COLD BEER

The groomer history has not been working on my iPhone for the last few days either. I tried deleting and reinstalling the app but no luck.

At the warming hut just before we noticed the leak and the repair job after.

We just finished a great 4 day ride in the Abitibi area. On day three we were heading south on 93 between Label-sure-Quevillon and Senetterre, we stopped at the warming hut and noticed coolant leaking from the front cooler on one of the sleds. We tipped the sled on its side and noticed a 1/4 inch size hole were a stud had punctured the front cooler. After attempting to plug the leak with a screw we decided to tow the sled to Senneterre. When we arrived in Senneterre we rode to the Napa store and purchased 1gallon of anti freeze, a wire brush and a product called Tech Steel. We wire brushed the area and applied the Tech Steel which was like putty and hardened in 1 hour. We had lunch, filled the sled with anti freeze and there was no leak. We rode the sled for the rest of the trip with no leak. I will be carrying this product with me from now on.

I run my front, centre and rear shocks all on the lowest setting. With snow trackers you adjust your shocks for comfort not steering.

I have a 1200 renegade and I put 13,000 km on my first set of aggressive snow trackers. On hard packed snow they go where you point them, with zero darting and with a light feel, almost like power steering. In loose snow they push, same as stock carbides. On asphalt they are the same as stock. On ice they go where you point them. On bridge decks they are the same as stock. They are a little harder on your trailer deck. The worst thing I find with snow trackers is that a stone will lodge its self in between the runners and you will have to eventually stop and pry it out. This has happened less than a dozen times in 13,000 km. I am now on my second set of aggressive snow trackers and I just installed a set of semi aggressive ST on my wife's 900 Renegade. My wife noticed the difference right away. She told me that she now has the confidence to take her left hand off the Handel bars to signal oncoming sleds with out worrying about darting.

Was on that stretch of trail a couple of weeks ago. It was in good shape, we were pushing through several inches of fresh snow but I think that it had been groomed recently. The only issue was a lack of signage in Manawan. I would bypass the town next time.

After having a spectacular dinner and spending the night at Auberge du Lac Moreau we headed west on 383 which was groomed very well with lots of snow but we noticed the snow cover getting thinner as we got closer to Saguenay. Over all trail conditions were okay in Saguenay turning to very good conditions east of Saguenay.

After taking the ferry across the river we took 383 West (which was freshly groomed) to the 301 and went south to 83. 301 was groomed recently but had 6" of fresh snow on it. We went west 83 which was groomed and in good condition. Then we turned south to Auberge du Lac-Moreau for the night, the trail was freshly groomed.

Thursday: Left Le Eskomins this morning and headed south to Tadoussac, trails were freshly groomed about 1/3 of the way and fresh powder the rest of the way. We are on the ferry now.

I had to switch from mobile version to the full version. Pelchat trail Passion Relay La Chapelle

We definitely found snow. Wish I knew how to post pictures with my iPhone.

Tuesday: rode from Saguenay to Relay Mont Vilain for lunch, trails were good but getting thin and rough near the Relay. Then we rode to Passion for the night whre we found more snow. Wednesday: we rode east from Passion to Hotel Pelchat on the Pelchat trail, lots of fresh snow which made for a slow but fun ride.

After viewing a few web sites and making a few phone calls we have concluded that the Bas Saint Laurent region was hit harder by the rain than the Saguenay region. We have decided to head to Saguenay instead.

Thanks for the trail report RR, that is some very useful information you've provided.

Thanks Scranton The forcast looks good, lots of cold temps coming, we are hoping that last nights rain did not ruin the trails.

Checking the trail conditions online this morning and the map has not changed from yesterday indicating that trails are good. I suspect that they have not been updated today. I called a couple of hotels in the area to see how bad the rain was last night, they said that it rained a lot but could not tell if the trails were still in good shape or not. We are planning to drive today and hoping that we can ride Tuesday.

Thanks JG We'll check the conditions in the morning, if it doesn't look good we'll postpone till conditions are better.

Myself and a couple of friends are planning to travel to Quebec tomorrow morning for a few days of riding. We are thinking of heading to RDL and then backpacking to the Gaspésie region as long as the rain has not caused too much damage. Can someone provide us with a report on the severity of the rain, we're hoping it isn't too bad.

Another great ride report Alain. My group toured up through that area last week, we met some wonderfull people and had a fantastic ride.

Thanks Iceman That is an excellent option as well.

Thanks for the info Dave, I will give them a call in the morning. Yah, I read about the Micro- Brew on their web site, great idea. I'm looking forward to sampling a few pints of their product.

My group is driving to Hotel Roquemont in Saint-Raymond this Saturday, I usually obtain my 7 day trail pass at the hotel that we are staying at but Hotel Roquemont does not sell permits. They advised me that I could get a permit at the nearby Arctic Cat dealer. Unfortunately we will arrive late Saturday around 5:00 pm, the Arctic Cat dealer closes at 2:00 pm and is closed Sunday. Can anyone suggest where we might get our permits Saturday in Saint- Raymond. We will be traveling on HWY 40 past Montreal so we could pull off the highway to purchase our permits but I would prefer to purchase the permit in Saint-Raymond if possible.

A very impressive ride my friend.

Glad to see that you are posting your ride reports again this year Alain. I always look forward to your first report of the season, it gets me into snowmobile mode. BTW nice ride.

Viper2 That was one of the best reports I’ve read, great pics too! I’ll be taking that report into consideration next week when we head up. Thanks