ED4 trip report May 2022 safety clinic report
Michele Donato
I arrived at Area 5 at 7:30 and I went straight to helping Colin to inspect vehicles of blue group. Our group was composed by two Tacomas, two 4Runners, one giant GIANT Lexus 570, one JK, one JL, and an old school 4Runner.!
Red group and Blue group are ready to go!
As usual there was a great deal of variety of vehicle types, including some I saw for the first time: a brand new Bronco and two (not one, but two!) hybrid JLs: these three vehicles still had temporary plates on! The off-roading world is changing…!
Electro-jeeps!
Great performance of the instructors. Students were engaged all the time.
The class went smoothly, students seemed engaged and asked a lot of interesting questions. The only negative side was the absence of a shade, but luckily the air was not too hot and students did not seem to mind too much.
On The Trail
After a short lunch where we introduced ourselves to the students, we hit the trails. This was my first time on the trail in the clinic (except for when I was a student) but luckily both the lead (Colin) and the tail (Kelly S) were patient enough. All students seem to have had a great time all around. One aspect I noticed was that they felt encouraged but not pressured into doing any of the obstacles.
The Quarry made for a great replacement for the ravine
Notable differences with my previous experience at the clinic were the missing old ravine, and the obstacles at the quarry. This last one made for very interesting and in my opinion very realistic obstacles.
The only time students felt pressure, in particular peer pressure, was when Connor, in the topless JL, managed to do the stair stepper without lockers and without stopping once.
After his dad did the obstacle, Connor commented “Mine went smoother” and his dad was a proud dad.
Jokes aside, I think that is the key aspect of the clinic: empowering students to know the limits of their vehicles and their abilities off road, in a controlled environment where the danger of damage is limited, and supervised by competent people. That made it for a relaxed, fun event. So much fun that a few students were at their second time at the clinic. When asked why, their answer was “I had so much time last time, why not?”.
Dusty end of the day
The day ended with a small hiccup when the older 4Runner experienced a fuel pump failure in the mid of the second trail of the day. Kelly S stayed behind with the student, I took tail, and we finished the trail without any other stop. The vehicle was recovered by other club members.
Apparently second servings were mandatory, and I went close to third servings…
Students (and this mid-gunner) had a lot of fun and I am sure we will see more of some of them in the future.
After we ended the trail we headed to the covered area where an amazing BBQ dinner was waiting for us. Kudos to the BBQ master that prepared all of it by himself, by what I was told.
Overall a great day, congratulations to the organizers for another successful clinic.