Old-Soul's snowmachine season 2014/15

[Old-Soul]

hurry up and get your brapp on !!!

Next weekend I *should* be able to take it for a test run around home.

I worked yesterday so it was 6 before I got to the farm and started to take my sled even further apart. My cousin and I dropped the skid and pulled the track out.

The 159"x2.25" camo I picked up off Kijiji beside the 151"x2" that came out. The 151 has seen better days and I hope the bigger lugs and marginally longer track will help me out some in the deep snow out west. (By the way, if anyone wants the 151" shoot me a PM. It's seen better days but still has some life in 'er)

Spend the better part of today at the local trusted engine guru's shop and got a crash course on 2-stroke resurrection. Not a lot to these beasties, but I'm glad we have a knowledgeable sledder nearby to help us out in a pinch.

Also got my SLP extensions installed along with my new "fat dude" springs and a new bearing or two for my rollers. Would have liked to had the track and skid back in place but that'll have to wait till friday now.

Getting closer!

My cousin also found a VHS from the winter of '91'92 of our dad's and uncles riding in Fernie and Revy. Sat down and watched that for a bit this evening, I think I'm going to try to find someone local here in Red Deer who can transfer the footage to a DVD so I can make a couple discs for my unclesand my dad. Pretty wild to see how the sport has progressed since then. No real "long tracks" on anyone's machine and the deepest track they had was 3/4", but they still got around and had a blast.

 

[tex78]

Yes dude, get that rev going

I've giving u what u need for info

 

[Tippett]

I agree with Big Tex!!! Im raring to go!!!!

We need a few lessons from the master!

 

[Old-Soul]

Well its back on its feet...

Anyone know the trick to getting the stock throttle block off? How in hell did they even ger that SOB on there in the first place??

 

[Old-Soul]

It lives!

But man what a weekend, totally beat. It fought a little and of course I made some stupid mistakes cuz I was in a rush. Spent my entire weekend at it but the skid and new track are in (and out, and back in again...), the engine is back in (with a few blood and flesh sacrifices to the Sled Gods) and the handlebars have been replaced (yay no more bends! New grips!).

 

[Russell P]

Assemble yourself dammit!

Man, looks a lot like my shop, sled torn to pieces, pile of new parts on the floor and a beer in hand. LOL.

PS. good choice in brand, beer that is. :d

 

[Old-Soul]

Holy **** an update!

Well there's piss-all for snow here at home so with some apprehension I jumped into the cab with Shane (heavy_chevy) and Justin (tippet) and we headed west. We had originally planned on ripping around Fernie this weekend and were looking forward to meeting and riding with the infamous Ferniesnow but the weather was not on our side so plan-b it was. We'll catch ya next time Doug!

We headed out to Revelstoke, rolled into town late Friday (or I guess it'd be real early Saturday haha). We headed up Frisby and made a quick stop at the cabin.

We only hung out there for a couple minutes before heading up the hill in search of the epic snow that Justin had hit earlier that week with CJR and T-Top (that's your board name isn't it Adam?)

What we found was this:

Second worst vis I have ever experienced! The Graham Curse lives on. The guys were quick to blame me for the poor visibility situation (I don't blame 'em).

We headed back down the hill in an effort to find some better vis and maybe practice our tree skills.

Skillz!! I need some of that "Ride like LilDuke" action...

The wind and blowing snow was a bit of a bitch!

 

[Old-Soul]

When we hit the parking lot Sunday we knew we were in for some fun. The sun was out (first time I've ever ridden the mountains with clear skies!!) and we blew up that trail in an effort to beat all the guys and girls who were quickly filling up that lot. Adam had swung in the night before from Golden and came up with us.

You'll have to forgive me for not having many photos. When you get those conditions you don't stop to take a lot of pics.

Of course with the sun came the sledders and within three hours most of the easily accessed areas were totally bombed out. We had to get an early start on heading home on account of Justin flying out 6am this morning for work. It was a good thing we left early as the roads were the ****s the whole way home and it was 1am before I crawled into bed.

Trail out:

So above when I mentioned that I had headed west this weekend with a feeling of apprehension, that would be because I've done quite a bit of work to this old war horse REV of mine and it was literally untested before we left. Knowing my luck it would come unglued pulling out of the trailer haha. Well I had some hiccups, nothing major, but still frustrating all the same. First off, another fricken recoil packed it in on me just as we got to the cabin Sunday morning...spent the day either idling or starting it with a strap. Let me tell ya, if you've never had to start a carbed sled with a strap after rolling it over and flooding it, you're missing out on some fun / Then, about halfway through sunday morning's ride it started ratcheting the odd time if I was climbing in deep snow (pretty much the #1 thing I wanted to do) with one instance where it ratcheted bad (and I decided to start pussy-footing it). The tension adjusting bolts had backed themselves off and I was without a wrench to suck them up.

I managed to chew up the edges of the outside paddles on my new track. None too happy about that.

With exception of my POS recoil and my track attempting to jump ship, I had a great weekend!

Gonna get a new recoil and try to figure out a better way of keeping the track tight before Fernie gets some fresh snow.

 

[Rkwhite]

Buy a recoil off a 1000 RT........ Much beefier!!!!

 

[ferniesnow]

Nice write up dude. I'm pretty sure you found better snow than there is in Fernie. We'll get you another day! We rode Fernie Friday and found lots of untracked but with only 120 cm (generally speaking) we were treading lightly on the climbs in the trees. A good base but some very thick crusts that will play havoc throughout the winter. I know there are lots of stumps and downhill carving probably would have been a disaster. We had a much better day on Sunday. Probed 165 cm and we didn't have the thick crusts. We found awesome snow but as the Special Avalanche Warning stated there were lots of slabs and we made the smart move and left the open slopes alone and played in the lower areas in the trees.

 

[Old-Soul]

Nice write up dude. I'm pretty sure you found better snow than there is in Fernie. We'll get you another day! We rode Fernie Friday and found lots of untracked but with only 120 cm (generally speaking) we were treading lightly on the climbs in the trees. A good base but some very thick crusts that will play havoc throughout the winter. I know there are lots of stumps and downhill carving probably would have been a disaster. We had a much better day on Sunday. Probed 165 cm and we didn't have the thick crusts. We found awesome snow but as the Special Avalanche Warning stated there were lots of slabs and we made the smart move and left the open slopes alone and played in the lower areas in the trees.

Thanks. My uncle and cousin have been out your way since Saturday, glad to hear they're getting some snow. The original plan this season was to stick to Fernie so we could learn one area really well. Hopefully this season makes a turn around!

 

[Old-Soul]

Yet another part of my sled sacrificed to the Snow Gods.

Got the new recoil in place and hopefully sorted out my track tension issues. Hope to head west in two weeks, here's hoping there's some snow in the forecast!

 

[Old-Soul]

Well we had no plans for today so we headed out Caroline way. I had never been out there before, and with more favorable conditions I'm sure it'd be a real blast. Considering there's at best 2.5' a at the deepest and we still had fun, I'm hoping they get another good dump or two so we can do some more exploring.

We were a little worried heading out there as we drove through pretty heavy rain for a few KM's but luckily they never got that near Caroline. Made for some messy sleds though, I swear we keep them cleaner than this haha.

Trying to make the best with what little snow we have!

 

[Old-Soul]

Well, we bailed on heading to Fernie today as it would appear they're more into rain this year than snow (sorry guys) .

We went out to Caroline again, any day on a sled should be better than a day hanging around the house. Had to go a ways across the river to find anything that hadn't been beat to piss already. Found some cut-lines that had 2+ feet in there that you could noodle your way through, plus some small clearings that were fun to buzz around in (when I say small I mean it. 3 of us would mangle them within a few minutes.)

Would you believe that I left Red Deer at -18* and it was +10* where we were riding? This season is fawked.