2018 RWTC

[400brian]

Another “Ride with the Champs” is in the books. This was my 12th year participating in the event, and I think the 6th year my Wife Katy rode along.

The goal was to get her green machine running this year, for the past 4 years it has been a problem. A full rebuild was the plan, but somehow it never quite got done. The back-up plan was to drop in the 440/21 that has been sitting on the bench ready to go into the ‘73 X8 that I am working on for the Wife, but isn’t re-assembled yet.

I started the engine swap in early January, and did the first start up on Feb 3rd. I installed all of the heat control parts, and the NOS muffler that I had for the engine. The week before our trip we got enough snow that the trails were open for I think 4 days, so I did get a little test riding in. The engine seemed to run and perform within expectations, so on Feb. 12th I unloaded the X8 into the garage for a little check out.

Everything was looking good until I looked at the slides, which were probably the originals, and decided it was time to replace them. While I was under there, I looked up at the underside of the track, and to my horror, saw that about half the cleats were worn through! This was a NEW Kimpex track that was installed in 2007, about 1700 miles ago. We obviously have ran in lot of snirt in the last 12 years.


I didn’t have time to replace the track, the best I could do was replace the slides. I had a pair on hand, so I got those put in without too much trouble. I was talking with Rainville the night before we left, and he inquired if I had any cleats? I thought that I did, and his reply was to bring them.along. I went to the shop and dug around, and came up with 15 2/3rds cleats, and 10 full width ones. I found a bag of pop rivets labeled SnoStuff, and a bag of NOS Deere cleat bolts. I threw my angle grinder and a flat ply bar in a box with the the cleats, and moved on to other preparations

We planned to leave Thursday afternoon. After chores, we serviced the trailer, loaded the sleds, and tossed in the tools and parts. We cleaned up the trailer harness ground on the truck, but still had no lights on the trailer. However, while we were loading the sleds, all the lights came on! By the time we got all the gear loaded and showered and changed, we didn’t get on the road until 5:00 pm.

We stopped at 2 auto parts stores and a tractor supply store looking for more rivets, but they all had nothing. 100 miles north, we stopped at the Fleet Farm store in Wausau, and they did not have what I was looking for either. We rolled into the Whitetail at around 9:00 pm. We had grabbed some supper at the Mc Ds in Wausau, so as soon as the gear was in the room, I unloaded the X8 into the garage there at the motel.

Adam Luebner was there working on Rainville’s Dator, but was in no mood to talk about what he was doing. Rainville showed up about the time I was wheeling the sled in, and Jason Peterson, and David and Andrew Clark also walked in about that time as well..

We laid the sled on it’s side, and took stock of the situation. Rolling the track around, we saw that there were a couple of places where there were 3 broken cleats in a row. You could see the scratches on the steel skid where the cleats were climbing way out of normal position. So, that is where we started.

We removed a cleat, and quickly discovered that the new Kimpex cleats I had brought had a different rivet spacing than the track. I had compared these cleats to a JD track at home, and thought they matched perfectly. Apparently Kimpex did not use the Deere rivet spacing on the tracks they sold as replacement tracks.

So, we did what we had to do. We re-drilled the track for I think 4 holes, and installed 7 of the original 9 rivets. 40 years ago, I pulled a lot of 3/16 steel rivets just like the ones we were pulling here, but I must have been a lot stronger then. Pulling these, inside of the track, proved to be a challenge. By 1:00 am, we had replaced 7 cleats, and Rainville was telling me stories that he had already told me earlier in the evening...it was time to call it a night. We had repaired the worst of it, I was fairly confident the sled would survive the Bogie Bash later in the day. We picked up the tools, swept the floor, and shut off the lights.

Next: The Bogie Bash!

[400brian]

The Bogie Bash, Friday, February 16.

Overnight low temp 15. Daytime high 23.

I didn’t get up very early Friday morning, I slept as long as I could. But eventually I had to drag myself out of the sack and get going. Katy had tried out the new waffle machine in the lobby ( I was kinda underwhelmed ), but a couple of Kwik Trip donuts and a Mountain Dew got things going!

Weather conditions looked good for a great day of riding. It had been 46 on Wednesday, and 34 on Thursday. But temps had been well below freezing overnight, and while we had bright sunshine today, the temps would stay cool.

We suited up and headed outside. I went to the garage and fired up the X8. A couple of laps around the parking lot felt good, there were no unusual sounds or anything unfamiliar. I parked it behind the trailer to fuel it, being as we needed to have it laying on its side the night before, the tank was pretty much empty. We pulled the green machine off the trailer, it was fueled and ready to go. It fired right up, and Katy made a few laps around the parking lot to get it warmed up.

Once I had the sled fueled, we headed over to the west side of the lot, where sleds were gathering. The Bennetts were ready to go, Wade had his X4 hot rod out, and Mindy was firmly planted on her brand new Cat. Joe shortly came through on the ‘72 400 he prepped in a month a year ago. ( Just for the record: the sled still has the carb I loaned him on it! ) The Rainvilles had brought 2 of Joe’s nephews along, one from each coast. They would be riding the Sprintfire, and Joe’s Oster cat.

There was another group of guys who had sleds ready to go. One of these guys I have visited with before, and he told me they were planning to ride with us. He showed me the sled he was going to ride ( which he had just recently purchased ) and it turned out to be the mid-mount that had been discussed on the JD list a while back. It has the bare aluminum tunnel and pan, a non-production serial number, and is just a mix of parts. There had been a lot of talk about whether this might be a Horicon test sled.

Bob and Marna Amber joined us in the lot. Bob on a 80s Liquifire, and Marna on a late model. Joe seemed to have the nephews ready to go, and was giving 2 year old Richard a ride around the lot. Apparently RJ was enjoying it, as he put up quite a fuss when he found out the ride was over.

The original plan was to ride north, then west to Boulder Junction. I have never been there by sled. During the week, Joe has been suggesting we ride to Minocqua. When I asked why, his reply was that he had never rode there. A bunch of us did ride there for lunch at the Boathouse in 2008, but Joe was riding to Fishtales with the late model group that year.

Thursday night out in the garage, this came up again. I had told him that I wasn’t interested in a ride around the parking lot, but with the cleat replacement going slower than hoped, a ride to Minocqua was looking better. If we took the trail along HWY 70, it would make for more convenient recovery by trailer if the track took a powder. So I told him I would think about it.

So as I stood there Friday morning, it was obvious we were not going to get started on time, so I agreed we would head west. We were waiting for Jason Peterson and the Clarks. I had spoke with Jason earlier, and he assured me they were coming. Jason arrived in the lot solo, and informed us the David was having an issue with his 600.

I signaled the group to light them up, and we ran west the quarter mile or so to find David and Andrew sitting in front of the Whitetail Inn. It seemed that Dave had a bad belt. This was not a big deal, I had a brand new one under the hood of the X8. I retrieved the belt, Rainville got the old belt out of the secondary clutch, and while I was pondering taking off the plastic side cover, Wade pulled it out of the Comet primary. I handed him the new belt, and in seconds it was installed, and Dave was ready to go!

[400brian]

We were now off and running! We had 17 sleds total, including 5 late models. 2 of the guys on modern sleds I have not mentioned yet, are Henry and Chris Keltch. They hail from the Buffalo, NY area, and Henry has ridden with us several times before. Today they would be our support sleds.

We hadn’t much more than got going, when an X8 quit. My understanding was that it was blowing back out the carb, suggesting the possibility of a reed failure. Henry towed it back to the motel, where they pulled another sled off the trailer, and they all caught up with us again a few miles down the trail.

When we were talking about running the trail along the highway, I had mentioned that my experience was that this route gets a lot of traffic, and tends to be beat up. On this day it wasn’t too bad, but the thing I had forgotten about was the crossing back and forth across the road.

For example; in the three or so miles between the Museum and the Whitetail motel, the trail along 70 crosses the road at least 3 times. With a large group, this slows things down as you wait for traffic to get everyone across. Waiting means idling, and that is often a problem. If guys shut down, often someone will have problems getting restarted. It is much simpler if you can just keep moving.

We were halfway to Woodruff when we ran into this situation crossing the highway. There was a fair amount of traffic, and it seemingly took forever to get everyone across. I am thinking that this is where Bob Amber decided to pack it in, as his Liquifire was inexplicably running hot, and he was in a really good spot to load up, so he called Don to come with the trailer.
While all that was going on, David Clark’s 600 died, and he was having difficulty restarting it. I rode to the back of the line to see what was going on, and as soon as I got there the 600 fired up, so we were good to go!


We rode through the edge of Woodruff, and eventually dropped down to the lake. There was a route marked, so we headed west across the lake. When we got close to the HWY 51 bridge that crosses the lake, Rainville waves me over and says: “how about we eat here at the Yacht Club?” That bar and grill is located right at the south end of the bridge, and it sounded good to me, so we headed over and parked. 15 riders had made it to lunch.

[400brian]

They did seem to be a little surprised when we came in looking for lunch, but they quickly got on the stick and got us fed. The only problem I had there, was that the product that I had sprayed on the seat of my sled to make it look nice, had transferred to the seat of my bibs, and now I kept sliding off the stool I was sitting on, and trying to go under the table.

With lunch finished up, we headed back out to the lake, and we spent a few minutes looking at each others rides and visiting with the owners. One of the guys I spoke to was Ray Foraker. Ray was riding a first series Liquifire that had a Polaris track and suspension under it. A very clean, subtle installation, I wouldn’t have noticed it had he not brought it up. He said he was very happy with how it was working.

Another sled that caught my eye was a 72 400, that appeared to be an original. I think the odometer was showing around 3400 miles. I talked with the owner a bit, and he told me that he had purchased the sled on an auction for $75. As I was looking it over, I asked what he had done to it? His reply was that he had replaced the fuel lines. I looked at him for a moment… then finally recovered, and said: please tell me you replaced the fan belt! He said, oh yeah, at some point while messing with the sled, he had noticed that the original fan belt was cracked all the way through to the backing! I was really glad to hear that, as a 40 year old belt is pretty much a grenade with the pin pulled.

But, engine seals had not been replaced, nor had the Walbro been rebuilt. Pretty close to barn fresh as they come. The sled seemed to run good, and even the seat was in pretty good condition.

As we prepared to leave, a couple of the guys asked about gas? Well, there is a station in sight, across the lake, opposite the Thirsty Whale. 3 or 4 decided to top off, so we all rode over to the Thirsty Whale, and while they fueled, we took some pics of our awesome line up of mid-mounts. I guess the moral of this is: that if you want to get in on the photo op, don’t be off getting gas!

[400brian]

One of the things I was thinking about during lunch, was taking a different route back to the Museum. Besides the constant crossing back and forth of the highway, we had run on too much gravel and bare pavement to suit me. The track seemed to be holding up OK, so I wanted to find better snow.

Back at the RWTC in ‘08, we had rode from the Museum to the Boathouse, but had taken a longer route, and near as I could remember,we had come onto the lake from the north. I recall coming onto the lake at an undeveloped spot, there were 2 DNR guys sitting there when we dropped onto the lake, then we had a rather long run across the lake to get where the Winter Carnival was going on.

I also later remembered that we could see the Boathouse and the Thirsty Whale from where we were watching the radar runs that day, over on the opposite shore. However, I didn’t remember all of this until later, on that Friday I was trying to figure out how and where we had come onto the lake 10 years before.

I suggested that we run up the bay that is right there where we were standing. Joe tells me that he and Adam had done that a couple of days before, and that it went nowhere. I said humor me, I need to see it. So when the guys returned from getting gas, we fired up and ran under an old railroad trestle, and then across that section of lake. Joe was correct, it went nowhere, just an exit up into town. OK, so I circle around and head back the way we came. The next thing that happened was worth the price of admission right there! On the south side of the railroad trestle, there were 3 rather large rollers. I assume from the wind blowing the snow around the pilings.

I didn’t find out about this until we were at the Meet and Greet that night, but it seems that Joe Rainville ( the old snocross racer ) had come off his 400 in this spot. I think Henry and Chris were the only ones to see this. I asked Joe about this later, and his reply was: “ I didn’t think anyone saw that”. His story was that he didn’t hit the first roller square enough, got out of shape, hit the second one and it got worse, and when he hit the third he kinda left the sled. Wish we had Go Pro footage of that!

I stopped at the HWY 51 bridge to regroup, and decided to just return the way we had come. It turned out that that decision was the best, the way things turned out.

[400brian]

I stopped at the HWY 51 bridge to regroup, and decided to just return the way we had come. It turned out that that decision was the best, the way things turned out.

So we ran under the HWY 51 bridge heading back to the east. I believe this was the leg that Rainville claimed he got the 400 up to 55 mph indicated, and thought he saw the Lord! Both were probably exaggerations. I was cruising along at somewhere around 40 mph, knowing that we were still pulling ahead of the Wife even at that speed.

Jason Peterson slowly came by me as we approached the eastern shore, then suddenly dropped back.. I have seen this movie before, and it rarely has a happy ending. I immediately turned left and circled back to where he was sitting. As I stopped, he was already pulling out the tools to remove the spark plugs.

Both plugs were hot, and both were the same color, black with a tinge of gray. Nothing there indicated a lean condition to me. Jason screwed in a new set of plugs, and pulled the engine over. It fired right up and sounded good. Someone yelled, Yay!! Jason asked me what I thought, and I replied that I was pretty sure that it was running on one cylinder. He shut it down, and Rainville slowly pulled the rope. I could tell just by the way the rope was coming out that he had compression half as often as he should. Ok, we had a dead sled. Henry drove up and we got Jason hooked on.

[jep_800]

That was a damn shame, cause she was running so good. But, I've heard that many times from guys that they run the best right before they burn down. David, Andrew, and I ran up to Sayner the day before and just had a blast... me and Andrew on our 800's, David on his 600; we took a longer route to the west to get back to Fath's Resort, there were many hairpin turns in the woods. It was a lot of fun switching from side to side to keep it on the trail. Still needs a tear down to see what's happening in there... but it will be rebuilt.

Jason

[400brian]

We got underway again and as well left the lake, Joe took the point. As we came off the lake he turned right, which is opposite of the direction that we came in from. I have no idea where he is going, or if he knows? We are heading south, and the trail has some vague familiarity to it. I couldn’t quite figure it out until we passed a sign that indicated that the village of Lake Tomahawk was ahead. In 2008 we had left the lake in the same way, and we had refueled in Lake Tomahawk, so I had been down this trail 10 years before.

At the first intersection we came to, we turned left, which now seemed to have us headed east. At his point, it was a beautiful day in the northwoods, sunshine and great temps for riding. The trail was in great condition, this is what we come up here for! Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by Andrew coming up along side, waving for us to stop. Everyone stopped except Rainville, Andrew had never got up as far as him, so Joe continued on by himself.

Andrew reported that they were having sled issues behind us. Henry was out of range from Chris on the intercom, so after some discussion, Henry unhooked from Jason, and rode back to see what was going on.

[400brian]

We were standing around waiting, so I took stock of the situation. We had 2 late model sleds with us that could be pressed into towing service. However, Joe’s nephews were riding the Oster sled, Joe would have to take over riding that if we were going to tow with it. The other was Mindy’s new Cat. I asked if she would be willing to tow with it, and she replied that it was running warm, so no, she did not want to tow with it. Andrew was messing around with his phone, and at some point showed me what he was looking at. He had the trail map app, so could show us exactly where we were, and what the trail ahead looked like. This was interesting! We had 3 left turns along this trail, I judged that the first would bring us out at HWY 70 near the motel, and the last probably took you into St Germain.

While we sat along the trail, several small groups of riders came through. Eventually we heard a sled coming from in front of us, and as it got closer I announced that it was Rainville, the distinctive whistle of a 72 400 is imprinted on my brain. When he stepped off the sled, we apprised him of the situation. He jumped on the Oster sled and took off down the trail.

In just a short time the group started pulling in behind us. I believe Dave’s 600 was showing some symptoms of vapor lock, and he was on the rope. We got everyone saddled up and running, as we went to depart I conferred with Joe. He wanted to take the first left, because he wanted to stop at the motel and give Richard a ride before he went to the Museum .

Off we went! Very shortly we were at that first left turn, and Joe stopped to direct traffic. I was now on point, the X8 was running great, the track was making no bad sounds or vibrations, so I opened it up a bit to stretch its legs. Andrew was hot on my tail on his 800, so we had a fun run through the woods on a nice smooth trail.

When I got to an intersection with a road, I stopped to gather everyone back up. Andrew was all smiles. His 800 was running 100% better than the year before ( I think he had put a Hewtec ignition in it ), and of the 3 in their group, he was the only one not on a rope! As we bantered back and forth, the group started dribbling in. Henry and Jason, the Bennetts, Katy, and Rainville, then nothing. Henry was out of range of Chris, but said he had told him to turn left! As we waited, Rainville pulls out his phone, and is soon exclaiming that his Dator is sitting in front of the Museum! Adam had posted a photo to Facebook. We were all pretty much all atingle! This is when he started telling us he was going to ride it on the Vintage Challenge the next day! I thought he was BS’ing us, and said ; yeah, sure!

We figured we were maybe 2 miles from the motel, and it seemed obvious that Chris had taken a different left, so we took off. We were in the motel parking lot in short order, and everyone pretty much scattered. I was planning to go directly to the museum, but no one was following.

Katy was waving me off, so I rode over to see what her deal was. She said she wanted to stay there and hone her cone in preparation of the Meet and Greet later in the evening. She added that if I was considering taking her sled on the Vintage Challenge the next day, perhaps I should ride it. That wasn’t a bad idea, so I put the X8 back into the garage ( not sure why now ) got on the green machine, and Andrew an I made tracks for the SHOF.

When we pulled into the parking lot, there sat most of the guys we had been waiting for out on the trail, Chris and Dave had proceeded to get Dave a running sled out of his trailer. We compared notes a bit, the fellow with the 72 400 showed me that his exhaust system was pretty much flopping around in the pan, but everyone had made it without too much issue, and they seemed pretty happy.

Andrew had his hood up to show us his e-start, the battery box on a ‘75 X8 or 800 was only used that one year, and I had never seen a real one! Eventually Andrew and I headed inside for some refreshment. No brat burn this year, appetizers and pizza was waiting for us, along with a cold soda to wash it down. Rainville came in and offered to give us a tour of the new addition, but before we could get there, Craig Marchbank, grabbed him for some official business, so I never did get the tour. Andrew and I were heading out the door when we met Dave and Jason coming in, so Andrew stayed and I rode back to the motel by myself.

A decision had to be made. Which sled was I going to ride on the Vintage Challenge the next day? The track on the X8 was iffy. I really didn’t want to break the streak of riding it, but if the track failed on the trail, there was the chance that we wouldn’t be able to tow it, or we would have to cut the track to do so. That was not a spot I wanted to be in. The green machine had never been Vintage Challenged prepped, it had been put together as a rider. The bearings on the secondary shaft had never been replaced, the bogies were all used, it has the Goodyear Pathfinder track on it, and while it was NOS when I put it on back in ‘07, it is just a waffle print, traction is not its strong suit!

The sled did have good carbides on it, the 440/21 loaner engine had been freshened a bit and seemed to be running great, but with very few miles on it. The engine had just been fired for the first time in 30+ years just a few weeks before. In the end I decided to take the chance that the green machine was up to the task, and once that was decided, I didn’t second guess it.

[400brian]

We collected the Bennetts and headed over to the Whitetail for the Meet and Greet. The gang that had been riding up in the UP had arrived. This would include Brock, Lincoln, Matt, Kyle, Dustin, Marky Mark, and Skid Mark. The Bennetts had been riding with them earlier, but had drove down to St Germain Thursday evening.

We chatted with Tom Otte and Jon Carlson for a bit, but the waitress wanted us to get a table so they could get us to order and get things going. We had a great meal, the conversation and camaraderie was superb!

Past inductee Wayne Nicholson, presented the evenings entertainment. He showed some film from some of his races at the Derby track in Eagle River, and gave some background on his career and how he had gotten to those races. Wayne did a great job, it was entertaining, and I would be remiss if I didn’t offer our thanks.

Meanwhile, back at our table, Katy somehow got Lincoln to buy her a Brandy Alexander, I don’t know what was going on there!

As things wound down, Wade and I returned the wives to the motel, then ran into town for a couple cans of gas. Brock was pulling out of the Mobile station as we pulled in. I mixed up a couple cans of Premium premix, and we headed back to the motel garage, I needed to get the tool pouch out of the X8. When we walked into the garage, here stands Brock, Dustin, and several others, all gathered around my X8. I go: what are you guys doing? The reply was that they had just fueled Dustin’s 800, which was sitting out of sight on the other side of the motel loader tractor.

Some BS’ing ensued, and at some point someone mentioned MI trail passes. That is when I realized the green machine wasn’t legal! The choice was pay $50 for a trail pass, or swap windshields on my two sleds, as the MI Historic Registration sticker is on the windshield of the X8. I decided I could swap windshields for $50, Dustin agreed it was a no-brainer, so he grabbed a screwdriver and assisted in taking the windshield off. Dustin was holding the top of the windshield as I removed the last screw, and as it came out he was holding the windshield in his hands and he says to me: what is this? I said : what do you mean? He says: is this a Sno Stuff? To which I replied: no, that is a genuine NOS Deere windshield. Dustin turns to Brock and says: feel this, it is the same thickness as the SnoStuff, but it is much stiffer! I laughed and said: yeah, Joe Wanie has been saying for years that if he ever had any money he would start a class action lawsuit against SnoStuff for making such crappy windshields.

We jumped into the truck and headed over to the opposite side of the parking lot, where Dustin helped me swap the windshield onto the green machine. Wade loaned me a new belt, as mine had went on Dave’s 600 earlier in the day. Things were pretty much ready to go, so we headed in to hit the sack.

[400brian]

Saturday, February 17. High temp 29, Low 6

Friday night is always way too short! I am awakened by the sound of closing doors as guys are going out to the lobby for coffee. These guys get up way too early! I finally drag myself out of the sack, and attempt to get going. I get dressed and suited up, making sure I have my phone , camera, and wallet. Katy and I head out to the lobby, which is empty. Out in the parking lot the smell of 2-stroke oil is in the air. A lot of the guys have departed, but there are sleds running out here as well.

We have the truck warming up as I top off the tank on the green machine. Katy will wait here until I give her the “go ahead” to leave. The green machine fires right up, and I am lapping the parking lot when Rainville stops me. He wants to know if Cari and Richard can get a ride over to the restaurant? Ok, so I start calling Cari, but she is not answering her phone. I keep trying, and about that time she comes out of the door pushing Richard in a stroller. I yell to her to put the stroller back and Katy will give her a ride in the truck. She looks at me, looks at the truck, and says OK, and turns around. I lap the parking lot, stop and tell Katy to wait for Cari, then head out for the Whitetail Inn.

The Vintage Challenge crew have their sleds parked along the ditch in front of the place, pointed in the departure position. I park in the group and head in for breakfast.

[400brian]

This would be the tenth running of the Vintage Challenge, the 150 mile ride up into the UP for lunch at Fishtails Resort, and back again. I have completed every one of them, but over the years the details have kinda blended together. I have to go back and read the accounts that I have written to separate one year from another.

The first year was the wildest. We really didn’t know what we were getting into, we had no support trailer, no maps, and no idea where we were. Jon Carlson was our guide, but his Liquidator lost a clutch ¼ of the way in, so he was out. Our back-up guide was on a modern sled, and honestly, that does not work. The group got separated in the dark between Bent’s Camp and Stillwaters, and the larger second half got to the Whitetail around 45 minutes after the first. It was EPIC!

We learned a lot from that experience, and in the years since we have gotten the ride fine-tuned. Trail conditions and sled problems are still out of our control. Our goal is to return before dark, but sometimes we don’t quite make that.

Most of the participants are returning Vintage Challenge veterans. There is a camaraderie within this group, it is a team effort. We share whatever we have among us to do our best to get everyone back under their own power. Sometimes everyone makes it, sometimes the trailer is full, you can’t predict what is going to happen.

On the flip side, each year we have a few first timers. This year David and Andrew Clark, Jason Peterson, and Brian Olson are our newbies. Brian is riding a 72 Arctic Cat Puma, and if he can complete the trip, he will have done it on the oldest sled to date. We also have the Rainville nephews, Quincy and Josh. They will be alternating between the Oster Cat, and the Sprintfire. Quincy had done some racing on 120s some years ago, but I’m not sure if Josh has done much riding before at all. They are going to have a big day. None of these guys know what they are getting into, but they are about to find out!

The Challenge is an all day ride for us on vintage sleds, and for me it is the one day out of the year where all of life’s hassles, and trials and tribulations, get pushed out of my mind. It is a day for living in the moment, you are focused on making that next corner, that next lake crossing, or getting to the next fuel stop. Most of the time you are too focused on the ride to spend much time thinking about unrelated stuff.

And we have fun! One critique I have received on my write-ups over the years, is that I don’t adequately convey the fun we have. We share a lot of laughs, we share the experience of doing something hard and the satisfaction of finishing the ride. I never rode like this when the sleds were new, I really get a kick out of us doing it now when the sled is 45 years old!

The breakfast buffet at the Whitetail is great! Everyone fuels up for the trip, as the morning program is underway. Spirits are high, the trail conditions are good, and the weather is just slightly warmer than the day before, it should be a great day for riding. I am in and out of the building, the gas cans are in the trailer, the program is wrapping up.

I don’t wake up on Saturday morning with the butterflies like I used to, but when we walk out the door, everyone is charged up! When we get everyone lined up and running, preparing to head out, that is still a hoot! We just have no idea what is going to happen when we hit the gas and head out in a cloud of smoke.

[400brian]

Our Enduro Team Deere support trailer will be driven this year by Jim Grafft of Certified parts Corp. It is really great that Jim takes the time to do this, and we appreciate it very much.

Rainville has the Dator at the head of the line-up. I really thought he was joking when he said he was going to ride it on the Challenge the day before. That the sled had not lived up to expectations at the races the week before is a huge understatement! Adam had been messing with it all week in the motel garage, the sled had very little run time on it, I really expected that it would be on the trailer before the day was out.

The sleds are running, it is time to go, so we are off! We head north along county “C” in the un-groomed trail in the ditch. The pace is fairly slow, and this gives everyone a chance to settle in. We turn onto the trail towards Sayner north of Big St Lake, it is smooth, and we turn up the wick a bit! I don’t know about everyone else, but I have a grin on my face!

The green machine with the Pathfinder track is a bit squirrely in the corners, it will keep me on my toes all day. There are a couple of intersections we have to negotiate, we keep Joe on the right path, and we are soon pull into Sayner. The first 10 miles have been uneventful ( which is not always the case ). The stop in Sayner is quick. This is the last chance for gas, or a trail pass, and the first chance to put it on the trailer.

[400brian]

Once we see the headlights all come on, we are ready to take off again. Time to take it up another notch. We run across Plum Lake, then run a mile of un-groomed trail to star Lake. At one point between the lakes, Andrew Clark is off the sled and sliding down the trail on his hands and knees! It is a little rough, but not that rough! I never asked what that was about.

We re-group on the north shore of Star Lake, then dive into the woods at Stillwaters Resort. This is where the serious ride begins for me. We will now be droning through the woods for miles. On the way back, this always seems like the longest leg. On the way up we are fresher and it doesn’t seem as long, but it is still a haul.

We are probably halfway between Stillwaters and Bent’s Camp, when Joe stops at an intersection to re-group. We will be turning east here to do a little road running through the Forest Lake area. It is quickly apparent that we have lost part of the group. As we wait, David Clark is telling me a bit about his experiences of flying cargo into Antarctica. That was interesting, I don’t think I have ever known anyone who has been there, that is about as remote as it gets.

Eventually a few sleds arrive. I think it was Andrew that reported that Henry had someone on the rope. Soon the group pulls up, and yes, Jason Peterson is the unfortunate soul. Jason has just earned a special spot in RWTC history! Few have earned the distinction of killing 2 sleds in one weekend. Rainville once killed 2 sleds on one Vintage Challenge, but he is always showing off. Jason has killed both of his nicely restored mid-mounts, and earned the first out award for the day. He says this one sounds worse than the day before, the X8 is making scraping sounds when he pulls it over.

We make the run to Bent’s Camp without any further issues. Henry pulls Jason’s X8 into the trailer, and Joe’s 80s Liquifire comes off as a backup ride.

According to my notes, we arrived at Bent's at 10:30 am.

[400brian]

With the tanks topped off, it is time to make tracks. Things will be hopping here at Bent’s later in the day when we return, it is Bikini Radar run day! Once we head out onto the lake we cross into the UP of Michigan. We follow the route across the Cisco chain, cross the bridge while carefully avoiding the tree with Rainville’s name on it, drop back down to Cisco proper, and exit the lake at the now long defunct Cisco Lake Resort.

A short blast up the road puts us on trail 13 north. This is railroad grade country, long and straight! This is low effort riding, and the miles disappear behind us. The trails are not as smooth as we have seen, but they are not too bad. The green machine is purring, life is good!

After a run west on trail 2, we turn north again on 13 to make the last leg up the east side of Lake Gogebic to the Root Cellar. We had no more than turned north when the green machine hiccuped. What the hell was that? It went back to running OK, but I was now uneasy. A few minutes later it did it again, and then at a quicker interval again. Then it started slowing down, it was becoming apparent that this was not going to go away, or get me to Fishtales before dealing with it. I was holding up the group behind me, I was in the back third of the pack at that particular moment, and as the engine was spooling down I gave it up and let go of the throttle and it died.

I unlatched the hood and flipped it up. I pulled the tool pouch out of the tool box, grabbed a screwdriver, and stepped off the sled to the right. I instantly was in snow over my knees! Holy cow, stay on the trail! Well it made it so I could work on the sled without bending over! I am loosening hose clamps when Henry strolled over to see if I could save it. I replied that I was hopeful that a fuel filter change would resolve the problem. I had dumped some Seafoam into the tank the day before, and if I had looked at the stuff before I had poured it in I wouldn’t have. The can had been open since the year before, and I think it had taken on water. It was milky when it went into the tank, and I instantly wished it back into the bottle.

The filter was quickly changed, and I didn’t even pitch the old one into the trees! A turn of the key flipped the engine over and it fired right up and sounded good. Henry was disappointed he couldn’t put me on the rope. I was latching the hood back down as he headed back to his ride.
I took off and kinda eased back into the throttle. Everything seemed OK, so I gradually spooled it back up to cruise speed. A bit down the trail Rainville had the group waiting, they took off as we approached and the whole group was moving with just a few minutes stop.

We run some twisty trails through some marshy, boggy, terrain as we are nearing the end of this leg. We climb up out of the low ground and are soon running alongside a highway. We are almost to the Root Cellar now. One more quick dive back into the woods and we pop out at the resort. We cross the highway and drop down to Gogebic, once everyone gathers up, we take aim on the opposite shore and make the dash for Fishtales.

According to my notes, we arrived at 1:05 pm.