2013 RWTC

[400brian]

First installment:


Thursday the 14th:

As the 2013 RWTC approached, I gave the JDX8 a quick once over, repairing a battery cable that was grounding out on the muffler bracket. I put a few finishing touches on the '72 400, and installed e-start on the beater sled the wife would ride. I had made a few hot laps with her sled after the flywheel change, so I felt it was otherwise good to go. The e-start seemed to function, so I buttoned everything up, and planned to load it into the back of the truck on Wednesday. The problem was...that on the third lap around the field on Wed., it died. I pulled it back to the shop with the X8, and Wed. night I pulled everything back off and went after the carb.

The carb had last been rebuilt 8 years ago, but had been taken apart and cleaned, one year ago. It seemed that the carb was not pumping fuel, but I found nothing obviously wrong inside. I replaced the gaskets and diaphragms with a new Windrosa kit, and the sled fired right up and ran. It was raining here Wed, night, so I put the sled back together without any testing. I loaded it into the truck Thursday afternoon, just before we left for the Northwoods.

The trip up was uneventful, and I think we pulled into the motel around 7:00 pm. There was a bit of a meet and greet going on in the lobby. I chatted with the Freatman's, Kevin, Ross, Rodger Jordan, and later Tod Meyer rode in as I was going out to park the trailer. We did eventually get down to Knocker's bar in St Germain, where we joined Kevin, Ross, Joe Wanie, and Mike Firehammer, for a burger and a beer.

We headed back to the motel around 11:00, where the Rainville's stopped by to visit for a bit before they turned in. Joe had spent the evening at the HOF, listening in at the board meeting.

Friday the 15th:

Friday was a beautiful sunny day. There was the usual meet and greet out in the lobby at 7:00 am. Don had been out there at 6:00, but the coffee wasn't hot yet at that point. I went down to the shell station for a can of gas, got the wife's sled pulled off the back of the truck onto a snowbank, and got the X8 off the trailer. Once fueled, I did a few laps around the parking lot with the Wife's sled, it did seem to be running fairly well, so we headed off to the HOF around 9:00.

The trails were absolutely fantastic early that morning, best we have ever had. We rode South East of St Germain, to a Resort called Pitliks. The first casualty of the weekend occurred just before we arrived. We were riding across Dam Lake I believe, I was just cruising at the JDX's happy speed, and the wife was keeping up OK, Dustin Elder came buzzing by us on Wade's 80s LF, when it lost power and came to a stop. That didn't look good, and it wasn't, when they towed it in, they found no compression on one side.

I think someone counted over 20 JDs on the poker run, we had a real nice group of sleds.

[cledussnow77]

Looks like everyone had a great time, maybe one of these years I will make it. Just looks like a whole lot of good times .

[Ruppster1]

Great story so far---Looking forward to the rest of it---AND---I tried this year but just couldn't work it out work wise---BUT I WANT to attend this event so badly... really hope next season I can get to it---you guys have such great stories and it always looks like a good time is had by all. thanks JIM

[JDT]

Sitting here riveted waiting for the next installment.

Brian your recaps are priceless.

Thanks for taking the time to work them up.

And the pics are super.

[400brian]

The specialty at Pitliks is a Bloody Mary served in a goblet the size of a cantaloupe, and appears to contain most everything you might find in the produce section of your grocery store. I can say I'd never seen anything quite like it.

One thing I haven't talked about yet; We were planning to have a TV crew tagging along for the Poker Run. I had been working on this for over 6 months. Rainville was going to haul Tom Rowland's Bearcat to St Germain from MN to use as the camera sled, Tod Meyer had volunteered a two up Panther, and Bob Amber had volunteered the use of their two up sled if we needed it.

On Tuesday the 12th, I was talking to Dave Carlson, making final preparations for where and when we were going to meet. Dave wanted to get an itinerary from Jeff Zeller, so they could send their support truck along the route. As soon as they had the footage and interviews they needed, they could then take off.

Tuesday evening I received an email informing me that after talking with Jeff, the decision had been made to put off the shoot until later in the month. The intended cameraman had become unavailable, and Dave had some family issues that required his attention.
I no longer have any involvement with this project. I feel that shooting at any other time is a wasted opportunity. However, this did open up the weekend for me to just enjoy the event, and I did.

We retraced our route back to St Germain. However, a number of riders missed a turn, and arrived considerably later than the main group. I know Tod was one of those. Just before I got to the turn, some guys on late models jumped out in front of us, and they were throwing such a plume of snow into the air, that I never saw anyone make the turn. I had a feeling we should have turned, and was slowing down when Craig Marchbank chased us down and motioned us to go back.

When we arrived at Knocker's in downtown St Germain, we parked for lunch. Craig pulled up on his vintage SkiDoo, and we had a good conversation about some of the things that were going on at the board meeting the night before. Eventually we went in and had another great burger ( like the night before ).

The next stop was Fibber's, on the North shore of Big St Germain Lake. However, we took a round about route to get there. We had no more than got underway, when Keith Bylin's buddy John's Cyclone ran out of gas. At this point I had maybe burnt a gallon, and he had went through 7? Something is not right there. Also, somewhere between these stops, Bob Amber had a recoil come off, and Wade sheared off the bolts that retain the pulley and cup on the flywheel. Matt Speice, Pat Scott and his wife, Dana, Katy and myself, and a few others, eventually got going again. After a cold run into the wind across Big Saint, we arrived at Fibber's just as the Amber dinner party arrived.

Braaap productions were out in the parked sleds filming and interviewing, I know they interviewed Matt ( JDsledsrgreat ) about his Dator clone.

[400brian]

The next stop was The Whitetail Inn. We headed west, again taking a round about route. The trails were nice, and everything was going well, when we came to this little hill. I wasn't sure who spun out first, but it sounds like it was nick80lf. I was right behind him when I realized he wasn't going to make it, so I turned to the left into the snow on the side of the trail, figuring that I could power right on by, the old mid-mount has done it before. However, before I could get by, he was sliding back down the hill, into me, and now I'm sliding down the hill. Soon we were both into the wife, and then the three of us are into Stymie, who is filming the whole thing.

I got off to push, and found that the ice on this hill is so slick that you can barely stand on it, let alone push. I helped push the LF to the right, and once we got him into the snow at the side of the trail, he made it to the top. I got back down to my sled, climbed on and tried it, but it wouldn't move. Stymie was just standing there filming, so I waved him to come over and push. We got my sled over to the right, and I too made it to the top. The wife's sled has a Goodyear "Pathfinder" track on it, which doesn't get much of a bite on any surface. But by pushing her to the side of the trail, she was able to make it to the top as well. Several guys then started pushing on Stymie's Dator, but quickly gave up on trying to push that lead sled, opting instead to turn it around, letting him to go to the bottom and try it again. He was playing the video footage from the day on the TV in the restaurant that evening, and it was quite the circus.

We were soon pulling into the Whitetail Inn, where there was a lot laughter over what had just happened. No one was hurt, and it was such a slow motion train wreck, that I don't think there was even much paint traded. I hadn't much more than got my jacket off, when Joy, the gal who runs the place walked by. I stopped her, and asked if I could display the 400 in the lobby until Saturday night. She readily agreed, and as Don has said many times, these folks have really went out of their way to make us happy.

As the sun was getting low, we headed down the road to the HOF, for the conclusion of the poker run, and the brat burn. As we pulled into the HOF, we were met by Guy Cowing and his son Tom. They related a story of losing the trailer off the ball hitch, both chains and the light wires, and having it stop behind the tow vehicle, with no damage to anything. Might have been a bit of luck there!

After a bit we heard a popping sound, ( like a lawn mower ) and saw Joe Wanie come riding by on this: ( below )
If I remember correctly, the owner said it was a '61. I think it had a 7 hp Kohler for power, and what I thought was really interesting, it uses the same rubber track that was used by the popular Olympics and such, years newer.

[croyturbo]

You cant leave us there. more?

[400brian]

I was enjoying a brat, when I saw Rainville arrive from the VC pre-run. The Poker run winners were announced, Tom White had the best hand, won $600, and donated it to the HOF. Of course he also got a big trophy.

Katy was getting cold standing around, so we went into the museum. We found Joe, and he looked beat. He also wasn't wearing any glasses. It seemed he had lost them somewhere, probably setting them on the back of the sled while putting on his helmet, then forgetting them.

Katy wanted to get ready to go to the fish fry, so we fired up the sleds, and headed back to the motel. Its only a mile or so, but when we got there, she said her hands were cold for the first time that day, the temps were dropping with the setting sun. Despite the uncertainty that the green machine would run, it did, and I was pretty happy about that.

After a shower and a change of clothes, we were heading to the Inn for fish. There were a couple of trucks and trailers checking in as we left, and I commented that I was going to lose my parking spot while we were gone. I backed the trailer right up to the front door of the Whitetail Inn, and Sean Motter helped drag it off and roll it into the lobby. I quickly returned to the motel, and yes, I had a truck in my spot. I pointed out that my sleds were parked right there, and the guy graciously moved, So I got my spot back.

I dropped the trailer, and headed back to the Inn for dinner. When I walked into the lobby, I was informed that they were trying to decide if they should raffle the sled, or put it up for the silent auction. I received many nice comments on the sled, and the gang patiently listened to the story of how it all came to be.

We had a good size crowd for the meal, Don got up at one point and gave his tribute to Joy, and then modeled his new silver "disco" jacket.

It was really tough to get a photo of the sled in the lobby, it was just too dark. I'd be interested in seeing what anyone else took.

When we left the Inn, I took the wife back to the motel, and I ran into town to fill the gas cans. I filled the X8 by the light of the headlights when I got back, stuck on the Michigan trail pass, and boy it was getting cold!

The RWTC was tomorrow, I was as ready as I was going to get, some sleep was now required.

[HoosierDeereMan]

Brian,

Excellent thread! Thanks for sharing your story and pictures. The 400 looks great! Oh yeah, Joy called and informed me that I won the raffle for your sled.

Sorry I missed out on all the fun this year. There is always next year.

Troy

[WinnipegStPaul9]

You're right in that it's hard for us novices to take a good picture inside. I tried a couple and will post them here.

DA

[JDGuy]

The only way I can describe Brian's sled is "absolutely perfect, far better than new, Perfection with a capital P". Congratulations Brian, great work, and a lot of work. Being in your family from day 1 makes it even more special.

Guy

[400brian]

Saturday, Feb. 16th

For once, it seemed I had gotten a decent nights sleep the night before the VC. The weather channel was saying Minocqua had -9 and full overcast. As I made my way out to the lobby, it was strangely deserted. The lights were still off, and it was weirdly quiet. I'm thinking Cari and Jeannette were both out there, and they said that some had left, and others had been going in and out.

I started the truck first, the wife needed to drive that over to breakfast, and I had three cans of gas in the back. The e-start fired the X8 right up. The sled was froze down pretty good, and it took some choke on to keep it running. I rocked the sled and opened the throttle to get it going, and I was met with some strange clanging and banging. I made a couple of laps around the parking lot, and it improved, but was still doing it on acceleration

I took off to the west on the trail that runs alongside 70, passing the Inn, and continuing on for a mile or so. The trail had not been run on since it was groomed, and it was smooth as silk. The cold was coming through the sleeves of my jacket, and I didn't have my collar zipped high enough, I was steering with one hand, and feeling around for the can of Dew I had stuck in the left pocket of the jacket, but it had fallen out somewhere!
I rode all the way back to the motel, but I never found it. Turns out, Keith Bylin had picked it up and set it in the snow ( where I found it that night, exploded wide open ).

I had decided that the cold temps were causing the stiff track to ratchet on the drive sprockets. So as I parked at the Inn, I was thinking that I would have to tighten up the track before I left. I went in, grabbed our paperwork, found the wife, got signed in, and parked it at a table.

I was standing near the buffet table when they said we could go ahead and start, so i grabbed a plate and started in. As I was loading up on breakfast; eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, sweet rolls...I took note of the woman in front of me. She looked familiar, I asked her if she might be Teresa Larsen? She replied that she was. I told her who I was, and that we had rode together on the first VC, where we had gotten lost and wound up at Stillwaters, and the same day she had bailed off the sled in a stump field coming off the Cisco chain. Oh yes, she very much remembered all that! She was also planning to ride with us today. Teresa mentioned that she might look different because she had lost 100 lbs. I replied that I didn't bring up the subject of weight with women, but that she did look great!

I swung by the table she was sitting at, and introduced myself to her dad, who would be driving the support truck for us that day. As I sat down at our table, the Wife was giving me the evil eye, as she and other members of the gang were standing in line, a quarter mile from the buffet table. Call me anything you want, just don't call me late to eat!

[buckeyetrailfire]

Great story Brian we want more.

[400brian]

There was a large crowd for breakfast, and Loren was asking folks who were finished to get up and let others sit. That was enough encouragement for me, I put on my jacket and headed for the door, Matt Gabler and Wade joining me, Wade to help with the track adjustment, and Matt was looking for a bit of antifreeze to top off his sled. I had a gallon of 50/50 in the back of the pickup, so Matt was soon all set to go. Wade held the X8 tipped on its side, and I tightened the track a bit.

Kevin Campbell was parked nearby, and he had the custom SkiDoo running, and was very intently watching the temp gauge. I inquired as to what he was doing, and he replied that it appeared that his sled was froze up! The engine was getting hot, but the heat exchanger in the tunnel was not. He was squeezing the hoses and trying to get things going. By the time we had finished with the X8, Kevin was smiling, the coolant appeared to be circulating.

We headed back in where it was warm, the celebrity riders were giving their remarks, then Bob gave his trail ride speech, then the group photo. At one point, I do remember helping Larry Bosaki get into his bib.

Finally, they cut us loose. We fired up the sleds and got in line, and after another wait, we finally got underway.
The 2013 Vintage Challenge had begun!

[400brian]

I think we had right around 25 riders signed up to do the VC this year, three of them would be on modern sleds. I should have took a photo of the sign up sheet. The list members I remember are:

Joe Rainville 80s LF
Tod Meyer Dator
Tod's son Sprintfire
Wade Bennett 340/S
Mindy Bennett 78 LF
Brian Lindner 74 JDX8
Chris Wilkinson Yamaha
Nick Freatman late model Cat
Dustin Elder Amber's 80s LF
Matt Gabler Dator clone

Tod's buddy Henry was on a vintage cat
John Scott on a 78 TX
Scott Sankey on a 81 Scorpion Sidewinder
A guy on an Indy
Dan Larsen 79 El Tigre ( rode back from Fishtails )
One of the Celebrity Riders rode with us for a while: Leeson? Blade, burned down south of Fishtails.

Andrew Larsen 72 Puma ( about 1/4 )
Mathew Larsen 79 Jag ( about 1/4 )
Teresa Larsen 08 Cat ( never left the parking lot )
Guy on a 80s LF ( Turned back at Cisco )

Needs Tod's son's name. There must be some I'm forgetting, help me out with any additions or corrections.