Snowmobile: Grand Lake, CO (Mar 2003)
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Saturday, March 1st:
- Left Rick's house in Parker around 6:00am
- Arrived in Grand Lake around 9:30am
- Rode 111 miles on and off the groomed trails
- Checked out of the hotel around 9:00am
- Were a little tired from day 1, so only rode 84 miles
- Loaded up and headed back to Parker around 2:00pm
- About 10 minutes into Saturday's ride, Rick bails off his sled and is dragged by 1 hand for about 5 yards. Both Mike and Rick laugh themselves to tears! The bonus is, a truck was driving past at that exact moment, so it was witnessed by a third-party!!
- Later on in the day Saturday, Mike puts his "superman" talent on display. He bails off his sled while riding in some powder and lands on his stomach (bouncing a few times of course). The bonus is, his sled kept going down the hill (at about 1 mile an hour), so Mike gets up and starts running after it. All the while, Rick is watching and laughing is butt off (tears rolling)!
- After riding for most of the day on Saturday, Rick decides to take us on some off-trail riding. Well, let's try and climb that mountain. Mike being the smart one, he only climbs half way up and turns around. Rick not having a clue, decides to push it up further. Of course the inevitable happens, Rick lets off the throttle a little (because of inexperience) and buries his sled pointing uphill. It's all fun and games until Rick steps off his sled and, poof, he sinks into the snow up to his crotch. Okay, this snow is deep! Now things don't look good. Mike sees this idiotic move and comes up to help (leaving his sled pointing uphill).
After 20 minutes of digging and lifting Rick's sled in hip deep snow and at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, we finally got it turned and pointed downhill and into the track he made coming up. Alright, we're okay. Rick's sled is out and on some hardpack. Well....Mike tries to get his sled moving (pointing uphill, mind you) and buries the track about 3 feet deep in the snow. Alright, we're not okay!
Realizing we only have about an hour of daylight left, we better get off this mountain. So, after another 15 minutes of digging and lifting Mike's sled (at 10,000 feet elevation), we finally got it pointing downhill and into the track he made. Alright, we should be okay now! With each of us standing next to our sled, we ease the throttles and get them going. Once they're going and moving DOWN the hill, we jump on and punch the throttle.
Woohoo!!! We ride off that mountain of snow, have a good laugh and decide "it's Miller time"!
The moral of all this is....Mike and Rick need new sleds! And more experience!!! - Riding 200+ miles on and off some kick-ass trails! It's always a highlight to ride!!!