Ride With the Champs Minocqua Group

[harleysportster]

Well, I do not do Facebook. In fact, I REFUSE to do Facebook.

The posting always falls off around this time of year. Prior to 2007, the list would go practically dormant between April and October.

No one has really stirred the pot here lately, that's usually good for traffic!

Make some posts, stir things up. I'm still working on my account of the RWTC weekend, the farm is keeping me very busy. No one has posted anything about the Swamp Challenge, or the ride up to Boulder Junction. I'm interested in hearing what happened, somebody want to write up an account?

Brian,
Dana and I rode the the so-called shortest ride to Minoqua. I will write up a brief description of the ride shortly. Here is a picture of the sign up sheet.

[harleysportster]

The Minoqua Ride had a mixture of approx 50% early 1960's and more modern sleds. We all lined up together but since there was such a large turn out of the early sleds, the organizers decided to split off those sleds from the newer ones. The group I rode in was lead by Ron Bocheck. I am not sure who lead the other group.

[harleysportster]

The first leg of our trip was to Hazelhurst Pub, approx 25 miles.

[Steven]

What sled is that red one behind the polaris and next to the liquifire?

[JDT]

Looks to me to be a Herters.

[harleysportster]

What sled is that red one behind the polaris and next to the liquifire?

It is a Boa Ski

[harleysportster]

The trail conditions were fair with bare ice in most of the corners. Ron, our leader, decided to cut a new trail over Pickerel lake. Driving thru the depth of natural snow off the beaten path, seemed to labor the snowmobiles and was very bumpy. We also rode over frozen waves. There was a father(Ken) and son(Patrick) if I have the names correct, riding together with us.
Ken was on a JD Trailfire and Patrick was on a Moto Ski. During the Journey across Lake Tomahawk, the Trailfire lost it's ignition. Ken had asked Ron, our guide, if any one could come and get the Trailfire. Ron said, "No, you are on your own". Ken had borrowed a tow line and towed the Trailfire across the rest of the lake and to the next road crossing. When we got to the road crossing, I had remembered that we were giving a phone number to call for the rescue truck. Ken called and made arrangements for his Trailfire to be picked up. This was a suprise to Ron, he must not have heard the speech about the phone numbers.
Patrick rode for awhile on the back of the Moto Ski with his dad but then was offered the back seat of a nice Polaris touring sled owned by an older gentleman that I can't remember his name, shown in the picture below.

[harleysportster]

We then made our way to the Hazelhurst Pub for a brief resting period and refreshments.

[WinnipegStPaul9]

Could the gentleman with the two up Polaris be my friend Gene Ruder? Former I-500 racer same era as me.
DA

[harleysportster]

Don, I think you are right.

[harleysportster]

Thinking back, we fueled up just before we stopped at the Hazelhurst Pub. We hung out there long enough to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. The trip from there to the Boathouse was less than 1/2 hour. As we arrived, the other half of our original group, that were riding the early '60's sled, were finishing up lunch and getting ready to leave.

[harleysportster]

Dana and I sat down and had lunch with one of the champs, Guy Peterson and his wife. He shared his history of riding early snowmobiles and his career of oval racing, very interesting. After lunch, Ron our guide, decided to take over to the drag races on the lake just a short distance from the Boathouse.
There had to be hundreds of snowmobiles of all makes and models at the drags parked along side. We hung out there for about 1/2 hour until everybody was getting cold and wanted to get going. From there we were off for the third and final leg of the day heading towards Woodruff, on our way to Arbor Vitae. The trails were the same as before, worn from all the traffic. Once into Arbor Vitae, we were riding on a logging trail which twisted thru the woods with open areas from recently cut trees which were trimmed out and stacked along the trail.

[harleysportster]

After riding around a blind, icy turn which dipped downward, there was a snowmobile that was in the ditch on the left side. We stopped and helped the person get the sled back up on to the trail. Helping lift it up, I now realize just how heavy the newer sleds are. Fortunately, the driver nor the sled was injured, just her pride. When we determined everything was good, off we went.
When the trail opened back up and was less curvy, the pace seemed to increase. Dana and I were near the back of the pack with Guy Peterson anchoring. The people in front of me were pulling away and I lost sight of them for awhile. This didn't bother me until we came to a T in the trail with no one in sight. Fortunately there was a group of other riders parked at the intersection who were kind enough to tell us the way to go after I asked them if they had seen a group on vintage sleds. We did catch up to them but only after the group had stopped and taking a sled count.
Nearing the end of the trip, the person riding the El Tigre was getting concerned about running out of the fuel. He said his fuel tank was only 5 gallons and his gas was very low. We ended up coming back to St Germaine following Rt 28 and drove across the road right to the Shell Station next to the 19 Hole just in time before anyone ran out. After gassing up, we split off from the group to get freshened up for the Banquet.
At the Banquet, when Joe Rainville had asked each group leader about their adventures of the day, I was surprised that ours had nothing to say.
At the minimal, we had a sled go down early on and we pulled a sled out of the ditch.
I have to give credit to Dana, my better half, for taking all the pictures.

[400brian]

Wow, Pat! You put on a lot more miles than I realized.

That didn't look like such a hot spot to go boon-docking off the trail. Was the gal riding by herself, or what?

Great to hear the story! Thanks.

[harleysportster]

Wow, Pat! You put on a lot more miles than I realized.

That didn't look like such a hot spot to go boon-docking off the trail. Was the gal riding by herself, or what?

Great to hear the story! Thanks.

I had to laugh with your comment about the mileage. All I can say is someone forgot to read the sign-up sheet with the words " shortest and slowest" circled. That may have applied to the early '60's sleds but not our group.

The gal was riding with her husband. He was doing the best he could when we showed up. There is nothing like having someone help you out of a situation like that., been there, done that, don't ask.