Amateur Event - as advertised....

[fusion]

Trail 10 just west of Sayner at exactly 1 PM last Saturday, as discussed with Groomerdriver, this is what u get between Christmas and New Years.
Came in to a 90 degree corner totally in control and on my RIGHT side...looked to my left as I cleared the tree's and saw a guy coming right at me at about 40-50 MPH.
Something told me to STOP as opposed to rolling right into the corner like I normally do. I sat and watched this guy slide right thru the turn, coming directly at me...he had bad carbides or just going too fast, an '05 Polaris XC - silver, he started toward me and about 15 feet away he decided to take to the woods to my right.
He managed to keep it out of the trees and ended up going the same direction as me in an open clearing about 25 ft away.
But the fun wasn't over - here comes the next person in the group, a woman on another Polaris - same path..following him at the same speed. Took the same evasive and ended up broadsiding him with her ski's locked under the side of his sled.
The problem was, the trail leading into this washed out, icy corner was flat and very fast, so they didn't expect it.
I just thanked my lucky stars and continued on without talking to them to see if they were OK. I prefer to mutter into the shield of my helmet.
Total amateur hour - hour after hour.

 

[polarismike]

Yep, you definitely have to be on your game especially on the weekends. I do not understand what the hurry is all the time while out on a sled? I think alot of people equate the amount of miles you put on in a day to how much fun you are having. This could not be further from the truth. If you cannot react to a corner then you are going too fast! Slow and steady wins the race. We did one of those Decker tours one year up in Canada and right off the bat you had all these guys that thought they were all that and going to be riding fast all week. They would take off flying all over the place and next thing you know you are coming up on them down in a gulley stuck or with bent spindles and A-arms from hitting stumps etc.. Those guys cost me hours of screwing around cause you had to stop and help them cause they were part of the group. If I didn't have to stop and help them I would have been miles ahead riding much slower. I wonder how many sleds hit groomers that you don't hear about on blind corners going too fast? Save the speed for the straights and lakes and slow down on the twistys. It is supposed to be fun and a vacation.

 

[snobuilder]

Yes....and sharp carbides are always helpful.
I sharpen my own on a diamond wheel with a jig.

I always say sharp bides is way more important than picks with todays bigger lugged tracks.

 

[halfpint]

Hey Snobuilder, how'd you go about making that jig? if you don't mind telling.

 

[Deleted member 10829]

The problem was, the trail leading into this washed out, icy corner was flat and very fast, so they didn't expect it.

Could it have been a sign issue that also contributed?

 

[russholio]

Trail 10 just west of Sayner at exactly 1 PM last Saturday, as discussed with Groomerdriver, this is what u get between Christmas and New Years.
Came in to a 90 degree corner totally in control and on my RIGHT side...looked to my left as I cleared the tree's and saw a guy coming right at me at about 40-50 MPH.
Something told me to STOP as opposed to rolling right into the corner like I normally do. I sat and watched this guy slide right thru the turn, coming directly at me...he had bad carbides or just going too fast, an '05 Polaris XC - silver, he started toward me and about 15 feet away he decided to take to the woods to my right.
He managed to keep it out of the trees and ended up going the same direction as me in an open clearing about 25 ft away.
But the fun wasn't over - here comes the next person in the group, a woman on another Polaris - same path..following him at the same speed. Took the same evasive and ended up broadsiding him with her ski's locked under the side of his sled.
The problem was, the trail leading into this washed out, icy corner was flat and very fast, so they didn't expect it.
I just thanked my lucky stars and continued on without talking to them to see if they were OK. I prefer to mutter into the shield of my helmet.
Total amateur hour - hour after hour.

Precisely why I don't ride on weekends. I'm lucky to have that option, I know most people don't.

 

[whitedust]

Yep you get all puckered up on the seat when that happens. Me I stop see if I can help pull sled out settle people down. Same thing happned to me awhile back 1 rider hit a tree flew over the bars just missed doing a header in trees. Turned out to be good looking blonde lady shaking lake a leaf almost crying in my arms when hubby back tracked to find her. To me he was a bit of an ahole & was more pissed about the sled than condition of his wife.

Another time big fat kid fell off pogo stick Yamaha right there in front of me so veered into the pickers on left side ...my a$$ took a bite out of the seat on the one. lol Jumped off my sled went back dusted the kid off aok. IMO no way he should have been riding that sled pitching back & forth he was just to heavy for that sled. Met his Dad a mile down the trail told him his kid was aok but took a spill so watch him. Dad was NOT happy with the kid..... me stuff happens just happy I didn't hit the kid.

 

[Banjo Man]

That's the main thing no one got hurt. Iron can be replaced. 2 years ago my brother in law slid off the trail and tagged a tree right between the skis just east of Paulding (On my sled) After I heard him yell f#*k, I knew he was alright and I just started laughing. After we dug the sled out he we were able to drive it back home. Only thing hurt on him was his pride, sled hurt a little more.

 

[xsledder]

Trail 10 just west of Sayner at exactly 1 PM last Saturday, as discussed with Groomerdriver, this is what u get between Christmas and New Years.
Came in to a 90 degree corner totally in control and on my RIGHT side...looked to my left as I cleared the tree's and saw a guy coming right at me at about 40-50 MPH.
Something told me to STOP as opposed to rolling right into the corner like I normally do. I sat and watched this guy slide right thru the turn, coming directly at me...he had bad carbides or just going too fast, an '05 Polaris XC - silver, he started toward me and about 15 feet away he decided to take to the woods to my right.
He managed to keep it out of the trees and ended up going the same direction as me in an open clearing about 25 ft away.
But the fun wasn't over - here comes the next person in the group, a woman on another Polaris - same path..following him at the same speed. Took the same evasive and ended up broadsiding him with her ski's locked under the side of his sled.
The problem was, the trail leading into this washed out, icy corner was flat and very fast, so they didn't expect it.
I just thanked my lucky stars and continued on without talking to them to see if they were OK. I prefer to mutter into the shield of my helmet.
Total amateur hour - hour after hour.

I know that sled. My family and I where west of US 51 on Trail 10 returning from Pope's when he came upon our group. He almost hit my wife and I on the 2-up. We were the lead sled and I had to drove up on an embankment for him to miss my wife and I by inches. The girl came to a stop but didn't have much control of her sled. The last guy in their group got a ear full from me about the jerk on the silver Polaris.

 

[POLARISDAN]

no way I don't check on them to see if ok..just so I can give him a f'in earful..

- - - Updated - - -

Could it have been a sign issue that also contributed?

hahahahahhaha...no way, eh?

- - - Updated - - -

Could it have been a sign issue that also contributed?

rode bayfield last week, trails signed excellently..except for towns, bars, and miles(guess they cant advertise in the forest)

 

[russholio]

Could it have been a sign issue that also contributed?

If it was, it had to be that there were too many signs, forcing the riders to ride sign-to-sign. Everybody knows that if there are no warning signs, all riders will naturally slow down and ride within their abilities and within the given conditions.

 

[fusion]

I know that sled. My family and I where west of US 51 on Trail 10 returning from Pope's when he came upon our group. He almost hit my wife and I on the 2-up. We were the lead sled and I had to drove up on an embankment for him to miss my wife and I by inches. The girl came to a stop but didn't have much control of her sled. The last guy in their group got a ear full from me about the jerk on the silver Polaris.

Figures - they were a group of about 5-6 if memory serves. When I finally turned, the back couple of sleds were quite a bit behind the front two and I signaled them to slow down.
I personally think it was a combination of speed and bad carbides, because early in the day on Sat., the corners were still holding pretty good, but I have 6" shimmed triple points on the Vector and with that ski pressure they bite big time in 95% of corners. But he would clearly have had better control with a good carbide, as I saw him just slide sideways with zero bite, no matter what he tried, and I saw him try several corrections with no effect.

And I agree with the previous post that said carbides are more important than studding. These new sleds really hook up on the back end in most conditions. This is what the dealers have been telling me, but I didn't believe them. Now I do after riding last week. Both my Vector and Rush have no studs for 1st time ever, no sleds with studs and they handled beautifully. Rush not so good holding corners on stock carbides, but triple points will fix that soon. By the way, that Rush is a totally AMAZING sled. What a F'n machine. I call it the cloud for its great ride. Has a bit of inside ski lift I need to tune out, but other than that, amazing. 15.9 MPG on break in gas.

 

[xsledder]

Figures - they were a group of about 5-6 if memory serves. When I finally turned, the back couple of sleds were quite a bit behind the front two and I signaled them to slow down.
I personally think it was a combination of speed and bad carbides, because early in the day on Sat., the corners were still holding pretty good, but I have 6" shimmed triple points on the Vector and with that ski pressure they bite big time in 95% of corners. But he would clearly have had better control with a good carbide, as I saw him just slide sideways with zero bite, no matter what he tried, and I saw him try several corrections with no effect.

And I agree with the previous post that said carbides are more important than studding. These new sleds really hook up on the back end in most conditions. This is what the dealers have been telling me, but I didn't believe them. Now I do after riding last week. Both my Vector and Rush have no studs for 1st time ever, no sleds with studs and they handled beautifully. Rush not so good holding corners on stock carbides, but triple points will fix that soon. By the way, that Rush is a totally AMAZING sled. What a F'n machine. I call it the cloud for its great ride. Has a bit of inside ski lift I need to tune out, but other than that, amazing. 15.9 MPG on break in gas.

Yes, I counted six sleds. The first three were moving pretty good but I came across them in the straights and they were all the way to the right side of the trail, no issues. The next two where the Polaris and the girl. The last one was a younger guy who was assigned to watch the other two. It looked like the first three where driving above the guy on the Polaris ability and he couldn't keep up. The whole group needed to slow down to match the ability of the weakest rider.

 

[snobuilder]

Hey Snobuilder, how'd you go about making that jig? if you don't mind telling.

I made a few and sold them at swap meets. All parts were available @ a large hdw. store including the 1/2" ID oilite bushings,
and 5/8" ID tubing, flat stock, etc.