17. 2/14 192 miles. 792 miles in 6 days. Groomers all day long, the Hiltop Howler Snowmobile Club did a killer job on the trails today. Dan Alt put in a marathon day in the big groomer while the little groomer took care of problem areas with speed and precision.
I started the day riding with Earl on his 16,500 mile 700 Viper that was close to impossible to catch all day until we hit the long straightaways where I could pass him with ease. Earl will be waaaay ahead once he gets his turbo RX! back in the game. I crushed Gary on his RTX 2 out of 3 times since he couldn't leave good enough alone and monkeyed with his clutch (he was spanking me yesterday). Big Mark on his XP 800R didn't bring enough bullets to the gunfight and I could walk him at will on the straights though I had a tough time keeping up through the twisties. Fast fast and more fast as I was running with a feistey crew today. My Apex ran flawlessly all day even though I did the best I could to blow her up. I'm going out again tomorrow for an all day ride. I'll post pics next week.
16. 2/13 160 miles. In the first hour I ran 58.3 miles non-stop. 600 miles this week. I was running with the usual crew and had a few races. The RTX with the granny windsheild and clutch kit smoked me by 2 lenghths. I could beat his son on an Apex by the same margin he had on me. Killer day with lots of tight formation riding and perfect trails. I'm going back out now, Thurs. AM.
15. 2/12 245 miles! Big snow = big miles. 12 hours of riding in 12 inches+ of snow on miles of groomers. Sled ran great, it was used as a 150+ hp flashlight for 50 min. while fixing a broken sled ( lots of snow was kicked onto the heat exchanger to keep it from shutting off from high heat).
14. 2/8-9/08. 195 miles. Old Forge NY. Lots of lake racing and lots of pictures Here........ The PowerProgrammer quit working and some fancy trailside wrenching in a snowstorm got it running again. (but without the Dynotech electronics) I just got home I'll write more about the excellent trip later..................
13. 1/28/08. 45 miles Terrible snow, killer riding. I ran to the local hot spot and bumped into a RX1 and Mark and his F1000 that I’ve raced before.
To start things off,I raced a buddy with a RX1 and beat it big from start to finish multiple times. I had too much heat for his kitchen. Mark, the owner of the F1000, was convinced that he could drive the RX1 to victory against my GT, he was wrong, the RX1 had too much weight and not enough HP to hang. Mark then hopped on his F1000, I killed him out of the hole and waved bye-bye only to have him pass me at 80mph with authority while spanking his ass to rub in the victory. We raced a few more times with the outcome being the same only I never got the holeshot again. In about a quarter mile, I’d be 3 lengths behind him every time I didn’t let off. The low snow conditions and Marks 153 1.450 studs had me feeling like I was being shot with a gravel shotgun. I need to find some more love for my Apex to be able to hang with the much loved F1000. BTW, I've never done any direct interrogating about mods to the big Cat and Mark is pretty tight lipped when it comes to his sleds. Next time we meet up, I'll ask him about the 1000, if he doesn't make me sign a non-disclosure agreement, I'll post any and all mods he's done to the sled.
Gary, the owner of an Apex RTX (with the grandma winsheild) that I’ve raced many times this year, showed up. Who knows what he has done to his sled. I beat his ass the first race, and then he squeaked past me a couple of times and then I squeaked him a couple of times. I’m going to do some investigating to find out what he has done to his sled in the last couple of weeks as it is now noticeably faster. He had a clutch kit in his last Apex, maybe he has clutched his ’08. What ever he did, he has gained some serious speed since we last met. Note.... I’ve never touched the clutches in my GT because I’m of the mindset that I won’t fool with things I know nothing about. I’ve been reading about clutching and I’m almost ready to take the plunge. I also think a good clutch cleaning and a new belt will help me out. (I just measured my belt, 33mm, 32.5 is out of spec, 34 is new, time for a new belt) My belt now has 1500 miles and has received zero love other than an occasional blast of compressed air.
Our little gang had a crazy-fast ride back to a buddies camp, when lined up at speed, there were very few times I could pull the F1000 at all. Once Mark put the hammer down, I was well behind and praying to not end up in the woods. We regrouped and then he passed me on the outside on a 45 mph lefthander that was great to witness live. I gotta get more balls and skills if I want to run in the front of this pack.
I’d assumed incorrectly,that due to the worldwide popularity of CampKevin.com, Gary and Mark have been reading this site. Guys, If you’re reading this now, send me an e-mail and tell me what you think. (click the button in the upper-left of this page that says “e-mail)
I went over the sled this morning and found 1 bent stud and 2 studs that had lost their carbide tits and were wearing down fast, I'll replace them before next ride. The gravel roads and no snow have taken their toll!
My new contacts worked great, vision was perfect!
12. 1/23/08. 25 miles of very little snow. Sled ran great, I'm still amazed at the throttle response. It is almost impossible to get the sled to bog, even smacking the flipper to the bar repeatedly won't result in a bog, I'm amazed.
I just picked up contact lenses yesterday and although they are very annoying, I'll have perfect vision.
This winter is starting to really suck. Think snow!!!
11. 1/20/08. 40 miles, I drove up to Dee and Kates place on Lake Chataqua in a blizzard. Tons of snow and wicked cold usually makes for good sledding. Unfortunately for me, my glasses were fogging big time and I had to ride without them. Between the blinding snow and the lack of glasses, I couldn't see a thing. The mostly single-track, super-slow trails became a diabolical nightmare.
If I ever hit the lotto, I'm going to buy thousands of chainsaws and a crew to run them and head straight to western NY to fix the tightest bunch of trails I've ever seen. Those goat trails they call snowmobile trails are more fit for minibikes than than they are for my big Yamaha. C'mon guys, the only straightaways longer than 250 feet were in the farm fields that were filled with unseen ditches and other hazzards. The endless ditches and bumps convinced me to leave NY before I ended up in the hospital with another lower back injury. I guess my local, smooth/fast roads have spoiled me. I got a total of 20 miles in 1.5 hours of hell. After leaving hell...
I drove back to PA and the roads that I love. There was one problem, only one inch of snow over 1/2 inch of ice. A quick 20 mile loop was all that I could manage due to the constant grinding and sparks coming from my carbides.
Sled ran great.
