The San Diego Off Road Coalition (SDORC) is sponsoring the preparation of the new Young Rider Training Trail that will open in Southern California later this month at the Corral Canyon Off-Highway-Vehicle (OHV) park.

Corral Canyon was devastated in fires in 2006 and just recently re-opened. There are over 50 miles of slightly narrow OHV trails there and the scenery is fantastic.

The SDORC, as usual, is right in the middle of it and are supporting a great cause geared towards giving our kids a better, safer place to ride.

On Saturday, March 13 the coalition will perform trail grooming and trail preparation to get the riding area ready for the grand opening on March 27.

Image by Matt Finley

Just because your ATV has 4 wheels doesn't mean it's like driving a car. In fact, it's just as important to lean your quad when you turn as it is on a motorcycle. Perhaps more!

On a motorcycle if you don't lean, you don't turn. On a quad, if you try to turn without leaning, you stand a very good chance of flipping over. You have to use your body weight to keep the ATV on all 4 tires.

That's the reason the seats on an ATV are so big; so you can move around on it to use your weight to help control the quad as you turn.

While you do have to lean to turn the quad, you're not actually leaning the ATV over, you're just moving your body from side to side to hold the ATV down on all 4 wheels in a turn. This is one of the main reasons you're not supposed to ride a quad that's too big for you.

If you're not heavy enough to counter the weight of the quad while you're turning you're more likely to flip it over.

In a recent discussion about ATV Safety I was explaining how dangerous it is to ride double on an ATV. The usual response to my statement claiming that the manufacturers do not want you people riding two up was "so why do they make the seat so big?"

That seemed like an honest question that deserved an honest (and possibly un-expected) response. After all, it was a very valid point: The seats on most quads ARE huge. They seem to invite you to bring your friend along with you.

But the truth is they're not for you to carry passengers. The reason they make the seats so big on an ATV is so you can move around on it. In order to make an ATV go where you want, you have use your weight to turn sharp and keep the quad from flipping over.

ATVs are designed for one person. Riding two people on a quad will make it unstable and hard to maintain control, making it very dangerous.

Image by Matt Finley

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has issued a tight restriction on the distribution and use of high octane racing fuel (race gas) for "recreational" vehicles.

There are thousands of people in California who have purpose-built motors on their off-highway recreational vehicles that are specially made to run on high performance race fuel. Going down to 91 octane fuel could cost thousands of dollars to convert the high performance motors so they will run on lower grade "gas station" fuels.

The notice says that retailers will be required to only sell race fuel for "sanctioned race events", and will keep a very detailed record of who buys race fuel. The Air Resources Board will require distributors to record the date, name, address and telephone number of the buyer, type of vehicles to be fueled, whether said vehicle is registered for off-road use, record their license and registration number of the vehicle that will be using the race fuel, the name, date and promoter of the "sanctioned" event, and more.

I see people being forced to stop recreating in California, or they'll simply get their race fuel from out of state. Unfortunately, that seems to fly in the face of logic because it means less revenue for California in fuel taxes and other money that comes in via food, lodging and repairs when people recreate in this state.

While the notice by the Air Resources Board to restrict racing fuel in California does mention a compliant "alternative" fuel that OHVers could use, they fail to mention what makes it compliant, or who makes it, or where you can get it.

If you have questions or comments about this restriction being imposed by CARB, feel free to contact Frederic Schmidt at 916-327-1522, or email him at fschmidt@arb.ca.gov.

Image by Matt Finley