With all the who-ha that the Xterra thread has generated it got me thinking. 4wdriving is a progressive sport. You start (usually) with a stockish vehicle and develop. In my case I started with a stock LWB Suzuki Samurai Tray Top. Took to the local places and had a blast doing the trails it and I were capable of. Anything harder was not really considered. Then I got bigger mud tyres and the were suddenly more trails to conquer. Bigger tyres more mods followed till I got to the stage I'm at now. 34" Swampers locker, GRSII, 3/4 eliptic rear etc and the trails that seemed so hard a couple of years ago are now a walk in the park. This was most evident over easter when we run a couple of tracks with a couple of guys that had just welded their rears. They did some of the tracks that just weeks before were so hard suddenly became easy.

Another thing I noticed too was when I was at Moab with the Zukfari in 99. We went to run Upper Helldarado now to an Aussie boy this was incredible we don't have that sort of terrain around home. At the start of the track I couldn't see the start. We were going up there??? But we made it up without ant real problems ( and we had a guy mike who had just got his Sami and only learnt to drive a stick shift months earlier). Yet to these guys this was just another trail.

I suppose what I'm trying to get at is:
1. How long did it take you to go from the newbie to hardcore thing?
2. When did the 4+ stop being hard?
3. Do you still do the easier trails just to have fun with your less experienced/equipped friends?
4. Do you remember seeing a trail and think "no way that's impossible" and now you run it as a fun relaxing thing?

I've driven on the rubicon/bassi in a locked up YJ with 33's and low gears, not hardcore but ocmpared to driving in a STOCK 83 toyota and mildy modded nissan pickup. Had fun in all of them, the Nissan being the least fun because the trail being tough was the rule, you couldnt just relax and hit hard stuff when you wanted too. I think some of the really Extreme trails would get old quick, the sport is about fun and relaxation with a thrill not 12 hours of working your ass off. I think there is a big enough veriety of trails to keep everyone entertained.

It took me about 4 years of wheeling to get to the point where I feel like I fit with this board and the guys who frequent it.

I actually like to wheel easy trails with less equipped guys, as long as that was the original plan. It's nice to take new guys out because a lot of the time they actually have no idea what their vehicles are capable of, all they need is some good instruction.

The thing with the Xterds that pisses me off is that those guys just don't realize the stuff they are doing is for beginners.

I love wheeling with the guy who admits his vehicle isn't the sh!t, but he still tries everything. It's the people who think their close to stocker (or bolt on king) rules, they are the ones that really clog the trails and annoy me.

I actually seemed to fit into this board from the START. I don't ever remeber being flames as a NEWBIE, but if you see my member # that might explain that.

Ever since I got into the sport (and I mean immediately!) I was drawn towards the HARDCORE. Mild trails seemed to bore me. I knew I needed the experience but that was all. As a matter of fact one trail bored me so much that I got a little crazy on it and almost sent myself off of a 200ft cliff. (hence the screen name)

Besides the tire that came on my first rig (blazer) and my second rig (scoutII) the smallest tires I've ran were 33's and my next step up is 37's (coming this weekend!!!)

I'm constantly looking for challenges for when I get this rig built.:beer:

PS: Chit chat:flipoff2:

Started in 96' doing organized runs with the SWFWDA....Las Cruses was the first, and I was GREEN...Did Broad Canyon...Not bad...Then later that afternoon someone talked us into a impromptu Guardian run...WHAT A SWEET LITTLE RUN! Many times I was like..."this is ludicrous!" But in the end it was F'in awesome...At that point I was hooked, and realized then (being the uppity Rover owner that I was) that the vechile is the means to the end...Not the other way around...It became more of a 'let's get through this together' rather than 'my trucks better than yours' B.S.

On thing I do notice is that with all the pro comps goin' on, there are less and less attendees at the organized runs like Farmington and Cruses...Used to be that ALL the big dawgs would be hangin' at the SWFWDA's events...Not anymore...Still fun though!

I've been hard core since I started reading the mags, it keeps me on the up and up with the rest of these desk top wheelers:flipoff2:

Originally posted by Cliffhanger
PS: Chit chat:flipoff2:


Wasn't sure if it was chit chat or general, still doing the Newbie thing

I am totally hard core. Esp. in front of JC penny doing burnouts with my 31" BFG AT's