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Team Iceman report..... trip 2


iceman
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Day 5

 
Amos to Clova
 
Great stay as always at Hotel Eskers. Awesome place great rooms and an awesome pub in hous the Chat O, best stop in town. Not as cold today for sure, still cold but less wind and we like it. Our usual departure of 9:38 by my watch. Honeybadger don’t care, we will still be in at a good time to Clova, you can take that to the bank. Bet on it. Stellar day of riding, It don’t get better than what we saw today. If you did not like what we rode today you are needing to hang up the helmet. Quebec trails at their best. Beyond super conditions. 93 direction Seneterre, oh my. She is a runner. We are smiling ear to ear in out helmets as we sail east. Mile after Mile of perfection. Cruising well flying low I approached the intersection of 309 and 93 at the warming hut. Not paying much mond to things but did notice smoke from the chimney of the woodstove, found that strange so early in the day as there has been zero traffic. I roll in and the door flies open and out come two Police SQ. Well, hello dere. Oh boy, well I know they aint got me on Radar(thank you little baby Jesus) cause they were inside and no window facing the way I came. And the sleds were tucked in beside the warming hut. They rush out and I’m radioing to Snohorse...be advised 5-0 at the hut so he can back her down, he is riding out of my dust so has plenty of warning. The fine gentleman proceeds to tell me I neglected to stop at the stop sign there. I told him “so sorry I was glancing at my GPS to check the route, i must have missed it.” He takes a look to che k if I have a pass and says ok no problem go ahead. They check Snohorse as well for a pass and the one officer seems as if he never saw a Massachusetts registration sticker and starts to take a closer look. The other says its fine go. No need to tell us twice, c-ya gotta go. We launch out human like and then resume normal flight. Onward. Closer to Seneterre, well what do you know. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s a groomer headed west from Seneterre grooming a perfect trail. This is why the trails are mint here. It don’t need grooming but they groom it. With the cold it sets and stays white asphalt. Other places tgey wait till its shot and beat up then groom. Two days later its right back to junk. Not here. White Asphalt baby. Into Seneterre for gas. Seen no sleds but Police so far. 11:15am in Seneterre. Gas and a small break. We are off. Two sleds headed south tp Louvincourt. We head east on 83 direction Lac Fallon. Continued perfection. Alll the way. Take a break at interstion of trail from 83 to Louvincourt to mark it on my GPS. Sitting there and what do you know...yes another groomer headed back to Seneterre, again grooming a perfect trail. Love it. He stops to make sure we are OK we thank him for his work and wish him well he does the same. Off to Fallon. Into there for gas and yes folks mark this down we stopped for Lunch. If you can believe it. 1:30 into Lac fallon and we gas and eat and shove out at 2:30. A gang of sleds arrive from the east as we are leaving. Talked to some other guys there, all older gents who came off trail from Lebel to Lac Fallon. We are off.  There is still one water hole with a go around 7km east of Fallon the one at 10km was filled and is not an issue anymore(at least today). Hammering east we past Balbazard and here not far 2 headed west. Up the middle on a turn, come on people. Smooth running. About 15 miles west of Clova we come upon a woman standing in the trail. Her helmet is on the ground and i see a rope next to it. I look off to the right and there is a sled buried good way off the trail. Old MXZ 600. Maybe an 07 shorty. We stopped and I say to her “are you out here alone?” She says “I didn’t do that, it’s my boyfriends sled” he had taken her sled to go back to Clova for help. No worries we got this. He missed a turn, in all fairness with the fkat light it was deceiving as there was another road heading off left but trail goes right. Either way he’s in deep where he is. I head off to make an assessment. We can handle this. We pack the snow all around, then Snohorse and I lift the back up and out of the trench he dug trying to get out. I give a pull on the skis while Snohorse gives it and one more pull on the skis and he is back up on the trail. The woman is amazed. i told her not our first go at this. She is gonna wait there as they are off to Fallon for the night. We head off. 5 miles more we meet tge boyfriend with his rescue party and tell him he is good to go, courtesy of Team Ice. Off and into Clova at 5:10pm rescue included. Never stayed here but we are quite happy and surely will return. 
 
Another great day. 242 miles
 
Until next time.
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Nice running Don & Phil.  You guys are hitting it perfect indeed!

TQ93 between Amos & Senneterre is on my top 5 list of best trails in PQ.  Could do without the PoPo intervention!

I’m driving North tomorrow for 10-12 days in PQ.  Can’t wait!

Safe travels to the barn guys! 

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Lol on The Honeybadger, that is my kids nickname from his soccer coach lol. Love that section of 93 between Amos and Seneterre and even the local to the north with the nice rollers. It always amazes me that people can’t figure out the first thing to do when stuck is pack the snow. You guys are are having an awesome trip. By the way, I hope you talked to the management at Hotel Eskers about sponsoring the page

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2 minutes ago, viper2 said:

By the way, I hope you talked to the management at Hotel Eskers about sponsoring the page

Of course. I Talked to Dominic too, here at Clova but he didn’t seem too interested so I pumped the brakes on that. After all I am a guest here not a traveling salesman. 

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Just now, iceman said:

Of course. I Talked to Dominic too, here at Clova but he didn’t seem too interested so I pumped the brakes on that. After all I am a guest here not a traveling salesman. 

Dominic is the man, we rolled in there one year dragging a Vector with a broken drive shaft and he said “no problem” I will take you to Mont Laurier tomorrow. Next thing we go to leave the restaurant and head up to the schoolhouse and my wife’s sled had the chain case locked up. Uh-oh 2 sleds down, still no problem he loads the 2 sleds up 1 on truck 1 on old army trailer and takes the sleds and the girls to Mont Laurier the next morning while we make a run to the trucks. He didn’t even want to take any money because he had to make a store run (and to see his wife) but we took care of him

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5 minutes ago, iceman said:

Honey Badger....

warning to the snowflakes.....harsh language and graphic content...

https://youtu.be/4r7wHMg5Yjg

😂😂😂 I actually have seen that YouTube video before. That’s my kid for sure, just turned 9 in November and has been playing U11 soccer for 2 seasons already. His coach laughs because he flies into a group of kids a foot taller and comes out the other side with the ball

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But enough about that, you are really getting us going with that trip report, as has been said before West is best! Not making a trip to the great white North anytime soon but got the sleds loaded up and heading up to Norrhwest PA tomorrow to our cabin gonna get some riding in before the warm up. This will be my kids first trail ride on the ‘79 Enticer 300 Twin, don’t be silly you know he’s gonna send it!

D9AC8E3F-B671-4AA7-BACD-CBB66B98CA21.jpeg

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Talked to Domenic last night, at 11pm he was headed off to Balbazard in the Groomer. 9.5 hrs one way. 19 hrs round trip. 

Great stay here in Clova. Sooner or later we will leave. We aint early starters. 

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Day 6

 
Clova to SMDS
 
Nice stay at Auberge Clova we will return again. Not easy to leave there, literally. The 18 Apex XTX was a no go first try this AM. I been down this road before. No playing around it’s a long ride out of here if I flood it. No worries, right next to me is the extension cord from the groomer that is out at Balbazard. I plug in my coolant heater. Give it ten minutes.....fired right off. That’s why I have it might as well use it. We go to restaurant and have breakfast. Locked and loaded off we go at 9:35. 83 east has some fluff on it but she is a runner. All the way to TQ13 it’s beautiful. At 13 we say goodbye to 83 she has been very good to us this entire run, I could do without the logging just before TQ13 on 83 its quite long and narrow through there but is what it is. 
TQ13 to the new bridge choppy. Not looking good. We pass our first sleds just before the bridge. Over the bridge and we are back in business. Recently groomed and frozen white asphalt. We burn it down. At juntion of 13/33 we go for 100 Lacs. Knowing it would be a stretch but we got extra gas. 33 is just as nice not groomed like 13 was but still excellent. Riding my low fuel light forever it seems, she coughs once up a hill at 105 miles. I nurse her further but she is done at 111 Miles. We stop and I spill my gallon in. Considering that I am Hammering tgat Apex 111 is ok in my book. There’s no in between we are always WFO. The BCX light comes on as soon as we start again but we are only 5 miles from 100 Lacs. The 850 gets killer mileage and he is always on it. 125 miles easily on a tank. That’s hair on fire speed mind you. Into 100 Lacs $1.75 a liter here. We take a splash knowing Lu Nic is not that far. Off we go. 33 is real nice here all spectacular, into Lu Nic but only regular gas. Oh well. Definitely less MPG on tge regular it’s a fact. Performance seems the same but mileage suffers. Trust us. We know.
 
Now comes the section I was not sure of. 33 toward Manawan. Its not bad at first but gets narrower and narrower, no branch ripper on the groomer here. Damn its a small trail compared to the others. Not too rough but corners are used up. We arrive at the bypass trail for Manawan and we are headed for Repos. 33 just so so to Repos. Gas and go at Repos and down 33. 33 beautiful to the first Lac. Nicely groomed. After the Ice Crossing it’s all down hill. 33 is utter junk and gets no better. Closer to jct of 360 here comes the groomer headed up. We get to jct of 360 and it’s like the groomer came down 360. But 33 is great from here to St Michel. Everyone must be running the 360. Excellent have at it. Into St Michel to gas in town. 20km to Cabanon. At the mountain we know where we are just from the brown snow. From St Michel to Cabanon we see more sleds than we seen all week. One close call. That almost had me turning around to ask this asshat if he understands the concept of keeping right. Up over a bind hill right up the middle we almost touched handlebars. And i am in the sticks so far right as usual I can move over no further. Give me a friggin break man. I don’t get it. But you can’t fix stupid. Do you drive your car straddling the double yellow line? I don’t. So why ride up tge mddle on a sled trail? Afraid of scratching your sled? What is it? Piss me off man. 
Fibally into Cabanon. I cannot wait to be pointed away from here tomorrow. Too many cowboys here for me. I had not many options this run back to Shawinigan so I find myself here surrounded by amateurs. A big run is to Koubec and back. I am currently curled up in the fetal position, waiting for morning to run far away. 
 
All in all great day. 33 from 360 up to Ice crossing is used up and won’t get better no matter how much they groom it. Everything else real good. 
 
275 miles. 9:35am to 5:10pm
 
Until next time. 
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33 minutes ago, Jackstraw said:

Know what you mean about Cabbanon, stayed there once passing through, never again. We generally avoid that entire area. It's full of the knuckleheads I try to get away from when I'm up there. Tug Hill baby!

Yeah me too, but was just what worked to get us back early today. 

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On 2018-02-07 at 7:31 PM, iceman said:

Day 5

 
Amos to Clova
 
Great stay as always at Hotel Eskers. Awesome place great rooms and an awesome pub in hous the Chat O, best stop in town. Not as cold today for sure, still cold but less wind and we like it. Our usual departure of 9:38 by my watch. Honeybadger don’t care, we will still be in at a good time to Clova, you can take that to the bank. Bet on it. Stellar day of riding, It don’t get better than what we saw today. If you did not like what we rode today you are needing to hang up the helmet. Quebec trails at their best. Beyond super conditions. 93 direction Seneterre, oh my. She is a runner. We are smiling ear to ear in out helmets as we sail east. Mile after Mile of perfection. Cruising well flying low I approached the intersection of 309 and 93 at the warming hut. Not paying much mond to things but did notice smoke from the chimney of the woodstove, found that strange so early in the day as there has been zero traffic. I roll in and the door flies open and out come two Police SQ. Well, hello dere. Oh boy, well I know they aint got me on Radar(thank you little baby Jesus) cause they were inside and no window facing the way I came. And the sleds were tucked in beside the warming hut. They rush out and I’m radioing to Snohorse...be advised 5-0 at the hut so he can back her down, he is riding out of my dust so has plenty of warning. The fine gentleman proceeds to tell me I neglected to stop at the stop sign there. I told him “so sorry I was glancing at my GPS to check the route, i must have missed it.” He takes a look to che k if I have a pass and says ok no problem go ahead. They check Snohorse as well for a pass and the one officer seems as if he never saw a Massachusetts registration sticker and starts to take a closer look. The other says its fine go. No need to tell us twice, c-ya gotta go. We launch out human like and then resume normal flight. Onward. Closer to Seneterre, well what do you know. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s a groomer headed west from Seneterre grooming a perfect trail. This is why the trails are mint here. It don’t need grooming but they groom it. With the cold it sets and stays white asphalt. Other places tgey wait till its shot and beat up then groom. Two days later its right back to junk. Not here. White Asphalt baby. Into Seneterre for gas. Seen no sleds but Police so far. 11:15am in Seneterre. Gas and a small break. We are off. Two sleds headed south tp Louvincourt. We head east on 83 direction Lac Fallon. Continued perfection. Alll the way. Take a break at interstion of trail from 83 to Louvincourt to mark it on my GPS. Sitting there and what do you know...yes another groomer headed back to Seneterre, again grooming a perfect trail. Love it. He stops to make sure we are OK we thank him for his work and wish him well he does the same. Off to Fallon. Into there for gas and yes folks mark this down we stopped for Lunch. If you can believe it. 1:30 into Lac fallon and we gas and eat and shove out at 2:30. A gang of sleds arrive from the east as we are leaving. Talked to some other guys there, all older gents who came off trail from Lebel to Lac Fallon. We are off.  There is still one water hole with a go around 7km east of Fallon the one at 10km was filled and is not an issue anymore(at least today). Hammering east we past Balbazard and here not far 2 headed west. Up the middle on a turn, come on people. Smooth running. About 15 miles west of Clova we come upon a woman standing in the trail. Her helmet is on the ground and i see a rope next to it. I look off to the right and there is a sled buried good way off the trail. Old MXZ 600. Maybe an 07 shorty. We stopped and I say to her “are you out here alone?” She says “I didn’t do that, it’s my boyfriends sled” he had taken her sled to go back to Clova for help. No worries we got this. He missed a turn, in all fairness with the fkat light it was deceiving as there was another road heading off left but trail goes right. Either way he’s in deep where he is. I head off to make an assessment. We can handle this. We pack the snow all around, then Snohorse and I lift the back up and out of the trench he dug trying to get out. I give a pull on the skis while Snohorse gives it and one more pull on the skis and he is back up on the trail. The woman is amazed. i told her not our first go at this. She is gonna wait there as they are off to Fallon for the night. We head off. 5 miles more we meet tge boyfriend with his rescue party and tell him he is good to go, courtesy of Team Ice. Off and into Clova at 5:10pm rescue included. Never stayed here but we are quite happy and surely will return. 
 
Another great day. 242 miles
 
Until next time.

Hey Ice where exactly is Balbazard? Google maps shows it right beside Seneterre but I know that is not the case, I have always wanted to spend the night and have dinner there, I have heard a lot of good things. 

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38 minutes ago, Carman said:

Hey Ice where exactly is Balbazard? Google maps shows it right beside Seneterre but I know that is not the case, I have always wanted to spend the night and have dinner there, I have heard a lot of good things. 

where the red circle is.......look up for lac trévet.

balbuzard.JPG

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On ‎2‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 7:31 PM, iceman said:

Day 5

 
Amos to Clova
 
Great stay as always at Hotel Eskers. Awesome place great rooms and an awesome pub in hous the Chat O, best stop in town. Not as cold today for sure, still cold but less wind and we like it. Our usual departure of 9:38 by my watch. Honeybadger don’t care, we will still be in at a good time to Clova, you can take that to the bank. Bet on it. Stellar day of riding, It don’t get better than what we saw today. If you did not like what we rode today you are needing to hang up the helmet. Quebec trails at their best. Beyond super conditions. 93 direction Seneterre, oh my. She is a runner. We are smiling ear to ear in out helmets as we sail east. Mile after Mile of perfection. Cruising well flying low I approached the intersection of 309 and 93 at the warming hut. Not paying much mond to things but did notice smoke from the chimney of the woodstove, found that strange so early in the day as there has been zero traffic. I roll in and the door flies open and out come two Police SQ. Well, hello dere. Oh boy, well I know they aint got me on Radar(thank you little baby Jesus) cause they were inside and no window facing the way I came. And the sleds were tucked in beside the warming hut. They rush out and I’m radioing to Snohorse...be advised 5-0 at the hut so he can back her down, he is riding out of my dust so has plenty of warning. The fine gentleman proceeds to tell me I neglected to stop at the stop sign there. I told him “so sorry I was glancing at my GPS to check the route, i must have missed it.” He takes a look to che k if I have a pass and says ok no problem go ahead. They check Snohorse as well for a pass and the one officer seems as if he never saw a Massachusetts registration sticker and starts to take a closer look. The other says its fine go. No need to tell us twice, c-ya gotta go. We launch out human like and then resume normal flight. Onward. Closer to Seneterre, well what do you know. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s a groomer headed west from Seneterre grooming a perfect trail. This is why the trails are mint here. It don’t need grooming but they groom it. With the cold it sets and stays white asphalt. Other places tgey wait till its shot and beat up then groom. Two days later its right back to junk. Not here. White Asphalt baby. Into Seneterre for gas. Seen no sleds but Police so far. 11:15am in Seneterre. Gas and a small break. We are off. Two sleds headed south tp Louvincourt. We head east on 83 direction Lac Fallon. Continued perfection. Alll the way. Take a break at interstion of trail from 83 to Louvincourt to mark it on my GPS. Sitting there and what do you know...yes another groomer headed back to Seneterre, again grooming a perfect trail. Love it. He stops to make sure we are OK we thank him for his work and wish him well he does the same. Off to Fallon. Into there for gas and yes folks mark this down we stopped for Lunch. If you can believe it. 1:30 into Lac fallon and we gas and eat and shove out at 2:30. A gang of sleds arrive from the east as we are leaving. Talked to some other guys there, all older gents who came off trail from Lebel to Lac Fallon. We are off.  There is still one water hole with a go around 7km east of Fallon the one at 10km was filled and is not an issue anymore(at least today). Hammering east we past Balbazard and here not far 2 headed west. Up the middle on a turn, come on people. Smooth running. About 15 miles west of Clova we come upon a woman standing in the trail. Her helmet is on the ground and i see a rope next to it. I look off to the right and there is a sled buried good way off the trail. Old MXZ 600. Maybe an 07 shorty. We stopped and I say to her “are you out here alone?” She says “I didn’t do that, it’s my boyfriends sled” he had taken her sled to go back to Clova for help. No worries we got this. He missed a turn, in all fairness with the fkat light it was deceiving as there was another road heading off left but trail goes right. Either way he’s in deep where he is. I head off to make an assessment. We can handle this. We pack the snow all around, then Snohorse and I lift the back up and out of the trench he dug trying to get out. I give a pull on the skis while Snohorse gives it and one more pull on the skis and he is back up on the trail. The woman is amazed. i told her not our first go at this. She is gonna wait there as they are off to Fallon for the night. We head off. 5 miles more we meet tge boyfriend with his rescue party and tell him he is good to go, courtesy of Team Ice. Off and into Clova at 5:10pm rescue included. Never stayed here but we are quite happy and surely will return. 
 
Another great day. 242 miles
 
Until next time.

I don't see Clova on the interactive map. I kind of figured out roughly where it is but was surprised it wasn't on the map.

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Nice run Ice, leaving that late and arriving that early with that kind've mileage I am assuming it was a can of Pepsi and an Oh Henry lunch. When we we're heading south from the Gouin on Monday after running the lake system south of Repos the 33 was junk as well all the way to the 63 inter then it was like a dream come true, groomed earlier, not fresh but not travelled on much, seems riders are not coming up from St.Donat much. Last day for you and back to the Deneigement.

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