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Ron, I wonder if something is wrong with your etec that is making it overheat too easily. I have two etecs and sometimes ride with a couple others who have them. 600’s and 850’s of several different years and none are overheating as easily as it sounds like you are seeing.
Icicleal, thanks for the trail updates. Sure hoping today’s weather doesn’t destroy everything.
Always sad to hear about accidents and deaths in the sport. People drive too damn fast a lot of the time, then add booze and it gets worse. It seems over the past few years it’s more and more often that someone is coming at me on my side of the trail and I have to run off the edge of the trail to avoid them.
I had no issues with lube or cooling. There was enough loose snow on the trails and even more on the lakes if you stayed out of the ice ruts.
Just hoping Thursday doesn’t wipe us out.
Ron is right about the lakes being a slushy mess on Saturday, but I rode all around on Sunday and can report that all the lakes I rode were very passable with slush frozen solid. They were better than I expected, but there are many frozen ruts that you don’t want to hit with any speed. Most of the lakes had good stretches with occasional rough spots, so if you are riding a smooth section don’t get too comfortable and be prepared for a frozen bumpy section. I rode Oxbow Lake, Spy Lake, Piseco Lake, Evergreen, Sacandaga and Lake Pleasant on Sunday.
Perkins Clearing and Tree Farm trails held up well and were good rides. Some of the woods trails are getting thin, but everything I rode was passable. Lets hope the warmup and rain that is coming doesn’t do too much damage.
Rode out to Ohio on Saturday. Tried posting a trail report from my phone on Saturday but that didn’t work so I’ll give a quick summary of what I saw.
We definitely got a decent dump of snow on Friday, to the point that you have to be careful in open areas and lakes so you don’t get stuck (ask me how I know). Plenty of snow all the way from Lake Pleasant to Ohio, including the edge of road trails which can sometimes be skanky. Be careful on the lakes – the snow is deep and there is a fair amount of slush to watch out for. It was cold enough Sat that slush spots from the previous night were frozen over and very rough riding. Some trails were not groomed yet on Saturday, but overall very good riding conditions. By Saturday evening the typical high use trails were absolutely hammered and a brutal ride. I was not able to go out on Sunday, but betting the groomers did their thing and there should be plenty of snow to work with.This week would be a great week to ride mid-week if only that four letter word (work) didn’t get in the way.
@Freestylebackcountry – not sure if you are watching this forum still, but I noticed that Wagoner Loop trail was not broken as of Saturday. I thought about giving it a run, but was alone and on a trail sled so thought better of that. You might have some fun on that one if no one has gotten to it yet.Darrin, you are adding up some pretty decent miles given the current conditions.
I wish I had more time to ride this past weekend but I had some commitments. Normally I do an early Sunday morning ride before heading home but that wasn’t in the cards either this time. Usually the groomers have hit most trails and Sunday morning traffic is typically light, so it can be some of the best weekend conditions.
It’s going to be another short season so I think I’m going to make riding a priority for the next month or so. I’m still a weekend rider, but only a few more years until I retire and can enjoy the luxury of weekday riding.
This is a bit late, but I said I would post my ride report if I got out over the weekend so here goes:
I had some chores to do on Saturday that had to be done so my riding time was limited. I did manage to sneak in a quick ~50 mile ride around Perkins clearing and the tree farm. Big brook trail to Perkins was thin and bumpy. Perkins clearing was mostly good with a couple of icy corners to watch out for. Coming out of Perkins I decided to take the hatchery brook trail to avoid the trail by Melody Lodge and Oak Mtn. It was a rough ride. Ended up making a loop around long level rd and fly creek then back up old rt 30 which was mostly good. Sacandaga and Lake Pleasant were both nice rides – did not ride any other lakes.We really need more snow to make things great, but there is decent riding out there to be found if you are willing to ride some junk to get there.
E. Emil – thanks for the report. I hope to get a ride in this weekend and will be sure to post my report here if I do.
icicleal, thanks for the information. I wish we had a bit more activity on this forum, especially when it comes to trail reports. When I am able to ride this season I will try to do my part by posting the trail conditions.
Ron, thanks for the heads up on the pressure ridges – those can be scary.
I was up over the weekend and heard a lot of sleds out. There was only a few inches of crusty base yesterday before the storm, so I resisted the urge to take a ride figuring rocks and stumps would be an issue and didn’t want to risk damaging the sled (plus it was -20 out). Lots of ice shacks and sled traffic on lake pleasant when I passed through town on my way home yesterday.
This storm should make all the difference. Let the season begin…
Almost exactly one year ago from the last post on this thread and here we are in the same situation this year.
The season gets shorter and shorter every year and the costs keep going up. Anyone in their right mind would sell out now while used powersports are selling at record high levels. Fortunately, I am not in my right mind and still love to ride…Hoping we can squeeze out at least a short season this year…
Freestyle, isn’t the Blast a smaller frame machine? Don’t know how big a guy you are, but I know I would never fit on less than a full size machine. Heck, even the original Rev chassis was a bit tight for me until the XP came out. Based on your list of sleds and past posts I see you like the low Hp boondockers. Have you thought about the 600 Ace in a Tundra or Expedition? If you don’t want 4 stroke what about the 600 EFI? That’s probably more power than you really want, but I’ve heard good things about both engines.
I think my next sled will have the 600 EFI engine; should be all the power I need. I don’t do the high miles to need 4 stroke longevity and I like the light front end of a 2 stroke.
Well, you have less than 2 weeks to decide on a spring order and it doesn’t look like dealers will have much on the floor next season. Let us know what you decide. Hell, you only live once – get the Mach! It’s only $20k!
I was close to pulling the trigger on a spring order, but the short season this year made me decide to keep my old iron another season…I still love riding, but it is getting harder to justify as prices keep going up and length of winter keeps going down.
Has anyone ridden the Lake Pleasant area over the past couple of days to comment on current trail conditions? Wondering if it’s worth trying to get in one last ride this weekend…
So, Darrin – I see in another thread that you are planning to spring order a new sled. With your miles I’m assuming you will stay with 4 stroke? Which sled are you thinking of getting?
