Less sledding buddies to ride with

handyandy

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I sold my sled in 2017 when I started my steam truck business and between that, wife and new baby I can't justify it anymore. Doesn't help that oil Industry has been completely dead in SW sask the last couple years and 4 years of drought on the farm makes buying $20000 sled so I can spend $1000 on fuel and hotel for 2 or 3 days seem foolish. Sure miss it though
 

tundra twin track

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Still ride with a few of the same guys from 1986-1993 but quite a few don’t ride anymore.I try to get 20 days in the mountains each winter,a lot of us travel alone or maybe 2 guys in a truck.I never thought back then I would travel a 1000 km to go sledding.
 

Couch

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Keep riding.
Buy used - let some schmuck take the depreciation hit. I don't need newest / greatest even though I can afford it.
Stay in reasonable shape.
Troll the parking lots when alone and ask to tag along ....often times you'll end up being the guide and maybe find a few new riding buddies to add to your list.
Had to do that a few times last year as my buddy was out with shoulder surgery ...now have a few more suitable names to add as a third / fourth for this season....

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drew562

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Need to set up a 50+ sled friend/group finder on here, getting very hard to connect with similar aged like minded people to ride with anymore!
Good idea. 50+ here also. Need some new sledding buddies. But … I snore in the whole hotel. Not just in the room. Flatulence often happens around me. Nobody likes to ride in a truck
with me even if they are saving money. Lol
 

rknight111

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I have also found many of my friends that used to ride have toned it town to only a few rides per year or have stopped sledding in general. The days of 4 in a truck pulling a 4 placed enclosed have extinguished. I meet up with several people on this site to go riding. I do find that as I like to go as many weekends as possible my friends cant or can only go for one day, thats gets tough leaving at 4 am riding all day then driving for 5 1/2 hours home. Need to go for the saturday then sunday til 2-3 pm rides to make it worthwhile. Looking forward to a good year and hooking up with many of you this season. Don’t forget i have restrictions as my entire right side has remained numb and my hand is stiff. But can still sled good, well i hope i do.
 

tundra twin track

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I have also found many of my friends that used to ride have toned it town to only a few rides per year or have stopped sledding in general. The days of 4 in a truck pulling a 4 placed enclosed have extinguished. I meet up with several people on this site to go riding. I do find that as I like to go as many weekends as possible my friends cant or can only go for one day, thats gets tough leaving at 4 am riding all day then driving for 5 1/2 hours home. Need to go for the saturday then sunday til 2-3 pm rides to make it worthwhile. Looking forward to a good year and hooking up with many of you this season. Don’t forget i have restrictions as my entire right side has remained numb and my hand is stiff. But can still sled good, well i hope i do.
I hope your condition improves Ron,those days of drive and ride are long gone for me.I do leave early around 5 am when go to Seymour it’s nearly a 1000 km from my farm.We usually ride for 5 days on those trips
 

brian h

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Truthfully, I am starting to see/feel the same.

With my work shift, and being away from home for 8 days, I have been struggling with the idea to leave my family on my days off to go sledding. It’s also harder to hook up with locals in my town due to their work shift being the opposite of mine. If It was not for this site, and making connections, my sled trips would be a lot less as well.
Hopefully it snows lots this year to rejuvenate the stoke for it, I only have 335miles on my G5.


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We can always message you when we are going since we drive right past your residence. Might give you more opportunity to ride
 

tmo1620

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Ya seems to be the way of the road these days. Liberal and social media hell for the last 8 years and counting so it was expected. I used to ride about 8-10 trips a year, with 3-4 different groups of guys. I get tons of days off so I was always able to make multiple groups trips. Had a group from Sask, a group of work mates, a group of younger guys that grew up with my younger siblings and my usual riding group. Now the guys from Sask have all quit mountain riding, everyone at work quit riding the hills, the younger group is all doing the kids and marriage thing now, also the younger generation’s wives let them do sweet f all as far as hobbies go so they’re done. And my usual group is down to about 3-4 of us on average but only 4-5 trips a year. Costs being high stopped the Sask boys, just not worth it, work guys got too old, and cost is what’s shrinking and slowing down our usual group. Totally worth it on good snow trips but seasons like last year really make it a hard pill to swallow. 2/11 days last year were good, the rest were meh . Hoping for more days and deep snow this year. Maybe learn to ride this French sled better…..


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Turts

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I find times are changing and there certainly is less of my friends around that ride. When I first moved to Sparwood in 96 due to a transfer with Finning there must of been over a dozen coworkers that rode sleds. Most of us were on 5x2 so were available to ride every weekend. Going up Coal creek was certainly an adventure. The pipeline was even scary on my big 440 indy sport. Almost 30 years later people have moved on or just got old or just got out of the sport. I am down to just a few guys that wanna ride and has kept up with the newer sleds. If I loose those guys that won't be good. What's it like for the rest of the S&m peeps??
I agree Randy and I think the increased costs for a weekend trip are making it hard for some folks to get out as much as they used to. I’ve moved a couple times over the last few years and have ridden with some new crews. Hard to find a group that everybody has the same values.
 

snochuk

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I have also found many of my friends that used to ride have toned it town to only a few rides per year or have stopped sledding in general. The days of 4 in a truck pulling a 4 placed enclosed have extinguished. I meet up with several people on this site to go riding. I do find that as I like to go as many weekends as possible my friends cant or can only go for one day, thats gets tough leaving at 4 am riding all day then driving for 5 1/2 hours home. Need to go for the saturday then sunday til 2-3 pm rides to make it worthwhile. Looking forward to a good year and hooking up with many of you this season. Don’t forget i have restrictions as my entire right side has remained numb and my hand is stiff. But can still sled good, well i hope i do.
I rode with you many years ago, last year and would ride with you again.
I'm not planning on giving up for a while yet.
You hold your own regardless of what you have gone through. Group trips keep cost down for sure.

I have made some new friends by going with people looking for riding partners.
Lots of good peps to team up with.
Age smage, just keep givener!
 

SnowJunkie82

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Sledding is a boarder line obsession of mine! Complete obsession if you ask my wife! 1st prize is tree riding in the steep and deep, but still happy to bang ditches or trail ride with the kids. I am still fortunate to have a good core group to ride with.

The cost of the sport puts it out of reach for some. Especially if your trying to equip the whole family.
 

Caper11

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I rode with you many years ago, last year and would ride with you again.
I'm not planning on giving up for a while yet.
You hold your own regardless of what you have gone through. Group trips keep cost down for sure.

I have made some new friends by going with people looking for riding partners.
Lots of good peps to team up with.
Age smage, just keep givener!

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My last trip of the season last year was my best one, and that was February 4th.
I Had a great time with you fellas.


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Catman10

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I am in for the 50 plus guys ride, I also am pretty free with time in the winter and would like to explore new places, hell I finally have all the gear, 4 place trailer, spare sled and a truck that doesn't have a half million k on it, don't drink or smoke but definitely outta shape and don't need to climb the big stuff either, maybe we need to make an Old Farts ride group and post when we can go, dunno but it would be nice to have some options.
 

rknight111

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e7aff075e8dcde8e7b467d922dc63dd2.jpg

My last trip of the season last year was my best one, and that was February 4th.
I Had a great time with you fellas.


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That was my best trip of last year, very deep. I had some small struggles here and there but able to keep up always. Some stuff is a lot more challenging, should be even better this year as i have a bit more control of my right hand.
 
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