I am not a cream puff. Van Holmes says so.

Maybe still a squishy éclair, but I have officially graduated from Cream Puff!  That’s a much nicer term than off-road chicken, wuss, wimp. All actually pretty accurate.  

I don’t know if I was born scared or if it was pounded into me growing up. The only thing I knew about motorcycles was that my dad’s cousin had been killed on one, and they were BAD. I was forbidden to ever ride, if the opportunity ever came up. Which oddly, it really didn’t. (Could my parents have been pre-screening my friends?) Never mind that falling off my horse sent me to the ER at least three times that I remember, but now THAT was okay.

Or maybe fraidy-cat was duly earned when the first time I did ever actually ride an ATV it was a three-wheeler with my soon-to-be-husband. We of course rode double, and while I did have a helmet on, I apparently needed back-armor for when he would flip it over going up a hill, impaling the handlebars into my back. (He avoided any injury.) Put another notch in the SCARED OF THAT column.

So of course it makes logical sense that the industry I have now spent over fifteen years in, is off-roading. 4x4 trail riding, ATVs, the occasional snowmobile. Don’t even think that it’s because I got over my fear and managed to amass a spit-load of awesome off-road girl skills. Nope. Totally still a chicken, completely skill-less. When it comes to the tough or remotely challenging riding assignments, I hire a reporter and off they go. Have a good time, don’t miss it a bit.

Although I will admit one brief moment of insanity when I actually rode in the Adelanto Grand Prix. Nope, I won't call it racing - I was more like a moving obstacle for other riders to avoid as they roosted by, but I did it - more than half the laps of the leaders, so that counted as a finish! But come on - that's flat land through town. How much trouble was I going to get into there?

So how was it that I ended up behind the wheel of a 2009 Yamaha Rhino in the San Bernadino Hills – for a SAFETY ride, of all things? Yeah, nothing like experienced drivers, right?  But I had full safety gear head to toe, a calm experienced voice riding along with me that knew the vehicle and knew the trail, and on anything tough, a guide in front of me as well, showing me the exact line to take. If I was going to challenge myself and TRUST some wheels, this was it.

Guess what?  I survived. And more than that, I had a blast. Reminded me of the good old days when our son was about 8 and I could almost keep up with him when we went out on trail rides as a family. That was a very long time ago, and I had since become a camp-sitter, as he got faster and faster, and so did all the people we camped with. I got a lot of reading done. Never regretted it, I was perfectly content. And safe.

But there I was, on the trail with other ATV magazine editors and writers, marketing and product reps from Yamaha, and I was having at it!  There was one hill I did trade seats and shoot video instead of driving, and I probably would have been fine. But 70+ miles is a lot for someone who generally navigates a desk chair and keyboard, so I think I paid for the fun with enough sore muscles for the day.

So what’s the moral? I guess you are never too old to try something new, you gotta trust someone sometime (even if it’s not your husband, that’s probably okay), and there really is a place for UTVs and ATVs beyond the wild sand dune flyers or crazy mud boggin. This was one of the most relaxing, enjoyable days I’ve had in years, made me feel alive, and showed me some beautiful scenery I never would have experienced otherwise.

I might not do it again any time soon, but I won’t forget it either. So don’t you DARE try to legislate that away from me.

-ptw