Any funny riding stories???

[freezinbevr]

Kill Switch!

How many times has that little red toggle thing on the right side of the bars kept the sled from starting??

I know for me, at least a few times. Then the ol' girl is flooded and really won't start.

At the Adventure Motel in Mass about ten years ago, my brother wanted to run new sled up the bank in the lot. Thank God he was slipping so bad at the top, because there was a truck and trailer parked on the other side. We walked to Tygs for a nightcap after he changed his drawers.

 

[frnash]

… we were thinking froze carbs.

Maybe you can get a friendly A&P (aircraft wrencher) to cobble up a carb heater for ya!

 

[famousguy]

Early 90's. Crossing the ice on Lake Huron. It was glare ice, not a speck of snow. None of us had studs, so it was slow going. We stopped and decided to take a break right on the ice, and wait for Dad who was heading up the rear. He was way back, but as we were standing there, we could hear his sled coming in the distance and see him far back. When we were not looking, we heard this terrible noise, and thought what in the world is that? Turned to look, and here comes Dad sliding across that glare ice, and his sled upside down on it's roof scraping right along next to him.

 

[jroz]

In the late 80's, I was riding my '78 Exciter 440, and nearly totalled it twice. The first time it was on Beaver Dam Lake in Cumberland, Wi. We were heading across it at 75 mph and didn't realize the plowed road at the corner by the campground. How that came down on 2 pts, let alone 3, is miraculous. Later that year, I had a ski on ski head on collision with my brother's 81 SRX. My sled stopped dead, and I flew down the trail about 40 feet. I did a perfect flip, broke my glasses, and pushed in the bellypan a foot on the left side. Not a scratch to the SRX. "Note to self: don't race back, especially over hills, to see where the people behind you are."

 

[wak]

A few years ago we were going to northern wisconsin from Minneapolis on 35 north somewhere around Moose lake there is a BUMP sign. Until that day I never slowed down for "bumps". I hit that "bump" and the borrowed 4 place trailer that I was towing came off the hitch and was holding on by the safety cables. There were 3 brand new sleds and one older one on the trailer. Until I hit the "bump" the owners of these sleds were quietly sleeping in my truck, now they were all yelling driving instructions as the trailer swayed back and forth in the highway. Every time I hit the brakes the trailer would hit the truck. The truck was in the right lane and the trailer split it's time either in the left lane, the right lane, or the shoulder. The last time the trailer hit the truck I gently hit the brakes and took the rest area exit. The whole incident covered over a mile of highway. No other vehicles were involved. When we came to a stop there was only one safety chain left on the trailer. We tightened up the coupler and drove another 100 miles or so stopping by the nearest dealer to buy another safety chain for the trailer.

This story is not "ha ha" funny but is funny because we were extremely lucky. no one got hurt, no sleds were damaged. The only real damage was the trailer lost some aluminum off of the tongue.

WAK

 

[srt20]

About 8 or so years ago, me a 2 buddies were up in St. Germain. We had rode there from Minoqua. It was around midnight, on a fairly warm night. Lot of people outside on the porch of whatever bar we were just at. We were drinking. We went to leave and I was hitting the snowplow berms on each side of the road at about 15 mph. Musta hit the berm wrong and having a few beers didnt help, and I rolled the sled right in front of the bar and about 20 people standing outside. Sled stayed upside down, so of course it took me prolly 3 mins to get it restarted, all the while everyone is watching and laughing at me. Finally it started I hop on and the handlebars are bent pretty bad. I didnt care I just wanted to get outta there.

Let that be a lesson, ALCOHOL and sledding dont mix.

 

[sleddindoo09]

Ok, two stories:

Dec. 2007, I had recently purchased my first sled ('06 F7) and one morning my buddy Joe and I unloaded the sleds preparing for my first ride. I had been talking smack since I bought my sled because Joe was on a "little 600". Right before we take off from the trail head Joe tells me he'll wait for me at the first stop sign to let me "catch up". Joe takes off and I am right behind him...for about 60 yards when my sled slowly comes to a stop?? Engine is still running, sounds good, throttle response is good, but the sled won't move. I shut the sled off and re-start it a couple of times, lift the hood trying to figure out why my brand new sled won't move. Joe comes back about ten minutes later with tears in his eyes from laughing so hard and asks "whats wrong...700 couldn't keep up?" I'm freakin' out at this point that my sled is broken when Joe steps off his sled, walks over to mine and squeezes the brake lever releasing the parking brake! Joe looked at me and said "don't go talkin' smack until you learn how to ride it".

#2: Last weekend, hoffmansledder and I trailered up to Gaylord for a weekend of riding. Pull into the hotel parking lot and Brian jumps out to get us checked in only to find out the side door to the hotel is locked. He turns around, and as he is jogging back towards the truck, suddenly disappears as he wipes-out in the deep snow just a couple of feet from the truck. He crawls into the truck cussing, covered in snow, and I am cracking up. Well, 30 min. later, we are unloading the sleds and I am trying to bust through some deep pow in the parking lot before I had given the sled time to warm up (still wearing street clothes). The sled "coughed" just enough to send my momentum forward causing me to accidentally hit the kill switch. I end up going over the handlebars and rolling down the hood and land in the snow in front of the sled. I was wearing a black fleece, black fleece hat and black pants. I was covered from head to toe and Brian said I looked like a big white Q-tip standing up out of the pow as he was laughing hysterically.
We both had a blast, and got a couple of laughs out of it too.

 

[ubee]

Got a friend who bought a resort up here in the late 60's, he bought one of the first evinrudes with the big bread box on the back that could hold a case of beer!In those days a 20 mile ride was a trip! One very cold -0 night about 10 sleds tried to venture from boulder junction to lando-lakes via lakes and old hwyB. After a few pit stops to change belts and plugs and have a beer the sleds started dropping like flies as temp went lower. My buddys sled quit and nobody missed him. He tried getting it going for a few minutes then started walking towards nearest road ,No trails then, he went a little ways and light bulb went on that carb might be froze, turned back ,took a whizz on carb and it started right up!! he made the mistake of telling everybody how he got her fired up and running and still pays the price!!

 

[snow_monkey]

Funny wak! I ride poo and my buds ride cats. 2 years ago on an early season ride the ground was not froze and she ended up with chunks of sod on her hood from following behind me. We originally called her sled the ditch pickle. We renamed it the turf pickle after that ride. This weekend we ripped near some farms with lots of cows. When we got home there was lots of stuff on my buddies hood and it did not look like turf, therefore his new name the s--t pickle,(off to the quarter car wash we go.)

 

[skutr]

Last year a buddy of mine & me were out for a ride one evening. I was riding my wifes two-up because mine wasn't running right. The trail ran right next to the highway and there was a driveway to some farmers field. This driveway has just the right slope for getting some air. You don't get a lot of height, but you get A LOT of distance and I decided to see how far I could go.

The only problem was that I was (a) riding a two-up sled and (b) coming from the other direction. I forgot that the opposite side was pretty steep.

I launched and just kept going UP, until the front of the sled turned over and my a-- came off the seat. Somehow I managed to sit down as far back as I could and came in for a rather smooth (almost flat) landing.

My buddy said that all he saw was my tail light going up-up-up and he didn't think it was possible to get a two-up that far off the ground for that long.

Shhhhh - don't tell my wife.

 

[Skidooski]

Living in MN, it was the year of the Holloween snow storm, tons of snow. I get my first new sled delivered to my front door. I come home from work at lunch and move the sled to the back yard and go back to work. I get home from work that evening, eat supper and tell the wife I'm going for a little ride on my new sled. I fire the thing, move about 20 feet and I bury it. I spend about 30 to 45 minutes trying to get out of the back yard and I finally get the sled back to the front of the house. I'm now totally exhausted and sweating my butt off. I go into the house to get a drink of water and catch my breathe and the wife asks me, "How was the ride?" I was about to sell the sled right then and there.

 

[doo_dr]

15 years ago my family was heading to northern WI from the Millwaukee area. Suburban filled with x-mas gifts, clothes, and the five of us. We had a enclosed 4 place filled with sleds and gear. Not having any more room we rigged a hanging clothes pole down the center of the trailer so our clothes would be hanging between the sleds. Got on the interstate and cranked it up to 60 when all He!! broke loose. The trailer started to sway back and forth. Then it started swaying the suburban back and forth. Then the trailer and truck proceded to take up both lanes and shoulders as the entire rig started swaying all over. After slowly letting off the gas and bringing it under control I saw that I had nearly taken out the car in the fast lane. When we pulled over the car stopped with us. The guy driving the car told me that he could see the trailer tires, and the rear tires of the suburban come off the ground everytime it swerved back. When we started looking things over to find out why it was swaying we found that our hanging clothes (maybe 20lbs worth of hanging gear) could sway back and forth enough to create this turmoil. It was one wild ride that none of us will ever forget!!! NOT a Riding Story but had sleds in it!!!

 

[bearrassler]

Back in the early 80's a bunch of us where riding in NW MN, we stopped at a little store to get some gas and something to eat and drink, one of the guys had a 78 TXL and was going to spin it around by the gas pump, an older guy was filling his pickup with gas and the track on the TXL hooked up and the sled rammed the pickup about a foot from the guy pumping gas.

 

[doo_dr]

I was thinking all day about funny things that happened while riding. I remembered about a trip we took in northern MN in the mid 80's. A older friend (he was 50 at the time) and I were boondocking a power line when we came across a shallow/wide creek. It had steep 3-4' banks but the water was only 12" deep. I found a spot that I could get down to the creek and then hit the throttle to skip to the other side. The other bank was steep so when I hit it I let off so I won't "auger in". I barely made it up the other side. My friend had a older Polaris (TXC) with the cleated track. He really taped the throttle all the way across the creek and didn't let up when he hit the bank. The cleated track must have locked into the dirt and rocks because he launched out of creek bottom and jumped my sled that was 15-20' from the bank. I would have guessed him to be 15' in the air with a leaf spring suspension. He stayed on and when he landed he bent the running boards straight down. Then he fell off!!! I was so amazed at what had just happened I just stood there with my mouth wide open. He was OK but really ticked that we had to beat his running boards back up with an old fence post. It didn't look very nice when we were done but we got home!!!

Have a great night. I'm going home to hug my wife!!!

 

[oldguy]

Back in the late 1970’s, it was more socially acceptable to have a few alcoholic beverages along for the ride. One night we faced a horrible dilemma. I had a newer liquid cooled sled, a 1978 El Tigre. Back then, they really didn’t have the whole liquid cooled thing figured out. The El Tigre developed a small coolant leak. We were faced with the decision, fill it up with Peppermint Schnapps or use the more organic way, peeing into the radiator cap. Of course we elected to try the peeing thing. The girls obviously said no way. But us real men stood and let the fluids fly. The problem was, it was dark, real cold and we normally have a hard time hitting the toilet at home. My sled was a mess after the third guy. Needless to say we did use up the Schnapps and made it back home.

I didn’t see Peppermint Schnapps on the thread that asked what you bring along sledding, so I guess the liquid cooled thing is a lot more dependable.

 

[jake]

Lake Gogebic, MI 2007

Sleds were parked for the night. We were staying on the east side of Lake Gogebic not far from the Root Cellar. We had a "great" idea to fire up Da Beast (see picture) and drive it across Lake Gogebic for a night cap at The Lodge.

Our journey began around 10:00 p.m.

15 minutes later Da Beast sat in the middle of Lake Gogebic with a blown transmission. Without boring you with the details, we towed it with another truck across the lake to The Lodge after getting stuck countless times. Then, we kept towing it around the south side of the lake, via the road of course, for a wild ride...glad I wasn't driving.

We got back to the cabin around 4:00 a.m. So much for a night cap, but I can laugh about it now. I still laugh everytime I look at this picture and see my buddy wearing a vintage helmet that's about four sizes too small for his head!

 

[votivator]

I had invited some friends and my brother in law up for a weekend of sledding. My brother in law never was on a sled before so he brought up the rear. After some quick instruction we took off and after a few miles I stopped to take roll call. He was no where to be found. It turns out that when some other sledders passed by giving the hand signals he turned around and followed them thinking they were part of our group. I had to go find him.
We proceeded and hit an icy corner. He thought that he should lean the opposite direction like a motorcycle racer he saw on TV and fell off the sled sending the sled to the woods and denting a bumper. Needless to say we went to the next watering hole where he spent the rest of the day enduring the endless jokes from the rest of the group.

 

[t_man]

Lost Grandma

My family's favorite story involves my grandparents. It was the early 70's and they were sledding with a group of friends in northern MN. There were something like 5-6 sleds in total. My grandfather was driving the 440 Panther with my grandmother behind in a Cat Cutter. For those who may not be familiar, this is a trailer on skis that was towed behind the sled.

Anyway, they all stop for a picnic with hot cider somewhere in the remote woods. After the picnic, the group loaded back up and took off with my grandfather bringing up the rear. Note my grandfather, not my grandmother! Somehow during the stop the hitch pin worked itself loose so when everyone took off my grandmother remained behind in the cutter.

My grandfather (and everyone else) apparently didn't notice the absence for approximately 45 minutes! After another 45 minutes they finally made it back to the picnic spot to find my grandmother doing just fine on her own. It just so happened that the picnic basket and thermoses of cider were in the cutter with her. She was wrapped in a blanket and enjoying the solitude. She was a good sport about it but, as you can imagine, my (now 97 year old) grandfather hears about this to this day.

 

[firez10]

There are several that I can think of but I'll just share two for now.

My father was a Service Manager for an Olds dealership in Alpena. When I was about six I was up to Alpena to stay for Christmas /my father and step mother. Dad had a couple of 1973 El Tigre 340's, a Cross Country, and a Pantera for my Step mom all at the dealership. We went to pick them up and load them on his old four place trailer. It was about 6:00 pm, and dark. He loaded the Cross Country and Pantera first w/no problem. Loaded on El tigre w/no problem then went back to get the other one. The truck was parked at an angle and he was loading on the right rear side of trailer. He give it some throttle and it stuck just as he was getting to the trailer, he pinned it hoping it would break loose and shot up the trailer clearing the Pantera in the front and just missing the truck and landing on the side of the sled. I was scared being only 6 but when he got up and brushed himself off, everyone watching started clapping. Come to find out the throttle cable had frayed inside the coating and it stuck when he gave it gas.

Another funny one was when we were at our place at Houghton Lake
during Tip-Up-Town. I was probably 8 or 9 yrs old riding on the back of my cousins early 70's model Mercury. You know, the big black beast w/dual headlights that had a seat that was 2 foot wide and lifted up for storage. Well, he had about $100.00 worth of his fathers tools under the seat. We had just pulled onto a little road that was icy and he started to fish tail back and forth when the sled caught some hard pack and got traction, we shot up the bank on the side of road and the sled barrel rolled into about 4 foot of powder, windshield down. He threw me off and I landed in the road on my rear and when i hit, my helmut shot off my head like a cannon and slid down the road like a hockey puck for at least 100 ft or more. My brother in front of us stopped and my helmut passed him, he was laughing so hard he fell of his sled. We looked in that snow for at least an hour trying to find all the sockets and wrenches that were lost. I found most of them the next spring after the snow melted.

 

[rmk4ever]

About 15 yrs ago we were spending the week in wautoma (spelling?) We were riding one night when the temp was 10 below, We stop in wild rose for dinner & libations, my buddy takes off with this girl for about 1 hr towards the end of the night (for some strange) He returns & now the bar is closing, but I can't find my helmet, he says yeah I grabbed it than realized it was not his. So the yelling starts while were standing in front of the sleds warming up. Then it becomes an all out fist fight, fat lips, black eyes & all. The bartender comes out the back door where we are parked & yells somebody missing a helmet? It was at this exact moment we realized there was a county sheriff watching all this, in the warmth of his cruizer, we looked at him & he just shook his head. Went & got my helmet & off we went, lost as all get out! took more then 2 hrs to get home! We were sore for 2 days after that!
That storry comes up every time I ride with him!!! & we are still the best of friends!