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2023 Riding season reports


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In all the riding I've done this year, I'm not sure I can say I've ridden a "Bad" trail - maybe that one time I came into Warroad from the south after a melt and things were like concrete, hard to get enough snow to cool, but the trails were still covered and flat... MN has been absolutely epic this year, north and south.

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7 hours ago, Mag6240 said:

In all the riding I've done this year, I'm not sure I can say I've ridden a "Bad" trail - maybe that one time I came into Warroad from the south after a melt and things were like concrete, hard to get enough snow to cool, but the trails were still covered and flat... MN has been absolutely epic this year, north and south.

I rode into Grand portage this weekend.  That connector trail between gunflint and grand portage you could call 'bad' I guess, mostly just in the turns but they were pretty good size bumps.  But it was pretty fun still and I actually enjoyed the bad trail quite a bit, it makes it more technical to be precise I like to get right on top of the berm and just bounce the inside ski over the tops of bumps.  And sometimes when you have to stay inside because it's a right hand turn you just have to punish your machine but that was fun too.  Don't get to do that stuff much any more, the trails are too good!

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29 minutes ago, mnstang said:

I rode into Grand portage this weekend.  That connector trail between gunflint and grand portage you could call 'bad' I guess, mostly just in the turns but they were pretty good size bumps.  But it was pretty fun still and I actually enjoyed the bad trail quite a bit, it makes it more technical to be precise I like to get right on top of the berm and just bounce the inside ski over the tops of bumps.  And sometimes when you have to stay inside because it's a right hand turn you just have to punish your machine but that was fun too.  Don't get to do that stuff much any more, the trails are too good!

Oh I get it - you take what you get if you have a plan.  I’ve had good and bad through that section - it was a single track one year with my son, but it was still fun!!

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I really have to give all the clubs credit this year they upped the scale on trail grooming.  Today we hit some trails that would be on the lower end but still a good ride.

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13 hours ago, Doug said:

I really have to give all the clubs credit this year they upped the scale on trail grooming.  Today we hit some trails that would be on the lower end but still a good ride.

100% agree!!

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Think i'm going to call it a season.  Yesterday some trails were good but also had just as much choppy trails, slush, bare roads and mud.  Sled has never been so dirty.  Temps were only get in the mid 30's but the sun was out taking it's toll on the trails.

Had some great trails and rides this year and only rode one Saturday.  5400 miles for the season.

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1 hour ago, Doug said:

Think i'm going to call it a season.  Yesterday some trails were good but also had just as much choppy trails, slush, bare roads and mud.  Sled has never been so dirty.  Temps were only get in the mid 30's but the sun was out taking it's toll on the trails.

Had some great trails and rides this year and only rode one Saturday.  5400 miles for the season.

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Great season!  I think I have one more weekend in me, even though there's still a ton of grooming going on this and next week in N MN.  A buddy just sent me a pic of his truck up by Tower this morning with what looks like 4-5" of fresh on it, and the trail pics he sent yesterday were flat and covered with loose snow!!

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6 hours ago, Mag6240 said:

Great season!  I think I have one more weekend in me, even though there's still a ton of grooming going on this and next week in N MN.  A buddy just sent me a pic of his truck up by Tower this morning with what looks like 4-5" of fresh on it, and the trail pics he sent yesterday were flat and covered with loose snow!!

When we were on the trails in the woods with good snow coverage thought we could get one more ride in.  Then when we got where the sun could beat down on the trail or bare roads it was like fingernails on a chalk board.  Enjoy your ride. :good:

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8 hours ago, Doug said:

Think i'm going to call it a season.  Yesterday some trails were good but also had just as much choppy trails, slush, bare roads and mud.  Sled has never been so dirty.  Temps were only get in the mid 30's but the sun was out taking it's toll on the trails.

Had some great trails and rides this year and only rode one Saturday.  5400 miles for the season.

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That's awesome. Hopefully some day I can have some winters like you!

7 hours ago, Mag6240 said:

Great season!  I think I have one more weekend in me, even though there's still a ton of grooming going on this and next week in N MN.  A buddy just sent me a pic of his truck up by Tower this morning with what looks like 4-5" of fresh on it, and the trail pics he sent yesterday were flat and covered with loose snow!!

2" of wet stuff here overnight. They've been grooming too so it should be a decent week left for whoever is riding with the forecast high temps.

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Unless there is another May ride possibility on the North Shore of Superior in MN, I’m pretty much done - a year I’ll most likely never replicate, 7500+ miles.
The 21 survived another season now with 11k on her…

 

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35 minutes ago, Mag6240 said:

Unless there is another May ride possibility on the North Shore of Superior in MN, I’m pretty much done - a year I’ll most likely never replicate, 7500+ miles.
The 21 survived another season now with 11k on her…

 

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That's incredible!

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I'm currently at 2200 miles riding for the season, and an unknown number of miles in the groomer. We still have a ton of snow in the woods in NW Wisconsin- almost more snow than anywhere in the upper midwest. We are continuing to groom at night and early mornings, and the trails are still holding up well. With the warm sticky snow, we have had to modify our grooming techniques to keep the snow flowing thru the drag and effectively process it. Creeks and swamps will open up and shut down some of our trails before we run out of snow. Our current plan is to continue to groom this week and if possible be open through April 2nd (longer if Mother Nature cooperates). Unlike Minnesota, we are not bound by statute to close our trails on March 31st. It is a county by county decision based on easements. 

It has been an epic season here. And it's not over yet. We're hoping to make it for 7 more days....if not more. 

 

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Edited by Ziemann
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31 minutes ago, Sled_Hed said:

This is crazy for the last week of March around here.

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It was amazingly good last weekend… all the way up to south of Grand Rapids across Pokegema - if I lived up there I’d be riding every day through Friday without worries on snow.

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I'm sitting here, kinda shaking my head at what a golden opportunity this season really was ... and I was an underachiever.  From waiting on a sled to show up, that never did in time, to busy weekends with kid activities starting in January (volleyball), to an ill timed "vacation" to Florida, and other shit.  I feel like I missed out ... hell, it's not even a feeling of missing out ... I DID miss out!  And on top of that, my purchase a couple weeks ago probably jinxed us for next season!! LOL   To those of you who had banner seasons ... congrats!! :bc:

On a somewhat related topic, I saw earlier that the primary groomer operator out of the Namakagan club resigned.  Sounds like too much "woke politics" got to him and he said enough's enough.  That sucks, and I hope he (Gene) reconsiders before next season.

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15 hours ago, Mag6240 said:

It was amazingly good last weekend… all the way up to south of Grand Rapids across Pokegema - if I lived up there I’d be riding every day through Friday without worries on snow.

If my sled wasn't down with an issue in the skid I would probably have ridden some this week. Maybe I'll take the Bearcat somewhere for lunch on Friday lol. Still a good season as far as I'm concerned. 1500 miles and the only time my sled was on the trailer was when I met the kids after school to ride. Now it's time for late ice crappies. 

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18 hours ago, Bontz said:

I'm sitting here, kinda shaking my head at what a golden opportunity this season really was ... and I was an underachiever.  From waiting on a sled to show up, that never did in time, to busy weekends with kid activities starting in January (volleyball), to an ill timed "vacation" to Florida, and other shit.  I feel like I missed out ... hell, it's not even a feeling of missing out ... I DID miss out!  And on top of that, my purchase a couple weeks ago probably jinxed us for next season!! LOL   To those of you who had banner seasons ... congrats!! :bc:

 

You should lose your man card for a Florida vacation in January.  :justcuz:

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18 hours ago, Bontz said:

I'm sitting here, kinda shaking my head at what a golden opportunity this season really was

We had a strange season (Upstate NY).
December had a nice storm but we had this weird 40 degree shortly after with rain and it was mostly gone.
January, almost nothing.
February, nothing until about the 10th and then boom, huge ass storm...then about 10 days later or the 19th-21st, we get a week of 40 degree weather. Mountain maintain some snow but local trails don't.
March was easily the best month. Had snow up until early last week.

Overall folks could ride, but you have to travel or storm chase.
Not the best year, but not terrible either.

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1 hour ago, Doug said:

You should lose your man card for a Florida vacation in January.  :justcuz:

Well, the good news is my wife didn't pull that one on me until March (last week).  But the riding was still good enough, that I could have been up north at the cabin for a few days.  The bad news is, she tries to plan this stuff every March and it's typically a time when there's still good riding to be had.

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Have to train her to plan it in April...or get lucky to have the latest spring break in MN.  Just washed my gear today.  Had a good season in and a great March.  Off to Spain with the family tomorrow so I fully expect the snow to be gone when I get back.  If not...well then I'll be washing my gear again.

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49 minutes ago, Bontz said:

Well, the good news is my wife didn't pull that one on me until March (last week).  But the riding was still good enough, that I could have been up north at the cabin for a few days.  The bad news is, she tries to plan this stuff every March and it's typically a time when there's still good riding to be had.

My wife's always been good about winter vacations and not planning any.  We have friends that spend the winter in Florida and always invite us down but my wife tells them it will never happen.  It also helps that she also rides so we do have some M & M trips in the winter.  Happy wife happy life most of the time.  This may have been a 200 mile day with her    

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The little woman is not going to ride with me, she just doesn't want to.  I did get her on the back for a few scenic miles on the North Shore out of Silver Bay this year, and managed to keep her up north for a whole week!  It actually worked out better than I expected... Probably going to make that happen 2-3 weeks a season going forward.  There are LOTS of guys I know who come and go during the week, so finding a riding partner won't be that big of a challenge.  Not that solo riding isn't fun, I just tend to ride where there are lots of miles between roads and cell service can be sketchy.  I may have posted this before, but here she is happy with where she was on a nice warm sunny day!

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Edited by Mag6240
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If I had those for boots...I wouldn't want to ride either :P

Where do you normally stay up North?  This was the first year my sled never even made it on the trailer.  Last few have been so bad locally it made me not care if I stayed home.  Next year that won't be the case.

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