I don't want to draw attention to any wives/loved ones reading these posts, but #7 shooting across those RR tracks spooked me - please be careful out there riders - one mistake could be costly. #7 did a marvelous job leading and set a great pace, as the second place rider while he was the only set of tracks on fresh groomed twisties I could see he was on absolutely #^&%$ rails!! I was jealous of his line I could not follow it at pace. The Doolies must go.
The other comment I have is that it took me about 15 minutes to realize that the only reason #2 was taking so long to catch #7 when he missed the turn we needed - was because they were having such an awesome rip up the trail and #7 wasn't stopping to break the great rhythm. #2 confirmed this when they finally got back to me. I did use this respite to simply take in the pristine beauty of this mountainous area. The air was so cold my nostril hairs froze but the imagery was just plain breathtaking. Only the sound of the wind on my open face shield and the crunch and squeak of dry powder under my boots.
It's why we go...
#5
-- Edited by Johnny Rotten on Monday 4th of February 2019 01:26:45 PM
3 eager riders departed the New England Outdoor Center around 9am after a hearty breakfast. We had brisk temps, clear blue skies and an incredible view of Mount Katahdin. There's always time for a quick photo shoot. We popped our sleds out onto the trails for some westward riding toward Moosehead lake. We took wide open and freshly groomed ITS 85/86 for some good fast riding with #7 leading this group of 3. There were no sleds on the trails since it was a Tuesday. Grooming was pretty damn good and the boys were riding on a rail around every corner. We hit some big hills and cool terrain along the short 40 mile ride to the Kokadjo Trading Posting. We saw some unexpected cross country skiers around a blind corner as well as a washout/ditch that I hit way too fast. It launched me and spooked me a bit. I stopped to talk with #5 after that. Inside the Trading Post we ordered soup on this chilly morning. We poked around the place for a while and then got back on to the sleds. We noticed some open water on the Roach Pond. We found that the grooming between the Trading Post was a bit awkward with track marks from the groomer but the middle of the trail barely touched. We had about 30 miles of this unusual snow surface. It started to get pretty hilly and mountainous in this part of the ride prior to Brownsville. I was so excited to climb this mountain that #10 & #2 and I had ridden a couple years back. It was awesome, except #5 & #2 were not behind me. I had broken the rule of making sure the next guy was behind me. I turned around and found a search party of #2 looking for me. We headed back and met up with #5. From there we hit another mountain straight up on a single track path of ungroomed trail. I rode the single path as well as I could. Having fresh memories of the previous day of getting 3 sleds stuck in deep drifts, I did not want to go through that again. We had 100+ miles on our tanks without a fill up and we were in the town of Brownsville. We went back and forth throughout this poorly marked town. Signs for gas stations encourage commerce. The people of Brownsville need a reminder of this fact. We finally found gas and had a brief conversation with the attendant. He had some ideas on how to get back to Millinocket in a reasonable timeframe. #2 found that the sensor/auto shut off on the gas line was not functional as gas spilled all over his sled. We took a tiny trail similar to Hagar park for what seemed to be 15 miles before we reached ITS 111. The map and the trails did not match up very well as compared against the GPS. I picked an incorrect path and actually blew as stop sign and shot across the train tracks. We turned around at that point and went the correct way. At this point dusk had hit and it was getting even colder. We found 111 to be freshly groomed and perfect for some super fast riding back toward the cabins at NEOC. We found our way back to Millinocket and the last few trails toward our destination. #2 took over the lead and brought us back the last 10 miles to our conclusion of riding. This was my favorite day of riding for the week and 168 miles of great riding. Millinocket is a great riding area and I expect to get back there again sometime soon. 168 miles with highly skilled riding partners. Thank you gentleman!
