2019 RWTC

[400brian]

Thanks for the photo Jason. That is the intersection of trail 100 and 1. You can see one of the modern sleds of the guys we were talking to. We hung a right here and headed north. Note the condition of the trail we were sitting on, it was like this for miles!

I can't honestly say I remember the hole in the middle of a trail. I remember holes in the lake in front of Bent's you could have fallen into. There is always stuff that you wish you had taken a photo of after the fact. At the time, you are riding and don't want to take the time to stop and take a pic.

Here is a shot Joe took of Garrett Rimco's Cat going on the rope. When we left Fishtails, they were standing at the bar. Sometime later, we caught up to THEM shortly before we got to the RR grades. How did this happen? Apparently they ran the lake south from Fishtales, I assume they got on trail 100 at the bridge we went over earlier, then beat it down 13 south ahead of us. I am not sure the distance was less, but no doubt they could run much faster. If they hadn't gotten ahead of us, they would have been towing Garrett themselves.

[400brian]

I did get to the room, I have always enjoyed that it is just off the lobby, the wife helped me out of the riding clothes, and I hit the hot shower. I have found over the years that a good hot shower really helps loosen things up, and I will feel much better. The ibuprofen and Mountain Dew help as well, I always feel dehydrated after a long ride, that probably explains all the beer bottles sitting on the tables in the pics we take. While I am doing this, Katy is driving Cari and Richard over to the Banquet, when I am dressed, the Bennetts, Gary, and I, will drive over as well, Katy and Renee are taking the truck into town for pizza at Knockers, as we know the Banquet will be a sell out.

It is always fun to talk to other folks in attendance, to hear what they did that day, or what projects they have in the works. For example: last year one of the guys mentioned that several of them were thinking about building JD Spitfires to ride. This year a good size group of them showed up with Spittys, and by all accounts they rode the hell out of them and had a great time! These are entry level sleds, small and light, not extremely fast, but they are fun! I think this was inspired! There are lots of ways to enjoy the hobby.

Dustin Elder decided to forgo the Vintage Challenge and do a local ride on the Raideere. How did that work? Well, he broke the throttle cable early on, and the sled wound up on Don’s truck. He admitted that if the cable hadn’t broke, something else would have. Raiders didn’t have much for suspension and the seat cushion is thin, and Dustin said that out on the trail he was finding himself off the ground entirely too much.

There were several success stories that I am aware of. Last year Jason Peterson blew up 2 sleds in 2 days. This year he was back with both. This time he did the engine work himself, and this year both sleds ran great, and went on the trailer home in running condition. Jason just needs to find himself a covered trailer to keep the road crud off those beautiful machines.

Last year David Clark’s 600 wound up on the rope on the Bogie Bash, and earlier this fall his mechanic blew up the engine trying to diagnose what the problem with it was. The 440/5 was completely rebuilt, jugs, pistons, and crank, in about a month, and he rode it on Friday without any issues!

Wade Bennett had a different story to tell. In the month leading up to the RWTC, he embarked on a crash build of a 440 Cyclone. Re-built engine with all NOS internals, Cross Country suspension with all rubber track, plastic skis, Dator style seat, the whole nine yards. However, early in the week he squeeked the engine out in the slush on Gogebic. Slush is probably not the best way to break in a new engine. Bummer Wade. Lots of cool projects and activities going on out there.

Then there are the hilarious stories and BS that is being traded. Hard to tell how much of this is true, but they are all swearing to it! This is a fun group of weirdos, and no doubt that is what we look like to the casual observer.

[400brian]

Some thoughts on guiding: We throw Rainville under the bus all the time as the guide. It seems every year I prevent him from doing something dumb. But here is the deal, it is easy to look smart from back in the pack, more fun too. I guided the VC several years ago, and it is harder than you might think. You have a lot on your plate, a lot of things to think about.

A good wingman is very helpful. On the short legs I led this year, it came in very handy to have Wade behind me catching anything I missed, or offering insight in navigation. On the leg up to Fishtales on the west side of the lake, NONE of us had ever been on the route before, we were winging it! The trails in the UP are more spread out, and in some cases better marked, but we were deep into indian country. Honestly I enjoyed that! The fact that we made it to lunch without any backtracking or wrong turns was very satisfying. Thank you Wade.

[400brian]

At lunch at Fishtales, I had a conversation with Bob Anderson. We were discussing the poor condition that trail 7 south is often in on our way back. Over the years it has been suggested to me that we find a different route, the problem is that there really is no other route. As Bob was pointing out, you go north from Minocqua, north from Sayner, or north from Eagle River, that is it. 7 just gets a lot of traffic, and I have noted for years that the north / south trails always seem much worse that the east / west trails.

10 years ago when we first started doing this, trail 7 was beat up at the end of the day. 5 years ago, Bent’s Camp started putting on the Bikini Radar Run the same weekend as the RWTC, and that has made it worse. I was talking with Gary and Renee about this, and all the sleds sitting on the lake when we came through at 4:00, and Renee said; “you didn’t seen nothin!” I looked at Gary, and he told me that 90% of the sleds that were on the lake at the radar run, had departed before we got there. I was incredulous, I said; “are you serious?” They swore that was the case.

So it seems that the Radar Run is very successful, I suspect they are going to keep doing it until something changes. We had the best snow conditions we have ever had, at least in the last 5 years, and there was good snow conditions all across the upper midwest, and yet the traffic in northern Wisconsin is huge. I found out after we got back, that the Sayner Barnstormer’s tracked groomer was broke down over that weekend, so perhaps that contributed, but trail 7 was pretty good that morning, all the trashing happened that day.

The only way to fix this is to get off trail 7. Six years ago, we discussed changing the Vintage Challenge destination with Loren, and at that time he was dead set against it. Fishtales was the original destination of the RWTC, and us vintage guys doing the Challenge was the best PR deal they had ever had. So, we shelved the idea.

Joe tells me that there is some interest brewing from the modern riders to change it up. He asked me what I thought? I told him that I had done every inch of every Vintage Challenge. We have done it 11 years, I have rode it 10 times on the same sled, and that at this point I have nothing to prove to myself, or anyone else. We both agreed that as a group, we have kinda made our point that we can do this. So, what is going to happen? At this time I do not know. There will no doubt be some discussion of options.

Six years ago Bob Anderson pointed out that the ride to Fishtales is the easiest 150 miles you can find. The combination of lake runs and RR grades makes it far easier that just pounding through the woods. A suitable lunch venue at the midpoint narrows the options as well. So we will see what comes from the discussions over the next few months.

[jep_800]

Excellent write-up as usual Brian! Thanks for that, and all the memories. We had great fun this year, and yes, this was some of the best snow I’ve ever seen riding sleds. David and I have realized that even though we show up on Wednesday, it’s still not enough time to really ride like we would want. We agreed that a little more prep time for each machine would be more preferred. So, we told Jaimie at Fath’s Big Woods to mark us down for showing up on Tuesday instead. Can’t wait to do it all over again!... I look forward to seeing if there are changes to be made between this year and next. See you then.

Jason

[400brian]

The Banquet was sold-out as far as I know, and the Whitetail staff did a great job of getting everyone fed. I am always a bit over-charged after the whole days activities, and a good number of us retreated to the bar to unwind. As I was getting a couple of beverages, someone slapped me on the back and said; hey, how ya doing? I turned to find Kevin Campbell standing there! Kevin hasn’t attended in 5 or 6 years, and he had told he wasn’t coming this year, yet here he stood. It was like seeing a ghost, but what a great surprise!

So as the Banquet wound down, so does my trip. We doubled our time up here this year, and we still hadn’t tired of it. The Bennetts had pushed it out to over a week, and they seemed to still be having fun. I suppose there is a limit somewhere.

We all go home to repair our stuff, make plans and plot for next year. The track repair I had spent so much time on in preparation for this trip seems to have been successful, at some point I will have to give it a close look. The X8 needs some maintenance, the Walbro carb has not been rebuilt or opened up since ‘07 ( yeah, them Walbros are junk ). The crank seals are of similar age, so they need replacing. The Green Machine needs the drivetrain bearings replaced as they also date back to ‘05 or ‘06. And there are the unfinished projects sitting in the shop.

Thanks to the Snowmobile Hall of Fame putting on a great event, Lord willing, we will be back next year!