Ride: 2016 Memorial Total Off-Road Rally - Dresser, WI

The dust has finally settled and the last few pounds of that wonderful Trollhaugen mud have been removed from our RZR XP Turbo following the weekend that we spent beating on the red, white and blue trails. Each year, for the past 48th years, the Minnesota Go-4 Wheeler Club has hosted a full weekend of trail rides, spectator events, rock crawling, camping and general shenanigans. 2016 was the first year that UTVs were officially invited to join in on the fun and we weren't going to miss it!

The weekend began on Friday night with tech inspection, the 4x4 playground and the spectator truck pull. Sadly, the rain put a damper on the truck pull and left everybody ready for the what Saturday had in store. Saturday morning started bright and early as we got our RZR through tech inspection and with their blessing, we hit the trails. The ground was wet and made even the trail from camp to the trailhead a bit sloppy over the course of the day. We made it to the trailhead and waited in line to be paired up with other drivers and sent out on course. Needless to say, we were feeling a big out-gunned as we waited.

When we finally made it out on trail, anticipation gave way to excitement. People were getting stuck left and right, helping each other when needed, repairing their broken rigs and generally having an awesome time. At the recommendation of the starter, we started out on the Blue trail, which was the least muddy of the three.

We completed our first loop in about an hour and a half and quickly hoped back in line for a trip down the Red trail - said to be the most muddy. After linking up with a couple of fellow Polaris RZR fans, we were off. The Red trail delivered in a big way, especially with the on and off rain, and we had a blast. Where larger trucks seemed to get hung up, the RZRs were able to light up the tires, clear the treads and let torque and wheel speed carry them through even some of the deepest slop.

One of the best parts of riding with a variety of machines is seeing what they're all capable. Of course, the RZR XP Turbo is expected to be potent out of the box, but the other machines had no trouble keeping up on these trails! We rode with everything from RZR XP1000s, RZR XP1000 4 seaters, RZR 900s, RZR 800s and even a new Polaris General. Each machine had its quirks, but they all had a blast.

Of course, the trails were dominated by the larger off-road rigs. Everything from stock Jeep wranglers to custom tube-frame chassis crawlers. It was really fun to see the passion these guys and gals had for trail riding.

The rest of the weekend was filled with trail riding, pressure washing, making new friends and eating cheese curds. The pace of the event is very laid back, giving participants a chance to get as much riding or relaxing in as they'd like. We were hoping to have entire albums full of photos and videos to share, but we got so caught up in just having a good time that we completely forgot that we were there posing as 'BuiltRight Industries'. Maybe next year!