Ok, so you guys are probably tired of me talking about how
sick the snow was last year, but man it was just so good! With conditions like
they were I couldn't wait to ride each and every day. Now, while over-the-hood-snow
and bottomless days are what we all dream of, there is somewhat of a downside
to these epic conditions. and that is getting stuck! Sitting here writing this
I started doing some simple calculations. Let's see, I rode with 125 different
clients for an average of three days each. While some people did better than
others I would have to say on the average each person got stuck at least five times
per day (and that number is being nice! You know who you are.) So using those
conservative numbers I figure there were
at least 1,875 times I saw and helped a sled get unstuck on Burandt's Backcountry
Adventure. Thank goodness I was able to rope some of my close personal friends
into coming out with me during this past winter for some help. (Hey Jared, I
know you helped me out with at least half of those.hope you will answer my
calls this coming winter when I ask if you want to come and ride!)
You see, Jared knew it was going to be a long day when our
phone conversations sounded like this:
"Hey man we got dumped on again and I have a group of six
tomorrow-can you ride?"
"Yeah, I'm in. What kind of riding do these guys do?"
With excitement in my voice I respond, "They all said they
are boondockers!"
Here is where poor Jared starts preparing for the worst.
"Boondockers huh? Have they seen our idea of boondocking
yet?"
"I'm not sure, I've never ridden with these guys but they'll
be alright."
"What do they ride for sleds?"
"Well they are flying in and riding our sleds but I guess three
of them own 162 Ms, two own 162 XPs and the last guy has a Dragon 800 163."
Now Jared is really second guessing this trip.
"So they like boondocking with those long sleds huh?"
"Yeah, but they say this is the only kind of riding they do,
so we should be good." Now Jared starts running the day through his head; a day
where he has to drive the second truck and trailer and listen to me make fun of
how slow he drives, bring up the rear of the pack all day, gets each sled
unstuck just about the time I conveniently get turned around and show up,
doesn't get a single breather all day because I hate stopping, and just when I
finally do stop to give the group a rest I tell Jared "Hey, let's rip right up
here for a second." That "second" usually results in Jared and I having to
either break out the saws or start wondering how long it will take to walk to
where the rest of the group is for some help. Oh and did I mention the two-hour
drive to get to my house he has to make in the morning? Being the true
definition of a sledder, that ol' Jared tells me, "No prob man, I'll be there
at eight!"
"Sweet! See you in the Morning!"
As I hang up the phone I give a little sigh of relief that I
will have some help and start thinking about how good this ride is going to be.
Maybe I should let Jared break trail
tomorrow.I say to myself. I better
not; he does ride a Ski-Doo!
Thanks to all of my boys who willingly put up with this
abuse all year long! What a year, huh guys?