There's no better way to bring in a new year than a good day of wheeling. I had been getting the urge to get back up into the snow bad, so I extended the invite to a few local guys on here.
Unfortunately, most already had plans, or were nursing a hangover. So it was just my newly elected treasurer Darren, and myself. Darren brought the wife with him, and I had Joey (FiveNDime) riding passenger with me.
I had a tentative route planned, but of course once we got up there the conditions weren't anything like what I was expecting. Since it has been in the low 20's here for the past few days the snow has become extremely dried out. It was like trying to wheel in sugar. Icy crust on top, with bottomless powder underneath. It definitely took some patience, technique, and luck.
Losing a few PSI.
Heading up the road. Weather was crisp, but decent.
Darren found himself in a hole so I turned around to have Warn give him a quick pull.
After that we made decent progress for awhile until we realized we still had almost another thousand feet to climb until we reached the top. So the debate was to try and push over to the top, or head back down to the main road and head up a different way.
We opted to head back down, and try coming up from a different way. That's where we ran into Ryan (icemans) and his family out for a play day in the snow.
Group shot.
We continued up the road and figured we'd see how far we could get. It took a bit to get into the groove and find the sweet spot, but eventually I found the successful combo to braking trail was 4psi and 800rpm in 1rst gear. We made it a fair distance just crawling along. I was really surprised I was able to make any progress considering what the other half of the morning consisted of.
Eventually we got to a point where we needed to make up our mind of heading back, and getting turned around, or press on and try to make it over the ridge. We decided to play it safe and get turned around. Thanks to Darren and Joey for some shovel work we both were able to get turned around relatively easy.
On the way back Darren led the way up a quick side road. He asked what to do from there, and I said "have fun go bury it." To which he did..
Should have left it till spring.
On the way back down much to Joey and my surprise we heard, "stop, I broke a u-joint" come over the radio. I was thinking maybe drive line, but I was wrong. Somehow Darren and his pirate tires managed to fubar his drivers side 297x.
I didn't look at the joint, but after some thought I think he may have lost a cap which then took out the joint.
We got the inner shaft pulled, and bolted the stub back in place to get it home. Neither of us had spare shafts since "most" people don't break stuff in the snow. Lesson learned.
All in all it was a great way to kick off the new year. The snow quality was a bit of a disappointment, but I was pleased by the progress we did make. Now I can't wait for some good quality fresh snow to fall.
Fun day!
Unfortunately, most already had plans, or were nursing a hangover. So it was just my newly elected treasurer Darren, and myself. Darren brought the wife with him, and I had Joey (FiveNDime) riding passenger with me.
I had a tentative route planned, but of course once we got up there the conditions weren't anything like what I was expecting. Since it has been in the low 20's here for the past few days the snow has become extremely dried out. It was like trying to wheel in sugar. Icy crust on top, with bottomless powder underneath. It definitely took some patience, technique, and luck.
Losing a few PSI.
Heading up the road. Weather was crisp, but decent.
Darren found himself in a hole so I turned around to have Warn give him a quick pull.
After that we made decent progress for awhile until we realized we still had almost another thousand feet to climb until we reached the top. So the debate was to try and push over to the top, or head back down to the main road and head up a different way.
We opted to head back down, and try coming up from a different way. That's where we ran into Ryan (icemans) and his family out for a play day in the snow.
Group shot.
We continued up the road and figured we'd see how far we could get. It took a bit to get into the groove and find the sweet spot, but eventually I found the successful combo to braking trail was 4psi and 800rpm in 1rst gear. We made it a fair distance just crawling along. I was really surprised I was able to make any progress considering what the other half of the morning consisted of.
Eventually we got to a point where we needed to make up our mind of heading back, and getting turned around, or press on and try to make it over the ridge. We decided to play it safe and get turned around. Thanks to Darren and Joey for some shovel work we both were able to get turned around relatively easy.
On the way back Darren led the way up a quick side road. He asked what to do from there, and I said "have fun go bury it." To which he did..
Should have left it till spring.
On the way back down much to Joey and my surprise we heard, "stop, I broke a u-joint" come over the radio. I was thinking maybe drive line, but I was wrong. Somehow Darren and his pirate tires managed to fubar his drivers side 297x.
I didn't look at the joint, but after some thought I think he may have lost a cap which then took out the joint.
We got the inner shaft pulled, and bolted the stub back in place to get it home. Neither of us had spare shafts since "most" people don't break stuff in the snow. Lesson learned.
All in all it was a great way to kick off the new year. The snow quality was a bit of a disappointment, but I was pleased by the progress we did make. Now I can't wait for some good quality fresh snow to fall.
Fun day!
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