Megan Rion Living That Best Life
Story By: Staff of UTV Sports Magazine
Photos By: Brandon Bunch | Chris Carroll | Offroad Life Photography
As anyone that has been exposed to the off-road industry or the people in its community will surely tell you, there has always been a sort of gravity that pulls people toward the sport. It doesn’t matter the age, ability, or even one’s upbringing, the circumstances of one’s life are irrelevant. Literally anyone can get involved and with an overwhelming amount of fun to be had, it keeps many coming back for more. One individual who can attest to this is our Girls Ride Too candidate, Megan Rion. Megan came into the sport just five years ago and developed a passion for it right then and there.
Coming from Lake Charles, Louisiana, Megan has seen her fair share of nature just by the topography of the state. The alluvial region of the south offers features such as low swamp lands, coastal marshlands and beaches, and barrier islands, where the north and northwestern parts of the state bear prairie and woodlands. As a little girl, Megan would play around on some acreage her Papa owned, but it wasn’t the type of play she indulges in now with her side-by-side.
Back in 2015, she joined some friends for her first experience playing in a side-by-side. Though they were completely stock UTVs, she was instantly hooked. Being the type of person who just wants to drive constantly, it didn’t take very long before Megan sought out her very own UTV. About a year later she acquired a Polaris RZR 800 and named it ‘Stripper Glitter’. Shortly after, the time came for her to upsize and she went to a Polaris RZR XP1000 and dubbed it ‘Stripper Glitter 2.0’. Since then she has traveled to various lands and has taken part in varying competitions.
Megan: “We ride mostly in Texas. We have a lot of Texas friends and that’s a little bit more where the action and competition are at. All the bounty courses and events recently have been in Texas. We do a big trip over there usually about once a month and depending on where we’re going, it’s about a 2-4 hour drive. Of the places we travel, the Sabine and River Run ATV Parks are my favorite destinations. They’re definitely a blast.“
Megan competed in a few bounty holes last year in addition to the WTF Offroad bounty course in January of this year. That course was particularly treacherous as it is where many competitors found their doom. Stripper Glitter 2.0, along with about half of the other buggies were torn to shreds. The carnage was so brutal they had to be picked up by an excavator and brought up out of the course. Thankfully for Megan, her mechanic isn’t too far from home. Her partner, Derek Peloquin, takes care of all the hard labor.
Megan: “My man does the building and repairs. He is a welder by trade. He says as long as I finance all the parts that he will build them up. I will help with the maintenance by going out there and turning a few wrenches by taking off tires, loosening bolts, and stuff like that. He and I help each other and we also compete against each other. We are the ‘His and Hers’ competition type. It’s great fun. We have a little saying out here, ‘you gotta pay to play,’ because if it breaks down, you have to rebuild it ten times stronger. It’s probably one of the best memories I’ve had and we’ll keep on doing this. Both of our kids are involved and they have their own little ATVs. It has been the best memories probably that we can make with family and friends doing what we love.“
Outside of riding, Megan has many other both challenging and rewarding endeavors to face. She is not only a mother of two children but is also the owner of a photography business. She specializes in newborn and children photography and has been doing it since 2008 when she opened the business. Over the past few years, she’s learned how to coordinate her schedule so she can still get her work done and still make time to go out and ride.
As for the future. Megan plans to continue to do more competitions. Sometime in August or September, she will repaint her buggy due to the demolishment it received from the few hits it took back in January. She wants to keep riding, rebuilding, and making stuff better. Megan doesn’t just use her UTV as a competition buggy, but to ride and hang out with friends and family leisurely as well. She and her man are both big music people and you will see them out competing while bumping their jams through their massive stereo systems. See where their trips end up next by following Megan’s Instagram @_meganrion_.
