Greetings and welcome!
6pm-Final Update ’till mid-day Friday..
Today was not good. On my little ride around Silver Cliff and the northern Flowages area I saw a lot of ugly spots. Our new snow is gone. We are back to the big beefy base, with sunny spots burned through. I would ride it, but only if i had to in order to get somewhere else. A decent 3″ snow would make it good, 6 would make it great.
It looks like the usual go north & west. I am not sure that they escaped unscathed but they had more to work with. I would say north of C for sure.
That is it for me today. I will return when tomorrow unfolds a little.
RJB
4:30pm- We are over the heat of the day, below 40, and the sun will set soon. Steve in Athelstane had 44.1 briefly, most of the area hit about 40. I was working (hard) in a T shirt in the blue room. Huge progress was made on #2 but it is still 2 hours from a ride. Driveline bearings are done, now it is all about the details.
Now I am off to do a quick ride in the truck to see how the local trails fared. My guess from here is that we will be back to north of C, better toward 8 and west of 32, but that is just a guess from looking around the yard.
1:45pm NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Man it is brutal out there. It is 41 & sunny and the snow is taking a beating. The thermometer in the sun says 50. I won’t be riding today thanks to the loose mashed potatoes. This ain’t good. Only 3 1/2 hours of daylight left. It isn’t the end, but this will thin out some of the marginal trails pretty good.
11am-Very sunny & 36
There will be several updates today. This is the early morning version..
Yesterday was a very full work day so I didn’t even go outside until after dark. I was a little surprised to see what our high temps were.. Athelstane-39, Rhinelander-37, Antigo- 36, Green Bay- 38, and the warmest in the state was Superior with 41. Since when does a north wind come with near-40 degree temps in mid-February?
We did have some settling, but nothing catastrophic was obvious in the dark. The sun stayed behind the clouds most of the day. I am a little more nervous about the next two days. Today and tomorrow look to be sunnier and again with temps in the mid-30s. All that we can do is wait and see if it gets out of hand. Unless it does, the trails that I rode Tuesday should still be OK. i know that it is important to a lot of people so I will stay updated.
Comments… We have had some good ones lately.
Bob’s “The ride to wrench ratio is terrible”… Funny and true. I laughed too. Some of you have expressed that you enjoy my mechanical crash n burn stories, so I keep em coming. Tuesday RXL #1 came home sick. I am hoping it is a worn and out of balance clutch, but the sweet side in me says it is a center wrist pin or rod bearing. It still runs and drives well it just has a little more noise and vibration than it should have. I will be checking it out later.
Yes Jeannie, I have been a tinker for many years, and I don’t give up on many challenges. Big challenges come with big lessons and big rewards. Kinda like when I blew the sturt tower out on the mini-van. Instead of junking it I got a TIG welder, learned to use it on the thin steel, and put it back on the road. I got a cool welder, knowledge, and the car back. Building my sleds out of junk.. that’s just because I am ummm poor.
Ron, to my knowledge all area trails are open. Trails to the north of C and west of 32 will be better, though Chute Pond has been reporting good trails too.
Jason, how the trails will survive the late week spring thing is anyone’s guess and everyone’s question. it is likely that we will see some sunburn. If it isn’t pretty, go north and west. Again I will stay on it and keep you informed.
TJ, You should be able to run from T&T’s house to Dunbar unless the weather really craps out. There are many trails from there that are ATV legal. The trails that way were nice Tuesday. I am at Rapids Resort on Saturdays.
Tim, I am not sure what to tell you about Iron Snowshoe’s grooming schedule. I usually ride N, W, or SW. The Iron Snowshoe trails up here (north of C) were groomed Tuesday, and the parts that weren’t were still in great shape. Even the always there whoopties had been filled in. I just don’t know about the flowages area. If you want to let them know about it, talk to the bar owners in the area. The bars/resorts west of the flowage from Pine Acres south to W and along W are all very active in the club. Let them know that they are losing your biz and making you unhappy. There are a lot of other active members, but the outlined group is usually at meetings, and includes the prez, VP, and treasurer. They are the ones that can change it. Maybe some of you can weigh in on this?
I just caught a late rebroadcast of the 10pm news. Sunny & 39 in Townsend today they say. This would be a great day for the weatherman to be wrong.
More to follow as it unfolds..
RJB