iceman Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Day 1 Thursday, Travel day today, Black Trail. NHmoose and NHmark were northbound to RDL they were overtaken by Playhard who was sans trailer and headed at warp speed for chez Ice. Right on schedule David was in my driveway at 3:30pm. I loaded my gear as he chatted with the Mrs. I've enjoyed my 2 days home the two nights in my own bed were awesome. But time to be going. Like Metallica says "anywhere I roam, where I lay my head is home" well not exactly but good enough. Time to go riding. Playhard tosses me the keys as it's my turn to pilot this ship. Off to Moto Thibault, my sled is already in his trailer and we pull in, pin trailer and take a quick visit with Pierre and Alain inside. Out of there and off to RDL AT 4:30pm. Hit the highway 40 east bound and down. I drop the hammer. Confident in the detection abilities of this rig we got places to be. Slight bit of traffic just at the merge on the Pont Pierre Lapointe in QC. No problems we breeze right through. 20 east now and hammer down. Smooth sailing to RDL in to hotel at 7:30pm. Unload sleds and gear. Put up a few stickers and get settled in. Had a nice dinner and now here we are. Locked and loaded. Off to Amqui tmmrw. Still a good amount of trucks and trailers here. Very busy with a hockey and swimming tournament in town. Groomer was just passing hotel as we were unloading sleds. Like he knew we were coming. Gonna be on the Lookout tmmrw for Scranton1 and Phil1 and their crew. I know they are headed this way. PLAYHARD, KeepRight, Carman and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Nice RDL Welcome Wagon!... VID_20170323_200505.mp4 Carman and KeepRight 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Where are we now?... Scranton1, KeepRight and iceman 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 And now!... KeepRight and Florida Snowman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 24, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Day 2 Friday Left RDL on a beautiful white asphalt 526 more like early February here than end of March. Unbelievable. Join up with TQ5 and no surprise it's the same. Frozen hard and wicked fast. Only complaint is the flat light and it is pretty windy, but could always be much worse. Just past Trois Pistoles we stop in a relais parking lot to talk about how frigging awesome this is. Arriving just behind us a few minutes after we meet two guys from Maine. 1500hd and his friend. Obvious from their machines and the auxiliary tanks on the rear, these guys roll with Rob and Roadrunner but decided to pass on the Forestville run this week as the snow was excellent closer to home. Can't say i blame them. Chatted for a few minutes and they rolled on. We followed on out and headed for our gas stop in Rimouski. Perfect trails, very little traffic. TQ5 all the way into Rimouski. Gas and go. To 579 and still very nice. We roll to the 587 and still great. A few places along the roads here on these two trails will be not so nice soon. Kind of not much there now. But just a few parts. Down we go and up to the lookout tower. No mummy's this time of year, no daddy's either. Then we turn our attention to our main objective for the afternoon getting up to the radar. i've never been there. Playhard has been wanting to get up here since forever and we surely tried our best to get up on the spyders this summer only to be denied. But today is the day. We arrive at the Ski area and NHmoose guides us up and the orange trails are super nice. Up Up we climb and there it is. We saw it from afar mocking us almost seemed to be taunting us with a "here i am, now try to get up here" damn you golfball. But we win today. We crest the hill and there it is up close and personal. Success. Victory. Leave here and take orange local down and across lake to rejoin TQ5. Direction Amqui. It's too early to head to hotel so off to Albertville to the clubhouse for a late lunch and bonus ride. We PM JG but he has been grooming all day and is tired out. So until next time JG. As always your trails are super. We left you a note with the waitress. Back out of clubhouse and bactrack to Amqui. Jammed hotel with Hockey Tournament, I Just saw 6 sleds pull in only to be turned out because both hotels here are full. Great day awesome trails. Good to be us. 230 miles dooright, Florida Snowman, KeepRight and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1500HD Posted March 24, 2017 Report Share Posted March 24, 2017 Nice to meet you guys this morning. We continued on to Moose Valley for a nice lunch. Then off to The Lake View for some hot wings. We landed in Fort Kent for the night 300 miles later. Hard to believe how good the trails are!!! iceman, RoadRunner and PLAYHARD 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NH-Moose Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Sorry, and Unedited 7 minute clip for now, I'll make a short version including other areas as the week progresses Florida Snowman, GT Rider, iceman and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 2 hours ago, 1500HD said: Nice to meet you guys this morning. We continued on to Moose Valley for a nice lunch. Then off to The Lake View for some hot wings. We landed in Fort Kent for the night 300 miles later. Hard to believe how good the trails are!!! Yes nice to meet you guys too. Conditions are unbelievable. Nice run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 It's March 24?! Really really?! Pinch me. Was that white asphalt or what?! Scranton1, iceman, 1500HD and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Only one thing could make this better: Longer stretches between gas stops! Wait a minute. What's this?... These Maine'ers fixed up some serious range for their "unconventional" riding. Nice plumbing 1500HD!... 1500HD, KeepRight, RoadRunner and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Natural beauty doesn't need a thing: But man-made beauty can always be enhanced by an Iceman sticker: dooright, iceman and KeepRight 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 NHmark, not just an experienced Groomer... He fixes 'em! NHmoose (MacGuyver) etc: Thinking, thinking, thinking... Yeah OK, whatever, let's RIDE! iceman, Shaggy, KeepRight and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooright Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 (edited) Looks super good guys ! Rock on Chris from Vermont is over your way tonight to (causapscal I think)... maybe you'll cross paths again The sleds turned away was probably them . Edited March 25, 2017 by dooright iceman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Picture perfect trails: KeepRight and iceman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Radar lookout to spot Radar golf ball? Too overcast... On the hill behind Ski St Irene?... Uh huh!... Getting closer!... Ah hah!... Actually, it's less like a golf ball & more like a soccer ball... Been a while since this was taken... Check the box! snowfarmer, Shaggy, iceman and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Chemical/Biological Warfare courtesy of the hockey team kids? No Merci! KeepRight, Miles long and iceman 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 What did we learn today: White trails on the FCMQ updates might mean they just don't need grooming!... Phil 1, iceman, Shaggy and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 What else did we learn today: Orange "local" trails don't necessarily mean they're small!... Cut across the 5 to Club Mont Arctique in L'Alverne. WAY more fun with blue skies vs seadooing in a 3' blizzard eh? GT Rider, Carman, iceman and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackjack1 Posted March 25, 2017 Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 ice man are u able notice an improved ride quality at all with the star suspension set-up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 3 hours ago, blackjack1 said: ice man are u able notice an improved ride quality at all with the star suspension set-up? Night and Day the difference. I got my other XTX and its stock with no Star Suspension. This one is much better with it, but the trails like this we been seeing don't matter much its the beat up trails where it pays off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 25, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2017 Day 3 Saturday Light dusting of snow overnight in Amqui. Out of town we retrace the run to Groomers clubhouse. TQ5 is very nice. Groomed overnight from Amqui to where Groomer takes over. Trail to clubhouse still excellent, we get the gas just next to clubhouse. Quick stop to beautify the clubhouse. We are off. 587 is the choice. It does not disappoint. Although not groomed for a long time it did not need it. Giddy up here. Love this run one of my favorites for sure in all of QC. Down to Matapedia and more gas. Then onward on 587 to JCT 5. We go left on TQ5 back west. 5 is good but everyone uses it and it shows with the hills a bit chewed up and the corners a bit bumped up but nothing serious just you can tell how many more sleds run the 5 compared to the regional or local trails. Good stay on 5 everyone. It's the best way to go. No doubt. Disregard whatever I say stay on 5. Merci. Up to local orange trail we turn right toward the clubhouse in L'Alverne. Ahhh this trail. Let's just say we have history here. Last year it was mint like it is now absolutely amazing but don't take it, no no no. Stay on 5 merci. This trail was quite a bit different 2 years ago on our march run. We arrive at clubhouse on other end it's snowing like a bitch and blowing. We are headed to Caupsacal. Through Pointe a la Croix much longer. The guys take off over the road and i'm wondering what the giant snowbank is all about? Well this trail was closed. No grooming deep deep snow. Two weeks earlier it was perfect but not so now. Well i did not learn it was closed till we reached the 5 (which everyone needs to stay on please, merci) there i see the Sentier Ferme' sign. That was quite a workout, but we made it. Today none of that, blue sky and big sun and white asphalt. Sweet. To JCT5 and we stop for lunch in L'Alverne. Nice break and we are off. Surprisingly very few sleds out even though its saturday. Very light traffic that we have seen. Hey perfect. East on TQ5 through the hilly parts here. Trails are super. Pinch me is it really almost April? Somebody stop me! We run to the suspension bridge in Nouvelle and turn left to go get gas. Then its time to backtrack. We run back a few miles and take a hard right onto the local trail, through town a bit on the bare pavement. These other guys have wheels. I am not into that. I can do just fine without. We find ourselves another gem here. This trail is a goer and despite dodging the scattered remains of a deer or three, I'm guessing torn up by coyotes? This is awesome it runs us up north of Carleton where we arrive at a warming hut and find tge Trail to La Cache but its marked as a quad trail says 87 km to La Cache. Also just through the woods there up a short trail we find what we believe was a dragstrip groomed six groomers or more wide, but it's really an airstrip i believe. Whatever it was boys will be boys so lets race. We have a ball running back and forth and the head back down the Local Orange checking out the windmills near Carleton on the way in. Into Baie Blue in Carleton 240 miles i think. Full house here. Many sleds. But sure did not see them on the trails. Want wish Mrs. Ice and her hockey team luck tonight in the Coupe Burrows tournament in Trois Riveres. So far 2 wins 3-0 and 4-0. Going for win number 3 tonight. To move on to Sunday. To win it all. Let's go Ladies kick some ass. Tomorrow to Murdochville. Shaggy, dooright, NHRider and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Hockey Update, Victory number 3 for today with score of 4-1. On to second round Sunday as #1 seed. Oh yeah. PLAYHARD and NHRider 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLAYHARD Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 7 hours ago, blackjack1 said: ice man are u able notice an improved ride quality at all with the star suspension set-up? I'll let ya know Monday! If the trail to Perce's is rough I'm commandeering Blue Thunder to run a Gaspésie Freshman in for the photo of the rock! iceman and KeepRight 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iceman Posted March 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 blackjack1 the front shocks on my sled make a big difference too. KeepRight 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NH-Moose Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) Awesome day, mint trails! Edited March 26, 2017 by NH-Moose dooright, iceman, PLAYHARD and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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