Arrowhead Lake Ice Riding March 1, 2015

Another great day on the ice in Milton.

Riding the River

This past Thursday, Fred and I took our XR100's out on the Browns River. I should preface that by mentioning that we had done some prep work last week. There had been a couple big willow trees that had fallen across the river, and we had to wait for it to freeze enough so that we could stand in/on the river and cut away the branches. At that time there were still some patches of snow on the ice, it was rideable with the XR100's but we ran out of time.

So with that work done we were prepared to try it as soon as we had the right conditions. Well, Sunday we had a thaw coupled with some rain, and the river rose about 6 or so inches and refroze. It was perfect. We didn't want to take the big bikes out yet, so we ventured out on the 100's and had a blast.

We headed north, and stopped just short of a small rocky section with open water. The river is only knee deep here.

This is a VAST snowmobile trail intersection near the river, I wanted to see how far north we were. 2 miles north of the Essex town line.

The white spots are big ice crystals, really cool effect when you put your foot down and slide through 'em.

This is as far south as we got, I've skied in these farm fields from my house. Total straight line distance was roughly 3 or so miles, but river riding distance was probably more like 5.

2004 Honda CRF 450 R

Well now! The sale of the XL600 streettracker made it possible for me to buy this beast. And I love it. Bought it for flattrack racing and ice riding. I just had it out on the ice at Arrowhead Lake today. Super fun. I rode it for the first time last Sunday, but the rear tire went flat pretty quickly and I never really got a good feel for the tires or the bike. Today we had an oval and a road course set up, so I got to spend a lot more time on it.

I'll get some detail photos soon and post 'em up. It's staying at Fred's right now, tucked into his new/used trailer that you see behind it.

What a great F*ing Day!

Holy shit whata great fucking day.
Matt plowed a nice sized oval and road course on Arrowhead Lake, ostensibly to test his new tire, but he didn't mind sharing it with us. I picked up Fred and we met up with Rees, Aaron, Charlie and Randy and proceeded to tear around both the tracks to our hearts content. The ice was great, 'cause it was still freakishly cold out, but it was also pretty rough because we were crossing over some old car tracks that Matt's plow couldn't clean. So it was pretty hard work to go fast and be smooth, but it was still so much fun to be riding on another crystal clear winter/spring day.
There were lot's of great little episodes of epic slides and tank slappers and near crashes going on. At one point we were joined by a snowmobiler on the road course, who thought he'd be able to keep up with the bikes. He couldn't.

Fred and Aaron chatting. Charlie never took his helmet off.

L to  R, Charlie, Rees, some kinda weird Miltonian that just wanted to hang with us, and Randy.

Anyway, after riding for a few hours, Fred suggested that we go back to his place and ride the Browns River, which happens to be in his back yard. He had walked down to it yesterday and deemed it to be rideable. For many years now, he and Rees have been telling me tales of how epic that ride is,  and now seemed to be the time to see if it was all true. Well, OMf*ingG were they right. This was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced on a motorcycle. This is a rather small and narrow river, as rivers go, with high banks that often conceal what's around the bend, so flying along on the motorcycles, you get the full range of pucker factor from entering a turn in 5th gear or 2nd gear and not knowing exactly what's coming. One of the most exhilarating things I've ever done.
We ran a few sections near Fred's farm several times in both directions, then we went as far south as we could go until we ran into some open pools, turned around and went north for several miles until we didn't dare go much further, turned around and ripped at high speed back to Fred's. Everyone was so amped up, we had to go inside and watch the GoPro footage immediately, augmented with some beers.

Aaron, Rees, Fred and Randy....and my KTM.

Same crew, with Charlie joining.

There were many bridges to duck under.

Group photo.

Group photo 2

Lake Iroquois Ice Day

This past Sunday was a great ice riding day on Lake Iroquois. The weather was perfect, mid 20's but bright and sunny, the ice was still rock hard. We had to modify our road course, ice fishermen had drilled holes on our back straight and water had flooded that portion of the track, making it a little too dangerous for the plow to clear, so Rees plowed a detour to the return loop. It was still a fun and fast road course and we spent most of the day riding it. There were 11 bikes running, with well over 20 people taking turns riding.
After about 45 minutes of open road course riding, we took a break and rode the oval. The road course actually starts and finishes on the oval, so it was deemed too dangerous to have mixed use. Riding the oval is great practice for racing dirt ovals, and for a lot of riders it's their only chance to try it.

Rees on the oval, preparing for a right turn onto the road course

The back section of the road course

Charlie turning onto the road course

Rees turning onto the road course, view from the inside of the oval

Matt

Joe (I think)...

Rees entering the road course, view from standing on the oval

Charlie on the road course

Tanner

Aaron, Amanda and Charlie on his KTM

This is Neil riding my bike

Matt

Aaron, Matt & Neil

Parking in the center of the Oval