August 22, 2015 Goulds ATV Run: (15 Photos)

 

 

15.   While the rest of the world experiences higher than average temperatures this summer, here in Newfoundland we are in a bubble of sorts. Its not just cool, but its been one of the coolest summers on record! However August arrived with much better weather so Maffer and I decided to head to the Goulds for a easy, relaxing cruise on the bikes.

 

14.   We left the trucks by the pump house and headed in Cochrane Pond Road, taking a path straight that eventually leads to the radar station by the highway. The easy cruise plan quickly went out the window when I found a hole that didn't look that bad, but was totally that bad.

 

13.   Good tires and a front locker still wont get you through everything!

 

12.   One quick pull with the winch and we were underway again.

 

11.   When we reached the radar tower, we headed out the dirt road past Frontline Paintball then headed west following an ATV path along the side of the TCH. We rode in Northern Pond Road, turned left where the old bus used to be and came back to the Goulds through the farmers fields near Bay Bulls Big Pond.

 

Of course we found a couple bog holes along the way.

 

10.  Since the easy ride plan had been thrown out long ago, we decided to take a run in the old Southern Shore Railway track which begins near the back of Bay Bulls Big Pond. Although the water was pretty deep, they were actually much lower than usual making the first part of the ride not so hard.

 

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7.   In the first big open area, the old track disappears as mother nature reclaimed her ground. We both got stuck here picking a way around, it was a WFO calculated stuck as there were lots of trees nearby.

 

6.   However, THIS was completely not calculated. While I was trying to find a path to advance our progress, Maffer slid his CanAm sideways into the deep water/bog hole we were trying to avoid.

 

5.   It was a state, the snorkels were underwater so we knew we had a mess on our hands. The bike wasn't running and we couldn't risk using the winch on Maffer's bike, if we ran the battery flat there's is no secondary starter.

 

4.   Maffer may be short, but that's still a pretty deep hole!

 

3.   I parked by Foreman behind a large tree to anchor it, ran my WARN 2000lb winch line to Maffer's bike, through a snatch block attached to his front receiver hitch and back to my bike for a pulling force of about 4000lbs. We got the bike up out of the hole, then I repositioned and made the final pull back to solid ground.

 

2.   It took us about an hour to get the bike running, mostly because the sparkplugs are a PITA to get at. We had to drain the CVT & Airbox, Lift bike up on its back rack to drain exhaust, remove the sparkplugs and turn the bike over to pump out the bog water slop. Somehow, water didn't get into the engine oil, at least not enough to worry about. With everything put back together the bike started right up and we rode home with no further troubles.

 

1.   All in all it was a great day. There's never a dull moment riding with our crew, and although Maffer probably has a few fluid changes in his future, the bike is none the worse for wear.

 

Cheers, MIKE

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