One thing stressed before attending |
needle him about all week . |
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a tour is to make sure your sled is in fine |
After lunch , we ran into a stretch of |
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running order before the first day – top |
trail that featured fresh snow hanging |
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“ crazies ” and the “ more sane riders .” Todd Achterberg , then the general manager of the Eagle River Derby Track , led the first group and Dick Decker led the second .
We didn ’ t stay in Wisconsin long , heading straight for the Michigan border on a first-day ride that would lead us eventually to the AmericInn in Silver City , located on the south shore of Lake Superior . The trails were good when we left Eagle River , but they transitioned to great the further north we went . Trails in this area
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are truly some of the best in the country – groomed smooth , well-marked and , once you get away from the immediate Eagle River area , without many road crossings or stop signs .
We rode with Achterberg ’ s group the first day , and our leader set a comfortable and constant pace as we weaved between the trees . Stops were infrequent , as we piled on miles and got to our lunch stop and eventually to the shores of Lake Superior ahead of schedule .
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off your fluids , check all wear items and give your sled a good once-over , because you don ’ t want to be “ that guy ” whose sled problems hold up the whole group . So , who was “ that guy ” on day 1 ? Our leader Achterberg ! The drive belt on his GSX 500SS grenaded while we were crossing Lake Gogebic at breakneck speeds in a tight pack , causing sleds to swerve in all directions to avoid his rapidly decelerating ride . Todd had the new belt on and the shrapnel cleaned up in no time , but it gave us something to |
literally from every single branch on every tree – it was postcard perfect , like driving directly through the center of a recently shaken snow globe . A prettier path for snowmobiling couldn ’ t have been created by all of the artists in the world .
If you ’ re in this part of the U . P ., a trip to the Lake Of The Clouds overlook in the Porcupine Mountains State Park is a must – the view is spectacular , though is was obscured slightly this day by increasingly heavy clouds . By the time we got to the
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