Great ride report #7, can always count on feeling like I was there when I read your reports. What was all this about "no videos necessary?" (argh). Sounds like a perfect WPR day ride. Secretly, since no wives read this site anyway, all members know that it sounds like you two lovebirds sure had a better Valentine's day than most of us I bet. Ha!
Good for #10 for getting it done. With no trip in the past two years (I think?) it showed the club that he is still "in". Of course #7 gets kudos for making it happen.
On that topic of barely active "riding" members, as an update, #1776 has performed a leak down test and only lost 1/4-1/2 pound in 1 minute so that means the crankcase is holding pressure. I believe he will do a visual inspection of the stator next (it passed the pin out test). I actually gave him my opinion to call it on this machine, unless he is in it for sport now. Cut your losses and get rid of it. No riding and all troubleshooting makes Jack a very dull boy.
No hijack here, just updating members they havn't seen on the trail lately. With spring riding right around the corner, we should be hearing from #18 shortly! And that's ok!
#7, good job on the report, wow! you about captured everything except my dump when I got home. Oh yeah you weren't there for that one.
I was going to get to the ride report this week (tonight as I logged in in fact) but you were too qick for me. Great Job on the write up and THANK YOU again for driving, had a blast can't wait for the next outing.
#10
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I'll be looking back for ya on the White stuff. :-) Keep the rubber side down! #10
#7 picked up #10 in Bolton and headed north up 495. The yapping ensued and we missed our turn onto 93 north. This would be a precurser to events to happen. We finally made it to The Cabot Inn on route 2 in Lancaster at 10pm. By the time we checked in and parked the truck and got settled it was 11pm and time for some Olympics and snoozing. Since we arrived so late, we could not take advantage of the Pool, Jaquzzi, Restaurant and Bar.
Sun up and a trip downstairs for their continental breakfast was a nice bonus. We headed out to the Polaris dealership for registrations a short 2 miles away. After being on the road for 7 miles we figured we went the wrong way. We actually passed Santa's Village in Jefferson, oops. We turned around and shamefully drove past our hotel again.
The dealership got us our reg's fast. They even had a Yamaha Sno Scoot for sale for $1400. #10 immediately turned his nose up at it and said "too much". I thought about it all day. It would have fit fine in the bed of the truck. Oh well.
We arrived at Nash Stream parking lot at 8:15 and were on the sleds by 8:30. Two guys put on a clinic on how to get dressed, unload and get those sleds on the trail. No videos necessary, #3 would have been proud.
We started up corridor 5 to perfect conditions of groomed trails with loose snow from the previous night's 2" of downfall. It was smooth, fast and a little slippery and perfect for 10 miles. Once we got past the cottages on the lake at the juction of 5 and 5a the trails turned to bumpy as hell and crappy. I had put on an extra layer because of the early morning cold temp of 20 degrees. Those bumps for an additional 10 miles made me regret the extra layer. We wanted off of Corridor 5 after that. I lead us up 110 to Dixville Peak and things started getting much better with conditions. As we got to the top I noticed that the steep hills weren't bare as I had expected. They were in good shape. Visibility was terrible from the snowstorm so we didn't stay long at the peak. We went down the other way down 134 which was pretty cool. I had to ask #10 if I was going down the same way because I could not tell. He said we were on a different trail.
We blasted down those hills and through the tunnel at the Balsams. We stopped briefly to snap a few photos of that ritzy place that #13 stays at and I can't afford. At this point conditions were great. We were blasting down 127 and through the gas stop at Diamond Pond. Two WPR riders with eyes on a long day of riding north had no problem passing several "slow asses" on the trails. We were never passed either. Riding with just two, you could do whatever you wanted. The discussions were clear on the Collet Communicators. We got back on Corridor 5 as we closed in on Pittsburgh and started reading the maps. Because of a so-called closed trail, we took 130 to 131 to 20 to Lake Francis.
Lake Francis gets it's own paragraph. We wanted to get to Young's store. We had passed "Trail Side Rentals" and the defunct gas station. This was a crappy area in the southwest side of Pittsburgh. We were still on 20 as we saw the damn of Lake Francis. #10 took over as we headed up 146 to 141 to 142. This brought us to another lake, Lake Francis damn. That's right, right back where we started. We did not know what to do so we headed back and forth several times past the Buck Rub Pub and Tracy's Hillside. Totally confused we drove out onto Lake Francis to find a trail head. Two ice fisherman gladly pointed us in the right direction. We found 139 and our way to Young's store. Upon arrival, we noticed 15 sleds trying to get gas. We decided to eat first and roll the dice with the gas line.
There were no less than 35 sleds in the parking lot. We got the last table at the familiar restaurant. #10 had chili that was too chilley. He had to send it back-too cold. He also had a buffalo chicken sandwich. I had Onion soup and a chicken roll up. Sticking to the diet, I've lost 7 pounds since Quebec. When we left the restaurant there were 15 people waiting for tables.
Close to 2pm, after lunch we bought a map and decided to shorten our route for the day. We headed south down 139 to 5 to 20 to 134. 134 was spectacular. There were perfect conditions for several miles and astonishing views of the valley to the east. #10 was cruising and leading. He was loving this riding south and east. After that we were on 18 headed south toward Errol the conditions were equally as good. You hope for good conditions and sometimes it comes true. We avoided going into the town of Errol by taking 110 to 115. We did not want to go back to the trucks just yet so we continued south avoiding route 28 and going on route 19 south. This trail was just groomed and awesome.
Having shortened our route for the day we underestimated how much time we had. After taking 19 south we took 117, again freshly groomed, back to the parking lot. Along the way I started leading again. I felt something on my front left ski, I thought I might have broken something in the front end. I looked down while still riding and I saw snow shooting out all around my ski, much like the water around a waterski that has broken the surface. I stopped and noticed that I had been pushing a rock that was wedged under my ski and between my runners. #10 said "I've never seen that before". I said me neither.
We were in the lot by 4pm and driving away by 4:20pm. Again, #3 would be proud and no videos necessary. The second half of the day was outstanding and near perfect. The first half of the day was hot and cold. As always, avoiding corridor 5 needs to be a priority because so many people use it. We saw a lot of sleds out there, but not too many close calls.
Great job #10, you certainly shook off the rust at about mile 1. That Ski Doo triple still has the get up and go.
160 miles and a good time. Is that (embaressingly) the longest ride of the season? When's the next trip?
