DRaider90
Uwharrie Off-Road Volunteering
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2007
- Location
- Weddington, NC
It was brought up that we don't really have any contact with the ATV Crowd in regards to Uwharrie and the work days etc. I did some research tonight and here is what I found.
1.)There were in the past ATV Groups active in the work days. I found out you even used to get a free hat when attending the work days by reading old posts (circa 2003) on a few forums. So at one point there were one or two groups, and they were even looking at adopting a trail.
2.)Now most of those clubs are either defunct or don't have up to date contact information on the internet. For that matter I only found one up to date website for an NC ATV Club. Which belongs to the Triad Trail Blazers.
3.)And the trend is that the ATV riders have a LOT of OHV Trail options. I look at the Club websites and I see rides for places all over NC, TN, SC, VA etc but I rarely found rides taking place at Uwharrie. Checking out some of these places some have up to 500 miles of trails. Which Uwharrie just can't compete with.
I set up a mental time line in my head between the old out of date Club Forums, when these new OHV Trail Systems opened (mostly private parks), and the only current ATV Club the Traid Trail Blazers.
It seems around 2001-2004 a lot of ATV Clubs popped up, some of them involved at Uwharrie and others not. Also during this time a lot of the Private Parks started opening up going through the mid 2000's. ATV riders/groups had a lot more options so they have slowly moved away from Uwharrie to the much bigger private parks. You can't compete with 500 miles of trails.
Our current ATV crowd we are dealing with it seems are individuals, and small groups of friends. You have to keep in mind ATVs are relatively much cheaper, and it takes a lot less time/effort into wheeling an ATV than a trail rig. Lets put it this way, for a brand new set of 35"s you can get a used ATV. Also consider the number of ATVs you encounter at Uwharrie on the trails. You may encounter 1 here, 2 there, and at most maybe 4 in a group. You don't see any "clubs" riding, or large "ATV Groups".
The reason is made clear, the "ATV Clubs" that organize rides/trips are going to the larger private parks. The majority of ATV use in the Uwharrie OHV consists of random people coming up and riding for the day/weekend.
This isn't probably what most would want to hear concerning getting the ATV crowd into helping keep the trails clean, but it makes sense. If we had the places to wheel that they do, Uwharrie wouldn't be high on our list. I know most won't admit it, but its the truth. Until Tellico was closed Uwharrie wasn't as popular/visited as it is now. Because Tellico had many more miles of trails, and had a lot of the more extreme obstacles.
So we are going to have to approach this in a different way. We will have to get ATV Riders involved on an individual level. The first idea that comes to mind is encounters on the trail. The biggest interaction we have is when we get to pull off to the side of the trail to let them by. It could be possible to hand out a flyer or talk to them etc. Its a very direct approach to the situation, but it could be done.
Beyond that we will have to get 4x4 owners that also own ATVs involved to spread the word to other ATV owners. Stop and talk people trailering ATVs at the Outpost, or hand out flyers etc. I know flyers = trash but for a lot of people its easier to hand out a flyer than strike up a conversation.
And if you want that flyer to not make it into the trash put like a coupon or something on it. Work with one of the local business to maybe put a .50 off coupon or $1.00 off coupon on the flyer. Its the same concept restaurants use when handing out flyers to get people to eat at their establishment. You come out to your car, see the flyer, you automatically think to throw it out, but you see the coupon. Same deal here. And also when they bring the coupon in to redeem it, they could be provided with more information etc.
I will say now this isn't going to be an easy task. Its going to take some work and a lot of creativity. But again it is possible. So lets hear some ideas/feedback on this and see where we can go with this.
1.)There were in the past ATV Groups active in the work days. I found out you even used to get a free hat when attending the work days by reading old posts (circa 2003) on a few forums. So at one point there were one or two groups, and they were even looking at adopting a trail.
2.)Now most of those clubs are either defunct or don't have up to date contact information on the internet. For that matter I only found one up to date website for an NC ATV Club. Which belongs to the Triad Trail Blazers.
3.)And the trend is that the ATV riders have a LOT of OHV Trail options. I look at the Club websites and I see rides for places all over NC, TN, SC, VA etc but I rarely found rides taking place at Uwharrie. Checking out some of these places some have up to 500 miles of trails. Which Uwharrie just can't compete with.
I set up a mental time line in my head between the old out of date Club Forums, when these new OHV Trail Systems opened (mostly private parks), and the only current ATV Club the Traid Trail Blazers.
It seems around 2001-2004 a lot of ATV Clubs popped up, some of them involved at Uwharrie and others not. Also during this time a lot of the Private Parks started opening up going through the mid 2000's. ATV riders/groups had a lot more options so they have slowly moved away from Uwharrie to the much bigger private parks. You can't compete with 500 miles of trails.
Our current ATV crowd we are dealing with it seems are individuals, and small groups of friends. You have to keep in mind ATVs are relatively much cheaper, and it takes a lot less time/effort into wheeling an ATV than a trail rig. Lets put it this way, for a brand new set of 35"s you can get a used ATV. Also consider the number of ATVs you encounter at Uwharrie on the trails. You may encounter 1 here, 2 there, and at most maybe 4 in a group. You don't see any "clubs" riding, or large "ATV Groups".
The reason is made clear, the "ATV Clubs" that organize rides/trips are going to the larger private parks. The majority of ATV use in the Uwharrie OHV consists of random people coming up and riding for the day/weekend.
This isn't probably what most would want to hear concerning getting the ATV crowd into helping keep the trails clean, but it makes sense. If we had the places to wheel that they do, Uwharrie wouldn't be high on our list. I know most won't admit it, but its the truth. Until Tellico was closed Uwharrie wasn't as popular/visited as it is now. Because Tellico had many more miles of trails, and had a lot of the more extreme obstacles.
So we are going to have to approach this in a different way. We will have to get ATV Riders involved on an individual level. The first idea that comes to mind is encounters on the trail. The biggest interaction we have is when we get to pull off to the side of the trail to let them by. It could be possible to hand out a flyer or talk to them etc. Its a very direct approach to the situation, but it could be done.
Beyond that we will have to get 4x4 owners that also own ATVs involved to spread the word to other ATV owners. Stop and talk people trailering ATVs at the Outpost, or hand out flyers etc. I know flyers = trash but for a lot of people its easier to hand out a flyer than strike up a conversation.
And if you want that flyer to not make it into the trash put like a coupon or something on it. Work with one of the local business to maybe put a .50 off coupon or $1.00 off coupon on the flyer. Its the same concept restaurants use when handing out flyers to get people to eat at their establishment. You come out to your car, see the flyer, you automatically think to throw it out, but you see the coupon. Same deal here. And also when they bring the coupon in to redeem it, they could be provided with more information etc.
I will say now this isn't going to be an easy task. Its going to take some work and a lot of creativity. But again it is possible. So lets hear some ideas/feedback on this and see where we can go with this.