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M&M Tours is off. Left Oliphant Sunday March 17th, pulled into the Best Western Premier Hotel Aristocrate in Quebec City around 8 and had a fabulous dinner at the in house restaurant, La Fenouillière. Off Monday morning and checked in to Complexe Hotelier Escoumins then spent 3 hours trying to find places to stay for them next 5-7 days. Rode loops for the first 3 days in a variety of conditions…good, bad & ugly mostly due to the new, wet snow even though the groomers were out. Des Bouleaux Blanc clubhouse is a great stop 40 km from town. Thursday morning rode most the day through storm conditions to the ski village Valinouët and stayed at a local rental house, Auberge du Yeti. Rode up 373 as far as we could then spent the night in a cabin at Auberge 31. A quick lunch at Piste D’or was tasty and the owner was entertaining-he sort of reminded us of Bernard Then back to truck and trailer, 93 did not disappoint-smooth, fast trails. Loaded up and drove to Forestville.

Happy Easter to All, Enjoy your Familys! For me, getting older makes everyday an Easter Egg Hunt! Now, where are my keys..... hmmmm...... LOL! GutZ

Left some fun un-done a few weeks back up in the new snow . So we return ! Forestville to points west

Did a similar run out of Complexe Hotelier Escoumins starting Wednesday after an 11 hour drive on Tuesday. Ran up to Le Chapelle on 3 and then 93 and back on 350. Thursday up to Forestville on 3 with a heavy wet snow. Got colder and really started to snow later in the afternoon coming back on 330. In the higher elevations it felt like a new foot had fallen on top of 3 feet on the ground. Was a lot of fun bounding through the fresh powder, not very often you get to do that anymore. Then Friday under some bright blue sky (finally) and chilly, headed back toward La Chapelle in the reverse direction over 350 and breaking some trail up in the higher elevations. Looped around to Auberge du km 31 for lunch (great spot) and headed back on mostly groomed trails before sled blew up about 50 miles from Les Escoumins. Wouldn't be a trip without a little bit of towing. Anyway great trip to an otherwise pretty bad season. Wish I took more photos but was too busy riding... and nobody swimming in the pool at the motel.

Nice Place Team Yeti was also there 4 days ago!!!!!! Carry on Team Vermont!!!!!👍

Looking good

We met one sled all the way back to Forestville .. so odd in the freezing rain Guess ya needed to be the adventurous type 😎

The foot plus of heavy wet snow we received here in Southern Maine would have made a nice base, in January🙄🤪... I am very thankful that I installed a standby generator last year. Currently still close to 300,000 customers still without power state wide. Yesterday A friend asked me if I would be taking my machine out... My machine is going to be my Kubota Tractor with plow and front end loader. After the concrete snow on top soft gravel is dealt with, it's on to downed trees. 😀 Winter Storm 4 April 2024

Woke up in Forestville at the Enconologe to a cold, sunny morning, this hotel can accommodate many and it right on the trail. Rode mostly local trails all day and they were AMAZING! Highly recommend the 2 dead end trails straight north of Forestville; the scenery was spectacular and one of the nicest rides we’ve done in northern Quebec. We would have never ridden on those trails had it not been for the lack of snow in most areas this year….it felt like we were the only ones on the trail; met less than a dozen sleds all day. Absolutely fabulous day on the trails.

I'm truly deplorable for not getting my act together enough to post live from up there, or since driving back down in Sunday's butt-puckery road conditions. I almost made a crumple-zone out of a Honda, between my Nav being pushed down one of the big Charlevoix hills toward the salt/plow truck by the 4-place trailer filled with 5 old-school Yammis!

This was 7 days ago, and no it's not all gone 😉

Just got Back did all those Greens & Yellow!!!!! Trails were Outstanding!!!! Started the Season there After X- Mas Ended it the other day!!!! 3,500 Miles of Smiles on the new sled can’t wait till next Season!!!!👍

Jean Guy is all packed up heading home. His wife says time to come home so we can go on vacation!!!

A few more pics from today , sunny longer today than expected . Looks like rain tomorrow .

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Packed an overnight bag and hit the freshly groomed trails, headed east to Baie Comeau. First 60 km to bridge was perfect, crossed bridge then good with the exception of 1 km that had been ploughed. Rode local, scenic trails around Baie Comeau then checked in Le Manoir for the evening had another great meal at the in house restaurant. One of the day’s Highlight was the suspension bridge. Heading back to the truck & trailer for our long journey home. Thanks to all the groomer drivers and volunteers for making all the trials in Quebec the best in the world! Hope you enjoyed our voyage, thanks for following along…. We keep doing it because we personally enjoy reading about other riders adventures.

2' of fresh on the magnificent 330?...

"Better late than never…" 100%! Thanks for sharing! (Except for a little ptsd from the shot with the snow up to the front bumper, but I should be OK after a while!)

Too f ing funny

Sacre-Coeur 1050 heures of grooming this season. about 300 more hours than last season. It looks like the end for us too, our surfacing operations are getting more and more complicated with the hot weather, we still managed to do approximately 1050 hours of surfacing, representing 300 hours more than last year. The road signs will be removed in the coming weeks. We would like to thank our owners for the rights of way and our 330 members for your encouragement and every visitor who takes the time to write to us after their stay to congratulate us. Your comments are always taken into account. We'll be making a final pass to the Valin mountains (c900) and the 330 region later this week.

Damn. Hate to hear that, sending good vibes that they find them AOK. GutZ

Next up was a bit if grinding, sanding and prep. I found a paint that was recommend as better than the Auto Parts Store Stuff and went to town. http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-Pipe-1.thumb.JPG.02d13466303eceffde0ca6ea19aeaa99.JPG http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-Pipe-2.thumb.JPG.57f0bf83ad69ebbe8eace49674ba061a.JPG http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-pipe-4.thumb.JPG.2d27838ae125f33385aae13155c01330.JPG Packaged it back up in the shields and reattached it to the engine. I feel it was disrupting the pipe harmonics so much that it just would not pull the higher RPMs.... We will see! Now while the chassis has been awaiting a revised motor we discovered that the Rear M-20\Air Ride suspension would not collapse completely, even with no Air in .... What??? This has never happened to me before... LOL. Anyway after loosening and tightening the track more times than I care to count, I was able to determine that the larger 1.5 Lug and 8 inch rear wheel kit were bottoming out on the Top of the tunnel before allowing the suspension to completely compress. Odd since the custom tunnel has a kick up in the rear..... Soooooo... New Drop Brackets... GutZ

Sure hope it doesn’t piss off any landowners for next year.

Had to leave KM31 in the rain, but the first tracks from L’or Piste to Forestville made up for it. Tons of snow.

And yet 3 guys die in an avalanche there in late March. Still blows my mind. Hasn’t even been a week yet. I feel so bad for their families and the guy that made it out. I hope they all find peace in time.

15 days.

Amen. Prayers to the families. You are only fooling yourself if you don't think anytime you saddle up the risk is very high. Ride on in the afterlife our fellow brothers.

Amen Amen, Can't say I've ever thought of Hot Pockets & Red Bulls & Gatorade as a last meal, but they were where they wanted to be, doing what they wanted to be doing.

Awesome pics as usual. You have squeezed the best out of this season.

Crunchy! Sleds & Jackets/etc! Way to go Gents! Thanks for sharing!

thanks for the pics and stories. Great pictures and adventures as always from the VT crew. you guys had a pretty darn good season considering all things. Glad you guys made it safe and sound because in the end that is what it's all about. Have a great off season !!

Are you finding less & less of this sorta thing at the bars since the virus?

Finished, you got the last of the grooming there. Hello snowmobilers Unfortunately, in order to respect the landowners and ensure that we retain our fragile rights of way, we are obliged to close our trail for the stage. It is currently being surfaced for the last time. The North Range fence will be closed tomorrow morning. We're aware that there's still a lot of snow up there. But we won't be able to access it with our machinery. We've done our utmost to please you. We hope to see you all next year.

We did 1,800 km Cote Nord trip starting in Les Escoumins out to Sept-iles at the end of February. Spend 2 nights at the Econolodge in Forestville. Allows us to spend a day riding all the orange trail loops north of Forestville. Beautiful scenic ride, felt like parts of the Gaspe without the water. The warming hut up there is the nicest one we ever came across.. The day we spend there trails we’re perfect, not a single bump. We also rode the big loop orange trails north of Baie Comeau. This is also a beautiful scenic ride. The 2 loops north of Forestville and Baie Comeau were the best parts of the trip.

New Drop Bracket Fab. I hoped the left and right bracket were identical, nope... I hoped the Air Ride mounts would still be mounted to the chassis, nope... http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-1.thumb.JPG.2efd63ca6553e3e7178027948bb663f4.JPG Used 1/8th inch aluminum sheet to make the two templates that could encompass the AirRide Mounts and levers. http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-3.thumb.JPG.3ffdb327bf6f73bd5e045cbe2f2ee50a.JPG 10 test fittings later.... http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-2.thumb.JPG.ba83cbaf4e8bae9e8df315a8bb6ed94d.JPG Gave it smoother\rounded shapes to reduce the chance of stress cracks, like why airplane windows have rounded corners. http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-4.thumb.JPG.98755283b7949bc892d16d1324a99094.JPG Transferred the templates to thicker aluminum.... http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-6.thumb.JPG.174438734846584123a1c50e39a07dca.JPG Pressed in some steel bushings to reinforce the wear points for the cross shaft http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-rear-mount-5.thumb.JPG.4c34ac3fa0698a1b3f83920981f08393.JPG Now I wait for some barrel nuts, these will support the two sheets ( tunnel and bracket ) similar to a self piercing rivet and the bolt compresses the sheets together. With luck this will minimize movement and greatly increase shear strength and rigidity. Later GutZ

Yep! Feels like private trails! But regular rules apply! Gotta expect the unexpected around every corner & over every hill! And GOTTA love those orange trails!... 20240305_135626.mp4

From: TrakMaps <info@trakmaps.com> Date: Mar 24, 2024 7:47 PM Subject: Report an inaccuracy to prolong your subscription Did you know? You can easily report an inaccuracy in Snowmobile Quebec. By being a part of the process of improving Snowmobile Quebec, we'll prolong your subscription free of charge by at least 1 month. 🙂 Your subscription with free updates and support is valid until 2025-02-21. Wishing you a wonderful evening, -Nik from TrakMaps

It Snowed in Maine yesterday. Northern and interior areas got quite a bit. I guess a few of the clubs might groom. Here in Southern Maine we got about four inches before it turned to freezing rain. My birch trees got tired and laid down for a nap. The power went out just after 9:30 last night. still out this morning just before 4:30. I am thankful for the stand by generator that I had installed last year. I spent the day yesterday working on my motorcycle. Changing the air filter on my 2018 Honda Goldwing. I thought the previous generation Goldwing was bad. This is worse. A ridiculous process. It was a good day for it. I left a note for the next guy that does it. When I wrote it, I was determined that it would not be me.... Changing The Air Filter on a 2018 Honda Goldwing

Hmm...

BLAST FROM THE PAST!!!!! Well, if no one noticed, this Winter Sucked.... We were able to ride with our good friends but not nearly as much we would have liked ( smiles per miles! ). So with no real damage or changes needed and an early start to the Off Season, I have some time extra time to bring this back from the dead! After working on in the 670+ Engine I could not figure out why it would not REV past 6500 under load..... Engine was out then in, then out, checked case seal, etc.... ( Remember even with NOS it would not REV, and the NOS made it worse ). So I pulled the y-pipe one more time, to look in the cylinders\Exhaust and see if any thing looked a-miss.... Nope.... Even flipping the shocks upside down made it no better. ( Dealership recommended it, they do it on all their New Sled Setups ) Then I disassemble the shielding on the Y-Pipe and found that there was a huge cross shaped crack right at the Y. Like any good idiot would do, I went and bought a welder, watched a YouTube or Two, then proceeded to burn a few holes in my riding lawnmower deck, in the end creating the worst weld seen by man. I did successfully weld the metal together and the lawnmower is ready for the grass... Coming off the high of melting metal together I grabbed the Y-Pipe and made the second worst weld know to man....http://quebecrider.com/forums/uploads/monthly_2024_03/rr-Pipe-3.thumb.JPG.c1c51954a6b9b0dc61bd0c5fb9e4862b.JPG And burnt my thumb.... Pro Tip.... Glowing Metal is Hot, Be Careful.... GutZ

Lots of places that are still mid winter, no problem at all.

The plan has changed from club today. THE TRAILS OPEN After a few reports and information received, the groomers are in operation today. Some decisions are hard to make, but it's never too late to get back on track. There don't seem to be any fallen trees, and the mandatory signage still seems to be in place. We'll be continuing our field checks today. You'll still need to be vigilant after the resurfacers have passed. We must also give priority to the resurfacer operators and volunteers in the field, as we have several hours of work ahead of us. The conditions will be updated on Imotoneige at the end of the day once we've had reports from the operators. We'll be linking up with St-Eugène and prioritizing north of St-Narcisse, St-Marcellin and Mont-Lebel towards Rimouski. An update Contrary to what some people propagate, the club doesn't save any $$$ when the trails are closed. On the contrary, with the new financing system adopted by the clubs, the more surfacing hours a club does, the more revenue it earns. And we agree with this principle! Please proceed with caution while waiting for the groomer to pass. The river is closed and you must use the footbridge to cross the Rimouski River. Enjoy the ride and thank you for your understanding!