All water bars are gone. The grooming, the additional snow and freezing temps wiped them out. The riding conditions on a 1-10 scale (10 being perfect) I would say were anywhere from a 4 to a 6. This would be very good for early season riding.
It's good to see the next generation attending Dead shows, playing competitive baseball, riding snowmobiles responsibly and posting on WPR. Can you spend some time talking to my kids?
So #2 and I drove probably a total of 5 hours more than you guys, minus 2 hours less b/c you live south of us. But we got a whole 3 more miles in than you guys. And we ate in what I now affectionately refer to as "the icebox" which is the unheated room outside young's store.
I doubt our conditions were much better than yours except maybe when we were in Pittsburg. So you have out-foxed us this one. But with gas now back down to under $2, what the heck.
Shall we plan a group ride together up north? What are good dates towards the end of the month. Looks like Weds are bad for me this month.
I picked up #6 at 6:00am sharp for some riding at his place in Groton, NH. 2 hours later, we were at the Ski Doo place at Newfound Lake to register and try out new helmets. We unloaded at "The Land" and were ready to go.
6 needed some antifreeze so our first stop was Ryzack's store. It was chilly in the powerlines, but fast with a hardpack. There was good snow dust lingering in the air, so we knew the lubrication was good for the sleds. With all this talk about hardpack and lubrication, I ask that 5 please control himself. 6 needed a few ounces of coolant, but unfortunately had to buy a gallon. He dumped the rest in the neighbors garden. Only joking, 6 is greener than green. He filled a water bottle with coolant and we were off, firing up the skinny trail past the powerlines toward Lyme.
Conditions were superb for this time of the year early on. It looks like there was considerable grooming in the last week in most places we rode, but not all. We found a short stretch of completely ungroomed trail, I don't remember the trail number, but it was a lumpy 4 miles until we met up with 24 and then to corridor 5. These trails that are obviously summer paved roads were fast wide, smooth....perfect. With just two of us, we could keep any pace we wanted and it varied throughout the day. 6 had mentioned several washouts two weeks prior, so we were on the lookout for those. Thankfully, there were hardly any.
We purposely avoided Lyme village because of the crappy conditions in previous years. We took a short cut to the Baker River Valley Clubhouse for lunch with 52 miles under our belts by 11:30. It was pretty crowded in clubhouse. We shared a table with some locals and yapped up local rides as well as some places in Quebec that we had both been: Charlevoix, St. Anne De Beapre and Mont Valins. Good guys and good company.
With bellies full of greasy burgers, we gassed up and headed south down some familiar trails past the horse farm down 153. The conditions were deteriorating as the day went on. We noticed that when we would pass oncoming traffic that we would see the same people again and again since all the trails really go in circles.
We headed down toward Newfound Lake and made it as far as the Hebron Store. With packed stomachs there was no need for a stop. We crossed over the streets and headed down route 11 to wrap up a great day of riding as we made it back to the powerlines.
With a snowstorm in the forecast, 102 mile under our belts, and a satisfying first ride of the season we were ready to head home. There were no mechanical problems and that's always a good thing. My sled passed the 5000 mile mark today.
Special thanks to 1985-89 the Westfield State College roomates for letting us go play today.
