Shane

Irving Berlin aka  IB.  .  Irving wrote over 100 songs.  White Christmas, Alexander's Rag Time Band, Easter Parade, GOD Bless America, Sister's, which should be your song now that you have 2 of them LOL and "Blue Skies smiling at me, nothing but blue skies do I see".  A list of his songs follows.  He lived to be 100 and had a summer place very close to where I was brought up.  Berlin's place was not far from the the famous  diamond cutter Lazare Kaplan.  Kaplan was a gentleman dairy farmer on the weekends, he had someone doing the work.  He shipped his milk to the plant my father managed.  History lesson for today is finished. Class dismissed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Irving_Berlin

Howdy all, 
Today Monday we left my house 6 Strong. A big group by Team Standards. NHmoose, Playhard, Mark, Brad, Colin and myself. A planned 4 day run to LSJ. For me a Shakedown run with my new(to me) Apex. Got a late start. Well let's rewind. Yesterday Playhard called from our Yamaha dealer. He was picking up the trailer then coming to drop my sled to me and continue to Gouverneur hotel to meet up with the others who arrived earlier in tge day. 
Seems he had 2 issues, one being the trailer "foot" was locked frozen 2" deep in ice. The other being the locks also frozen solid. He was dealing with the Locks but the trailer foot needed some added persuasion. He had no impliments of destruction on board so i loaded up with my trusty AX just for situations like this and my blow torch. 15 minutes down. 5 minutes he is free. Off to my house. We got ourselves a convoy. We get there unlatch back door. We pull down on it. Hmmmm kind of stuck. Well we really pull on it now. Bad Idea. We proceed to break the bottom hinge right off as it was frozen solid. We ripped the bolts right out of the aluminum. The only thing holding it on is the two cables, one each side. Rut Ro. I aint scared. Quuckly its decided all sleds unloaded now at my house. and trailer back to Pierre as its gonna be useless as no way to load back up. We get sleds out. Door drops 4" on bottom but is still attached by cables. They get it to go back up. But it is too low to latch. Time for ratchet straps. Door "secure" i follow them back down to drop trailer. In case door fell off the I coukd at least try to explain in french to police what was up. 
Adventures before we even put on helmets. 
Trails from Shawinigan super. TQ3 to m-5 to TQ23. Then 360 to St Joseph. They must have got the memo cause it was groomed nicely. Onward 360 to 355 pipeline to LT1. All excellent. 73 to 355 again and gas Lac Edouard. 355 to Lac Bouchette, again no Scorpionbowl made for good luck(sorry Gary) as 355 was very nice. Gas in Bouchette and on to 83 freshly groomed to Roberval. 242. Miles. 
Unfortunately the trip will end tmmrw for myself and one other. Some things are much more important than trails. Family comes first. I will see that we get back to Shawinigan together. So he can go be where he needs to be at this time. 
The others will continue on. I'm sure Playhard will check in with their progress. 
Until next time. 
Remember what is most important. 

What a difference a day makes!  
Yesterday Low Rider & I drove north from PA/NJ in ridiculously warm temperatures with rain on & off & many areas with dense fog.  We literally watched the snow shrinking & disappearing before our eyes.  Nothing eats snow faster than fog & there was plenty of it.   NY/VT/NH/ME & southern PQ all got decimated.   Sucks big time given the great start this year.  Oh well.  Mother Nature can be an ornery biatch sometimes.  
Once we crossed the Saint Lawrence and started climbing north on 55 the snow levels significantly increased as it normally does.  Got to Shawinigan at 4:00pm & unloaded the sleds & started organizing all our gear.   It started snowing around 5:30pm & we got about an inch.  Hit the pillow early as we wanted an early start the following morning.
 
Day 1:  Friday Jan 13th
Woke up to 25*F, clear skies & a fresh inch of light powder covering all the ice formed from yesterday's rain & melting.   The area had gotten 6" of snow the day before we arrived thank goodness.  Add some water to that & then chill makes for a good potential recipe.   Had a good hot breakfast, saddled up the sleds & pulled out at 7:15am.  Took local trail a few miles then got on 23 West.  Conditions were surprisingly good for the first 25 miles.  Then we made first tracks on perfectly groomed for the next 20 miles.  Got to Le Cabanon at 9:30am & filled up the tanks, paid the clerk & got out of town pronto.  The people at Cabanon were just waking up & getting to their sleds.  Glad it was a Friday & not a weekend.   Took 345 North up to Repos & took gas.  345 was sweet for sure.   Took the "Kanawata Express" north.  Passed Mario in his Road Grader about half way to Kanawata & waved hi.  He was going towards Repos plowing his side.  Jim (Low Rider) blew a belt on his SkiDoo.  Doing 75 MPH in 14" of fresh can do that!  Belt had 7500 miles on it.  Not bad.  Took gas in Kanawata & went in for soup & burgers.  Celine is gonzo!  I guess Mario finally had enough of her.  We met Marie his new gal.  Very nice & friendly.  We heard that Gizmo the dog has gone to doggie heaven.
After lunch we exited the parking lot right onto 345 North & the trails gods continued their blessings!  First tracks on double wide fresh groomed & flat as a pancake!  I have always loved this stretch of trail and today it was the best I have ever seen it.  Burned up to Casey where Mario had turned around last night when he groomed.  Continued 345N up to 83W.  All good & fast!  There is tons of snow up here!  Took a right onto the eastern spur for the Gouin Reservoir.  This trail was a goat path years ago.  Today it was a "10"!  First tracks yet again on fresh groomed, double wide & fast!  Burned up to the Gouin, took gas, unloaded sleds and got comfy.  Got here at 4:15pm.  Temperatures continued to drop all day long.  Gonna be much colder tomorrow.
An amazing ride today.  Any hesitation or apprehension about what we would find was completely squashed & erased.  Now is the time everyone!  
As the hardest working man in show business James Brown says:  "Get on Up"!
 
296 miles
 

Just to finish this up please no one be offended. 

Ivana Humpalot

Thanks! Looking forward to it. I got the machine on the snow for the first time around the property this weekend.

OK.  I meant to talk about the 850 but supper was calling.
Now this isn't to turn the thread into this sled vs that sled.  I try to keep my reports about the trail conditions.  This is for all those that are wondering how the Gen-4 850 is.  We have a Gen-4 850 Renegade X.  It replaced my 800 E-tec Renegade Adrenaline.  Yes Dave the 850 was the first sled out of the tent during the fire.  It just happened to be closer to the door than Sandi's sled.  
With only one day on the 850, I can say if you liked your 800 E-tec, you won't be disappointed with the 850.  In my humble opinion, the Gen-4 handles and rides better than the 800.  The suspension feels more balanced from front to rear.  It is peppier and does pull very smooth.  I won't say anymore because I just don't have many miles on it.
Until tomorrow's ride, good night.
Jack & Sandi

You keep this up and you may very well see BJ and I soon.
 
Happy New Year J G

hi phil ...bj and jg !!!
looks way better now ...great snow to work with ....and colder today !!!...-22 c right now !!!
with trees full of snow..very nice !!!
i should have slept an extra 20 mins...deleted many pics...too bright !!!
8 30 hrs run !!!
 
jean-guy
 

Shane
Im going to get you a crystal ball for xmas. There on sale this week at Walmart!

Bring it on.

Look out Quebec
Winter is back with a vengeance. 
 

Eastern part of Mt Valin and Cote Nord are Mid season conditions, just returned from 3 days 620 miles, not a bump or rock in the trail.

I don't believe it! 
GutZ

remember that very well !!!
at the beginning , i was too shy to go !!! ahhah
 
jean-guy
 

That was a great time at Andy's. Mr Halle showed up for that event too. It was the first time I experienced deep fried turkey. My daughter came to the gathering with me and still talks about the great people she met there. 

We were in the Christmas Mountain area near Mount Carleton Park pretty well had it to ourselves other than all the moose we saw!

Looks good Andy.  We've been looking at the snow depth coverage and the season is off to a nice start.  Lets hope it stays this way and we can all get some miles in.  Happy riding.
Jack & Sandi

Hi JG
 
I broke trail the entire trip and the sled did fine. You know that you only have a 90hp mill under the hood and I take that into consideration. I don't run it wide open I just try to find a sweet spot where I have enough speed to not get stuck and keep a bit in reserve for the really deep areas. 

Beautiful...

Did a quick 2 night trip to northern NB and we found some snow!
 
Andy
ps: The guy on the Enduro is Dave that got caught in the blizzard with me in 2006! Some people never learn! LOL

Mr. Gutz,
We need to find out who produced the Jack Ass movies and have them follow Team Gutz for year!  Shit!  The money we'd make EVERYONE here on QR could retire and ride together all winter!!

I can hear them yelling from the Car, Hurry Up and Fix It, I'm hungry!
GutZ

My thoughts exactly, that's why I picked up the new tires too.
GutZ

Last time I went to put brakes on my trailer I saw so much rust. I had my guys pull it in the shop & & put 2 axle assemblies in it, complete with brakes !  lol