"What do you mean I have to have my column for the first
issue done this week? I just quit riding three weeks ago!"
That was my reaction to Ryan Harris telling me of the
deadline for the first SledHeads issue
this year. Man what a snow year and what a year to start a snowmobile business!
This year between freeriding and taking out clients with Burandt's Back Country
Adventure, I rode just under 150 days! Now riding for pretty much five months
straight was a dream come true, but what was even better was that on at least five
different days I remember telling the guys I was riding with, "this is the
deepest snow I have ever ridden in!" You really gotta love that global warming,
huh!
While the season turned out to be simply incredible there
were many things that had to fall into place in order for this dream season to
come true.
Snow- In Colorado we were blessed once again with snow in
October. This allowed for early testing of all the new sleds and a chance to
work any bugs out before the real snow came. But then the snow stopped and for
the whole month of November the white stuff was nowhere to be found. When
Thanksgiving came rolling around and there was only enough snow to ride the
roads I started to get a little nervous. My first group was to arrive Dec 10
and I was really hoping I didn't have to make the call to tell them that there
was not enough snow. And then it happened. The first week of December it
started to snow and it did not stop until the middle of May!
Sleds- Arctic Cat once again stepped up and showed why they
are making such huge strides in the western market. When I pitched them the
idea of Burandt's Back Country Adventure both the marketing and engineering
department's jumped on board with 100% support. Each manufacture builds a great
western product, however I have yet to see any sled that can hang with an M
series sled when it comes to the straight up gnarly tree riding that I love to
do. Any challenges with that statement go ahead and visit www.burandtsbackcountryadventure.com
and book your trip to come see me!
Mods- With a snow year like this the name of the game is
power-to-weight. As many of you know I have a hard time leaving anything stock.
Therefore, I didn't expect my clients to ride stock equipment either. I would
like to give a big thanks to the following companies for jumping on board and
helping to make my tour sleds some of the baddest mods on the snow. Not only
did these sleds perform without one hiccup all year, but it was also a great
way for people to try some of the coolest aftermarket goodies in some of the
sickest snow I have ever seen. We got out parts from: VOHK Performance, Boondockers
Turbo Systems, Speedwerx, Black Diamond
Extreme, Holz Racing Products, Campolast Tracks, Arctic Cat, Starting Line
Products, Fox Racing Shox, RK Tech, CPC Racing, Exhaust Gas Technologies, Diamond
S, Edge Products, Hotdogger.
This was one of the longest winters I can remember, however
I am already getting the itch to play in some of that fine Colorado pow again. Thanks again to all for
making Burandt's Back Country Adventure's first year a tremendous success.
This winter was by far the best time I have ever had on the snow and the new
friendships that were made this year have been priceless. May the summer go by
fast and the new snow come soon. Be sure to check out the web site to see some
of the ridiculous photos and videos from this past year.
Talk to you all next month!