Three inches of fresh snow Saturday night and a 30 degree Sunday afternoon got Darrin Jr and I out for a late weekend vulture run.
Indian Lake inner village trails were in good shape while we ran over to Route 30 One Stop to fuel up. S86A/Little Canada and S87/42nd and Broadway were in mint condition.
Darrin Jr was getting tired of running S84/Blue Mountain trail so we decided to try C8 out to Cedar River Headquarters. Realistically, I thought we would just bang our way out as far as Deer Valley parking lot then turn around and call it an afternoon.
But it was a sweet ride all the way out to Headquarters, aside from the customary weekend corner scuff. Here’s what C8 looked like near Deer Valley parking lot:
For a Sunday afternoon, it was insanely awesome! It would have passed for good midweek riding.
By the time we got to Headquarters, even Darrin Jr was still all smiles on the Ole Formula S:
Moose River Plains from Headquarters to Silver Run was loaded with long-wave, low-amplitude rollers and several whoppers thrown in there. But it was still a decent ride through there, a far cry better than what I would expect after Presidents’ Week.
Silver Run to Red River-T was a bit ripply until we encountered the Inlet groomer. Both the Big-T and Red River-T dead-enders were soft and plushy rides with plenty of fresh powder to track through. Here we were at the end of Red River-T dead-ender:
After our trip into Red River-T dead-ender, we headed back for home base. The Inlet side was in sweet shape all the way back to Silver Run. The corner scuff on C8 back to Indian Lake village was a bit more prevalent by late afternoon. After we did the customary “victory lap,” we rolled back to the compound with 90 miles spun off. Far be it from a vulture ride, some of it resembled prime mid week riding!
Midweek Outlook:
You almost don’t need me reporting the conditions anymore. Once the groomers make their mid-week runs, the riding will be awesome! Low traffic and cold temperatures will preserve the riding base as we head into the back 9 of winter. The strong late February sun was a subtle reminder that more winter is behind us than ahead of us. But I think some of the very best riding will occur in the next few weeks as we head into March.
So get up here and ride! The crowds are gone and you might have the trails virtually to yourself.
Maybe long after Darrin Jr leaves the house, he’ll remember the great time we had today:
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
