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DID WINTER GO |
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January 2006
Where Did Winter Go?
By Dennis Oaks
| We have had the pleasure of an early freeze
this year which got us all riding on the ice before the
holidays. It has been fun and really enjoyed my two bikes
with two different types of tires (Canadian & Fredette).
I have learned so much and tried to ride every weekend
I could. It is great to see all the people show up, some
I know and some I don't but all brought together for the
same interest. This sport of ice riding is so differed
than any other riding I do, but as you learn braking,
weighting, cornering and throttle control it all comes
together into a "pitched out" power slide through
a flat corner at speeds beyond imagination. "Addicting"
is a good way to describe it. A sport that is as unpredictable
as the weather and can only sometimes exists for a few
weekends. |
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In late December the search for ice was
on everyone's mind and dieseljo made mention that maybe
we could go north and find some frozen lake to ride. Well
my wife and I know some friends that own a resort just
south of Rhinelander Wi and they just happened to have
a vacant cabin that would sleep 6. A couple of calls later
and we now have the plan set in motion. Organization is
what this effort was going to take, for one it is a long
drive and for two they had snow! A lot of snow! Packing
everything from bikes to underwear managed to fill 2 vans,
1 truck, and 3 enclosed trailers. We had it all! Trying
to be prepared for anything. |
| Arriving Friday early afternoon
we wasted no time getting to work. We had 2 atv's with
plows and building a track before dark was the goal. The
snow was deep and made some hard work for the ATV's. For
traction at times we had to ride 2 up just to open a path.
The funniest part of this process was when Joey and I
"teamed up" on 7.0 Joe's ATV. Joey put his legs
over the bars while still attempting to steer and work
the throttle. I was sitting behind him controlling the
manual lift plow arm. The snow was so deep that we had
to take multiple cuts to reach the ice surface. Joey would
have the throttle pinned as the quad was bucking back
and forth in the deep snow; I was trying to hold the plow
at a doable cut height. To low would bring us to a crawl
and to high would give us too much speed. I swear that
Joey never backed off the throttle! I was hanging on for
dear life while bouncing up and down thinking any moment
we both were going to fly off! (Insane!) We both laughed
so hard and were covered in snow. When we broke open a
trail we then switched ATV's and give the other a much
need rest. Once down to the surface we continued to widen
until we reached a width we could ride. It was slow going
but as we had hoped we opened up a long track and even
an oval. The next days riding was going to be great! |
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Saturday morning came and it was 21 degrees. The ice
gods blessed us and we were ready to ride! The track
was incredible and as always Joey seems to "just
know" how to lay out the course. We had a great
selection of bikes from Ktm to Yamaha and even a little
green. 2 stroke, 4 stroke, auto clutch or standard clutch,
Rock Central Canadian & Fredette ice tires…
they all were there for one reason.
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Power is always a plus on the
ice. The more the better! But when you have great skills
you can overcome the power edge (Joey is always proving
that point) I was riding my Ktm 300 and just finished
some work on it. 7.0 Joe had his Yamaha there that he
has been working on for the big 3 hour and as luck would
have it that race had been canceled this year. Let me
tell you this bike is fast! He has spent lots of time
and money to make this thing really fast. Wayne had a
Smr 450 that also is very fast. Jt rode my 400 and he
showed us some skills that proves why he is so fast on
a moto track. This was JT's first real outing on the ice
and we were glad to have him along. Then there was Pistol
Pete… a green bike rider that proved that the color
means nothing it's how hard you can twist the throttle!
These guys were not giving anything up and made the weekend
unbelievable. Doing my best to try and keep up with the
blue bike I went to work on the power valve in the 300
and put in a red spring, This lets the valve work quick
and the grin factor real big! It was the power I was looking
for, from then I did my best to ride my heart out. One
section of the track we had a fast left sweeper with a
small kink. Lap after lap the master (Joey) continually
would pass me there because I just could not hold the
throttle open through it (top gear). Well we came back
there again and I had the front, pushing everything I
had… I thought to my self "don't let off","
don't let off" if he can do it, then I can do it,
just weight the peg and let those tires do there job!
The lead held and the next turn was a hairpin left. I
had so much speed that I had the bike drifting left. When
I finally got it to drift right I laid it in and drifted
a little wide and wouldn't you know Joey sneaks in under
me turns around and waves good bye! (Nice) Coolest moment
I had in a while and him being the teacher I'm sure he
was proud to see me use what I have learned. |
| We battled a good 5 + hours back and forth with everybody
really having fun. Finally we stopped for lunch around
2:00. |
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After lunch I was fueling my bike as everyone went
back out to the big track. I did a couple of laps on
our oval to warm things up then headed out to the road
course. As I was entering the track I saw Wayne coming
and I stopped a little sudden drop over in the snow
and looked like an idiot for the camera. I then turned
left and hit the gas, as I reached third I went to back
off the throttle and disaster struck as the throttle
stuck ….( it still makes me shake just typing this).…
As I was about to backed off it hit the power band the
corner was coming up so fast ….I made a decision
to let go and come off the back. There was no one out
there and figured the bike would find it self to the
ground. Well… the snow bank was big from plowing
and you have to know that I barely had a hold of the
bars at all as it was unexpectedly pulling out from
under me. As I let go and pushed off with my feet from
the pegs the bike hit the snow bank. The moment that
followed was quick … thinking I was going to be
fine, I felt the bike pushing up and knew instantly
that the tire was going to hit me. Canadian tires for
those who have not seen them they are the badest, ugliest,
meanest looking tire I have ever seen. As you can imagine
they will do damage to the ice and if unlucky enough
to get tangled with them they think nothing of your
body parts. I was caught from behind… my legs into
both my thighs. I knew what had happened and from there
I don't want to go into anymore details, although I
will say that my friends are important to me and I thank
you for everything. I can not express with words how
much those next moments will always mean to me.
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Ok with that said… I want to again say thanks
for the riding guys, you made this an awesome weekend.
I truly am sorry for how it had to end but I will be
ok. The riding is what we went for and I think I can
speak for us all, The temps, the lake, the track and
the friendship was as good as it gets.
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Thank you guys for some great memories that I will
always remember!
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Thanks to Katch's Pine Point Resort for a great cabin
and letting us turn "snowmobile country" into
"motorcycle madness" for the weekend!
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| DertBik Dennis |
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