Quad Riders Association of British Columbia

Salmon Arm Nature Nomads is a small club consisting of between 10 and 15 members. Our meetings are normally held before rides. We usually have between three and six members riding every two to four weeks. Rides start in April and continue on until late September. We are continuing to look for new riding areas. We ride at Mara Mountain, Adams Plateau, Crowfoot Mountain, Lichen’s Mountain, Pukeashun Mountain, Skimkin Lake area and Fly Hills, as well as many others.

We have done some upgrading of our facility—the barn—and it seems that we are getting interest from out-of-town people to join our club. The town is excited about the ATV/BC Poker Ride that we are hosting on June 25 and I know that everything will go well and that we’ll show people that we are not a rebel bunch of riders. We are preparing for a large turnout and have lots of camping space.

The riding in Prince George has just begun. ATVs are selling well at all the local dearships. I helped Barry Blattner in Vanderhoof with Van Jam as much as I could. The Prince George ATV Club has a Poker Ride slated for June 5th, 2005, at the snowmobile club trails. Everyone is welcome. No regular rides are planned at this time.

The riding season has started a bit earlier here this year as the snow left early. Small groups have been out for some time now. It is difficult to get any interest in large or even medium-sized rides because of the dust problem. My contacts at the 100 Mile club tell me that their efforts are
being concentrated on finishing the addition and renovations at the 100 Mile clubhouse. Also, small groups have been out checking trails.

Our club, Quad Squad South Cariboo, will have its annual meeting and potluck dinner on May 28, starting at 5 p.m. Just bring a dish and join us. Since this is the first, and only, general meeting of the year, there are no firm plans for rides or activities yet.

Norm , Orvil and I recently checked trails in the south Sheridan area—the ones we were on are in good shape.

Another riding season has started for most of you, but some of us live in God’s country and get to ride year round.

It has been a fairly quiet winter with rides usually taking place on Sundays in the Cowichan Valley. We missed out on the sportsman show in Victoria, as organizers combined it with the boat show and didn’t notify us of the change.

On Saturday, April 30, Doug Best and I attended safety days demonstrations in Chemainus, B.C. This was put on by community policing and is similar to the safety days that we have attended in Port Alberni in the past. I am sorry to say I forgot my camera to take a picture of our booth promoting our club and ATV/BC. I am still trying to find out if Port Alberni is hosting a safety day again this year, but as yet I have been unable to get this information.

The Cowichan club is hoping to hold its annual meeting on May 17, at which time we hope to start selling new memberships for 2005/2006.

Safe riding to everyone. We hope to see everyone at that unpronounceable place in northern B.C.

Ed Jaatteenmaki is still hoping for a couple more people to go along on the Revelstoke to Pouce Coupe ride this coming August. He is in need of a support vehicle and driver so if you are interested, give him a call at 837-4054. This is a long trip but Ed has been putting a lot of planning into it and has most of the route planned out now. The barrier to the entire ride is getting around Prince George, but it’s nothing that a truck and trailer won’t solve. It does mean a time commitment, as he is planning 10 days for this journey, as well as a bit of a financial commitment. Having been on last year’s ride to Elkford I can only say I wish I were able to go along on this one; that was one of the most interesting and fun times I have ever had. The company was great, the trip well worth the time and it was the chance to do something that no one else had done—well, I guess that’s why they climb mountains.

Give Ed a call and let him convince you to come along.

The Golden ATV Club was formed during the winter months of 2004/2005, and it was decided to go ahead and form the club, supporting ATV/BC as well as lobbying for our riding areas.

At this point we are a small club, but we attended a Kinsmen Trade Show recently and gave out lots of information, which was received with open arms.

At this time we have 16 members and many more have expressed interest in joining, and now that riding has opened up, we hope to enjoy a good summer.

The club was formed with the idea to have fun, enjoy family outings, join other clubs for rides and invite other clubs to join our members for some great mountain riding in Golden as well.

We have had much support from ATV/BC as well as the Revelstoke ATV Club, so our members are anxious to enjoy a fun summer.

We have a garbage cleanup scheduled with media attending, so this will be our first official activity other than the trade show. We do not have any official rides scheduled at this time, but as we get into summer, the rides will be taken.

We are also trying to find a meeting date and time to be suitable for everyone, and at this time we have settled on the last Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m.—the place of meeting is not set in stone so contact me for information.

We welcome ATV riders to join us for some fun in Golden. Information is available from any club member but our contact for now is Dan Pecora at 250-344-6571 or mtnmax@telus.net.