We just spent the last 3 days welcoming home from Iraq some of the soldiers from the 1/120th out of Marshfield area. Most showed up Tuesday morning and the last one left this morning. I was contacted some time back last summer by Sgt. Marty Bever asking if we could put a little sled package together for himself & a few other soldiers he was serving with in Iraq who were really missing the cooler temps & snow back home in Wisconsin. We said sure… would love to. As it grewer closer Dawn & I contacted a few area business to see if they would like to join in to offer them a great package. John & Mary from BoatSport Marine offered an awesome rate for sled rentals. Dash from Friendship House treated them to a great breakfast. Ron & Cindy opened up and threw them a private party fit for a king. Heidi at the Hiawatha Hideaway set these guys up at the bar and showed them a great time. Jimmy Thompson from Phelps helped with a fast repair, and Perry (aka Howler) for doing rescue on the breakdown and riding tail. Lunch on Tuesday was at the Black Oak in LandO.
On Wednesday we rode thru Phelps, Alvin,  down to Three Lakes where we had lunch at the Irish Waters Pub - who opened early for the soldiers. Awesome ride on Wednesday. Where we finished off the evening with dinner at the White Spruce Inn later that nite.
On Thursday we did a little riding - northwoods style and had lunch up in Phelps at the Great Escape. All treated these guys and galls to an extra special warm welcome home.. Hats off to the businesses and their big hearts to the troops.
I rode with the guys & gals Tues, Wed, and Thursday. We had a BLAST!!! We even got Dawn out for a 100 mile loop on Wednesday. It was great to give back to these soldiers that serve our country in these tough times.
Thank you to all the men and women of the 1/120th who choose to spend their home coming get together with us. It was an honor.

Al & Dawn
WE RIDE!!!

P.S. The trails were GREAT too.. The pics & videos speak 1000 words of the fun we all had

Took a ride out today with the Reaper and Jason.  Rode up to Phelps, LandO,  Conover and back to Eagle River. Ride was AWESOME today. Trail 17 & 6 were both really decent. Trail 13 was a skating rink, and trail 3 coming back into Eagle River was fine. With the exception of a couple of trails the riding up here is still real good. Probably gonna rest up tomorrow, got a “big special” ride on Tues & Wed…
Would really love a little extra snow if that can be arranged!

WE RIDE!!!
Al

Rode Saturday with Reaper & Rayne. Trails were good, smooth, enough loose snow for lubrication with hard icy base. Most corners held up well, but a few were icy - so ride with caution. Had a great ride!!!

WE RIDE!!!

Rode today with our guests Tom & his buddy Shaker. We rode up thru Phelps to Iron River… we put on a 120 miles. Even tho the trails are a little thin, they are all smooth and in decent shape - plenty of lube for the hyfaxes. We had an awesome ride even tho it was bitter cold. As far as bad areas.. dirt or gravel, didn’t find any today, but the base of the snow is set up really hard.  Sure had no problem riding on these.
WE RIDE!!!

The groomers have been out the last few days and smoothed out most of the bumps pretty darn good. I rode out today and videoed the normally worst areas around here. Heading north out of Eagle River on trail 17 & 3, I found the trails in good shape, it’s a little thin in spots, ice in a few corners that had puddled and refroze… and a few stop signs were a bit icy also. Going south from Eagle River to Sugar Camp look good. The Eagle River trails are GOOD, not perfect.. It’s almost the end of January, the season ain’t getting any longer.
Ride em if ya got em!!

Took a ride today with Dawn and Jeff Catlin from Appleton PowerSports. We left Eagle River and took 13N to LandO, the trails were OK - snow covered, and a little rough. We had lunch at the Black Oak then rode trail 6 to Phelps. Trails also still have snow on them, some areas of snirty snow but trail 6 was whooped up the entire way to Phelps. Trail 17 back to Eagle River was actually in decent shape, nicely white snow covered and smooth. Overall it wasn’t a bad ride at all. I don’t think I’d want to make a 200 mile day out of this yet until we have alittle more snow and the groomers have had a chance to get out. The trails are not anywhere near perfect… but able to ride around every where with more than enough snow cover to enjoy some decent riding. Snowing lightly tonite, had a dusting so far. Here’s some pics and a video of todays ride.

On a side note here: To the family from Oak Park, IL that we met at Black Oak today… Thank you for your kind words, glad to see your out having fun on the trails and it was nice to finally meet you..

Al
Hiawatha

VIDEO of trails http://vimeo.com/8981785

Warm up left the whole northwoods pretty beat up, snows coming down pretty good now. Hopefully it will be good news by the time its all said and done.
Yesterday rode up in the UP with The Breeze, HiRise & Josh. Was suppose to meet The Breeze & HiRise at 9:30, when they didn’t show started heading down the trail to meet up with them… First came upon HiRise sitting on the side of the trail outta gas, with The Breeze 3 miles further down the trail also outta gas… LOL. Did a little towing (note to self - go slower for Matt while towing.. LOL) Got the sleds gassed up on we were on our way.
Things were pretty beat down and we rode til it started raining.  We did a little playing on forest roads and screwed around. All & all had a good day.

Al
Hiawatha

SNOW TODAY! Come on SNOW!

After a big busy Derby weekend, poor snow conditions and light traffic we decided to bug outta town for a few days and visit our 3 kids at college. We usually don’t get much of a chance for visiting them during the winter months. Needed to fix a toliet, washing machine, pick up some supplies and dinner with the kids. They sure are always hungry when we come to town… Have a “storm” coming thru this weekend, suppose to start off with rain/sleet and turn to snow. They seem to be all over the place with amount we are suppose to receive. Guess it all depends how quick it turns to snow. Here’s hoping we get dumped on. Planning on going riding tomorrow, just not sure where yet. Might be time to pull that mountain sled out and head north. Alot of the trails look pretty bad especially along the roads, but we have talked to quite a few that are still riding up here and saying that alot of the areas are still pretty nice.. “much better than they expected”, but have to ride thru some junk to get to the decent stuff.
So.. DO THE SNOW DANCE!!!

Took a ride up to Conover this morning and seen that the groomers had been out and started pulling the trals back together. These guys do a great job and really can perform magic. I didn’t know what to expect with as bad as they got from Saturdays & Sundays warm up, but I found everything to still be rideable with some sections just great to some being rough, poor/fair. The rail grade 3 going north out of Eagle River will need a few more passes with the groomer to get it completely smooth but they are working on it. So to sum it up, we are still good to go, not the greatest but OK. Also I did not see one other sled out there… Traffic light! Now.. LET IT SNOW!!!

VIDEO
http://www.vimeo.com/

After a very busy weekend and with the warm up the last few days… took a break from the sled today.
The groomers did get out and pan last night and heading out again tonite. Hoping that the groomers were able to perform a little magic,  going to head out tomorrow and see how the trails held up from the weekend warm up. Will let ya know what I find. Have a great night and
THINK COLD!!! and THINK SNOW!!!