Shreveport ATV Driving Skills: Beginner and Moderate Themes

Building up skills within any pursuit can be a fulfilling activity, including in many fun and leisure areas, and a great example here is building your skills as an ATV or UTV driver. Just like any other theme you pursue for many hours, you'll get more and more comfortable behind the wheel of your ATV over time, and may pick up some fun and worthwhile skills along the way.

At Louisiana Power Sports, we're happy to offer the widest available range of both new and pre-owned ATVs, UTVs and Can-Ams to clients throughout Shreveport and nearby areas. Many of our clients are experienced ATV operators who have built up a number of skills and even tricks over the years. How can you safely and optimally build up your repertoire as a driver of one of these vehicles? This two-part blog series will dig into several simple concepts.

Beginner's Guide on Positioning and Control

Let's start from the very beginning, with folks who are just familiarizing themselves with the ATV or UTV driving realm. Here are some simple tips:

• Proper gear: It's important to always wear a helmet when driving, as well as any other recommended safety gear. Depending on the conditions in which you're driving, this may also include goggles or sunglasses, gloves and elbow pads.
• Get to know your vehicle: Every ATV or UTV has its own quirks, so it's important that you get a feel for how your particular vehicle handles. This includes understanding its speed, braking and turning capabilities.
• Levers and controls: Down similar lines, it's important to get comfortable with the various levers and controls on your vehicle, so that you can operate it safely and effectively.
• Where your feet go: Another important element here is understanding where to place your feet while driving. This will help you maintain stability and control.
• Slow and steady: When first starting out, it's important to take things slow. As you get more comfortable behind the wheel, you can gradually increase your speed.

Now let's move on to some tips for those who have logged some more time.

Driving on Hills

As you move up the ranks and become more comfortable driving on various terrain, you may find yourself wanting to take on more challenging tasks. Driving up and down hills can be one such challenge. When taking on hills, the first and most important theme to remember is to never ride past your visibility limit -- that is, don't go over the crest of a hill until you can see what's on the other side.

Beyond that, you should also be keeping your weight uphill as you ride, as this will help maintain traction. You may also find it helpful to use a low gear when going up a hill, as this will help with both traction and control. When going down a hill, you'll want to do the opposite -- keep your weight downhill, and use a higher gear to help with braking and control.

In part two of our series, we'll continue down the road of intermediate and even advanced ATV or UTV driving. For more on this, or to learn about any of our wide selection of vehicles for Shreveport clients, speak to our team at Louisiana Power Sports today.