We put on 117 miles last night and the first and last 40 miles were on groomed trails smooth as a baby's butt! 70-75mph ditches!! Launching approaches like a boss!! WOO WOO!!
I got one spot of frost bite on my wrist the size of a dime. I will have to look into that glove!! GRR!!
Have you guys seen the Garmin Adventures? Your create them for free with a Garmin app called Base Camp.
You can plug in your GPS and pull down info like trails, altitude, speeds etc and create a cool little webpage to share your adventure. You can add in notes, video and pictures.
My buddies were in Michigan riding last week (I had a funeral to attend) and put up three of these. Here is the third and final day riding in the UP of Michigan.
to be honest, ive never even used an actual gps. i know just enough to get directions on the map/gps on my phone! for our bike trip this summer im really going to need to figure out how to plot a course into a gps, much less the fact that i have to come up with one to use.
I have come to rely on my GPS constantly while on the snowmobile. It's sort of like the first time you owned a phone that carried all your important numbers, it frees up space in your brain to think about other things.
When the GPS is on, I know which way is North all the time, I don't ever worry if we are still headed in the right direction
I have even come to look down at the GPS if I am falling behind to watch for straightaways to open it up, or hairpins to slow down for. That's even more critical while riding in heavy snow or low visibility. It's even cooler to shut it off and only turn it on once we know we are out of a familiar area, then plot a good way home.
New Iron in the stable! I rewarded myself for obtaining a new job after 14 years with my previous employer.
A couple weeks off tends to get a guy shopping! Found a 2012 Yamaha Apex XTX with 260 miles on the ticker!! Full factory warranty, and bumped it out to 2 more years! Purchased it for $5400 less than new retail!! WOOT WOO!
163hp, Power Steering, and 144" Tipped-rail skid. This thing is amazing compared to my 2007 Apex GT. Which, by the way, will be for sale in the fall at Haydays if anyone wants a great buy on a sled!!
My 12 year old has learned to jump her sled this past weekend. All of a sudden she thinks she is the next Tucker Hibbert!
lol! my 12 year old stepson, is not the bravest soul youve ever met. im not sure how he can be afraid of so many fun things having been living with me for 10 of those 12 years! but put him on a football field or in a confrontation with someone twice his size and he wont flinch.
that being said, i MADE him come out and play on one of the sleds yesterday. you have never heard someone come up with so many excuses about how they could die or wreck the sled! he does just fine on everything he has driven, so im not sure what his problem is(except for wrecking the prowler in wisconsin by hitting a tree at around 20, but i really dont think it was his fault. we found a suspension mechanical failure when we tore it apart.)
my 14 year old daughter on the other hand, thinks its awesome to be sideways, and go fast, and jump things(hasnt jumped a sled but has her dirtbike) and she barrel races...
anyway, i went saturday morning and finally took a test ride on a sled ive been looking at for the last couple weeks.
2013 Arctic Cat F800 Sno Pro RR. 724 miles on it. the owner that traded it in down the road from us is one of my customers.
i like my thundercat alot for what it is, and i like the zr900 for what it is, but neither of those are designed with the intended purpose that this sled was designed for. the tcat is a big beast. and i ride it like its a snocross sled. same with the xr900 even though its a good 90 pounds lighter then the tcat its still heavier then the new sleds. in the time between owning my other 3 triples (2 zrt 800's and an 01 thundercat) my riding style has changed. i got alot bigger into being able to do more then just go fast. i like to jump, i like to slide, i stand up more then i sit down...
that being said, even i have a hard time justifying the money it takes to get into a fairly new sled these days. especially when i rarely can just ride out of my garage and go play, and even when i do that its not the type of fun i have when i load up and take off to go riding other places.
That cat is a amazing. I almost bought a Viper in that Cat Chassis. But as soon as I saw there was no Apex replacement for 2015, I started searching for carry over sleds. The price of new sleds is outrageous!!
You bet we should meet up at Haydays! I catch up with my sled group, Totally Yamaha when possible. It's great fun at the new location now that parking isn't an issue. Four of us had a super blast last year!
It's great getting the kids out. They do even better once they start challenging each other.
My buddy invested in a 2-up sled on Friday, so that his 10 year old could get started. The idea was to take her riding, but as we guessed, it was just the opposite and he ended up getting the ride.
This youtube video captures some of the ditch trails we were riding.
Picking up my first sled on Thursday, it's old and probably not very high pefprformance but you gotta start somewhere. It's a garage kept, well maintained low mileage 1995 AC Couger 550 that a customer was selling for $500. Couldnt resist when I saw it.
Picking up my first sled on Thursday, it's old and probably not very high pefprformance but you gotta start somewhere. It's a garage kept, well maintained low mileage 1995 AC Couger 550 that a customer was selling for $500. Couldnt resist when I saw it.
nothing wrong with an old sled. atleast you bought a cat lol
Princeton, is a lot more fun and cheaper than Haydays. Haydays has gotten out of hand and I don't know how anybody can afford to take their family. Everybody has to jack their prices up just to cover the cost of admission. It cost $25.00 just to walk in the gate for one day.
Old, my newest sled is a '73 raider. which is ancient in snowmobile years
the way to look at a 500 dollar sled, is that when it gets banged up (and they always do) your not to heavily invested in it! and you wont be as upset as you would if you scratched/cracked up a newer more expensive sled, but sleds are just as bad as boats(something i personally stay away from!) they can easily become a money pit!
I would have to say that it is plenty to spend for a one-day admission for a family for sure. But I guess they know what people are willing to pay, the attendance is not down.
For my $25 it was one heck of a good time. I would consider two days if my body could handle it. My feet, legs, and liver all hurt after that Saturday! Wallet felt pretty good, as I spent the least of anybody!
So it hit 59 degrees here in Fargo yesterday! I was shuffling the sleds around to do some work and almost rolled the Buell out!!
There is way too much water and sand on the streets to my liking, but I could have hopped on the Interstate for a few miles.
I'm hoping to get one more day of riding in on Sunday. This 50+ degree crap can go away! We rode in high 30's last Sunday, and mid 20's on Saturday. Bluebird skies sure make the riding nice though.
We had a family fun day on Saturday. 10 sleds and 12 riders. Including wives and kids that don't get out very often if at all. It was a perfect day to share the sport!
Old school Arctic Cat was delivered as promised, overall seems to be in nice shape. Been sitting so I cleaned the carbs and gave it some fresh fuel. It starts right up and runs clean, idles about 2200-2300rpm seems a little high to me but not sure where it's supposed to be. Seems to move along pretty well but the "handling" will take a little getting used to the bars have a fair bit of kickback like an old 4wheeler. Another week or two and winter is over so a real good ride will have to wait till next season.
ive still been wanting to make another trip but it just doesnt seem to be panning out to get anyone to go.
plus there is a good chance i may have the thundercat sold in about a week. i would be both happy and sad. its a pristine sled, and i have had this strong feeling they will be like the 67-8-9 camaro of the snowmobile world when im old.
that being said, there is a 13 800rr ive been eyeballing just north of the cities so... that would open the door to me possibly being a little more serious about that.
then all i would need to do is sell my zr900 at some point and pick Jenn up a zr600 or some such thing.
We chose not to drive to Mille Lacs 3hrs one way. Instead we drove almost 3hrs the other way. We dropped North of Bemidji in Blackduck.
We put on almost 150 miles of groomed railbed, groomed woods and Roller Coaster Groomed Ditches! OMG was that fun. They log the trees back away from the highways to allow drivers to see deer on the roadside. So the groomer ran a roller-coaster path that was amazing. We were passing cars on the highway while cruising these trails for the last 50 miles!!
Good times, and just when we spent our Sunday yesterday at 50 degrees, another blizzard is rolling in. Estimates range from 2-18" of snow for the region!
For anyone that goes to the Snow Sneak Peek and follow it on Facebook, this may be cool to see!
Snow Sneak Peek is a spring show where the big four MFG's bring their prototype and next model year sleds to large venues for sledders to come and see. While local dealers attempt to take orders and drum up business before the bug of the season goes away.
Their facebook site has over 43,000 followers and asked the other day for photo submissions of their favorite gal on their sled. I posted a photo of my daughter and it was chosen as their new Cover page on Facebook.
To a 12 year old, this is as close to going viral as it gets! 43,000 people seeing her, and over 100 likes in the first few hours of being online. She is jacked and excited to go to the Fargo Sneak Peek next week!
well i have a feeling i may have to give up the dream of riding again this year... had thought i may make it up to hayward this up coming weekend. maybe pick up a new sled on the way... and go ride for a couple days. they still have plenty of snow, but its well above freezing this week and supposed to be mid 50's this weekend. not usually a good combo for any riding :-(
with the thundercat sold, im really having a dilemma with myself about buying one of the 800 sno pro RR's. man i would like one, DAMN is it alot of money. far more then ive ever spent on any sled ive ever had.
it fits my wants/needs for a sled. i keep looking at the 1100 turbo sno pro RR, but one of the things i dont want, is the extra weight of the four stroke turbo. (and extra cost!)
or, i could just put a little money into th zr900 and deck it out a bit, then find her a zr/zl600 or something.