I got my sled prepped and ready for my maden voyage this year. It would also be the first time I rode with my boss, John,owner of the company I work for as well. John has a Rev GSX 500ss and has very little riding experience. he informed me that he has only ridden on his lake and never realized there were actual trail networks...OH BOY. We used Johns Triton trailer which has been sitting for a few year and was in desperate need of lube. Unloading was uneventful other than finding out that the doo had a broken choke lever. This broken choke lever would prove to be the foundation of a later decision in the day. John was amazed at how easy it was to start the Yamaha 4-stroke. Once we got going, I noticed my speedo wasn't working and I had an engine light flashing. I pulled over thinking the ride had just begun but was now over. I had replaced the speedo bearing the other night and since I had to watch my son Dylan, I must have forgotten to tighten the main bolt since it was now laying at the bottom of my belly pan. OOPS! I tightened up the bolt and we were off like a prom dress. I tried to keep ther speeds down but couldn't resist hitting the happy flipper and listen to the sound of the Yamaha genisis wind out. Up until this ride, John thought he had a "the cadillac" of snowmobiles. He asked to swap rides and I gave him the run down on my sled. The rail bed trail was flat and groomed so spped could get well into the double digits. After a few miles I stopped and John lifted his visor and had that perma-grin smile all of us have when we ride our sleds. He was hooked! Our conversation soon turned into where he could buy a new sled! John is a very wealthy individual who has earned his living through hard work and smart business decisions. He aked me what he should buy for a sled and money was no concern. You can imagine our conversation from there on. We continued to ride the rail bed towards Winchedon with near perfecrt conditions. From barre to lake denison it is 20.5 miles one way. Once in lake dennison, we did a few loops and went by the birch hill dam. I found a trail called 2 which was a single track trail. The trail had the traditional Mass bumps. I soon ran into a 4 wheeler with track wheels pulling a drag. Seeing how this was Johns 1st ride and the trail was lesss than desirable, we turned around in order to return to the flat groomed trails. I could tell John was getting tired even though he wouldn't admit it, so we started back towards barre. Heading back, we ran into a slowere group of 3 sleds. One of the guys was driving on the left side of the trail preventing us from passing. I hung back until we reached a stop sign and the lead rider pulled to the right for us to pass. The 2nd rider was an idiot and started slowly moving to the left and then to the right? I pulled up beside him and hammered the throttle and must have scared the crap out of him because he decided to try and chase John down and myself. At the next stop, I looked back and saw the idiot behind John so I pulled over and got off my sled to see what the knuckle head wanted. Taking off my helmet and standing up he must have realized I wasn't some kid and kindly said, "great trails today ah" , I replied yes and we never saw him again. Back at the truck, we loaded up our sleds and headed home. We logged 67 miles. Passing Higgins, John wanted to look at new sleds. We went in and I introduced him to Chriss Higgins. I showed John the Ski Doo 4-Tec 1200 and advised that was the sled I would buy. In a flash John bought the sled and a new BVS helmet and told Chris to have the sled ready by Tuesday. WTF!? He also told Chris to order the 2-up seat and have the track studded. WOW...even though it wasn't my sled, I felt like I was buying it. Anyway, we'll pick the sled up Tuesday and put it to the test on the railbed in the afternoon. Anyone open for a ride Tueday @ 1pm, let me know.
