I was running solo again on Wednesday and looking to rack up miles and smiles. Sometimes, being an army of one is the best, because I can chose my own path and act quickly!
Got going about 9am or so, and headed on C8 out to Cedar River Headquarters, which had received a fresh groom. So that was a nice ride out as I encountered the Parks and Rec groomer already making his return trip back to town.
Moose River Plains
Indian Lake side had some bumps, but I saw another Parks and Rec groomer doing battle out there.
Inlet side wasn’t really smooth until I encountered a pair of Inlet groomers doing tag-team battle past the Big-T. Of course, the snow conditions got thinner as I approached the Limekiln Gate.
Inlet to Eagle Bay
The trail from Moose River Plains over the top to the Inlet loop trails was the best I had seen it all season – which meant fairly good. The loop trails were nice riding, but still kind of snirty toward the Ole Barn.
Ole Barn to Gilbert Road was a snirt path with some carbide clank. Downtown Inlet to Eagle Bay was a plush, snirty ride in which the rear of the sled liked to fishtail. Kinda fun riding!
On to Old Forge
4th Lake had looked slushy and rutty, so I elected to go into Old Forge entirely via Trail 5. That trail was snirty with loads of soft bumps, but wasn’t terrible riding.
Trail 9 was pretty good, but not it’s usual awesome ride. Trail 8 was great. Bud’s Run was nice. Trail 7 was pretty good. The run up to Elise’s Lookout was probably the best shape I had seen it. But it was too crowded up there for my liking so I dropped down to Trail 6 and made the run down to Thendara, which was my first rest stop of the day after 64 miles. So I guess the riding was good up to that point:
Invasion Fo-po Land
The rails had really good coverage in Thendara, so that opened me up to the possibility of making a run toward Forestport. I opted to run Trail 6 for the bulk of the way down, which was recently groomed and a nice run toward McKeever.
C7/Railroad thru McKeever into Otter Lake had a bit of rail showing in places, but wasn’t a bad ride – save for a rather bumpy stretch less than a mile long. Once I was able to run through the railroad unscathed, I was ALL IN on doing the mega-miler!
C7C was a beautiful ride, except for one nasty water bar. Since there are a handful of folks in Fo-po Land who wouldn’t mind gutting me like a deer and leaving me in the woods to bleed out – I made my stay behind enemy lines short and sweet.
As I made the turn westward – C7C became long stretches of exceptional, almost effortless riding. Here was a glimpse of what I was riding through:
Not bad, eh? 😉
As I descended in elevation toward Boonville, the snow cover became thinner and there were some snirty and choppy sections.
I eventually ended up at C7B/Canal Path and rode it into Boonville proper, for a pretty good ride. Here’s some proof I made it into Boonville:
Leaving Boonville
After I fumbled and bumbled my way through Boonville and played Frogger to cross Route 12, I followed C7B out of town. The wooded sections were thin and choppy, but the open field riding was aces, especially where the groomer had just been:
There were a couple of confusing intersections, but I was fortunate to find riders a couple of times to confirm I was headed toward Lyons Falls.
I got up into Tug Hill a bit, and a long stretch of C7B in Turin up on the hill was a literal snowmobiling super-highway!
As I descended in elevation toward Lyons Falls, the wooded sections became seedy in spots, but the open field riding remained good. The groomers were out, but it was brown snow down in the valley:
Made it to Lyons Falls and made a pit stop at Stewart’s Shops. It was needed rest since I had been going nearly non-stop for over 100 miles at that point.
On to Brantingham
Continuing north on C7B leaving Lyons Falls became marginal riding. The wooded sections were very seedy, brown and choppy with rocks and stones to kick around. The roadsides had enough brown slush along the margins to slither by, but it was far from pretty. The open field and seasonal road riding was decent though, which kept the fun going. I would say the next thaw will shut that section down….
Once I got up to the Pine Tree Inn, I zipped over to C8B/VanArnam Road and ran that until I turned onto C8A to make the run through Confusion Flats and Stoney Lake. It was nice to see white, pristine snow on the trails again!
The run through Confusion Flats and Stoney Lake was decent riding, but had its fair share of studder bumps. The Mount Tom section was in decent to good riding shape – except for scuffed corners.
C7B/10 Mile Crossing was well worn and bumpy in places. BT Trail just plain sucked – bumpy, bumpy, bumpy! But I did encounter a Town of Webb groomer going in there to wage war on the bumps, just as I was about to reach Trail 1 – so there would be hope for Thursday’s ride in there.
The home stretch
Trail 1 and Trail 9 resulted in increasingly good riding – which was sorely needed after the brutal stretch of riding I encountered leaving Brantingham. I had gotten beaten down to the point in which I wished I was already home!
Ran back to Inlet the same way I came over Wednesday morning. Looks like Eagle Bay back to downtown Inlet had been freshly groomed.
I stopped at the Screamen Eagle, mainly to rest and take off my helmet for a while, because my ears were starting to pound from the pressure of having the helmet on virtually all day.
But since I was there, I laid waste to a basket of salt-n-pepper wings:
Then I ran home the way I came out. Was a nice ride through the Plains out to the Big-T. Then it got somewhat bumpy out to Silver Run. Indian Lake side of Plains had gotten rollers and studders again from the day’s traffic. C8 from Headquarters back to Indian Lake was bumpy in places but was far from being a terrible ride.
To end the ride on a high note, I gripped it and ripped it around the Victory Lap. Here was a gratuitous picture of S87/42nd and Broadway, just to raise some envy:
Adirondack Lake was bumpy and rough, but at least the slush has seemed to tighten up even more.
After refueling for my next ride, I rolled into the compound with a cool 226 miles:
Bottom line
I pretty much got into Terminator mode on this ride. Just racking up miles with no remorse, no fear, no pity! That doesn’t mean I rode like an out of control jackal. Nope, just means I rode, rode, and rode with very few stops. This was an old-school solo ilsnow.com mega-miler. 😉
Had a lot of fun, but I earned those miles, especially the second half of the trip! Think I’ll sleep rather soundly tonight…
So… Go out and get yours!
For the ilsnow nation,
Darrin
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