RWTC Weekend

[400brian]

My intention was to have the sleds on the trailer a couple of days ahead of time this year, but Thursday afternoon found me giving them a quick bath and loading them up, last minute as usual. After the tools were gathered up, gas cans found, and tires pumped up, I was at the house for a quick bite and a shower.

Katy was packing, she had picked up Cari Rainville from the airport in Madison earlier that morning, and had taken the dog to the kennel. We threw everything in the truck, and got on the road around 4 pm. I had the wife get a gallon of windshield washer fluid while I fueled the truck, that turned out to be a stroke of genius, as we went through a lot of it.

As we traveled north on I-39, we saw intermittent snow turn into freezing rain, then back to snow. From Wausau north we had snow on the road, so we had to slow down, and I had the truck in four wheel drive some of the time.

We pulled into the motel around 9 PM, and found the Bennetts and the Meyers in the lobby. After unloading our gear and checking in, I dropped the trailer in preparation to go into town for a burger. Jon Carlson walked in from the parking lot just a head of me, and he, Wade, and I, were soon in a conversation about the new JD book, CC racing, and the idea he had just dropped on the SHOF board.

Our host informed us that if we wanted to get a burger, we needed to get going ASAP, as he had called around and found that the Thunder Bird would keep their grill going if we headed over now.
The T-bird is on the south side of town, the food was good, and we were entertained by drunken tourists.

Joe was waiting for his wife when we got back, and after a brief chat, I headed into the room for some shuteye.

Friday morning was clear and cold, around -9, and later warmed up to 14 degrees. We pulled the sleds off the trailer, topped off the tanks, and the e-start did its job. We were soon in the SHOF parking lot, doing a meet and greet.

Everything was looking good until we went to fire the sleds to leave, that is when the wife’s sled decided not to run. If you held the throttle wide open it would run slowly, but it would not spool up. I had spent the majority of my wrenching time the last couple of weeks on this sled, and all for nothing. The poker run was getting set to depart, so Katy said she would walk back to the motel, I should go. Unfortunately, we rode right past the motel, I could have taken her there.

We were heading for Sayner, and the route we were taking was the reverse of the last leg of the year before. This meant we were soon descending the killer hill we had slid backwards down the year before. Nothing about it seemed too treacherous this time, and I didn’t realize it was the spot until later. You make a sharp left turn at the bottom, and this was where I found a Yamaha out in the brush, and a person out in the snow struggling to get up. I jumped off the sled, and pulled her to her feet, yes it was a woman. Her husband was the next one there, opening her visor and asking if she was OK? She said she was, so they drove the sled back onto the trail and put her back on it. Now the husband’s Yamaha refused to start, and a young lad behind me on a beautifully restored Spitfire was having issues as well.

Eventually everyone got their rides running and we got going again,. The next casualty was Tod Meyers. We came around a corner, and there he was with the hood off the 340/S. After that my phone started ringing. No time to talk, so ignored it, it kept ringing. Soon we were in Sayner, and I had a chance to pull the phone out, Wade had been calling me. I called him back, and he reported he was in Sayner!

[DeereKid9]

The young lad on the Spitfire was the one and only "Flying" Ryan Ensor. Youtube his name and you will find out that the issues with the Spitty was that it was just to slow. lol. He might be the youngest rider to have his sled in the SHOF. Great young man, and his father Eddie is a world record holder on ice. Talking to both was one of the weekends highlight for me.

Fridays Poker run, the "Cameron Amber Memorial Poker Run" was a huge hit as well. Last I heard, it raised over $800 for the HOF. With the eventual winner, Joe Wanie pulling his last two cards, a 3 and a 6 if I remember right, but none the less, just enough to land him a "Full House". Knocking me with 2 pairs right out of the running of a third place finish. Keith Bylin and Ross Heavener finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. All 3 of the winners returned most of the winnings right back to the SHOF. Thank you to Jeff Zeller for all of his hard work in setting this thing up.

For me, the opportunity to meet up again with some great racers and old friends was the highlight of the weekend. To see Bobby Enns, Tom Otte, Steve Tabor, Doug Oster, JRC, and Brian Nelsen again and ride with some on saturday was great. I politely asked Bobby Enns, at the last trail stop outside of St. Germain, if he would mind bringing up the rear of the group so that at the end of the ride, I could say that I finished ahead of him. His answer was "NO" lol. But as we came to the finish at the White Tail, I notices him slowing to a stop just short of the parking lot. I couldn't resist passing him and throwing my arms high into the air and celebrating not only my 25th place finish, but finally passing Bobby Enns. He gave me a high five and I rode off to the trailer. Because of course, I wanted to hide my sled before tech inspection.

I rode the "Swamp Challenge" and I must say, one of the greatest rides I have taken. Perfectly planned stops with the support vehicle there everytime, and a lunch stop perfect for the type of stop we had. Thanks to the Marchbank Team for setting this up.

I also got a chance to ride the Liquifire II and Ross's beautiful Ski Doo mod. Both are excellant feats of engineering.

Thanks Brian for starting these post. They are a great reminder of all the fun.

Bob

[JoeRainville]

Funny story on that Spitfire. Cari and I were getting ready to pull out of Sayner on my Cat, when I saw them lift up the back of the Green Spitty. It sounded like it was very rich and flooding out, so I walked over to take a look. The choke cable appeared to be too tight, as there was no play between the lever and housing. Turns out they had a few hand tools with them, so we quickly loosened the adusting nut and threaded in the adjuster until there was a reasonable gap in the lever.

That seemed to do the trick, as the the owner gave me the thumbs up and his son took off on it. I hate to see kids sleds break down, and I hope that took care of it for them so they could finish the poker run.

Lindner, thanks again for picking Cari up at the Madison Airport. You and Katy were a big help.

-Joe

[dator-bob]

I just want to say thanks to Craig Marchbank for leading us on a fantastic " SWAMP" ride, and lending me his Ski-Doo E-Tec for the ride. The trails were awesome, the lunch stop was great, good food, good company, good weather, doesn't get any better than that.
Bob Amber, i think we need to see your sled for that tec inspection---Lol, really Bob it was great riding with you, and you can pass me anytime, hope to ride with you next year.
Bob

[400brian]

OK, to continue the story:

We are in Sayner, I'm in the parking lot talking to Wade, who is in the bar. The sleds are still coming in, Stymie and Chris ride in on the Dator and 340/S, I'm thinking a coil wire had shook off the 340/S, but I may not be remembering that right.

People who were just riding through town were stopping to talk to "Horicon Joe" about the custom LF, and that is no BS, I saw it happen. He offered to let me take it out, and while it was tempting, I didn't think it was the best place to do so.

I did get into the tavern for a bit, got a deal on a snickers bar for $1.50. Talked with Wade, he had been calling to tell me to stop at the motel and put the wife on his 340/S that was sitting there, but it was too late for that now, though I appreciated the offer.

THe next stop was "Fibbers", which is just south of Sayner on the north side of Big St Germain Lake. We headed out of Sayner, and very quickly lost the group. I have no idea what route they are taking to get there, but no worries, Keith Warning is behind us on the Chaparral ( you can't be happy unless you're on a Chappy ) pictured in the photo at the beginning of the thread, and I figured he knew where we were going.

We were sitting at an intersection, and I was proven correct, as Keith came up to take the point. However, it didn't last long, as soon he was sitting at the side of the trail messing with said Chappy ( He later told me it was just a fouled plug ). I had pulled by him, and was sitting at an intersection. Rainville talked with Keith, then came up to say, "hang a left, and keep going". I'm looking at a trail to the left that doesn't have a track in it since it was groomed, everyone has went right. I yell back at JDJR, "left doesn't work for me". He replies, " act like you know where you are going and lead".

I turned right and took off. I really don't know how many followed, Tucker Heins did, and we made our way on trails that eventually began to look vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember why. Finally we dropped down onto a road, you could see the lake through the trees, and soon we were pulling into the parking lot at Fibbers. No Sweat!
The sleds dribbled in, two and three at a time, some guys headed into the bar, others hung out in the lot. Ross Heavener had drove out of sight on the custom LF out on the lake, but soon returned. Joe again asked if I would like to try it out, and I said sure!

One pull had it running, and I jumped on. Ross advised me to scoot all the way to the back and nail the throttle, but instead, I eased into the power, and kept the skis on the ground. With my limited experience on '80-'84 Liquifires, I'm not the guy to make that comparison, but I can tell you that it is an impressive ride!

You sit higher on it, and the Ski Doo seat feels different. The steering is tight, and with the plastic skis it goes exactly where you point it. There was no darting exhibited, the sled was like it was on rails. The power seems more than adequate! The speedo wasn't connected, but the wind was trying to pull the helmet off my head, the cold air was coming through the sleeves of my jacket, and it seemed I had a lot of throttle left. It would accelerate smartly from this cruising speed, as in; hang on! I drove over the lake ice version of a molehill out there, on the X8 it would have bounced my butt up off the seat, on this sled I felt it go underneath, and that was all.

The sled looks as good in person as it does in photos, and apparently it is different enough that people recognize it.
I didn't try any maneuvering with the sled, Joe was good enough to let me ride it, I sure didn't want to repay the favor by rolling it.

Custom vehicles are often trailer queens, looking good more important than operating well. But in this case it would seem Joe has kept it real, and the sled is fully functional. Kudos for a great effort, and thank you for the opportunity to ride it.

[400brian]

The next stop on the tour was Knockers in downtown St Germain. As we left, it finally occurred to me why the trails to the east had seemed familiar, a couple of years ago a number of us rode from Knockers to Fibbers, lost the group enroute, and Don drove around until we got there.

Don't recall much about the trip to Knockers, pretty uneventful I guess. The group stayed together, and we came into town via Little St Germain lake. We parked in the trees across the street from the bar, and I visited with some folks who recognized my sled, before walking across to the bar.

I didn't stay long, I decided to head to the HOF to mess with the Wife's sled. The Rainvilles and Tucker were heading out as well, so we all headed west.

The green machine was right where we had left it, and I first pulled the plugs out for a spark check. Looked OK, so I put a fresh pair in and cranked the starter...it fired right up. I made a few laps around the parking lot, and it was running good, so I headed south on a road just west of the HOF and wound it up, it ran strong! I brought it back to where I had started, and was trying to decide where to park it when Kenny came out of the building. I shut the sled down to talk with Kenny, and a few minutes later when I went to restart it, I got the same result as in the morning.
So, it would appear that I have an ignition component that is failing when it gets warmed up. I've had condensers do this, but it could be the mag or an external coil I suppose.

As Kenny and I were talking, Steve Tabor, Doug Oster, and Jesse Babler arrived. I didn't realize Doug was taking photos. In the photo below, Keith Bylin and John (badger) had just arrived, and they helped me drag the sled out of the driveway, and into line with the rest of the sleds.

[400brian]

Once the sled was out of the driveway, I rode the X8 back to the motel to get the wife. When I arrived, JDJR was messing with the race sled right in front of the main entrance. I parked behind him, and inquired what he was doing?
I guess he was trying to start it, but the recoil was being uncooperative. He mentioned that the brake master had took a crap, and that he thought he had a bearing out on the jackshaft...so the gremlins were still loose it would seem.

Katy and I rode two-up back to the HOF. When I was a kid, we rode two-up on these all the time, now it doesn't work all that well for some reason! Arriving back at the Museum, we found the cookout was in full swing, so we got in line for a brat. Somewhere during this time, Carol and Craig Marchbank set up a couple of industrial sized blenders on the back of a Ski Doo. Apparently the sled had some sort of fluid drive they were tapping into. As we watched, they dumped ice cream and booze in, then fired the sled to blend.

We went inside to warm up, and check out the two Boss Cats on display. We were chatting with Wade and Mindy, when Kenny came in and got Wade, it sounded like the sled repair wasn't going well. I decided it would be a good time to get our dead sled back to the motel, better now than towards evening. So I told Katy, here's the plan...I'll fire up the X8, drive it around in front of the green machine ( to put the fear of the lord into it ) then I'll try and start it. If it doesn't start, we'll tow it, and if it does, I'll hightail it back to the motel, and you follow on the X8.

As we walk out of the building, the Marchbanks offer the wife a Brandy Alexander they had just scooped out of the blender, and she says; SURE! So she's slurping on that while do just what I said I was going to do. The X8 is idling in front of the green machine as I climb on it. John ( badger ) asks, "aren't you going to take the belt off it?" I replied that if it started, I was going to ride it back to the motel. I turn the key and it fires right up, and runs normally. As I'll pulling my mitts on, John shakes my hand and says; "good luck!" I just laughed and said, "hey, thanks". So I head down the driveway towards the highway. When I get there, I realize I can't get into the ditch there, so I run down the shoulder ( against traffic ) a few hundred yards, till I can jump into another driveway, and get onto the trail in the ditch. It's perhaps a mile between the motel and the HOF, but you have to cross the highway three times and go over a bridge on the trip.

As I cross the highway the first time, I look back, and can see the X8 coming down the shoulder, so the wife is following, just a quarter mile back. I didn't dink around, I took the sled back at a good clip, and it ran fine all the way. As I pulled into the motel drive, I met the Rainville's coming out, they were headed for the HOF. Cari was DRIVING the Sprintfire!

So I shut the sled down behind the trailer, and am met with deafening silence. OK, where did she go?

[400brian]

I'm sitting on the sled, the sun is shining, its a beautiful afternoon. Once in a while a few modern sleds would come through, but no wife. I'm getting a little anxious, this was not a difficult trip, and she had rode it twice just that day,. so where the heck is she?

Finally, I hear sleds coming from the east. A Dator comes into view, then a 340/S, it's Stymie and his crew, and at the tail end is a JDX8. As they pass by, the wife is waving at me...well, she has her hand in the air, maybe it's more of a gesture, with a mitt on, it's hard to tell. She drives up and is sputtering before she is off the sled. I am a jerk for ditching her, she didn't know where she was going, if Tod hadn't come along she might still be out there ... it went on and on. This was dangerous, but I asked why she hadn't stayed with me? Well, it seems she was driving the X8 one handed, as she was holding the Brandy Alexander in one hand. So, she was driving the sled on the shoulder of a state highway, against traffic, with a mixed drink in one hand...what could go wrong with that? I asked why she hadn't just slammed it, and that didn't seem to be the right thing to say. I mentioned that all she had to do was follow my track, who else up here is leaving the waffle print of a Pathfinder track, but that didn't go over well either. It was obvious that she was not to be placated, so I had to promise to buy her another drink tonight, to replace the one she'd had to pitch into the woods, that was what she was really worked up about, she didn't get to finish the drink the Marchbank's had given her.

We headed into the room to relax for a bit before heading down to the Whitetail for the Amber meet and greet.

[liquitisplit80]

Well Brian, you know what to get Katy for Christmas - a cup holder!!

[Horicon Joe]

Great read Brian ....... You have a gift for telling a good story.
I'm glad you took the Liq II for a ride and liked it.

Joe

[400brian]

We got down to the Whitetail a bit early, there were quite a few cars in the lot ( it was Valentines Day ), but none of our crew was there yet, I knew that because the bar was empty! However, as we stepped up to the bar to get a beverage, someone started waving at us over on the other side...it was Jon Carlson. He, Tom Otte, and Tom's wife were there. We circled around to join them, and chatted about the days activities while testing the beer to confirm it was cold.

Soon the RWTC crew was filling the place, and the party was hopping. The Amber meet and greet was a huge success!
Good size crowd, and a number of VIPs. I got to meet Bob Enns finally, so I can cross that off the bucket list. The food was good, the beer was cold, and the company superb! We had cake and sang Happy Birthday to Bob Enns, and John Bauer presented a slide show of photos taken in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, that were done for advertising and the brochure. That is a photo of John on the cover of the JD book.

I did buy the wife a Brandy Alexander, but for what it cost, I should have went and looked for the one she pitched into the trees!

Before we got out of there, Don recruited a number of us to help set up the stage that would be used the next day. That was no big deal, and we soon had it set up and ready for morning. I dropped the wife off at the motel, then headed into town to fill my cans. I've always ran Pennzoil 2 stroke oil in my vintage sleds, but the gas station didn't have any, so I had to settle for Citco. I made 16 gallons of premium pre-mix, then headed back to the motel. Big flakes of fluffy, feathery snow was falling as I pulled into the lot. I could see JDJR's truck sitting in front of the garage, it was too far to walk over there, so I called and asked what he was doing? It seemed he had found a groove worn in his Liquifire's jackshaft from the shaft turning in the bearing. bummer!

Time to hit the sack, morning would come early, and we had a big day scheduled.

[Matt]

Brian, are you aware that the one gas station in town has a premium pre-mix pump with Yamalube oil?

[400brian]

Brian, are you aware that the one gas station in town has a premium pre-mix pump with Yamalube oil?

I would prefer to mix my own, that way I know exactly what I have.

[Matt]

That makes sense.

[harleysportster]

Last year when we were there, I spoke to the owner and he assured me the mix was at 50:1. I know I ran at least one tank-full thru my 78 Cyclone without any problems. It was a bit costly but figuring in the price of oil, it balances out.