indy_500
Well-known member
Anyone have plans to ride next week(end)? Have a hotel booked for Ironwood next weekend to do some trail riding. Hoping the conditions improve next week, or will be a no-go. This little warm spell isn’t going help matters either, hope it works out as we’re pumped to ride!
Figured I’d share a little Dec 1st story to get things going, still haven’t learned my lesson yet!!
Back in 2012 me and a few high school buddys were staring at the Krupps cam every day in study hall seeing the snowpack build all week leading up to the 1st. We were too young and naive to realize just because Twin Lakes has snow doesn’t mean the entire UP does. Well, we had the bright idea of going up to ride, even with a shaky forecast. We stayed at my buddys cabin in Crandon the night before to lessen the drive. We were all too pumped up to go ride, that none of us got any sleep. So at 3-4am we decided to head up and drop off in Bruce Crossing. Got there about 5am in the pitch black, with only 6” of snow on the ground and took off. Headed up 3 to Mass, hopping mud hole after mud hole after mud hole. I was the leader and it was bad, I couldn’t imagine how much worse it was following. Once we got to the grade in Mass City, heading north was a great, other than the fact it started raining! We stopped at Krupps for breakfast, and I remember talking to “the breeze” that morning who was eating breakfast there as well. Then, we headed on our way to Houghton as that was our goal. We needed gas by the time we got there, and the bridge was closed, and none of us had been to Houghton before. I recall riding bare city streets and sidewalks as a teenager trying to figure out how to find a gas station. Eventually, we filled up and headed back south. It was really pouring rain at this point and the snow was diminishing fast. When we got back to Mass, we thought hey instead of riding all those stupid mud holes again, let’s take 13 thru Rockland to Bergland and we’ll hit the grade and head back! Well, we made it 3/4 of the way to Rockland. There couldn’t have been more than 2-3” of snow on the ground there, and as you would know it, we were riding on nothing but rocks ironically. Obviously this was a bad decision and we couldn’t afford to try to go all the way to Bergland. So, we started ditchbanging and road riding due south till we ran into the Trail 8 railroad grade. We eventually hit it, and there was nothing on it but a 2 foot wide swath of a few inches of snow in the middle, with bare gravel on each side. We had about 10 miles to go to get back to Bruce like this, and we went stupidly fast to get it over with. When we got back, all 4 sets of carbides were gone, and we wrecked the skis on all 4 sleds as there was gaping holes worn right through the bottom, along with torching the hyfax as well! Definitely a memorable ride highlighting our teenage stupidity!
Figured I’d share a little Dec 1st story to get things going, still haven’t learned my lesson yet!!
Back in 2012 me and a few high school buddys were staring at the Krupps cam every day in study hall seeing the snowpack build all week leading up to the 1st. We were too young and naive to realize just because Twin Lakes has snow doesn’t mean the entire UP does. Well, we had the bright idea of going up to ride, even with a shaky forecast. We stayed at my buddys cabin in Crandon the night before to lessen the drive. We were all too pumped up to go ride, that none of us got any sleep. So at 3-4am we decided to head up and drop off in Bruce Crossing. Got there about 5am in the pitch black, with only 6” of snow on the ground and took off. Headed up 3 to Mass, hopping mud hole after mud hole after mud hole. I was the leader and it was bad, I couldn’t imagine how much worse it was following. Once we got to the grade in Mass City, heading north was a great, other than the fact it started raining! We stopped at Krupps for breakfast, and I remember talking to “the breeze” that morning who was eating breakfast there as well. Then, we headed on our way to Houghton as that was our goal. We needed gas by the time we got there, and the bridge was closed, and none of us had been to Houghton before. I recall riding bare city streets and sidewalks as a teenager trying to figure out how to find a gas station. Eventually, we filled up and headed back south. It was really pouring rain at this point and the snow was diminishing fast. When we got back to Mass, we thought hey instead of riding all those stupid mud holes again, let’s take 13 thru Rockland to Bergland and we’ll hit the grade and head back! Well, we made it 3/4 of the way to Rockland. There couldn’t have been more than 2-3” of snow on the ground there, and as you would know it, we were riding on nothing but rocks ironically. Obviously this was a bad decision and we couldn’t afford to try to go all the way to Bergland. So, we started ditchbanging and road riding due south till we ran into the Trail 8 railroad grade. We eventually hit it, and there was nothing on it but a 2 foot wide swath of a few inches of snow in the middle, with bare gravel on each side. We had about 10 miles to go to get back to Bruce like this, and we went stupidly fast to get it over with. When we got back, all 4 sets of carbides were gone, and we wrecked the skis on all 4 sleds as there was gaping holes worn right through the bottom, along with torching the hyfax as well! Definitely a memorable ride highlighting our teenage stupidity!
