!" and immediately increased the acceleration.

Ripping Through The Meadows, Riding An ATV Is Like Being A Yoyo

The quad ripped through the grass meadow without problems, and as we became closer and closer to the hills, I let out a gulp. We soon began to climb the hill, and soon the quad was a few feet off the ground, before it had bounced back onto the ground; our bodies bouncing on the ATV as if we were a yoyo following the path of its string.

My fear of the all terrain vehicle soon vanished, and we spent several hours that day (and eventually night) on the quad, riding through the woods, and opened fields. I guess my biggest fear of the whole ATV experience was the fear that I would fall right off the back of the moving vehicle when my girlfriend went around a bend. That fear was most likely cured when I realized that I wasn't going anywhere if I held onto my girlfriend tightly.

Quads Give You A Sense Of Freedom That You Can't Find On A Vehicle, or Motorcycle

Riding on the quad with my girlfriend gave me a sense of freedom that can be expressed through anything other than riding on a quad. We weren't limited to roads; there were trails that she had previously made, but for the most part we made our own paths.

Going through the mud puddles and getting completely covered in mud, getting smacked in the arms and legs by broken tree branches, and eventually getting stuck in a naturally made ditch were annoyances, but rather fun moments that occurred while we literally in the middle of nowhere.

Now that I have actually ridden on a quad, I now actually enjoy them instead of having somewhat of a hatred towards them. I sometimes watch the ATV races on the television, and I even have an ATV racing video game for my Sony Playstation II. The biggest change however, is whenever I am with my girlfriend, now I ask her if she wants to ride the quad.