dvanbramer88 wrote:Even Bill has a couple stories about that.
The typical way my build and personal skill expansion went from 2004-2009 was:
1) Go to a trailhead
2) Walk it
3) Say "NO WAY, BUT I'LL BE BACK" while shaking my fist at it.
4) Leave
5) Locate next available lift option (1", then 1.5", then 2", then 2.5")
6) Choose next tire (AT 31", MT 33", Extreme MT 33")
7) Open wallet. Install mods. Not cheap, being an early adopter of EVERYTHING.
8) Go back and conquer previous trail, learning at the same time how to drive trails at the edge of both my and the Roadiemobile's capability
9) Buy trail guides and Google for the next challenge-trail.
10) Add armor and more mods. Conquer new trail
11) Lather, rinse, repeat
12) After five years planning and obsession, and motivating a sidekick (Teebes), run what we can of the Rubicon and other bucket list trails
13) Relax for a couple of years and step back from the leading edge of aggressiveness and re-run old trails with new equipment to see how easy they are now
14) Re-evaluate whether I want to continue running trails alone - attempt to develop new proteges
15) Lose all local GMT360 sidekicks (Bacon, you were the last), consider joining local clubs using other platforms
16) Lose job for 15 months, burn through a lot of savings, get rehired for 25% less into a different and more interesting job at old company
17) Work insane overtime in design engineering to cement my usefulness and make myself as layoff-proof as possible
18) Find I no longer have many weekends I can get away any more. D'oh!
19) Currently trying to solve the simultaneous challenges of items 15, 17, & 18, with the budget constraints of item 16 and attempting to retire in 5 years max.
More than you expected to get as a reply, I know...it's my nature.