I'm not sure why I turn everything into a race or why I feel I have to be first with everything, but I do. One of my favorite races or firsts is the right to stake claim to being one of the first in the country to ride a sled on snow each year. This is a day that drives me crazy waiting for. You better believe when I hear of anywhere with 8 inches or more of snow hopefully your truck is more modded than mine because I'll race ya to it! Here's how October 9th went down for me and my snow hungry buds on our first ride of the season:
6:00am I checked the snotel site one more time to make sure the 250 mile drive from my house was going to be worth it. 27 inches.are you kidding me? Carl Lewis couldn't have caught me from my front porch to the truck.
6:06am Barely missed a deer on the way into town.did he want race? I couldn't tell so I didn't turn around.
6:15am Grab Sahen and Randal, fire up the sleds and load them up into the trailer. Yah, I was the first one in the trailer, no big deal.
6:20am Convince Sahen that since I'm loaning him a sled and taking my trailer, that were taking his truck.sucker.
6:21am Race him to the driver's door. Thank goodness I have long legs, I'm driving!
6:35am Not sure why eating fast is cool, but I ended up losing the breakfast burrito race. Probably because I was texting, drinking my Monster and driving with my knee. Glad I'm not in my truck.
7:30am Raced a ski rack-carrying Subaru that thought the left lane on the highway was where you were allowed to only drive the speed limit. What is wrong with people? Trailer with 5 sleds.no problem taking care of the Suby. I didn't even know an EGT gauge could go that high! Glad I'm not driving my truck.
10:20am Just smoked into the parking lot. 250 miles, 4 hours on the dot, averaged 62.5 mph and went through a full tank of gas. Glad I'm not driving my truck.
10:30am This next race is one I have so much practice with I'm not sure I can lose. Watching me getting geared up as an outsider has to be comical to watch. You would think I had fire ants in my shorts. Hey, it may look funny but I was the first to start my sled and hit the snow.
10:32am Yep, I'm the first one off the trail. As I look behind and see the group follow, I smile under my helmet and know it's game time! At this point I'm not so pumped on Sahen riding my sled.
11:30am First stuck of the year. Yep that's me too. It was so awesome when Sahen came ripping up the same line and got bucked off into the trees right next to me. "Hey buddy!" We had a lot of firsts right there: First high five that we got each other stuck, First 1-2-3 ski pull, first time we had to get a saw out, first time we openly admitted we were out of shape, first thought of why we are so addicted to this awesome sport.
1:00pm I was the first to remind the group that in our excitement we didn't pack water or food. But we made sure to have our phones to post pictures to make all you suck'as jealous!
3:00pm Sahen beat me with another first. Yep you guessed it, he earned the honor of being the first to wreck a sled. Got away with just a bent set of bars. Really not pumped he's riding my sled now. His truck is in for it on the way home!
5:30pm First day on the snow comes to an end. Tired, hungry, and so freaking happy I can't even stand it.
7:45pm First to come in a little hot on a corner with the trailer. I'm glad I couldn't hear the tires squealing over Sahen's 12-year-old girl scream. Glad I'm not driving my truck.
9:20pm Come smoking back into Kremmling. Beat my time by 10 minutes. He was giving me the ole headshake that he's seen from me countless times. So that's what it looks like. Hey, we made great time ok. So we shortened the life of a few items. In the honor of our first sled ride it was so worth it!
11:30pm Get a text from Sahen as he's driving home that there's a weird vibration coming from the rear end now. Hmmm, maybe we should have drove my truck. Thanks Sahen!
What a day and what a start to the year. See you on the snow!
Let it snow
Chris Burandt