Yamaha Pro AMA Superbike racing rider Josh Herrin and his
younger brother Zach ventured to Idaho and western
Wyoming in
January to ride snowmobiles. Josh and Zach Herrin have grown up racing Yamaha
Sport Bikes, excelling in the highest adrenaline powersports segment a gearhead
can pursue. But there's not much snow in SoCal or Georgia. So, the idea of finding
some deep powder and switching gears from pavement to powder in the off-season
was an opportunity the Herrins couldn't pass up.
One hundred eighty miles per hour on an R6 around a twisty
track is common ground for Josh Herrin. Could riding a sled be near the rush?
The first day Jared Burt, GearHead.com CEO,
hauled Josh Herrin, Zach Herrin and a couple friends to the Big Hole Mountain
Range in southeast Idaho
for a warm-up ride. Test day on the track is critical to prepare for an AMA
Sportbike race. Josh warmed up quickly to the 2012 Yamaha Nytro MTX 162 in
short order. By the end of the day, Josh and Zach were racing back and forth on
the winding mountain trails at 70-80 mph. A taste of mountain riding wetted
their appetites as they found a few meadows and hills to rip around on.
After getting stuck in the powder half a dozen times, Zach's
patience had run out. He said, "I hate the powder." Jared noted that, "After 10
minutes of riding, Josh got comfortable on the sled and couldn't keep it under
75 mph on the trail. I was going for a cruise, Josh wanted to win." After five hours
of trails and a taste of the mountains, they were ready for a new challenge
with even more powder.
"It's different in the
trails but in the fresh powder whenever you turn the bars and it doesn't go the
way you want it to turn, that's what threw me off the whole day when I was
riding. I couldn't make myself do until the end of the day when I got used
to it. But when I did it was a whole lot of fun."
- Josh Herrin
Troy Johnson with Lincoln County Customs in Alpine, WY, went
on the ride to give some pointers. Johnson said, "They caught on to what they
had to do really quickly. Josh had the right idea of the technique he needed
really quickly." They enjoyed the off-trail riding a lot more as they figured
out how to counter steer, jump and hillclimb on the sleds.
"My back wasn't so sore after Day 2 because they learned how
to keep the sled from trenching. It was a lot of fun riding with guys so
passionate and down to earth," Johnson said.
Josh and Zach really started to love mountain snowmobiling
as their ability to ride grew quickly on the easy to navigate Yamaha
Nytro MTX 162 snowmobiles. Josh left Alpine saying, "I like coming up
and doing this stuff in the off-season. It's still good for me; it's training
basically. If I can do this another couple times before the end of the season
that would be really cool. Next year, when I come up, hopefully I'll do a
little bit better."
Josh and Zach have committed to making this an annual trip
to improve their snowmobiling skills.