Mother Nature... Typical Woman

Mother Nature Can't make up her mind.

We get absolutely blasted with snow, which wound up nearly waist deep not too far north of my house a couple weeks ago, only for it to get warm and for heavy rain to cause massive amounts of melt, which of course causes a lot of run-off, and shitty snowmobile trails. The trails were outstanding after we got the big snow, and then the rain pretty much ruined them.

Over the last couple days, we got another 20+ inches of snow. I expect the trails to be absolutely fantastic... until the end of the weekend when it's going to warm up. Next week, rain and the chance for 50 degree temps , potentially for as long as 2 weeks. More melt, more run-off and more shitty trails.

On Saturday I think Kristin is going to attempt to make her maiden voyage. This is a bittersweet event. I've been looking forward to getting her onto the snowmobile and getting her riding, but now that it's almost time, it's begun to dawn on me that now instead of 100 mile days, I'm going to have 20 mile days, at least at first. This wouldn't be so bad, except that now with the crazy weather, my opportunities for long rides are becoming quite limited.

But, that's ok. It will be fun to get her out there and get her riding. I don't really know what to expect from her. Riding a snowmobile is a very different experience than what most people are used to, especially if they've never spent time on ATVs and motorcycles. It's very intimidating at first, which results in a lot of timid reactions to some of the dangers that you encounter. When you see dips and open water, slamming the throttle all the way to the bar isn't exactly intuitive, but it's often necessary. Likewise, there are a lot of situations where more throttle is better than less throttle, but it takes a big leap of faith to try that for the first time, especially when you're still not used to the huge amount of power that these machines have. Even though more throttle is better than less in many cases, in almost all cases, too much throttle will put you into a world of hurt. It also takes a lot of getting used to when it comes to cornering. Snow is slippery, so it's just not natural to expect a snowmobile to be able to turn a corner at 50 mph. It takes some faith. Then when you get over that and you start gaining that faith, you start to see that inside ski lift and it scares the shit out of you. Holy crap, I'm going to roll over! I'm going to slide off the trail! No you aren't. You get used to seeing that inside ski in the air after a while, but it's just another one of those things that will scare the hell out of a new rider at first.

Hopefully it won't take long for her to start to feel comfortable on the sled and gain the confidence it takes to ride at a pace that allows her to stay with the group, and to gain the stamena to enjoy a 100 mile ride.

Either way, it'll be an adventure. :)