doo4adoo

Finally after spending the entire holidays on my back sick as a dog drooling over all the sledding posts, I’m feeling well enough on the last week end before returning to work to brave the outdoors. From the reads I’m getting, the closest snow and trails are a 2 1/2 hour drive away, St.Zenon. Not the ideal area I like to ride in but we will be only riding out of it. Couple phone calls later I got team assembled, Grumpysanta, Vrini and yours truly, reservations made, sled loaded and were off, yup last minute.
We got the last room at Cabanon Friday night, they were booked for Saturday and pretty much everywhere with in a 100 klm radius, everyone’s up there riding. 
Destination, Barrage Gouin 350 ish klms, 345 360 83 and the Gouin trail. 
345 out the gate is a little thin, skippy off rock caps and dodging patatoes till after the river, 360 short’n sweet then back on the 345. This is where it starts getting real nice. 345 up to Repos and it’s noon when we get to the driveway, we take a deep breathe and decide to bypass and head up the Kanawata express to Kanawata for gas and lunch, no one at the pump and quick service inside. Glad we opted for Kanawata, more on that later. 200 k from the Cab.
345 up to Casey sweet as always, after Casey the trail is labelled 83 doesn’t say east or west just 83, kinda confusing but before crossing the road from Wemotachi to Parent the trail detours to the west following the Manaouin river for about 10 klms when it conects to the 83. At the intersection from the east and west side of the 83 there are Casey Detour signs, why they detoured the trail I don’t know, yet! Trails are awesome and I’m behaving myself this week end, got some old timers with me! 
Gouin trail off the 83 was in fair shape till you got to the road going to Parent, on the other side into BG the trail was a single path with branches growing into the trail, last few klms was a little rough, we saw Jean in the trail dragging a crazy looking homemade sleigh with blades on it to cut the branches, very innovative.
BG walleye was bar none, service on the top and foxy was back, she even gave a pose. Josianne is no longer there, they have someone new now her name is Corina. Jean was very helpful with some off trail info but that’s for another time.
A little cooler in the morning and a little more snow on the ground for our departure, down to the road we go, enough of the branches. Buzz down to the Halteparche trail and reconnect with the 83, into Casey then do a little exploring, we’re coming back here another time in search of a trail to 100 Lacs. Buzz on down to Kanawata and it’s too early for the lunch so we take the express into Repos, now this is where it gets interesting....We have 175 k on the tanks and Repos is sold out of gas, sending everyone to Manawan so I dump my spare gas, Vrini with his 900 Expedition still has lots to spare. Grumpy would rather ride the 35 k to Manawan fuel up and ride back the 35 k rather than dumping his spare gas, so after tugging on his beard a bit we got him to dump his gas and stay away from Manawan. Good thing too, later on that.
Now we have roughly 1/2 to 3/4 tank of gas and are taking the 33 down to SMdS 100k, easy peasy. We get there using the shortest path possible, ran all the lakes, took the road around Taurau then crossed the reservoir into SMdS from Auberge Taurau. Got lots to spare, could’ve even made it back to the Cab. Everyone’s happy.
Now back to Manawan, when I got home I saw a post on FB, a quick video of the fuel line up at Repos on Saturday at 1:30 the post said they are all sold out of gas. On Sunday we were told to go to Manawan and I’m guess they everyone on saturday to do the same. Hmmm I’m judging with all the traffic Saturday afternoon and on Sunday it’s a high probability Manawan could’ve sold out as well. It was a tough call pulling on Grumpys beard, he’s a big guy!  615 klms for the weekend, not too tough on the bodies for the first one.






https://www.facebook.com/trevor.russell.37/videos/10216879135983272/
 

Im  booked for Windigo Saturday night. Lady says trails good. I called Kanawata and he said trails were groomed 2 days ago and are excellent. 
Leaving from Glacier 
first run of season .  Looking forward to it. 

Thank you Don.!!!    The groomer package came today . Got all kinds of stickers . gift certificates to aristocrate pizza in Shawinigan and a fuel card .
Also 2 nights  at the motel Drakkar for 2 people .    IT was just a lucky guess.    IT wasn,t  like hitting power ball , but a lot of fun  .  Gives us something to do till the snow flys
 Thanks again , Eddieskidoo 

20cm of snow headed our way tonight, that should set us up nicely.

Rev and play hard, we had a real fun day today with our adventure ride to Lascension de Patepedia.  An awesome blue sky day for us before the snow coming. 
200 miles of 35 groomed and 165 single track or powder riding.  Just what we wanted!  Back at Moose valley for a second night👍
We even got to open one of our old worm holes from a few years ago, a special treat!
 
gorgeous  views today, and a great lunch made by the one and only 603 Backcountry for lunch!
 
The hospitality here att Moose valley is over the top, in fact the provincial Governor comes tomorrow to review all the great work they are doing here!
 
After talking with Andyman, we plan to explore some more in NB this week, heading for Bathurst or Miramichi tomorrow.
 
Thank you Andyman for the tips! 
 
Happy trails RR
 
 

good morning !!!
back to the main subject !!!.......ahaha
went grooming tq 5  + ste florence...
blowing snow...strong winds 
mini drifts on my way back !!!
-12c at 3 am !!!
 
jean-guy

saw that on the net !!!!
refuge !!!
 
https://www.transports.gouv.qc.ca/fr/ministere/organisation/organisation-territoriale/cote-nord/Documents/carte-route-blanche.pdf
 
jean-guy

I use them as well with my NS1 gauge. I also have the Imotoneigne on the phone which works well also if in doubt.

Just Posted
Diable et Rouge open all their trails tomorrow.
 
 

bonsoir !!!
went up to lake tonight....i ve been suprised...looks like there s less snow there than ste marguerite !!!
fyi.....friend of mine went to st gabriel today.....s-e rimouski...he rode 160 miles on tq 5 .....587  and 579 !!!
he said....rocks and icy spots at many places !!!
-34c  last night at 2 am ....-30c at 7 am 
 
jean-guy

Hey GuyZ and GalZ
I've had some PMs about the new Helmets and I want to give you a quick run down. This is not a technical eval.
-We needed new helmets and we were going to just renew the BV2Ses (500.00) each.
-The O2s were a little more.
-They fit tight, but are starting to mold\form to our heads and really fit nice.
-You will not be able to hear anyone if you stop for a quick chat with them on the trailz. They are quiet.
-Adjust them, the ear muffs move up and down and in and out with the pads. Take the time to do it.
-Wear a thin balaclava, this will help with getting the damn things on more than anything else. They are tight.
-Built in curtain works great. No need for a balaclava other than they are tight.
-No Breath Box!! Need I say more. (we are a bunch of Mouth Breathers and it kept them clear)
-The controls are nice and do something. I ran mine on low and it kept the shield clear with no problem.
-High is warm.... I mean warm..... Dry my contacts out warm.
-Rear light is bright. Nice.
-They fit the Uclear Amp Pro communicators like they were designed for them. Wire Paths and Cut-Outs.
-No-Hair's fuse popped on plugging in his to the Enduro.
** (Skidoo installed a micro fuse on the helmet port, it is not on any diagram, you should be able to find it under the dash (PITA) small hands helps.
-I would buy them again.
Any questions let me know.
Later
GutZ

Copied from FB Diable et Rouge club.

For all of you that are up here today, the groomer map looks great.  The groomers were out in force last night.
The weather forecast is looking good too.  A little warm up with snow in the forecast.  Maybe a foot of new snow over the next week.
We are packing up this morning.  It is time to head back to Connecticut.  Make a few repairs and get ready for the next trip.  RDL is in our sights for the week of Jan 13th.  We hope to see some QuebecRider folks out there.  Mayor Mike should be at his post by then.
One last request.  For the sledders that read but haven't joined QuebecRider, sign up.  The more members there are, the more attractive it is to advertisers.  Their funds are some of the monies that keep this sight going.  No strings attached.  No junk e-mails.  You don't have to post.  Just the fact of being a member shows that QuebecRider has a lot of followers.  Thanks.
Jack & Sandi

I had a stud hit the cooler leaving Relais 22? and since then have run prestudded. I use the 1.6 Ice Cobra but next will be the 1.5 Ice Storm. They are not as good as the real studs but as I get older I'm not as wild and these work fine.
Mans got to know his limitations.

I had a stud hit the cooler leaving Relais 22? and since then have run prestudded. I use the 1.6 Ice Cobra but next will be the 1.5 Ice Storm. They are not as good as the real studs but as I get older I'm not as wild and these work fine.
Mans got to know his limitations.

good morning jg !!!
bonne année !!! woowww...bad the rain ....
few pics to bring your spirit back up !!!....about 6'' of fresh snow ....still snowing ....but only -3c at 8 30 am at city hall..
snow is like whipped cream...slippery !!!
 
jean-guy

Where to go today?  Lets head above the river and see where we end up.  Sandi and I take off and head over to the Delta to pick up the GutZ brothers.  They are waiting in the parking lot.  Hey guys.  All Set?  Yes we are.  The four of us take off.
83 west we go.  The trail is better west of Jonquiere.  We turn right on 383.  Things are looking good.  The St Charles crossing was groomed on both sides so it must be safe to cross.  We turn right onto local trail 1.  Hmm?  This should groomed but it doesn't look it.  There are sled tracks but not much more than that.  We get to the road, route 170, and it is still bad.  383 was a lot better.  Lets u-turn and cross at Alma instead.  383 to 83 and a quick crossing on Kenogami.  We stop at Relais La Grenouillee for a Sandi break.  We get back on the sleds and continue on 383 to 562 thru St Bruno.  Its a little rough here.  Usually Alma doesn't have enough snow for Christmas week but this year they have been blessed with some snow.
We work our way over to 23 and this is nice now.  We get on the auto bridge and cross over to the north side.  Turn right on 93 and this is new.  93 has been rerouted around St Nazaire.  Typical reroute.  It has been cut thru the bush and it is a rough 5 miles or so.  We turn left onto 554 and make our way up to Relais des Lacs.   554 is real good.
Lunch time and one of our favorite stops.  The smoked meat sandwiches are great.  A few sledders and a few VTTs.  We ask about tomorrow, New Year's Day, and they are closed.  You have to check for tomorrow, the holiday, because most places are closed.
After lunch we take 328 west to L'Ascension.  The blueberry fields are super.  The trails here are always some of the best.  A lot of people stay on 93 and the major Trans-Quebec trails and miss some of these green and yellow trails that can be the hidden gems of the Quebec trails.  We fill up the sleds in L'Ascension and continue on to 93 where we turn left heading back to Alma.  93 is showing the wear.  There is snow but it is a little rough.  Thru Alma, the reroute around St Nazaire and it finally gets better.  93 is good until the where the clubs change about 8 or 10 miles before St Ambroise.  We turn right on 367 and it is still rough.  Sandi is motoring on not letting the bumps slow here down. 
This area always seems to be neglected until after New Years.  I'm not sure why but that is the way we have found it.  We cross the two bridges and we are back on the south side.  We bid farewell to the GutZ brothers for they are heading  back to the Delta via 383 and we are staying on 367 to Chicoutimi.
Overall, west of Jonquiere is pretty good.  There are thin spots here and there but again, it is still December for a few more hours.
Time to sit back, watch the TV and probably fall asleep well before the ball drops.  Happy New Year to all.  We hope everyone gets in some of their best rides this season.
Jack & Sandi

This morning the groomer map light up like a Christmas tree.  We know there isn't a lot of snow in some spots but smooth dirt is a lot better than bumpy dirt.  We are going to stay off of the mountain and we prefer not to trailer.  Mt Apica is a possibility but weekend traffic coming up from down south might hinder trail 23.  83 was groomed down just past the Ravage cutoff.  Hmm!  OK we will try 83 to L'Anse Saint Jean.  There is a good restaurant there and gas.  That doesn't sound right but you know what I mean.
We spoke with the GutZ boys and they are ready for a ride.  Understand that the word "ready" means different things to the Gutz boys sometimes.  They are at the Delta so they are going to meet us at the intersection on 83 with the spur to the Sag.  Sandi and I tank up before we leave and sit at the intersection .  Tick tock tick tock.  OK they are running behind.  Lets head towards the Delta.  Sandi takes off and a couple of miles before the Delta here they come.  They had issues getting one of the sleds started but everything is alright now.
Sandi and I u-turn and the four off us are on our way.  Yea it is a little rough.  Some off the fields still have the rocks showing but we push on.  We get to Bec Scie and the trail is looking better.  The snow is still thin but the rocks and sticks are disappearing.  By the time we get to La Baie and start going up in elevation, 83 is getting really good.  The groomer had a little snow to work with and now it is starting to look like winter.  Off we go.  Not seeing much oncoming traffic.  For a Sunday this is unusual but it is cold.  The locals stay in when its cold and the tourists are up on Mont Valin.
We make good time down to the 383 cutoff.  We take 383 and this is super.  The trail is familiar to Riviere Eternite but from there to L'Anse Saint Jean I think has been rerouted.  It might just be me because we haven't been here a lot of times but the GutZ boys feel the same way.  Either way it is a good ride.
At L'Anse Saint Jean we have lunch and gas up the sleds.  Lets take the 501 over the mountain to get back to 83.  This was groomed last night and there hasn't been much traffic on it.  A few sleds coming at us but not many.  It doesn't take us long to get to the 83 junction.  We hang a right and start heading north.  The first few miles are a little rough and then we get to the turn around for the groomer and it is beautiful.  Looks like mid season here.  There is lots of snow and the trail is flat and smooth.  Giddy up guys.  We are off and running.  It is a fantastic ride.  The sun is starting to go down now.  We are almost back at Bec Scie.  Not to much further to Chicoutimi but the rough stuff is coming up.  As we knock off the last ten miles, the trail doesn't look so bad at night.  Maybe because you can't see the rocks.
Back at the spur to Chicoutimi, we bid farewell to the GutZ boys and head back to the Sag.  They have a few more miles to the Delta.  Other than the first and last ten miles, it was a really nice ride.  Better than I had expected.
Tomorrow I think we will ride out of the hotel again.  If we put up with a few bad miles but the rest of the day is good, I would rather do that than trailer.
Jack & Sandi

Im not sure how they calculated mine but it wasn’t with that formula 
i had googled at the time and seen similar but the time and cost to fight it wasn’t worth it for me. Being an on the trail ticket there was no points or insurance issues so i paid and will not ride that area Duhamel again or support there club. They seem to encourage having the cops up there and honestly doing 93kph on a railway line and getting stopped is ridiculous in my opinion with a limit of 70kph
i was actually lucky as a rider had signaled cops ahead so hD slowed down. 
My venting for the day
Thanks for the grim reminder 

Alright last trip pic. We are back at Lebel-sur-Quévillon and heading home early a.m. Ending the trip a day early because of what you see here in this picture. It was enough to have my buddies and I bungholes puckered up for 80 miles. Right around the junction to Waswanapi my buddy blows a belt on his 1200 enduro that has less than 1000 miles on it. When I circled back he had belt crap all over and was still digging it out. Problem was a bunch got wound up behind the clutch and spun around the driveshaft. The motor would not turn over when we tried to start it. It literally took us a half hour to get the multiple pieces off. I must have jinxed us and said “I hope the seal is o.k. We started it and guess what.....a half cup of oil poured down into the chassis. This is the point that I let out the loudest F bomb ever produced  by man. I’m thinking man....this is not the place for this kind of shit to happen. Well we cleaned out the oil and let it run for a bit and it didn’t seem too bad. Leaking yes but not real bad. Pushed on to desmairville and got to the store for a much needed break warm up. Nancy and her husband are great folks. We had to make a decision at this point to try and push on the 60 miles back to Lebel-sur-Quévillon or I was going to have to ride by myself (dark and sub zero Fahrenheit) to get the truck and bring it back. We decided to buy oil and give it a wack. We stopped every 10 miles or so to check it. It was slowly getting worse but the level was only down to the add level and hanging in there. Made it back and hi fived each other in the parking lot.
as us snowmobiler’s know ...”it’s always an adventure “......
the important part is no one got hurt and we had a blast on the trip. 3 days, 650+ miles, FANTASTIC trails, great conditions/accommodations/food. We only saw a dozen or less sleds the whole trip and that was all around Chibougamau yesterday.
Now we will be home a day early and the wives will be happy. It truly was one of if not the best Christmas week rides I have ever had.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL !!!!!!!
 
 

At the PFK last evening in Chibougamau we met a guy and his son outside that were leaving. They were headed back to Mistissinni (trail closed from there from Chibougamau and NOT doable). This guy “Tim” was Indian and owned an electrical company that does work for the mines up there. We had a great 15 min. Chat and when he went to leave he reached in his truck and said I got something for you guys. I thought out would come a hat from his company or something. He gave me and my buddy these two Indian crafts. The bird is made out of Tamarac wood. Over the years I have met Quebec aboriginals from all areas, especially the Cree. They are GREAT people. 5 years ago I had the chief (Marcellus) from Waswanapi drive me and a broken down snowmobile 100 miles to meet my buddies. If you don’t know about or are aware of the “residential school project” that happened in Quebec years ago you should do a quick read on it. It was a TRAVESTY.

I'm thinking some one should hit them up for some site advertising after all this free advertising here!

I'm thinking some one should hit them up for some site advertising after all this free advertising here!

I wear the FXR merino top with attached balacalav.  Can be worn in different modes. I think its a great top for sledding
https://www.fxrracing.com/snow/mens/layerwear/m-vapour-50-merino-balaclava-ls-18.html
 

bonjour !!!
different pots today ...stuff you don t see everyday !!!
dad is 95 y / o today !!! rode sleds tons back in the 60's and 70's  and a bit in the 80's !!!
volunteered tons for our club in town back in the 70's !!!
few pics !!!
 
jean-guy