Have dirt, will travel...

First of all… I’m back. Sorry for the longer-than-expected delay on writing. Such is the price for having an extremely different school schedule – and trying to get ahead now, so I have more time in the winter to ride (although I don’t see what’s wrong with that!).

Anyway, there’s no snow yet here. Which allows for fall projects – including dirtwork.  And when there’s dirt piled up in berms, there’s only one thing to do: build it up a little, and then jump it on dirtbike.  Sounds safe enough, right? Of course, there are always fun little variables. Like having a 7-foot deep trench you have to clear…

Until the dirt gets pushed back, it’s good fun. Once that does happen, it’s onward to find new terrain… And continue getting everything ready for winter. Which, oddly enough, never comes too early here!

A different perspective.

shredding it on the "trainer" sled (aka the '72 model)

Every year, about this time, our snow withdrawals hit about the worst. Mostly, because it could snow any day now… but it won’t. Secondly, this is the time of year when all the sled videos have been released for the year. Monkey see, monkey (want to) do.

After that, we start looking at winter pictures to find new lines and terrain to hit. It gets so bad; in fact, that I start scoping terrain out on our dirtbike rides now… Gotta be prepared, right?

And then there’s the problem of being a growing teenager: most of my gear only lasts a season before I outgrow it. At this point, I have to choose my gear wisely – because it will most likely end up as hand-me downs for my dad (no joke!). Hopefully he likes Slednecks gear.

The end of summer. After all the work’s been done (or at least the biggest part), it’s that time. Time to tear down the sled, and getting ready for the next round of winter.

There are two sleds in our shop, my dad’s and mine. My dads has remained under its cover since the snow melted. And then mine has been torn down to the chassis, and put back together with various aftermarket parts. Not to say one way is right and the other wrong, it’s just two different styles (like you’ll see one of us go for the trees and technical terrain, and the other cornices).

So, with that said, i’ll give and update on mods… Apart from keeping my sled together (hopefully), i only got in a couple mods so far. The biggest one was a lightweight muffler – which knocked off 10 LBS. of weight. As far as smaller mods, a new taillight and a smaller top sprocket (to gear it down). Oh, and a little bit of paint – nothing fancy (i’ll try to get a couple pics up over the weekend of the somewhat final product!). We’ll see how it does this winter!

the good ol' days: shredding some deep winter pow...

It’s that time of the year. The days are the hottest, but they’re getting shorter. And shorter days mean snow.  But alas, winter’s not here yet. Looking thru the photo albums makes it worse, too… And hence this is the season of reminiscing, planning, and modding.

Modding. It’s as much a part of summer as anything else – at least for me. you’ve got 6 months that can’t ride the sled, and it’s sitting there in the shop. It’s second-best way to get a sledding fix, short of actually riding.  Plus, it’s interesting to see what changes actually have an effect on the snow. But once it’s all put back together in say, august, December seems like an awful long ways away.

Don’t get me wrong, i love the change of seasons.  But after looking thru “sledhead eye candy” (snowmobile pictures), i can’t help but wish it would skip to winter. In all honesty, i’m happy as long as i can ride. So for now, it’s on two wheels…

... but in the meantime, we still ride.

The biggest waterbar on the road to Reagan Lake.

After getting my wheels back, and taking lots of smaller rides, we finally got in a decent 50-mile ride. 

Granted, the majority of those miles were on the open road. But we did get to go clear to Reagan Lake and back around to Sawmill Canyon. None of that terrain was challenging, so we were able to just cruise for most of the time – a welcome change from the technical trails.

Probably the best part was that it was uneventful. After being out for 6 or so weeks, it was good to just ride without worries or problems. Hopefully it stays that way for a while!