2019 RWTC

[400brian]

Winter refuses to cut us any slack here in early March, so I decided to pull the Green Machine into the garage to see what is going on there.
I set the rear end up on some milk crates, and was planning on loosening the track in preparation of removing the rear idler. The driveline was making horrendous noise up in St Germain, and the bearings in this sled were replaced 15 or so years ago.
When I stuck my head under there to take a look, I was very surprised at what I found.

[400brian]

The area above the bogie shafts were packed with ice. Even between the drivers was packed full! I used a big screwdriver and a hammer to break it up, and I filled two 5 gallon pails with the big stuff.

I assume the noise was the lugs of the track running on the ice pack.

I have seen this before, and I remember once back in the early 70s when my mother was riding after a late season snow that the 400 got so packed full that it literally stopped. All of this was in heavy wet snow though, we weren't running in anything like that up north.

The only thing I can figure, is that when she ran it out into the rhubarb, the track got packed full, and for some reason it didn't work its way back out. Over night it froze hard, then just kept adding more and packing it to ice until it was doing all sorts of weird stuff.

[400brian]

Once we had the group photo taken there on the track, the next stop was across the street at the gas station. I swear this was the coldest spot in the state at that moment! The wind was blowing through the pumps from the northwest unimpeded, and by the time I got some oil mixed and a couple gallons ran into the sled, my hands were numb. I had tossed the heat pack in my mitt halfway to Eagle River because my hand was too hot, now I wanted it back. I went inside to run some warm water over my hands to get this resolved quickly, but the restroom was being cleaned. I put a fresh heat pack in my right mitt, and stayed inside the building until everyone was ready to depart.

The next destination was lunch at Buckshots. It is just north of town on HWY 45. Getting there by trail seemed to take far longer than I thought it should, the place is only a mile or two north of the track, and then the trail that comes off the main trail to get there, appeared to be on the "Do not groom list" ( more on that later ).

We arrived at Buckshots in high spirits! We got some food and drink ordered, and the conversation and BS flowed. This was probably the cheapest place we ate at all weekend. The burger and fries I had was good, and we were soon heading out for the trip back.

[JD600]

Thanks for a great recap as always Brian. It was a great trip for sure! This is my favorite pic taken from the weekend. it was taken right in front of the White Tail Lodge. In this pic it really looks like i achieved my goal of getting the paint on the Raideere to match my 800.

DE

[400brian]

So we got everyone fired up and headed west the way we came. The day before when we rode this same route, I had rode barehanded for a while. Not today! In fact I left the heat pack in my mitt all the way back.

The decision had been made to leave the dead 800 at Buckshots, and so Jim was riding two up on buddy Gary's Pantera. We made decent time running back, no issues at all until we were very close to St Germain. We stopped at a road crossing and realized we had lost part of the group. We waited a while, Dustin decided to go back to find them, then the rest of us continued on. At this point, all trails led to St Germain.

Some pulled into the SHOF, while David and Jason continued on to the cabin they were staying at. They wanted to run to Buckshots to pick up the 800 ASAP. Shortly some of the missing members started coming in. It seems that Wade's X4 had dropped a cylinder, which was diagnosed as a plug wire that had come out of a coil. That was remedied, and he completed the trip under his own power.

Jim was going to wait for Dave and Jason at the Whitetail Lodge, so I said OK, I'll lead you back. So Gary followed me west to the motel. Once at the motel, I spent a few minutes tinkering with the X8. Jim visited with me while I changed plugs and adjusted the idle mixture screw on the carb. The sled just wasn't running quite right, and it pretty much refused to idle. My efforts seemed to be of no improvement, which kinda bugged me, but we had to get over to the Whitetail Inn for the Meet and Greet.

The SHOF had made this an official event this year, so it was going to be a little different. In the interest of simplifying things for the restaurant, we would not be ordering off the menu, but rather they would be putting on a chicken and fish buffet. We drove over to the Inn with the Bennetts and Gary along for the ride, Renee would be joining us shortly. We got there early enough that we had some time to socialize at the bar for a bit, and when Renee arrived we checked out the buffet.

We have been dining on fish for years at the Whitetail Inn, but this was by far the best fish we have ever had there! The whole menu was spot on as far as I am concerned. This was pretty much the traditional Wisconsin fish fry: Beer batter fried fish, fries, baked beans, slaw, and rolls!
oh yeah, and there was chicken too. And it was all good, kudos to Jeff and Joy!

Levi Lavallee was the entertainment for the evening, and honestly the name meant nothing to me. He put on a great presentation, and ran a great video highlighting what he does. One of the things he talked about was a tandem jump he did with a motorcycle on a Red Bull New Years Eve show. That is when the light went on! I remembered watching this several years back, so this is the guy who does this stuff your mother would tell you not to because you're gonna break your neck! Go here to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoZBi04afwc

One more thing, as I was getting checked in at the Meet and Greet, I was talking with board member John Sandberg. He asked me how the trails were, and I replied that most we had been on were pretty good, but there were some spots that could use a little grooming. John laughed, and introduced me to two guys he had with him, who he said were groomer operators! I said great, what is the deal with the trail off the main trail to Buckshots? Has that ever been groomed? And they replied: no. I ask: why not? It seems to me they might get more patronage if the trail into the place wasn't so miserable. They explained that that short stretch of trail was private, and that they would be willing to run over it if the owners would offer them a beer once in a while, but they do not. So there you go, that is how things work up here.

[400brian]

It appeared to me that the Meet and Greet was a big success. As things were winding down we headed back to the motel. However, I still had a couple of things to do yet that night. I had to go fill my gas cans for the Vintage Challenge the next day, and Rainville wanted me to assist in changing the jets in the Dator.

Eventually there was a knock at the door, and I headed out to get this done. I got my cans out of the truck, filled the X8, and tossed the cans in Rainville's truck. He finally re-appeared, and we drove down to the shell station and got the cans filled. Back at the motel, he fired up the Dator, while I drove the truck over to the garage and opened the door. Once he was in and the door shut, I asked what the deal was, as we were going to miss the 10 o-clock garage curfew? He tells me he has spoke with someone, and we are good.

So he gets the airbox off, and we are in the middle of the jet swap, when the manager comes in and wants to know if we are about done? Joe tells him we have a few minutes to go yet. He replies he wants to put his car in and go to bed. I offered to put it in for him, but that was not acceptable. He left in a bit of a huff, and we proceeded to finish the jet swap. The race the week before was in colder conditions, and we had swapped in one size leaner. OK, so the airbox is back on, we are ready to get this thing out of here. He starts ripping on the rope, and while the engine hits and hits and hits, it will not pick up and run.

First the plugs looked pretty much dry, so finally I blew into the tank to push some gas into the carb bowls, that had no affect. A new set of plugs were installed, as the original plugs were now wet...no change. This thing pulls hard, and I have e-start on my sleds for a reason, my shoulder is not up to this abuse. I pulled it for a while, and it got old fast. We had the plugs out, and I pulled it over for a while like that, while Joe ethered off the original plugs. He screwed the original plugs back in, and the thing started! Does any of that make any sense? Dators are evil.

I think it was after 11 o-clock when we got out of the garage, with Joe vowing that we needed to find a new place to work on sleds. Elmer, the previous manager had treated us like family. Anything we needed, he would try to accommodate us. The motel was under new ownership last year, but nothing obvious had changed. Some years we have used the garage a lot, some years not at all, but it was there if we needed it, and that was worth something. So, it is a situation we will continue to assess as what we want to do going forward.

[400brian]

Saturday, February 16th Hi temp 22 Lo -9

Saturday is of course the big day! I drag my butt out of bed and try to get moving. I have rode around 150 miles in the preceding 3 days, and while I am not feeling too much worse than normal, I am feeling some effects.

I am feeling some anxiety about the sled, it is not running as good as normal, and I do have some concern it will not finish out the day, we will soon find out. The lobby is deserted as I walk through. I can’t help but feel that far fewer RWTC participants are staying here this year. There also appeared to be far fewer vintage sleds in the parking lot over the weekend.

It is very brisk outside this morning, and I am concerned that the sled will repeat Friday’s no-start performance. I pull the choke and turn the key...not a pop. OK, I pull the plugs, squirt some gas down each plug hole, screw the plugs back in and try that again, the engine comes to life! Whew, that is a relief! I lap the parking lot a couple of times, then head over to the Whitetail Inn. My fuel cans are in Rainville’s truck already, so the wife is not coming over this morning. At the Meet and Greet the night before, it had been announced that we still needed a support truck driver. Renee, kinda thinking out loud, said: I could do that. After a bit of back and forth on the subject, what all it involved, and how big a rig we were talking about, Gary suggested that the two of them do it. So, they had volunteered for the job.

I went inside and got in the registration line, and looking around, it appeared we had very good attendance! I was given a red bib ( guide ), I normally wear a green one, but I assumed this was Rainville’s doing. Breakfast is great here, and I always come hungry. Once that is done, I get up so someone else can use the seat at the table, and I have a couple of concerns.

I find our trail boss Bob Anderson, and I ask if anyone pre-rode the trail to Fishtales the day before. I guess no one did this year, after all, everyone knew we had lots of snow. I had two concerns: first off, the Bennetts had been at Fishtales earlier in the week, and reported the bar was closed. They mentioned a “FOR SALE” sign as well. I had called up there Thursday night, and no one answered the phone. Second, the Bennetts had watched modern sleds get buried in slush out on Gogebic in the same time frame, and Wade had burned down a a completely rebuilt Cyclone engine out in the slop as well. They really wanted no part of the lake at this point.

Bob said: let’s find out. We went out in the entryway where it was quieter, and Bob called up there. They assured him that they were open and ready to feed us when we arrived. And they confirmed that trail 1 was open to Fishtales from the south. This is the ground trail up the west side of the lake, and portions of it have been closed for two years due to logging.

So the plan we came up with was this: when the modern sleds reached Fishtales, Bob would send Rainville a text reporting the condition of the lake. I asked if he knew how much time would be added if we ran the trail up the west side, and he said around 10 minutes. OK, with that taken care of I can focus on the business at hand, like a last bathroom visit.

The group photo has gotten completely out of hand, so in recent years I just duck out of the building when they start calling us up. Well this year they fooled me, by telling everyone to assemble outside the front door! It was a huge group, I believe a record number of participants once again. So I got roped into the photograph.

OK, it is showtime! I head over to the sleds, and wrestle my helmet on. As the headlights come on, we are getting closer to departure. Rainville’s evil Dator had fired right up this morning, the X8 now fired right up, and finally at the rear, the Rimco’s Cats lights came on. OK, lets GO!

Rainville started out in the ditch alongside “C”, but as he went over the first huge berm at a driveway, I pulled out onto the road, and took off. Screw that, I am not messing myself up on one of those things again. And as I motored up the road, I think everyone followed. Actually, Joe and I had talked about this earlier. I had noted on Wednesday that there was no real trail in the ditch along "C", and suggested that if that were still the case on Saturday, I was riding up the road. Well, that is what happened! He told me later that as he approached the driveway, he decided he didn’t want to take everyone over that, and had pointed for us to turn out into the road. However, he says when I looked to the right, the entire group is already in the road and passing me!

[400brian]

It was a quick run up to Sayner, we beat the support truck there in fact. As we were pulling out of the Mobil station, the truck was coming up the street. We had lost the Rimcos at that point, Henry reported they had a fuel delivery issue on one of the Cats, and had went back.

[400brian]

Sayner is a quick stop, we were quickly through town and heading across Plum Lake. The lakes were a bit choppy with drifted snow, and there was a lot more tracks across than there was on Wednesday, but no hint of slush was observed.

Everything was good as we crossed Star Lake, passed Stillwaters Resort, and headed into the woods on trail 7. The trail was in decent shape, and it was a nice trip up to Bent’s Camp.

When we got to the road at Bent’s, the truck and trailer were parked alongside the road. Joe asked Gary to bring the rig down into the parking lot. Gary admitted that they had missed the sign for Bent’s as it faces south as they are coming from the north. We proceed into Bent’s, but Gary is having some problems getting down to us. They got turned around and came in the driveway, but then got blocked off by traffic. Eventually they arrived, and Joe got in and maneuvered the rig around the very tight area, and got then into the lot and pointed back out. Remember, there were piles of snow everywhere taking up space, and because of all the snow, the lake wouldn’t be available as a parking lot.

I believe we arrived at Bent’s at 10:30, which is pretty decent historically. Normally when we come through in the morning, not too much is going on there, but today things are already jumping. There are sleds coming in on a regular basis, and there is a pretty good size bunch already parked out on the lake. As we assembled on the lake getting ready to depart, we were drawing a crowd. People were pointing at us and photos were being taken.

We were ready for the next leg, lets GO!

[400brian]

OK, this is the fun leg! A nice long run across the Cisco chain, cross a bridge, run down a road, drop back down to Cisco proper, run across it through the ice fishermen, exit the lake onto a road, then a hard right onto the trailhead of trail 13 north. Now we are on Railroad grades, nice and straight. First north, then west. With all the recent snow, the trail is not the many times groomed ice balls we normally run on. It is looser, mushier, I don’t know, it is just different. The grades are reasonably smooth, and we are not kicking up large amounts of dust as we sometimes have. It is pretty great!

The Rimcos had caught up with us before we got to Bents, so we are back to full group strength. Things are going pretty well. But the X8 is not 100%, I just do not have top end speed. I am showing plenty of RPM, but not MPH. I don’t know if the secondary clutch is hanging up or what I have going on. It still does not want to idle either.

We are cruising down the long westward leg of the grade, when Rainville slows down. Soon he is going like hell again, then he slows...I have seen this movie before, it is like deja vu all over again! The same thing happened with Rainville on a Dator back in 2010, pretty much in this same place. That year he nursed it all the way to Fishtales, this year that was not to be. He was soon waving me by.

So here I am leading this thing again. We made the turn to the north on trail 13, and I stopped to gather everyone up. Rimco came up and asked what we were going to do about crossing the lake? I told him that when we got to the fork in the trail, we would discuss it. Away we went. This is much harder riding now, lots of turns and we are running through woods and up and down hills.

We arrive at the proverbial fork in the road! We are near the south end of Lake Gogebic. If we stay to the right we continue up the east side of the lake until we get to the Root Cellar, where we cross over to Fishtales. If we go left, we will be on trail 100, which will take us west to trail 1, which goes up the west side of the lake.

Bob was going to send Rainville a text. Rainville isn’t here. I call Bob, no answer. I send him a text. Garret Rimco pulls up Fishtales number on his smartphone, a woman answers the call, but she is not at the bar, so is of no help. We have no information, but an executive decision must be made. It comes down to the fact that we are men of action! We will not just stand around. I have made this run up the east side of the lake many times, some new territory doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. So I say to the guys: lets go!

We go left and head west. The first thing I notice is that no one has ridden this trail since it was groomed! It is flat and smooth, this is fantastic. We rode on traill 100 longer than I anticipated looking at the map. We rode through woods, and swamp, we came out at a road and crossed the river on the south west end of the lake. There was a bit of civilization there, but then we were back in the woods, wound around, and then suddenly popped out at a “T” intersection.

The sign ahead of me pointed to destinations to the left, but nothing to the right. I looked behind me and there were two guys on modern sleds looking at the map in the trailside case. Wade and I visited with them for a few minutes. They wanted to know where the trail we had come out of went? They told us that they had just came up from Marenisco on the trail to our left. OK, I know Marenisco is the opposite direction we want to go, so turning right should take us up the west shore. There was nothing telling me that this was trail 1, but what else could it be?

So we take off. I do not know what exactly we were running on. An unplowed town road, a road in the state park, I don’t know. What I do know was that we were running on one of the nicest trails I have ever ridden on! Absolutely fantastic! At one point we were up on top of a ridge, the lake was in front and below us, it was postcard perfect.

At one point we came to a sign that was hand written, and said: “trail ends at Gogebic Lodge”. I was mulling this for a moment, as I had no idea if Gogebic Lodge was north or south of Fishtales ( it is south ). Wade, who had been running with one ski up my snow flap on this leg, came up and I said Wade, what to you think? He opined that probably when we got to the Lodge the trail would keep right on going. I told him that we had been told that morning that it was open all the way to Fishtales, so yeah, we ignore that.

We kept going, and the trail eventually put us in the ditch alongside the road that runs along the lake.
This looked familiar. In 2011 we had rode to Fishtales from Wakefield, MI., and while we had come in from the north, it looked the same. As we ran up the ditch I saw a white rectangular sign up ahead on the other side of the road. I was pretty sure that was our destination, and as we closed on it, the Fishtales logo became discernible!

We crossed the road and into the driveway, and pulled up to the support trailer. Mission accomplished!
Rainville was backing his new Cat out of the trailer, and as he shut it off, he declared,; I told Chris we would beat you guys even under tow! I told him I didn’t care, we had just run some of the nicest trails ever, so neener, neener!

[400brian]

Here are a few pics taken at Fishtales.

The first photo was taken by Bob Anderson. That is me, with Jason Peterson on the left, along with an out of focus Mindy Bennett. above my shoulder is my buddy Gary, who was driving the support truck.

The next photo Rainville took. It is from left to right; Jason, Jim, and David Clark.

The last photo was also taken by Bob Anderson, and is of course Rainville.

[400brian]

Lunch was good! Pics were taken, texts were sent. I believe we arrived at Fishtales around 1:30. The late model riders were finishing lunch as we walked in. Bob was explaining that his phone had died from the cold, I told him it didn't matter, we had come up the west side and had rode some of the nicest trails ever, and Rainville was on the rope!

We got fueled up and prepared for the return trip. Half done, half to go.

[400brian]

OK, we would return by the traditional route. Running east across the lake, we found it was rough, but solid. I think I recall seeing some color variation in the surface, but we stayed on top. We entered the woods, and settled in for the trip. Being as we hadn’t come up this way, I don’t know what the trail condition was earlier. At this point it is pretty beat up, I would say it had seen a lot of traffic. We worked our way down to the Railroad grade, and that was much better.

We arrived at the north side of the Cisco chain without incident, and started across. There were more sleds running around now than this morning, and the lakes were pretty tracked up. As we arrived at the south shore and Bent’s Camp, the large number of sleds parked at the Bikini Radar Run gave a hint at where all the traffic had been going to. The other thing I noticed there was that where things had looked good there in the AM, now there was slush on the ice and large holes to avoid. The ice in front of Bent’s had really degraded.

We arrived at Bent's at 4:00. Our support trailer was parked out on the road by the driveway, and we got right to re-fueling. The first photo is our support truck team, and my friends, Gary and Renee. They stepped up and really helped us out. THANK YOU!

While we were re-fueling, Chris came in dragging Garrett Rimco's El Trigre on the rope. Like Rainville, it seems he also lost ignition. So as we were finishing up, Joe says to me; I will stay and help get Garrett's sled loaded, you want to take them across the road and wait, or just get going? We are all parked behind the trailer, so we all have to move before the sled can be loaded. Once we have everyone running, I do not want to sit around. Rainville is riding his new Roger Skime edition Cat, and he will catch up to us in minutes, so I say we will just take off.

[400brian]

The trail south of Bent’s has REALLY degraded since morning. We have another group of sleds in front of us, and everyone is moving pretty slow. At one point we cross a road, and as I continue on the other side, I suddenly find myself on a lake! OK, what just happened? This is not right! I circle back around off the lake and back up to the road, and I find myself really confused, Where is the trail? I look back, and everyone is waiting for me in a different direction. I circle back to the group, and there is the trail. Why hadn’t I saw it? Well there was a woman sitting on a modern sled videoing us, and she was blocking my view of it. I didn’t want to stare at her, so I had overlooked the trail behind her.

Oh well, we are back on course, Wade hadn’t fallen victim to her charms, and had kept a level head. We run this next leg out through the woods, eventually coming out at a road intersection in the area of Forest Lake. We pull a hard left jackknife turn onto a road and head west on it. The road is pretty smooth, reasonably snowcovered, and we put away some distance in low effort mode.

I am riding along fat and happy, approaching an intersection with a trail that goes south. We will turn south on the next trail after this one, I know exactly where I am. So I am relaxed at the moment. Just then, Rainville comes blowing by me, and slides to a stop in the intersection ahead. I stop, and he comes over and says; “this is the turn you always miss, turn here!” I go; “NO, this is not our turn, we have one more leg.” He replies. “You are an idiot, this is the turn.” I missed the turn in question 5 years ago on the first Bogie Bash to Bents, and I have never heard the end of it. Since then, I have it committed to memory. At the intersection we are sitting at, there is a sign telling us we are leaving the Frosty’s Snowmobile Club trail system, and entering the Boulder Junction’s club system. A few clicks west we will pass a clear cut area to the north of the trail, come over a small rise, and the intersection with 7 south is right there. THIS IS NOT IT!

Rainville is adamant that this is it, we look at the map in the case at the intersection, but it doesn’t mark where we are standing, and that is what we are arguing about. I know I am correct on this one, but Joe is not to be convinced. Am I mad? No! Everything that happens gets filed in the back of my head for this story, and you can’t make stuff like this up! This is great material.

Wade is parked right behind me, and goes back to his sled to find the temp gauge redlining! I am sick of arguing with Joe, so I am dragging the sled to the south, come on smart guy, show me the error of my thinking. Wade takes off to the south to cool the sled off with Mindy right behind him. I motor in behind them, and away we go.

Now there is an immediate and obvious problem with this trail, it is flat and smooth! We run about a quarter mile down it when Wade stopps and I pull alongside. Mindy is yelling; WE HAVE NEVER RAN DOWN THIS TRAIL BEFORE! I reply; NO KIDDING! Rainville then pulls up and yells; MY BAD, THIS IS THE WRONG TRAIL! Well, I am glad we have that settled.

We all drag our sleds around, and head back to the intersection. We then do just like I said, and turn south on trail 7 at the next intersection west. There is little joy to be had here though, as trail 7 is terrible. It has been beat to rollers, about a sled length apart, and a foot high. This leg is generally rough at the end of the day, but this is as bad as we have seen it. There is nothing you can do but tough it out, and go slow enough to stand the constant bottoming out of the suspension.

It seems an eternity, but we finally arrive at Stillwaters. The ride across Star Lake is great compared to what we have been on, the mile between the lakes is hideous, then Plum Lake to Sayner. As we pull into the Mobil Station, I am feeling more at ease. We have only 10 miles left, and they will all feel downhill. Rainville is the only one at the pump taking a squirt of gas. Mindy comes over to me and says; “I have to pee!” I go; “do you want me to hold your hand or what?” I tell her to go on into the station, we will wait for her, but no, she wants to pee at the motel. She says; “let’s go!” So OK, we have to keep the woman happy, so I agreed, let’s go.

The run south of Sayner is not too bad after we get out of town aways, and and past a group of 2-uping family riders. Once we hit “C” we again go right down the road. The X8 is topping out at about 40 mph, but it is still running. We make it to HWY 70, turn into the motel, where I make my traditional victory lap around the parking lot.

I arrive at the motel at 6:30 pm. I am tired, but a hot shower and some ibuprofen washed down with a couple of Dews will help. I have successfully completed Vintage Challenge 11, I just have to drag my butt off the sled and into the motel.

[jep_800]

I wanted to mention the fantastic trails that Brian was discussing west of Gogebic. Trail 100 lead us eventually to Trail 1, and in this stretch somewhere when it was nice and straight ( I assumed a logging road) we could have easily met with disaster. Jim and I were running in the back of the pack out of I think 10 sleds. We are cruising pretty good, I assume about 50-55 mph but my speedo cable came out so I wasn't registering anything. All of a sudden, I notice sleds in front of me start darting left and right appearing to avoid something. Don't know why I didn't bleed off any speed at this point, but when I get up there I see the problem... there is a hole in the road about the size of a kitchen table, and probably 3 ft deep. Yikes! Must have been a collapsed culvert or something under the road. I crank my skis to the right and just catch the edge of it, but I missed. I immediately pointed to it with my gloved left hand so Jim doesn't drop his skis into it. He missed too. I thought if someone did hit it, they may catapult like Angry Birds. Jim and I discussed it at lunchtime, but with all the excitement I should have told someone at Fishtails to inform the local club they had a problem out there. A nice traffic barrel in the bottom of it would go a long way to warn people. Anyway, no harm no foul.