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Myself, Mark R., #’s1,2,& 6 hit the lake early today. Everyone arrived on time @ 9:00am. I unloaded to the familiar sound of sleds buzzing around on the lake. I fired up the XC700 with much anticipation. Today was "THE" Day!!!! It was the day that myself and Mark have been waiting for...the final race between the last years champ "The Yellow Flash" and the "Red baron". After receiving a phone call @ 8 am from Mark asking me if I was sure the lake was safe, I had my doubts if the man was going to appear and try and uphold his title?

Anyway, after I fired up the sled and cleared it out I was off to the lake. I quickly found myself in front of #1 & #2's house only to find #1 & #6 packing ice onto their heat exchanger? #2 quickly mentioned that it seemed the Polaris’s weren’t starting off to a good day. HMMM, I sensed a little brand bashing. I fired the 700 back up and hit Big Bay in order to test the conditions compared to yesterdays little 25 mile joint. Conditions were the same and I once again found myself seeing 110mph on the speedo. My sled seemed strong, but I had a lot of track spin like everyone else.

I returned back to my fellow members and we made a few passes by their camp trying to get the radar gun to work. It seemed the individual holding the gun had to get dangerously close to the person going by on the sled in order to get a reading. My high hopes for the radar gun were staring to plummet! I guess I’ve wasted $10 on worse things? We were still waiting for Mark R. To show. Did he actually blow "THE" race off? Nope, as I rounded the corner towards the Leino Park bridge, there was Mark in his truck looking for a place to unload.

I greeted Mark with a "Hi, how are you?", and the bashing started. We went back and forth and unloaded the MXZ 700. Mark then asked if I had any gas? To my surprise, Mark decided to show up for "THE" race without any gas! I could only wonder what he was thinking? Was he trying to lighten up his sled by not filling it full of fuel? Oh well, he ended up siphoning gas from his own truck. Don’t worry I got the picture!

After waiting for Mark and the slowest fuel stop I’ve ever seen, we were all off to Big Bay. All of us lined up in the classic WPR fashion. #6 elected to start us off. With a raise of his hand and a quick look at all the members, he dropped his arm...we all mashed the throttle and spun off the line. I got the holeshot, Mark was close though and as I looked over my right shoulder I noticed him staying with me, then farther to my right I see this red sled smoking the both of us? It’s #1 on his XC 600! He has catapulted into the lead? Mark is still a good sled length behind me and I’m now reeling in #1 on his 600, but I’m now at the point where the Yellow Flash would start and pull me in. I look back and still see Mark but the Xc 700 is still pulling! Could I have lost my anchor? I believe I did! As I took one last look at Mark and his MXZ, I tucked my head and kept it to the boards only to slightly open my lead by another sled length. The Red Baron had done it!!! I won!

We all regrouped and had a little chat about the race. Mark started it off saying he just spun out of the hole, I had to explain that we all had spun with the exception of the XC 600. Just as I was feeling comfortable about beating the XC 600 and MXZ 700. #1 decides to tell us he shut his down half way through the race due to his temp light coming on! WTF? What did Polaris do to these things? We were all being smoked by the 600!

While #1 let his sled cool down, myself, Mark and #6 decided to play with the radar gun alittle more in Big Bay. # 6 volunteered to hold it(this was a brave soul) while we went by him at Full Throttle. Mark made the first run chalking up a solid 103mph! I was impressed! I followed suit and registered 103mph myself. Our sleds were pretty damn close I’ll tell ya! #6 decided to make a run and hit the big 79MPH. Not bad for a 400!

We all gathered together and hung out in front of the camp before we decided to go take a photo shoot of each other making water crossing under the Leino Park bridge. There was open water under the bridge and we felt the urge to cross it. I led the way so I could get a good position to snap a shot of #1 going thru it. I watched in awe as he came up to the water slowly and mashed the throttle at the last minute? I thought he was a goner! He made it through as the rest of the pack toyed with the stupid idea of skimming across some water between bridge pylons? Mark took over the camera and took a shot of myself going thru. I decided to hit it alittle quicker than #1.

After a few more laps around the lake and a few more races with Mark, the rest of the crew split off to load up. Mark and I continued to race back and forth always with the same results...me out front giving Marky the "LOOK" and a little wave of the hand "BYE-BYE". We hooked up with a guy Mark knew riding a 02'XC600. I was eager to race him since #1 was having alittle overheating problem. I quickly noticed he wasn’t picked and knew it wasn’t a fair race. We lined up and he sat and spun his 1.25" track. He decided to get his 01 XC500 because he thought it was quick out of the hole, but it obviously was a bad move on his part considering it wasn’t picked either.

Mark and I called it a day when he almost ran out of gas. We loaded up the beasts and said our good byes. Mark seemed to have his tail tucked between his legs? He didn’t have much to bash about all of a sudden? I guess he accepted his place in the winners circle, OUTSIDE OF THE CIRCLE THAT IS!!! Until next time. See ya.

I’ve been secretly testing the Red Baron on the lake. Every morning you can see a Red object fly bye, don’t worry it’s not a UFO it’s just me WFO. Total test miles 45.

Myself, Dave L. & his wife Shannon, took a ride out of Coldbrooke Country Club towards Fitzwilliam, N.H.. After a late arrival and miscommunication on both sides, I arrived at the parking area to find quite a few trailers unloading. Dave and his wife had already left so I had to play catchup. I zipped down the railroad bed at a steady pace and found the trail conditions on the RR bed excellent. I finally found Dave and Shannon and we decided to head towards Fitzwilliam. After passing the Templeton pits area the connector trail got pretty bad. Rocks, roots, mud and dirt were a common site from this point on. We stayed our course and finally made a quick decision to return to the railroad bed.

On our return trip we pulled aside on the connector trail only to watch people trying to navigate their sleds up and down the root invested trail. We even helped a few souls drag their sleds up a hill.

On our return trip we played in the Pit area. We did a few hill climbs, and basically played around and around for a while. After a small rest stop, we headed back onto the railroad bed for some good riding. We ventured onto some trails off the RR bed and found ourselves running into the same people again and again. It seemed everyone had the same idea, just stay on the main trails. We headed back to the parking area where I loaded up and Dave and Shannon went back out to the RR bed. I was eager to head back to Wymans Pond where I knew the conditions would be good. Little did I know how good. Total mileage for me @ Coldbrooke was 43 miles.

After crossing the bridge into Leino Park, I couldn’t help but notice that the entire lake was snow covered and packed down for perfect riding. While unloading the lake was buzzing with groups of sleds. Once on the lake, I couldn’t believe the conditions, it was perfect! After looking around I started my journey around the lake. Traction was excellent and one could easily hit 100mph on any given stretch.

After awhile I stopped at a locals water front property and met up with the Phelps brothers and their friends. We stood around and talked for a while, watching the sleds going by. I couldn’t believe the amount of sleds on the lake! If I say I counted 50 sleds I think I was being lenient. It was amazing! Every time you went into a cove you would see a group of 5-15 sleds parked on the ice. I haven’t seen Wyman Pond this busy in years! I can’t say it enough, it was excellent! I rode around for awhile and followed some guys on their MXZ 800's for and then split off to make a few speed runs. I made a couple runs into Hagar park and also found a few new trails thanks to Chris Phelps.

I should also mention the traffic heading up to Wachusett. The roads were at a standstill as people headed up to ski. Route 140 was packed. It was fun doing a speed run towards the road all the while knowing dozens of people were watching you, wondering if you were going to stop in time.

I finally watched the sun set and decided to look down and see how many miles I had ridden. To my amazement the odometer was just under 100! I did what any one of us would have done and ripped around the lake until I hit the magic #, 100 miles for the day. I loaded up the sled and called it a day. On my ride home, I started to reminisce of the days when we all had "beaters" and here we our for the most part riding late model sleds. I also tried to think of a time when I had seen more sleds on the lake at one time and also had such ideal conditions? I couldn’t think of one time! This was by far the best day I have had on our lake! Craig

P.S. It should also be noted that once again our friend Mark declined to ride with us. Knowing that today was going to be the day of bragging rights! The famous dual between the Yellow Flash and the Red Baron! I guess we’ll have to wait until he gets his pipe in! Until next time...

I rode at the lake today fine tuning my clutching. Lake was solid and just needs a little snow cover for ideal conditions. After a few speed runs across Big Bay, I was pleased with the performance of the 700 twin.

After a near collision with some slapnut on a 4-wheeler popping out of a cove while I was conducting one of my speed runs, I decided to call it quits for the day. Sliding sideways @ 85-90mph seemed to almost literally take the life out of me. Total miles 23. Craig

Myself and Greg searched desperately for snow covered trails today. Starting from Fitzwilliam we looked at some shady trails. We then drove towards Troy which looked the same. We then went up to Keene and talked to Chuck @ Nissan Dealership and he suggested Langdon, even though it rained the past night. Up we drove, until we hit Langdon, N.H.. Once there some locals suggested that the trails were junk and the place we were looking for was in Lyme, N.H.!

A quick cell phone call to home and we were headed to Lyme! We finally arrived in Lyme , N.H. at around 2pm. Conditions looked good so we finally unloaded. We quickly found the trail network to be a little confusing, but we finally found corridor 5 and decided to head up North. Trail condition were ok and improved greatly once we were up in the higher elevations and found were the groomer had past. We past a few riders and then ran into 2 guys waiting at a trail junction asking us if we had seen a guy on a green arcticat 500? We gave them our answer, "Nope" and continued on our journey. About a mile past the trail junction, Gregs mighty Polaris 400 decided it didn’t need it’s headlight. Greg got off his sled and said, " Craig I swear to GOD I had headlights before!" Sure ya did Greg! You see before this trip even got underway I had to pick Greg up in Fitchburg, load his sled up, register his sled, get gas, etc. All the time Greg was, so I thought, joking around by telling me his headlight and tail lights didn’t work and that we needed to fix them! Anyway back to our trip, after Greg and I both wiggled a few wires and banged on the headlight for a while, we finally had a glimpse of light! I said a glimpse! The bulb farted out one last attempt of shine and the proceeded to role out of it’s socket into the lens assembly! So much for the joke! Greg immediately headed back to the trail junction where the 2 guys were still waiting for their pal. He asked them if they had any spare bulbs? I think you know the answer.

We only had about a half an hour left of sunlight. So we headed back to the truck as fast as we could. Greg was leading the way as I followed with my headlight slowly casting a shadow on Greg and his sled. The inevitable finally happened as the sun set and we were approximately 25 miles from the drop off point. Greg kept up the pace as we headed south down corridor 5. Suddenly Gregs sled started to bog to the point were Greg had to get off his sled and lift the rear off the ground in order to regain his rpm’s. I just sat back and watched in awe as he slowly began to pick up some speed again. We finally made it back to the Xterra and started to load up the sleds. Greg couldn’t be more apologetic. He still swore up and down that he had headlights before the trip?

We finally headed home after a long day of travel and quite the little adventure. Despite all the running around and mechanical failures, I had a great time with a great friend! Until next time, see ya, Craig!

well the wife and I went up north this weekend to Nash stream only to find nash stream not so hot as usually.we arrived at around 10:30 am on Saturday and unloaded at the gravel pit.I almost stopped at twin mtn because the snow was so much deeper!!!!however we took off and headed for colebrook.we took route 5n which was ok some bumps to route 7 toward kidderville the trail had lots of water bars in it.we then took trail 5/18 toward diamond pond which was beat but not bad 25-30 mph.we came to the warming hut near little diamond pond only to find about 100 sled parked!!!we decided to get lunch at the sportsman's lodge.I took trail 132 only to find out diamond pond was 12"of slush and my wife was not coming out on the lake, as I'm 100' from shore!!!I turned and started to sink, my reaction was full throttle!!!!!I hate unfrozen lakes.however we had to go around the long way to get to the lodge.we headed into coleman state park which was great, nice groomed trails!!!!we ate lunch and headed back to nash stream.

we headed back toward the balsams via 18s to kelseys notch trail which was bumpy to 5s which a groomer had gone down in the morning but the traffic was busy and the trail had many bumps.the trails in nash stream were not very good.by 4:30pm we had enough of the bumps with only 93 miles for the day!!!!

on sunday a huge storm was coming???????so we got up at 8:00am ate and headed to ????I know twin mtn????it had started to snow and lots of trailers were at new zealand but I said"let's try it if it sucks we"ll go home."well the groomers were out the night before and the trails were ok.we headed toward faybians, then took the cherry mtn road trail which was great!!!when we got to the end my wife said"let's go down that again!!!!!"and we did.we then went down the cog r.r which had been groomed but had some bumps but ok.just before we got to the end we saw a snowmobile on the side of the trail just before the jefferson notch trail on FIRE, FIRE FIRE!!!!!!!!!the sled had a full tank of gas in it ,and the guys were trying to put snow on it but it just burned and burned.I forgot my camera so we headed back to the truck after watching the gas tank explode and got the camera.we arrived back in about 20 minutes only to find only the steel frame and motor pieces on the snow.when I get the pictures back I'll send them!!!

we continued on up jefferson notch which had lots of ice to the 25 dollar trail.the 25 dollar trail was in good shape!!!I even found Craig's change from Monday!!!!ha ha ha!!!!but really it was in good shape flat..we headed back down the cherry mtn trail and to faybians for lunch.it was still snowing and the roads back home were suppose to be bad so we loaded up at 12:30pm and headed home with 52miles at twin mtn.I would have to say that twin mtn had better conditions than nash stream!!I hate to say it but twin had more snow!!however coleman state park was in great shape and we should have rode around it longer.we need more snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!until the next ride Dave.....

Myself and Mark R. headed up to Twin Mtn.. We left on a "whim" at 10:30am. We arrived at Twin Mtn. And had to register our sleds. After registering, Mark talked to a guy running a groomer. The man claimed he would be grooming the trails throughout Twin Mtn.. We were excited to say the least, but would soon find out that the groomer mysteriously disappeared?

We parked at Faybians and unloaded. There were only 4-5 trucks in the parking lot. The place was ours! We headed up past Faybians and quickly found ourselves hitting the notorious moguls in Twin Mtn.. Finally we found a fresh groomed trail off to the left. We headed up the trail only to find the groomer and the individual driving it shaking his head and proceeded to inform us that the trail was for cross-country skiing only! OOPS! We turned around in search for better trails.

The trails had plenty of snow but desperately needed grooming. After riding around and making some small loops, we decided to just head North, up corridor 11. Finally the trails seemed to get better, but eventually we had to turn around. While heading back South, we decided to take the $1.25 trail only to learn that if you had any loose change in your pocket, it would soon be donated to the trail!

We returned to Faybians and loaded up the sleds. We then proceeded to swizzle down a $9.00 cheeseburger and some HOT chicken tenders.

Driving home would soon turn into a nightmare. Rte 93 was an ice skating rink! We counted at least 9 vehicles off the side of the road during the ride. All along wondering if we were next? After about 4 hours of saying " OH SHIT" and with an average speed of 45mph, we arrived at Marks house. We then had to unload my sled back onto my trailer.

I finally arrive home to find around 6" of snow in the driveway. Trying to back my trailer up the driveway was impossible, so I decided to drive my truck straight up. I soon found myself spinning and sliding, only to be stopped by the rear end of my trailer wedge into my fence. Now I had to unload the sled, remove the trailer from my truck, and then proceed up the driveway and reattach the trailer.

Finally I landed the trailer into it’s bedding area, but while replacing the pin to prevent the trailer from tipping, I heard the famous, "TWINGGG", and I’ve yet to find the spring clip for the pin. Oh well, after all was said and done we were once again beaten up from another Twin, Mtn. Ride. We only managed 72 miles on the sleds, but it was worth every bit of it.