Indiana sledders

[chillywilly]

Our group seems to be getting smaller and smaller over the years. In 2002 we where around 16 guys now it's around 5 guys. Many reasons including economy, kids, age and getting along with each other has really shrunk the group. Kinda looking for a new group for us to add to or new people to ride with in general. Anyone in the same situation?

 

[bonnevier]

In a similar boat over here but slightly different. Started off with like 8-10 dudes and have worked our way down to about 5-6. Some decided not to return, others opting for a golf golf trip, etc... Who am I to tell them how to spend their cash? This year with the birth of baby #3 and trying to move houses it looks like our big trip will not happen but I am not giving up on it just yet! Might try to sneak up north at some point in time.

 

[mtb1115]

Boy do I hear you brother, we used to make at least 5 or more trips a season, but now all I get are 100's of excuses....

 

[whitedust]

Boy do I hear you brother, we used to make at least 5 or more trips a season, but now all I get are 100's of excuses....

Been there done that & can't depend on other people you just have go it alone & still a lot of fun to ride if you enjoy riding. If you can hook up cool if not just do it or you too will be sitting.

 

[mustsled2]

Anyone from my neck of the woods ever want to ride give me a holler! I noticed some locals responding here.

 

[HardwaterHoosier]

Chilly-
Go to the Snow Show in Valpo this weekend, at the expo center.
The MTRC will have a booth, I'll be there a little both days. I met and rode the SB trail last year with a guy from your area.

 

[chillywilly]

Wow, a few in the same boat. I sent a couple of you who replied a Facebook friend request. Always good to be in contact with other sledders in the area. If anyone is looking to meet up and ride or let a couple of us join in with your groups let me know. Our group all live in either Indiana or Illinois. We generally take several trips a year all over. We're all 30 somethings who generally get along with everyone. Most of us have fun wherever we go. We like bars, food, strip clubs, sled shows etc. We generally do one big backpack trip per year at different locations. Last year our backpack trip we did the western U.P. in a different town each night. We usually do that in a different state each year. Almost sounds like a match.com ad...LOL

 

[chillywilly]

Chilly-
Go to the Snow Show in Valpo this weekend, at the expo center.
The MTRC will have a booth, I'll be there a little both days. I met and rode the SB trail last year with a guy from your area.

I plan being at the show Sat morning. I go to the Novi, Milwaukee and Green Bay shows alot and am wondering if it's even anything close to the size of those. If your on Facebook add me, just search Kevin Hutnick. I want to meet up with as many fellow sledheads as possible to make this a great season.

 

[blkhwkbob]

Our group has shrunk from about ten to 4 and sometimes 2. I wouldn't mind hooking up with some more riding groups, but there are so many different types of riders that it gets tricky. My sled is set up for trail riding. I don't do off trail and powder. I don't like to hang out in bars all day. I like to ride, however, I'm no longer a speed demon who has to put on 300 miles a day. Give me a solid 150 mile day, a stop for lunch and maybe a stop or two for a quick coke and warmup, and I'm happy. I also don't need a-1 top conditions to ride. If the trails are open and have snow, I ride. The season is too short to wait for ideal conditions. I also will ride anywhere there is snow. Coming from the Chicago area, and with the price of gas, I would much rather ride central Wisconsin than have to haul the sleds all the way up to the UP for a long weekend. When the snow flies, I will post in the other section, but if you think you have similar views, let me know and maybe we can hookup.

 

[mjkaliszak]

I have to agree with that. I have been through that cycle a couple ( 3 ) of times in my riding career. I can remember when I was the 14 yr old punk who's uncles owned a AC dealership. The older neighbors hated me saying I gave snowmobiling a bad name ( LOL ) OK... my parents were happy to not have the cops show up. Unfortunately... that is my destiny as a snowmobilier. We are always looking for people to ride with, it's more fun , but like whitedust said .... you just have to go otherwise you will be sitting. we have met some friends that have turned out to be some of our best friends due to this sport. What happens after 5 or 6 years is peoples priorities change, mostly due to kids & family.

 

[Snirtdawg]

Bob,
I ride with a group (4-10) out of the McHenry area. We typically go from the stateline in Richmond for evening rides to day trips all over So and Central Wi. and So W Mi. Depending on conditions, etc, we do overnight to 2-3 trips in No Wi or UP. We are between 30-50 years old and run pretty fast but safe. We can hook up when conditions are good.

 

[Cat Woman]

I guess we've been pretty lucky. When we started doing trips 10 years ago it was just me and the hubby. Our numbers slowly grew and we are usually at a solid 8 every trip, not a lot but a good number IMHO. Yea we've had people fall off the bandwagon for different reasons but we always seem to get new friends to go with... which is my favorite part, taking people up who have ditch-banged all their lives and then sharing the experience of the trails and scenery in da UP.

 

[cmharcou]

I live near Indianapolis and have started my own facebook Snowmobile Club. It started with me when I was introduced into sledding in 1997. I've been hooked ever since. We've now grown to 17 members and at least 6 of the 17 are going North this year. I welcome anyone to join the group and talk sleds, or schedule riding groups together. We live in a County that allows ATV's/Snowmobiles to ride on County Roads.

putnamsnowclub@groups.facebook.com

 

[lt250rfd]

mtb, where do you ride? from the joliet area as well.

 

[mtb1115]

mtb, where do you ride? from the joliet area as well.

I like to ride out of the Minocqua area but have camped in Boulder J, Hurley, Twin Lakes and Houghton on this side of the lake and Gaylord & Cadilac on the other when the weather mandates....

 

[lesledhead]

I use to head up north 3-4 times a season, but I'm one of the guys with excuses these days. Kids, school and the big one, money, have really cramped my riding style. Thank goodness I live on a trail, or I probably would have sold out by now. I'm in South Bend and ride everyday the trail here is open (at least when I'm home). Anyone that rides here is welcome to shoot me a line for a ride.

 

[ezra]

just my 2 cents big groups are a pain in the ***.I would rather go with 3 guys than 10 any day.
1 for tugging on each ski when burred all you need.10 guys 10x the potential for issues.3 guys 3 sleds 1 back up fit just perfect in a 4 place 3 guys can ride in comfort in a king cab pick up with 4 the back 2 suffer.come on for trail riding who would want to be the tail 3 in a 10 man pack looking at nothing but snow dust all week sounds like misery.10 guys boondocking last 6 in the pack more or less running groomed packed trail 3/4 of the time that sounds great

 

[skiroule]

From an Après-Sledding perspective (how's that for a highbrow term), larger groups can be fun and sometimes you might get tired of looking at the same couple of faces but I tend to agree with Ezra. I consider the ideal off-trail group size to be three, for the reasons he mentioned. As for trail riding, 5 or 6 is a nice number.

The makeup of the group I ride with changes from ride to ride and the number of riders present has always been quite small (4 - 6 people) but the overall group actually has expanded somewhat over the years as some new friends have come on board. What is kind of cool is that some of the new additions have been a blast to ride with.

 

[whitedust]

just my 2 cents big groups are a pain in the ***.I would rather go with 3 guys than 10 any day.
1 for tugging on each ski when burred all you need.10 guys 10x the potential for issues.3 guys 3 sleds 1 back up fit just perfect in a 4 place 3 guys can ride in comfort in a king cab pick up with 4 the back 2 suffer.come on for trail riding who would want to be the tail 3 in a 10 man pack looking at nothing but snow dust all week sounds like misery.10 guys boondocking last 6 in the pack more or less running groomed packed trail 3/4 of the time that sounds great

Amen on that! My group of big number ready for this 2 me & another guy were going north on 107 & we came up on a group of 30-50 sleds. We were like "holy moly sleds as far as we could see ahead & how the heck do we get around this mess"? I braapped the sweeper & he just moved over waved us by never slowed so I waved to my buddy time to hammer & pass so off we went in a duet rhythm in & out of soooooooo many sleds. We made sure everyone we passed knew we were there so no over corrections again just hit the faster rhythm & moved up. When we got to the middle of group it was smoke choking air mixed with snow dust just awful conditions. Don't know if someone got on chatter box but the leader stopped pulled over held the group in place & let us by. Really good leader!! We sure were happy to see that as headed to M&M in Hancock & may have been stuck in that mess until Kenton. When me & bud had lunch & we compared notes & we both thought the middle of that pack was a plain horrible enviroment. I would never ever sign up for anything like that & don't understand the attraction?

 

[hoosierblizzard]

I live north of Monticello, IN.(Indiana Beach Amusement Park). When the lake(Shaffer & Freeman-don't usually ride this one) freeze solid, I usually get on the river and ride down to them(15-20 miles top to bottom). There's 5 or 6 different eating/bar places to stop at up and down the lake, plus gas not far off of it either. Easily put on 50-100 miles without leaving the lake. More if you go into some fields and woods around it. Motels close by Monticello also. Plenty of trailer parking places also. Usually ride alone, but sometimes a couple of us get a chance to ride together(different schedules). Always willing to show sledders the area!! Thought about putting a trail system together at some point. Lack of SNOW is the reality though. I'm right in the middle of some of you identified on this thread. Keep it in mind.