Ride From Hell

[LooseScrew]

This week end(Oct/29/11) we were on a Poker Run put on by the Haliburton ATV Club . The run started off a little town called Bobcaygeon , I'm sure alot of you here on the site know the area. Great trails and the people seemed to be nice and properply set up for this ride. HA!!!!!!!!!!!!! after about an hour into the ride , as with all Poker Runs , the new people were holding everyone back ,not a problem, as I've come to expect this at these events. We then asked one of the Marshalls if we could ride ahead of the group, the answer we recieved was "We came in as a Group , WE LEAVE AS A GROUP" . Please remember this quote. After a slow but pleasant 2 hr drive , we find some water and a friend of mine decided to play in it. Of course we got swamped, hehe it was still fun(to that point) . One of the Marshalls said " I have the Poker cards , I have to get back , we'll send some one back for you" Well we removed the plugs , got the water out and finally got the bike running after 2 hrs , and we are wondering where are the returning Marshalls. I get on the cell phone , but my battery is low , and manage to call the HATVC . No one is answers , no answering machine, no luck. By 6PM we are now getting cold and worried as we haven't heard a machine or people for well over 2 hrs and are wondering what happened to "we leave as a group we come home as a group". We decide to follow the trail the Marshall went on. Bad Mistake!! 3 hrs later we make it back to are trucks , and guess who is there , the President of the HATVC , he was waiting for us and , so he says , sent out the OPP to find us . Yet his machine was on his trailer, no other Marshalls on the trails or in the area . When we asked WTH happened we were told he was unaware we had trouble, or were in trouble....REALLY why was he there , where were the OPP , as I called and they had no log of this incident, where were the other Marshalls? All we got was I'm sorry , well Sorry doesn't cut it when you are responsible for people at a poker run. Oh by the way , they even gave away our prizes because we weren't there, isn't that a kick in the head. As far as our friends go , joining a club such as this one , who doesn't organize correctly , who doesn't look after the riders well being , doesn't deserve any good recognition or funds. And from now on I'll be buying a GPS and won't go on any Poker Runs unless recomended by friends, in case you can't tell this is one I strongly DON"T RECOMEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Atomic_Sportsman]

Glad you guys made it back out. I refuse to join a club or participate in club activities that are open to the public. I tried the "club" thing for about 2 hours and couldn't deal with the people running the show. "We only ride as fast as our slowest rider". Not a bad idea but when half the group wants to ride slow and happy and look at all the leaves, bugs, birds, stones, dirt, grass, water, sky.....you get the idea, and the other half wants to ride fast and pissed off, turn it into two groups. Then you have the tree hugger members that don't want you to go over 1/8th throttle, never spin a tire and what ever you do, never ride your bike in any kind of standing or running water. I am all for keeping it safe and fun and not destroying public or private riding property but I can't deal with having to ride the way others want to ride. We have our local guys and we all ride pretty much the same way so we just organize our own events and go have some fun.

[ridgerunner]

All (but one) poker runs I've been on, you sign up, pay your money, sign the waiver and off U go! The trails are marked well (usually) and U go at whatever pace U want. "Follow me, Im the leader" bull shit don't work with me or those who ride with me either! He better be hauling ass and stopping for a beer and pee break from time to time or he'll find himself alone and behind the pack wondering "what the fuck was I thinking". If they don't have their shit together they need to know it and U need to tell them...often and loudly! Give 'em hell brother!

[Bad Kitty]

The Haliburton ATV club is the club that is SOLELY responsible for F^%$#&g it for everyone who wants to ride up there. U HAVE to join THEIR club to ride on trails that are on CROWN LAND. As I have said before, they had best have a big gun and be ready to use it, if U R going to bother me on crown land. It's ALMOST the only good thing left about being here. Lmao!!!
If a club can't get it together enough to hook up wth the rest of the province, I doubt it will take much longer before people see their greed and go elsewhere. I have.

BUT, I do like the race in MINDEN. Lol

[Rubberdown]

sounds like you may have gotten a rare "bad deal'. I have done the Stanhope fire dept. poker run a few times in the past and we all went at our own pace as we wanted, we had a great time, but then again, it was a few years ago, maybe things have changed there since then???

[English]

as a person who spends months and weeks organising rides..."shit happens"..sounds like ya had a bad ride...poker runs are as much fun as you make em tbh.
not had a ride yet where we didnt loose the odd bike....but normally its the "ODD" bike that decides there bored with an "organised" ride n takes off to do thier own thing.

then i get to ride around trails looking for them while i could be in the shop drinking beer....

and thats a BIG NO NO!!!!

LOL

poop happens...just glad ur all safe and made it home buddy!!

[850XPEPS]

True English but we both have had a semi recent get left out on the trails up North with a breakdown and no directions experience and it sucked so I feel for ya. Lets just hope they and anyone who reads this post learns from it.

[English]

it only sucked coz i was out of beer ken...otherwise i was all set for a night in the middle of the wilderness!!!

[850XPEPS]

You were out of smokes too and getting moody!

[English]

english+no beer or smokes=moody....

is that a problem?

LOL

[stricker76]

Are you serious?

[English]

get a brain Scott

[850XPEPS]

Get a Brain!

[LooseScrew]

as a person who spends months and weeks organising rides..."shit happens"..sounds like ya had a bad ride...poker runs are as much fun as you make em tbh.
not had a ride yet where we didnt loose the odd bike....but normally its the "ODD" bike that decides there bored with an "organised" ride n takes off to do thier own thing.

then i get to ride around trails looking for them while i could be in the shop drinking beer....

and thats a BIG NO NO!!!!

LOL

poop happens...just glad ur all safe and made it home buddy!!

I hear what you are saying English , but I also read that you go on the trails looking for the Lost sheep, if we had seen an effort of them looking for us, this would have been chaulked up as Shit happens , but that wasn't the case

[English]

good point..but we only have 10km...i can sit at home and listen to where they are..LOL

defo wrong been left out alone and a failure of the club IMO...we have seen it happen but it shouldn't.

Don't base your thaughts on ONE ride...not all clubs are the same :)

[LooseScrew]

I think most clubs are quite good , even yours lol , but I tell everyone I know about good expierences as well as bad. I think it's the only way to play. I just didn't want anyone else to get left , the way we did

[English]

poker runs suck regardless what club....lol

[choPppps]

You must have been in 5-Points area???? If so and it was your first time, you could get lost easy in there as well as swamped, stuck or buried. To bad. They should not have left you without clear direction.

As a real note, you do not need a pass to ride any of the trails especially crown. They only soft warden at the moment. The only place you need a pass is on the rail trail from Lindsay all the way to Haliburton as this is owned by the county.