All-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, are one-of-a-kind machines. They have four wheels like a car but are operated like motorcycles, with handlebars for steering control.  ATVs are considerably better-suited for off-roading and sport-type experiences than most cars — and lend themselves to a variety of adrenaline-fueled activities.

Here are some ATV videos that show you five ways to put your ATV to work.

Race It

ATVs compare in a number of ways to two-wheeled vehicles like motorcycles and dirtbikes. Here we have an ATV actually racing a dirtbike around a nicely-designed outdoor course that includes jumps and sharp turns. The ATV can’t corner nearly as well as the bike can because of its wider frame and thicker wheels, but it tends to make up lost ground on the straightaways, where the vehicle’s greater power help it catch up. Another big advantage to the ATV is its stability. A bike can swerve and trip itself up trying to navigate uneven terrain, but the way the ATV is built gives it maximum balance. It’s like trying to knock over a cat.

Drag It Through The Mud

The whole reason an ATV’s wheels are as big as they are is so those wheels can handle anything that gets thrown at it. Rivers of thick, grasping mud? No problem: just head straight into it and see what happens. At time, there is a technique to the wiggling needed to keep the wheels from settling in ruts in the mud, but the Adrenalists in the video above show how it’s done, constantly shaking the front axis back and forth to keep the ATV from getting stuck. In the world of ATVs, mud is your friend. There aren’t a whole lot of other vehicles that can say that same.

Do Ground Tricks

The ATV’s size and heft makes it well-suited for ground tricks: once you get momentum going one way, it’s likely to keep going that way, so at that point you just need to control it. For example, doing wheelies is mainly a matter of getting the chassis up and then making sure it doesn’t tumble back and land on your body But while you’re doing that, you can rotate and twist your body around the bars and the seat of the ATV, so long as you keep those back wheels on the ground.

Do Air Tricks

Of course, if ATV tricks on the ground are impressive because of an the machine’s weight, tricks in the air are going to be even more remarkable. Without the steadying influence of the ground’s friction, the whole task of controlling the ATV is on the rider – man against machine. Whether that means spins or flips or merely getting the ATV airborne, you have to be sure not to let the momentum of the vehicle take over. Otherwise, you’re going to land facing the wrong way or, even worse, upside-down.

Climb Some Big Hills

One of the express purposes of an ATV, with its horsepower, low center of gravity and huge wheels, is to climb hills. Here, you can see how an ATV shoots up an almost impossibly steep incline, and then back down, with control and agility. The rider is implicated in this, too. If you’re hill-climbing, you have to make sure to keep the front of your ATV down so that it doesn’t tip over backwards, and also pick up enough speed before hitting the hill itself so that the ATV doesn’t stall out.

Cover Photo Credit: mtneer_man – flickr.com