The San Diego Padres can't seem to catch a break. Their number one draft pick, Donovan Tate, reportedly suffered a broken jaw in an ATV accident a week ago. This is just one in a string of several problems facing the San Diego Padres draft picks over the last decade or so. With Tate in particular it's two-fold, as he had a sports related hernia surgery this past October.

The details to this particular ATV accident aren't quite clear, so I don't know if Tate was wearing the most important piece of ATV safety equipment; a helmet. I'm fairly certain he wasn't wearing a helmet because we all know helmets provide a fair amount of protection to the face as well as the head. See update below.

With that in mind, reports indicate that Tate suffered "lacerations" to his face as well as the broken jaw. Tate is now sporting a steel plate, and some nice wiring to hold it shut while he heals. The San Diego Padres are confident Tate will be able to participate in Spring Training, but I believe he will be far from 100% considering he'll be eating through a straw for a while and not be able to work out.

AP Photo

Update: Doctor John has reported that Tate was, in fact, wearing a helmet. I of course can't confirm that since he didn't provide any links, but for the sake of argument we'll assume he was wearing a helmet, which could have saved his life.

We take the Suzuki KingQuad 750 through the Valley of Fire to see if the addition of electric power steering is really all it's cracked up to be.

The new sport utility quad from Suzuki brings lighter, more responsive steering to an already great ATV while keeping things respectable in the price and weight department. It gave a confidant feeling in almost everything we threw at it and made a 40 mile trek in the deserts of Nevada seem like a walk in the park.

Thanks to Discover Todays ATV and the ATV Safety Institute for providing this more than capable machine.

Image by Matt Finley

Norman Wnuk, founder of AllThingsJeep.com died suddenly Friday, November 20, at age 44 of a heart attack shortly after dinner with his family in Lunenburg, MA.

Norman started All Things Jeep in the Spring of 2003 and turned it into a highly successful business that provided parts for Jeep enthusiasts around the country.

Norman Wnuk was also very involved in the founding of Northeast Association of 4WD Clubs, Inc (NEA4WDC) and was very influential in the 4WD community.

Norman will be greatly missed and is survived by his wife Jean and his daughters Rebecca and Hannah, as well as the entire 4WD community.

Wheel in Peace, Norman.

When I first heard of The Valley of Fire in Clark County, Nevada, I envisioned a typical hot desert adventure on ATVs, something I love. So when Discover Today's ATV and the ATV Safety Institute asked me to join them for a day of riding, I eagerly agreed.

When we started getting close to The Valley of Fire, I quickly realized there was much more to it than just a ride in the desert. The fiery red rock formations that came out of the ground provided a brilliant backdrop to what would turn out to be one of the best rides I'd had in years. It was hard to concentrate on riding because I was literally in awe at the scenery, but the riding was superb and offered several different types of riding, including desert trails, lush sand dunes and very technical crawling. Truly an epic ride.

The sandstone formations are from prehistoric sand dunes and have been turned into their current shape after centuries of earthquakes and erosion. This nearly 35,000 acre state park sits about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas and was used as the back drop in films such as Transformers, Star Trek Generations and Total Recall.

Having spent much of my childhood camping at nearby Lake Mead, The Valley of Fire is now on my short list of places to take my kids before they get too much older.

Images by Matt Finley