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Shawinigan Season Opener


Jackstraw
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After a delayed start to the trip due to a snowstorm that never happened at home.  Me and Eric headed up to Lake George where all my stuff is Sunday afternoon to find 2 ft of fresh snow and unplowed driveway. Great, quick call and he is there in an hour. Dig out switch sleds and trailer and we are good to go in the morning. Early start and get to motel Marineau shawinigan around 1:30. Quick unload, saddle up and off to the Roqumont in St Raymond for the night. TQ23, 353,  73 . Super windy, lots of drifts but great going. Quiet here tonight. Both have new 900t's. So far I'm liking it. But with lots of loose snow drifts and high winds tough to really get a feel for it. Northbound in the morning at the moment but not set in stone. Will try to hook up with Florida Snowman tomorrow if possible he's in La Malbie waiting on a new stator for his Apex. We where suppose to be 3 but the non existent storm delayed us. Till tomorrow! No pics unless you want to see blowing snow!

 

 

 

 

 

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Woke up to a beautiful blue bird day today!   The replacement stator for my Apex XTX did not make the shipping cutoff yesterday from Sherbrooke so my sled won’t be ready until tomorrow.  No fret.  Staying at a great place - Le Petit Manoir du Casino in La Malbaie.  Right next door to the Casino & Manoir Richelieu.  Not a bad spot to spend 2 nights!  

Rented a new ride for the day from a great guy Pierre Couturier of Top Location Motoneige right on the property!  How convenient is that. I HIGHLY recommend Pierre.  He went WAY out of his way helping me, arranging my dead Yamaha sled pick & delivery, arranging the mechanic, driving me to my hotel with all me saddle bags & gear, translations with the mechanic & shop, texting, calls etc....

Rode out on a Ski-Doo 900 Ace Renegade.  Nice horse indeed!  Florida Snowman like!  Rode from La Malbaie to Clermont (be warned NO GAS in Clermont! Station under renovation to become a new Shell station.  Hopefully completed in a month or so). Continued on The Clermont Express up to L’ Anse-Saint-Jean. Took gas and did the reverse route back the hotel.  What a fantastic afternoon!

Hopefully my Yami is ready by early afternoon tomorrow provided the stator arrives in the morning as promised.   Jim & Eric are up in LSG tonight & will be heading my way tomorrow so we can get this party started! 

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Edited by Florida Snowman
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31 minutes ago, 800steve said:

There is gas in Claremont, Its a new store about 1/4 mile to the right of the old place. 

You are right Steve.  There is a Couche Tard.   The Irving is closed & under construction to become a Shell. Can’t see it from the Irving station.

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Edited by Florida Snowman
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12 minutes ago, scorpionbowl said:

Tom, why don’t u take that first dollar u ever made and put a down payment on a sled that isn’t older than your kids...

That’s funny Gary!  It’s a 2013.   6 years isn’t old brother!  It’s only got 23,000. miles!   Lots of life left!

My kids are 32/30/28.  

Was planning a new sled for 2020 for sure.  I was waiting for Yamaha to do something good.  Doubt it will happen.  SkiDoo is on my mind!

 

Edited by Florida Snowman
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Day 2

Woke up to blue skies and checked the grooming app, TQ 23 green! Decision made. TQ 23 up to mt apica for lunch. Freshly groomed single pass, I assume the groomer will coming back tonight for the second pass. At letape Eric's fuel I light on mine showing 4 bars? Fuel gage off or is he burning more fuel. Can't chance it into letape for fuel and we take the same. Fuel gage off, just like on the 1200's  Contnue on to Apica for lunch. Quick stop at the overlook. TQ 23 to the 368 groomed to perfection! Into the Saguanee for the night. Only a handful of sleds today no oncoming. Like tom said, a blue sky day for sure! Really loving the 900tXRS  Feels a lot lighter, love the power. Downsides, colder then the 1200, the throttle is taking a lot to get used to, way to jumpy even In standard mode. Wish they didn't switch to the new throttle. I,m sure I'll get used to it. Snow moving in tonight till Thursday with possible freezing rain. Going to stay North to hopefully avoid it. Hopefully Tom gets his sled back early tomorrow to head North!

 

 

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Edited by Jackstraw
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Wow Tom, that Doo is even a 2019!  Nice rental. 

Jack, you probably already know this, but put the throttle so it is horizontal facing you, and don;t use your thumb on the throttle. Put the throttle lever in the crux between your thumb and finger.

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13 hours ago, mikerider said:

Wow Tom, that Doo is even a 2019!  Nice rental. 

Jack, you probably already know this, but put the throttle so it is horizontal facing you, and don;t use your thumb on the throttle. Put the throttle lever in the crux between your thumb and finger.

Or spin it around and pull with your index. (No-Hair's favorite feature)

GutZ

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Left lake George to meet the the landwalrus in NH arrived in Shawinigan tues nite great snow trails mint . Trying a new hotel directly on the trail! auberge Le flore, comfortable rooms plenty o parking and right on the 23. Can't beat it. Rain all day today, bummer. Ride right and ride right, happy trails..

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Days 3 and 4

Out of Chicoutamee up around LSJ to St Felician to Hotel JUdan for the night. Trails all in mint condition. Passed more sleds in the first hour then the previous 2 days combined. Plan was to head to Windigo to hook up with skidoo 420. Toms sled is done and is at DU Ravage. Tom makes the 320 mile solo run to windigo. Finally all together! Great night with skidoo 420 and his buddy Dave. TQ 83 tracked up with about 6-8” of fresh snow. Groomer was headed East out of relais 22. After saying our good byes in the morning me Eric and Tom headed 83 west to wemaci. Ungroomed . Fueled up and bingo groomer right at the beginning of the 83! SWEET!!!! Took that to the 345 and also fresh groomed! Set up like concrete! Kanawsta for lunch and into Canada Adventure for the night. Tq 33 south good and bad. In the morning tom heads to shawinigan, me and Eric 2 more days of riding.

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Woke up this morning to a brisk-22f Toms apex dead battery. Get the cute hostess to bring her truck over for a jump, cranks over but won’t fire up. Close to an hour later finally fired up. 10am departure on the 360 to Matawin for lunch an say goodbye to Tom as he is headed back to his truck in trois rivieras. The 360 in wonderful shape low traffic for a Saturday. After lunch deceided to head to La Tuque for the night. Up the 355 also in super shape and again very few sleds. Usually headed north on a Saturday afternoon there coming at ya like bullets! Into the Marineau for the night. Back to the truck in the morning. Limited pics, baterry kaput from the cold

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Well, back to the truck in Shawinigan, 1130 miles for the week. The 900t’s ran flawless. Really love this sled, took a little getting used to the throttle but now not an issue. Woke up in La Tuque to -22f and the sound of what I thought was an m80 going off in the lot. A Viper across from us backfired and blew the can wide open along with the side panel into pieces which landed in the middle of the lot. Didn’t look good, surprised no fire. Tq73 to 353 and a bunch of orange and greens and back to shawinigan. Snowed all day, low traffic and smooth trails, great last day. Looking forward to the next one in Feb. Picture of the snowball is funny, I get one in the new linq bag at the end of each day. Great for the cocktail in the room at the end of each day before heading down to fill the ice bucket! Till next time!

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Edited by Jackstraw
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21 minutes ago, Jackstraw said:

Well, back to the truck in Shawinigan, 1130 miles for the week. The 900t’s ran flawless. Really love this sled, took a little getting used to the throttle but now not an issue. Woke up in La Tuque to -22f and the sound of what I thought was an m80 going off in the lot. A Viper across from us backfired and blew the can wide open along with the side panel into pieces which landed in the middle of the lot. Didn’t look good, surprised no fire. Tq73 to 353 and a bunch of orange and greens and back to shawinigan. Snowed all day, low traffic and smooth trails, great last day. Looking forward to the next one in Feb. Picture of the snowball is funny, I get one in the new linq bag at the end of each day. Great for the cocktail in the room at the end of each day before heading down to fill the ice bucket! Till next time!

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Great pics Jack !! What’s up with that snowball.....the bag has some kind of wind vortex built in ?

that is unreal what happened to that Yamaha. It must have dumped a bunch of raw fuel into the exhaust somehow. WOW!

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I know that warming hut well. It's south of LaTouqe. Last year 5 of us left LaTuque in the morning at -30f  headed for St.Raymond and had to stop there and light a fire. It is the first time we have ever done that. I don't think I have ever been that cold before. We spent at least an hour there. Thank you to all the clubs that take care of us like that!

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1 hour ago, snowmaster2112 said:

Great pics Jack !! What’s up with that snowball.....the bag has some kind of wind vortex built in ?

that is unreal what happened to that Yamaha. It must have dumped a bunch of raw fuel into the exhaust somehow. WOW!

That’s what those viper’s do.

Happend to me when touring the LSJ in 2017.

yamaha has no answer!!!!

That’s exactly why I dumped my 15 viper with 8k at the end of last year.

2020 900 ace or 900t will be my next ride.

 

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On 1/22/2019 at 5:04 PM, Florida Snowman said:

The Shell is under contruction now & closed.  Pierre told me no gas in Clermont also when I got back.  Did you take gas this year there Steve?

I got gas yesterday at an Irving in Clermont. It’s just past the IGA. Need to ride the sidewalk for a bit but not bad. 

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