Feb 20 Roblin & Makaroff MB Vintage Derby

[Liquifire 4/6]

Just thought I'd mention the Roblin/Makaroff, Manitoba vintage snowmobile derby is set to go on Sunday Feb 20th. I've groomed the trail several times and have a good part of the signing and marking done. I rode a section of the trail a couple days ago on my Alouette and did a video to show a bit of what the trail looks like. I'd borrowed a buddy's helmet cam and I wish I'd had it aimed a bit better so that you could see more of the scenery instead of the hood of my sled, but there's a few parts of the vid which kinda shows the terrain and the scenery. It's a rather longish vid, however if you have a few minutes to kill, you might enjoy it. Hope to see you at the derby.

http://contour.com/stories/alouette-295-super-brute

[Liquifire 4/6]

I also filmed another section of the trail the same day while riding my Trailfire and had planned on using that footage on this site, but evidently I had forgotten to turn the helmet cam on while aboard the Deere. So my apologies to all you JD fans for having to view it from a red machine. It's too bad the JD video didn't turn out because I came upon a large bull elk on the trail and had him in the camera for a good 30 seconds.

[SpitfireKing]

DAMN!!...lol...no not the video..the date....Minnedosa is the day before so I'm not sure I can make it...I'll have to do one or the other....glad to hear your ride is early this year though...these March runs tend to have crappy snow conditions or are too warm for these old relics.

Pretty sure I will skip Dosa now and come to Roblin....then I could do a regular ride Sat and a relic Sunday

[S_Kyle]

I would think if you have a choice Roblin would be a better run. I think I am done with dosa after the production of the last few years, we always seem to kill a couple machines and get i trouble before the night is done. Either that or I should find a different group to go with. I would like to make it to Roblin one of these years but it looks like this year won't be the one.

[liquid cooled]

Well, I was really wanting to make it to the rally, but I don't think I will be able to. My wife is due right around then and if I'm not there to take her to the hospital there might be some coarse language when I get home. Hope you have a good turn out, maybe next year I can see how good that homemade groomer works. If any of you are going check out the trail groomer Pete built, it is a real piece of engineering, he's also got some very nice sleds too.

[Liquifire 4/6]

Yep, it's always hard to pick a date that works for everyone. We decided last season after the meltdown in early March that it was too risky snowwise to schedule the derby for March.....even though we could likely have it in April this year with all the snow we have. So we picked the sunday of the Feb long weekend. That way, most people get a day off work both before and after the ride which works pretty well with people that have to drive any considerable distance.

I usually get to Minnedosa, but I will have to miss it this year because I'll be busy on the 19th giving the trail some final prepping. For anyone who hasn't been at the Roblin Vinatge ride before, it's approx 25 miles in length and most of the trail runs through a pretty scenic valley......so even if it happens to be a cold nasty day, you are riding in a fairly sheltered area for the most part and the wind doesn't hit so bad down there. I think the total open field running is maybe 5 miles or so and that's broken into about three pieces or so.

We strive to keep it a clean family type of event and encourage everyone to ride safely and enjoy the camaradrie of other vintage sled enthusiasts and have fun, while going back in time for a day. We allow any 1985 or olded sleds (or anything with leaf springs). I've attended many vintage derbies that also include newer sleds, however we feel that having new machines in the ride somehow takes away from the back to the past experience. Vintage clothing is also encouraged. Hope to see some of you out there. Here's another link to a vid I took of a different section of the trail.

http://www.youtube.com/user/2500vtg#p/a/u/1/sU1JH3edE6s

[Liquifire 4/6]

Pretty sure I will skip Dosa now and come to Roblin....then I could do a regular ride Sat and a relic Sunday

If you decide to come up on saturday, I'll be working on the trail most of the day and there'll likely be a few people at the warm up shack during the day. No prob with people pre-riding the vintage trail up until around 3:00 pm on saturday. After that time, I'd like to do a finish grooming job on the trail and let it set-up with no more traffic until sundays ride. I'm hoping for a cold saturday so that the trail sets up really nice and it'd sure be sweet if the weather is warmer for sunday's ride. Give me a call at 204-937-7685 if you want some more info.

[SpitfireKing]

Is it completely not allowed to have a newer sled in the line-up? Only reason I ask is the sled I'm probably taking has finicky carbs and I won't have much of a chance for a lot of pre-test runs on it, so I was going to get the wife to ride our beat up 97 FIII 600 as a tow sled if I or someone needed a pull back. I got caught last year at Rapid City with a dead Doo and had to wait for some kind soul to drag me to a road and it was still a pain to get a ride back to my truck, so this way I'm always covered off.

Pete do you also have the exact starting location and reg. times for us? If it's at the shop I know where to go, but elsewhere I might need a direction or two

[Liquifire 4/6]

Well......the prob is if we say it's ok to one guy to bring a newer sled, then the next year we'll end up with 50 of them. But don't worry about your sled breaking down because I have one guy appointed for hauling in dead sleds. And you'll no doubt end up riding in a group, so there should be no problem with getting you and your wife back to civilization. My buddy has been the designated "broken down sled hauler" for the last five years and has always used his 69 Olympic and sleigh to haul in the konked out ones. We don't usually have many sleds break down because the trail tends to be pretty easy on them. This year, David is planning to use my Aktiv Grizzly and the sleigh I recently built to do the hauling. I'm having a little bit of a prob with the engine in the Grizz right now, but I hope to have that resolved before the ride. If not, we'll find something else to do the towing.

Some of the people who will be working at the halfway house will show up on new sleds, however we encourage them to get there early and hide the new stuff behind the building before the vintage riders start to arrive.

[Liquifire 4/6]

Pete do you also have the exact starting location and reg. times for us? If it's at the shop I know where to go, but elsewhere I might need a direction or two

The derby starts in Makaroff, MB. That's a really tiny village about 15 minutes northwest of Roblin. There's a small community hall there and we chose it as a starting point because of it's proximity to the vintage trail. I've considered starting the derby from Roblin, but that would mean 15 miles of open field running before you get to the good riding and would also mean having to ride on some official Snoman trails which require a snowpass. So we're going to keep Makaroff as the starting point as long as they keep that hall in operation.

From Roblin, you'll head about 4 miles west on Highway #5 and then turn north on Provincial Road #583. This road will lead you north for approx 5 miles and will then swing west for about 2 miles, and then you'll go north again for about 3 miles on #484. You'll cross a railway track and then turn west down a road that takes you right into Makaroff. I have one fellow appointed to put up some signage on the highway and road junctions so that people can find the place. Last year he did it the night before and some idiot stole the main sign which led to a little confusion. This year, he plans on putting the signs up in the morning.

[Liquifire 4/6]

Guess I forgot to mention the start time. The registration desk should be up and running by about 9:30 am. The ride will likely begin approx 10:30. Though we encourage everyone to get there fairly early, there's no problem if you arrive after the main pack leaves as the trail will be well marked and you should not get lost even if you've never ridden it before. I'm really hoping for around 150 sleds this year.

[SpitfireKing]

Thanks, I was looking for the time to post on my website

Any other manitoba vintage rides I can mention on the site guys?

www.fbrandon.webs.com

[SpitfireKing]

Well the run is on Sunday, but I'm out...some plans changed and now I can't go out on Sunday...Pete I hope you guys have a heck of a ride and try to make it next year....I'm going to try Minnedosa now that I have a sled ready to go....have to do soemthing with these old girls!

[Liquifire 4/6]

Well the run is on Sunday, but I'm out...some plans changed and now I can't go out on Sunday...Pete I hope you guys have a heck of a ride and try to make it next year....I'm going to try Minnedosa now that I have a sled ready to go....have to do soemthing with these old girls!

No problem, SpitfireKing. Hope to see you out here next year. Look for a bit of a story on the ride in the auto section of next week's Winnipeg Free Press. Willy (the F/P auto editor) is coming up for the derby and will be riding my Snowfire. He sounds like a very interesting individual and I'm looking forward to having him join us for the ride.

[SpitfireKing]

Can't wait to see some pics...I didn't take very many at Minnedosa..and a few I did I had the camera on the wrong setting and they didn't turn out I was happy to see the 80 LF I sold the night before got all cleaned up and was able to make it....so sad how bad gas is now adays...sled sat for a year and a half, but had cleaned carbs just before and the new owner said they were just green and really hard to get clean....even 10-15 years ago you could keep gas all year with no problem....sled in pis isn't my old one..though it was until I walked up and seen the chrome bars instead of black