First ride of the 2007-08 seaason
My neighbor Steve and I took a day ride up to Grayling yesterday, 12/9/07. We drop off at the park and ride on M-72, west of town. We took off at about 9:00 am and the Grayling trails were is great shape, very smooth. We took the trail towards the Blue Bear with the plan to head to Larry's in Elmira. We stopped for a minute at the intersection to make sure everything was good and we saw the groomer, unfortunately we had to pass him but the trail was still decent for a white. Considering the amount of snow and the traffic the trail probably had on Saturday it held up pretty good.
We made it to Larry's by 11:10 am, so you know the trails weren't too bad. We had a quick pop and listened the Sunday Polka music, haven't heard that in a while. Well, back on the trail, we headed North to the Chandler. Like I heard, they are not groom part of it because a bridge is in too bad of shape to hold a groomer. We did not see any signs for a detour except a sign saying that the bridge was out. We followed the tracks down the trail and just took it easy and made it through. The bridge isn't out but it is in pretty bad shape. If there is actually a detour, some signs would be nice, especially if it was night.
We took the cut off trail to Wolverine because figured we would head for Indian River. The trail was pretty rough heading to the rail road grade but not too bad. Once to the rail road grade it was sweet. You could go pretty much as fast as you felt like going and there was not traffic. We made it to Indian River by 1:15 and fueled up. We went to the Rivers Edge and had some lunch, there were only 6 sleds on the parking lot. After a great BLT we head back towards Gaylord. The traffic started to pick up and as expect, the closer we got to Gaylord the busier it got and the rougher the trail got. Rough is actually kind of harsh, still darn nice for trails in this area since they see so much traffic. Once in Gaylord we decide to head toward Lovell's. Trail 4 was in surprisingly good shape. We were making real good time when my riding partner Steve hard a noise on his 800 Renegade. We stop about 8 miles from Lovell's to see what was wrong. We found that his flywheel bolt s came loose from his clutch. Not good out in the middle of no-where. He removed a couple aand tried to tighten the others. We took off and made it about a quarter mile and stopped again. Needless to say this was a slow go. About a mile or so from Lovell's I ran in to town to try and find some pliers to help tighten the bolts better. I ended up at the Lovells Riverside Tavern and asked a guy playing pool if he new where I could buy/rent a pair of pliers, he grabbed a tool box from behind the bar and handed me a pair of channel locks and a cresent wrench. I said, do you need any money of my license for them and he said, no, just bring them back. No that is how you treat people. I ran the tools back to Steve and he put all of the bolts back in and we went back to the Lovells Riverside Tavern. We had a bit to eat and figured we would head back to the truck. We didn't make it a mile and a bolt came loose again. This time Steve was on his own to get it back to the tavern.
I headed to Grayling to get the truck. It was dark by now but at least the trail was good. I caught up to one very slow group in the twisties that took a while to clear, it kind of funny to watch someone actually lean going into a corner going 25 mph thinking they were hauling. The deer were out which made the ride never racking. I had one about 3 feet from my frontend, she turned right next to me, she was so close I could have smacked her. That slowed me down a bit. I finally made it back to the truck, loaded up and headed back to Lovells to get Steve. Al told I put 207 miles on my sled. I can't remember the last time I rode on December 9th, let a lone put on over 200 miles. I hope we keep getting stead snow so the business's up North get the much needed shot in the arm that they deserve.
We made it to Larry's by 11:10 am, so you know the trails weren't too bad. We had a quick pop and listened the Sunday Polka music, haven't heard that in a while. Well, back on the trail, we headed North to the Chandler. Like I heard, they are not groom part of it because a bridge is in too bad of shape to hold a groomer. We did not see any signs for a detour except a sign saying that the bridge was out. We followed the tracks down the trail and just took it easy and made it through. The bridge isn't out but it is in pretty bad shape. If there is actually a detour, some signs would be nice, especially if it was night.
We took the cut off trail to Wolverine because figured we would head for Indian River. The trail was pretty rough heading to the rail road grade but not too bad. Once to the rail road grade it was sweet. You could go pretty much as fast as you felt like going and there was not traffic. We made it to Indian River by 1:15 and fueled up. We went to the Rivers Edge and had some lunch, there were only 6 sleds on the parking lot. After a great BLT we head back towards Gaylord. The traffic started to pick up and as expect, the closer we got to Gaylord the busier it got and the rougher the trail got. Rough is actually kind of harsh, still darn nice for trails in this area since they see so much traffic. Once in Gaylord we decide to head toward Lovell's. Trail 4 was in surprisingly good shape. We were making real good time when my riding partner Steve hard a noise on his 800 Renegade. We stop about 8 miles from Lovell's to see what was wrong. We found that his flywheel bolt s came loose from his clutch. Not good out in the middle of no-where. He removed a couple aand tried to tighten the others. We took off and made it about a quarter mile and stopped again. Needless to say this was a slow go. About a mile or so from Lovell's I ran in to town to try and find some pliers to help tighten the bolts better. I ended up at the Lovells Riverside Tavern and asked a guy playing pool if he new where I could buy/rent a pair of pliers, he grabbed a tool box from behind the bar and handed me a pair of channel locks and a cresent wrench. I said, do you need any money of my license for them and he said, no, just bring them back. No that is how you treat people. I ran the tools back to Steve and he put all of the bolts back in and we went back to the Lovells Riverside Tavern. We had a bit to eat and figured we would head back to the truck. We didn't make it a mile and a bolt came loose again. This time Steve was on his own to get it back to the tavern.
I headed to Grayling to get the truck. It was dark by now but at least the trail was good. I caught up to one very slow group in the twisties that took a while to clear, it kind of funny to watch someone actually lean going into a corner going 25 mph thinking they were hauling. The deer were out which made the ride never racking. I had one about 3 feet from my frontend, she turned right next to me, she was so close I could have smacked her. That slowed me down a bit. I finally made it back to the truck, loaded up and headed back to Lovells to get Steve. Al told I put 207 miles on my sled. I can't remember the last time I rode on December 9th, let a lone put on over 200 miles. I hope we keep getting stead snow so the business's up North get the much needed shot in the arm that they deserve.
posted by Michigan Snowmobiler at
4:19 PM
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