2008 xMas Ride

With no Thanksgiving ride, and a two-week shut down at work, xmas week was the ideal time to head up North. The initial plan was to ride out of various places around Quebec for the two weeks, but I didn't get to Chicoutimi till Tuesday, 12/23. At home, we had two big storms before leaving, resulting in about 15" of snow. Most of New England had above average snowfall for this time of year.

On the drive up, Drummondville didn't have a large amount of snow, but it never does. Once I got into the Mountains, the snow was much better. On the way down to Chicoutimi, conditions began to thin-out again. Once I got to the Holiday Inn, I was the only sledder there, so I chained my sled to the truck for the night...

For the most part, all trails near the Saguenay or South, were short on snow and in poor conidition, even with occaisional grooming. About a mile North of the river crossing, snow conditions improved...

Eventhough snow conditions improved, 93 from 367 to Mountain was rough, but that's nothing new, it's always like that. Once you get to the groomer garage, conditions were fine, as usual. Once past Chapelle, there were no sleds, and the 252 loop was unbeatable. 12" of powder on a previously groomed trail...

Day 2 was cold, windy, and drifty...

Trails were poor and since it was xmas day, it was a short ride. On xMas eve, most things were closed, but around noon on xMas day, things opened up again, including Chapelle. Returning from the Mountain, I decided to take 328, which was open, but hadn't been groomed in a while, but it couldn't be worse than 93? Once past the Dam, it had a been a while since a sled had been through, and there was a lot of drifting, but it was fun to open, especially with the 1.75" ripsaw...

Day 3 brought out the groomers. Here, I caught up with the groomer part way up Bras-Louis, but since the trails ahead were poor, I turned around...

On the way back, there was an excellent Sun-dog, but the picture isn't that good...

Day 4, Darryl and Marty arrived, so we headed out for a ride. Some things never change, Marty getting stuck, blowing corners, and trying to ride where he shouldn't...

Later in the day, riding from Bras-Louis to Onatchiway [after another Marty burial] the freezing rains came. Freezing rain is the worst, since heated shields don't work. We decided to turn around and head home. Of course to prove things haven't changed, Darryl took the lead, and ignored riding etiquette and took a wrong turn, without waiting. Since we didn't know, we continued on and were too short on gas to turn around. Once at the Hotel, no signs of Darryl, no messages, and his cell wasn't on, although service was available everywhere. We thawed out for an hour, and with no signs, we decided to head out into the freezing rain to the estimated wrong turn. Once at the turn, we checked the cell, and had a message from Darryl that he was at the Hotel. That night the warm-up and rains came. In the morning, everything at almost a 1/2" coating of ice and temps in the high 30's. Everything was like a skating rink. With no snow in the forecast, we decided to head home. Marty thought it would be a good idea to meet his girlfriend in Montreal. I told him if he did, his truck and '09 sled would be gone. He assured me the valet would park it in sight and everything would be fine. Hours later, the whole package was gone. Security cameras showed two guys entering and driving off with it. Just another example of the organized nature of these crimes. I'll bet the valet received a kick-back for calling-in the target, and he still works at the hotel. Yet another example to take the appropriate precautions when in Quebec.

As for the ETEC, everything went well. The engine was awesome, much better than the SDI. Power was solid till 80, then it started to level off. Oil consumption was high during the break-in, but seemed to improve a lot, it'll take more miles to get some numbers. Gas mileage was poor the whole time, ending up at 13 mpg on the final miles, not much different than the SDI. The 1.75" ripsaw was awesome, combined with the simmons skis, was a perfect setup. The track vibrates a little, but the traction and braking were amazing. Surprisingly, at idle, none of the accessories are powered. They turn on at about 2k rpm, good thing the gps is wired to the battery.