RIDE FOUR-SEVEN VOL. 1

Hello!….I want to start of by welcoming everyone to Volume One, of a new section I will be doing here on PowerSport TV called “Ride Four-Seven”. This is an arena where I get to blab about all my rides/races throughout the course of the summer/winter seasons. From riding and racing mx tracks in the summer to ice quad racing and snowmobile riding in the winter.

My first ride of the 2010 season took me to Rose City, Michigan and a track called Ogema Sport and Trail Center. Was it a GREAT idea to travel 3 hours south and plan to ride for two straight days as my FIRST seat time on the quad this season!? Probably not….but the idea was presented and I wasn’t going to back out. My friend Tyler and I left Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario CANADA on Friday evening and headed across the border to Michigan. In order to enter the United States we literally have to cross the “International Bridge”.

This is often a pain as you can sometimes wait for well over an hour depending on how lucky or UNlucky your timing is. Fortunately we were able to drive through quite quickly, and even more fortunate and appreciated was how surprisingly gentle the customs officers were …..THIS time. Once across the border, the drive was on! We stopped about an hour south in a place called St. Ignace, Michigan.

This is such a cool little town in many ways. One of the things it’s most famous for is it annually hosts one of the LARGEST antique car shows in North America. It also serves as one of two locations which you can board a ferry/catamaran and cross over to a super unique local called “Mackinaw Island”. This place is a small island which allows NO motorized vehicles, only bicycles and horses, and offers up some of the best boating in the world according to many reputable magazines.

The other port is Mackinac City, which is just across this small bridge, called the Mackinac Bridge, that connects the two cities. Oh wait, did I say small? I meant to say 3rd largest suspension bridge in the world spanning 5 miles in length. A mile for each man who died in the construction of this intense structure.

Back on the road and a few hours later we ended up arriving in West Branch MI, to our hotel which was actually located right next to a shopping outlet. Seeing as the hot tub/pool area was closed once we got there though, we decided it was best to just get some Z’s anyway considering the day we knew we had ahead of us.

Waking up Saturday morning it was clear been raining off and on throughout the night and was still slightly drizzling out. This was a perfect recipe for what we hoped would be a relatively “dust-free” track. We stuffed our faces with breakfast, followed by a few stops, and shortly after ended up just outside Rose City, Michigan. A few miles of dirt/bush roads later we arrived at our final destination of Ogema Sport and Trail Center.

As we rolled in we could immediately see there were a fair number of travel trailers, some of which looked to be there on a permanent basis, all within extremely close proximity of the track itself. Camping was clearly a big part of O.S.T.C. which made us decide against “hotelling” it next time we visit. The idea of campfires and hanging with fellow riders sounds like more fun! As we drove to our parking spot, we could already see a fair number of riders on the track on both bikes and the odd atv. After signing in it was time to get geared up and ride.

One of the first things we noticed about the track was that it was very “user friendly”. What I mean by that is there were a number of jumps, but all of which were “safe” in terms of coming up short. This offers great riding for both the amateur and top level riders alike. It consisted of both hard pack and sandy areas which made for some killer “braking bumps” as the day progressed. The other cool thing about this place, however, was if you got bored of just riding the mx track, there were plenty of trails you could get onto as well as a few hill climb areas to challenge yourself. I took a quick helmet cam vid of a lap around O.S.T.C. so you can get an idea just how the track is laid out.

Watch the Video Here
http://powersportvideos.com/videos/volume-one-drown

One of my favorite things about Ogema however, wasn’t just the track, but how welcoming and friendly both the owner and other riders were. That fact automatically made this a place we intend to revisit.

After a long day of riding and some awesome arm pump suffered by myself and killer blisters on Ty’s part, it was decided a big meal at Ponderosa was clearly in order...Mistake. To say that having a big meal after riding all day is essentially the equivalent of getting shot with horse tranquilizer, I‘d have to disagree and say that’s an UNDERSTATEMENT. Bed came early and unfortunately for my newly used and shocked muscles, the hot tub again was again unused and the bars of West Branch were also safe from two Canadian fools.

Sunday morning looked much the same as Saturday in terms of overnight rain. The unfortunate part was this time it had most certainly rained a greater amount. We chose to head to the track regardless considering we had driven this far anyway. After a few hours of riding we decided that it was just too muddy and a little sketchy on the “out of corner jumps” and that it was best to call it quits for the day. Back to Canada was the consensus. After a quick detour to Traverse City, Michigan on our way north, we ended up back in Canada Sunday evening.

Even after the fresh blisters and sore muscles, I wouldn’t have changed a thing for my first ride of the 2010 season! Can’t wait to fill you guys in on my next ride or race in Vol.2!...Until next time!
L8r
JH47

http://www.ogemawtrails.com

Watch Wheels On Ice
http://www.atvscene.com/videos/video/595/Wheels-On-Ice