BREAKING TRAIL

BY JOHN T . PRUSAK / EDITOR

Days between the winter solstice in December and the spring solstice in March . Let ’ s pray for lots of snow so we can make the best of them all !

Rounds of racing in the Amsoil Championship Snocross season this year . Catch it live , or watch the delayed broadcast on Fox Sports .

Percent chance somebody will write something positive in a comments section online . Why do so many keyboard warriors just try to tear everything down ?

Picture the scene : It ’ s the 1980s . After some time at a community college , a punky , young version of me with too much hair and not enough wisdom or restraint transferred to the University of Wisconsin at Madison .

After spending my first year attempting to permanently damage my liver , it was time to sober up and commit to a major . Writing and storytelling came somewhat naturally , and I was always a news junkie , so journalism seemed like a logical career path .

I booked an appointment with a counselor at the journalism / mass-communication department . She studied my transcript , then gave me a stern look while drawing about nine big red circles around my grade-point average ( GPA ) number .

“ Well , first this is going to have to come way , way up before you even get accepted ,” she said . At least she didn ’ t throw me out of the room , so that was nice .

Next she explained that the journalism school had four areas of emphasis , just in case I was able to get in . There was a track for print journalism , another for broadcast , a third for public relations and a fourth for advertising .

“ You can choose one , two , three or all four – the more you pick , the more courses you ’ ll have to take ,” she said . I ended up pursuing three of them ( the one I eschewed was the advertising track because apparently I didn ’ t want a job that paid real money ?!).

Beyond coursework , for print experience I wrote for a daily campus newspaper ( which paid a whole $ 8 per story !) and had a summer internship at a weekly paper back home . For broadcast , I interned at a TV station in Madison .

That ’ s where I learned broadcast wasn ’ t for me for two reasons : ( 1 ) I clearly didn ’ t have a face for TV ; and ( 2 ) The folks I met there that did have a face for TV came across as massive egomaniacs .

I remember saying to my girlfriend at the time , “ Madison is the 75th biggest media market in the country . If these people are this snobby , imagine what it ’ s like in a bigger market !” So I ’ ve been a writer , not a broadcaster , ever since . Until this winter . In this modern era where anybody can be a podcaster , blogger , vlogger , videocaster , etc ., you can now officially add me to the list .

For the past couple of years , we ’ ve been making occasional interview videos under the name Snow Goer Live and posting them on YouTube while also making podcast versions . It has been fun and we ’ ve talked to some fascinating people . But this winter we ’ ll be living up to the “ Live ” part of the title .

Snow Goer Live will truly be a “ live ” videocast on YouTube , Facebook , Instagram and other platforms . Each episode will last roughly 30-40 minutes and will include some combination of weather news and trail reports , timely guests on current topics , details on the sleds we ’ re riding and places we ’ re going , competition and event updates , sneak peeks on the 2026 models and much more .

We ’ ll have truly live guests from across the Snowbelt , and we ’ ll be able to respond to viewer questions in the live chat . And , unlike many of the western hero videocasts out there , it ’ ll be squarely aimed at trail riders like us .

The live format will make it timely , interactive and unfiltered . Our plan is to host it regularly on most Thursday evenings throughout the winter , though my travel schedule may shuffle a few dates . Folks will also be able to later watch the taped-live videos on YouTube .

Watch SnowGoer . com and our social media outlets for more details . I ’ m still wearing my same not-made-for-TV face , but hopefully the passion for the sport shared by you , me and the guests we bring in will make up for that !

VP / EDITOR : John T . Prusak

ASSOCIATE MANAGING ART DIRECTOR : Nicole Siewert

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS : T . J . Krob , Jeffrey Oberg , David Wells , Chris Riley

PHOTOGRAPHER : Wayne Davis

VP / NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR : Mark Rosacker 763 / 383-4433

ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVE : Laura Kiesler 763 / 383-4430

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS MANAGER : Nici Lawson

BRAND ACCELERATION

CEO : Marion Minor

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR : Bernadette Wohlman

SR . VP , AUDIENCE MARKETING & ENGAGMENT : Joanne Juda-Prainito

SR . VICE PRESIDENT / SALES : David Voll

SNOW GOER ( ISSN # 1056-4209 ) is published five times per year – January , February , October , November and December – by EPG Brand Acceleration , 7760 France Avenue South , Suite 810 , Bloomington , MN 55435 . Periodicals postage paid at Plymouth , MN 55441 and additional mailing offices . The annual subscription rate is $ 26.97 per year in the United States . U . S . funds only . Printed in U . S . A .

POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Snow Goer , P . O . Box 96 , Port Jervis , NY 12771 .

CUSTOMER SERVICE : Visit SnowGoer . com , e-mail to customerservice @ epgacceleration . com or write to Snow Goer , PO Box 96 , Port Jervis , NY 12771 . Snow Goer is a registered trademark of EPG Brand Acceleration © 2024 . All rights reserved . Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited unless expressly authorized by publisher . For reprints , visit epgacceleration . com / marketing-services and click on “ get in touch ” or email to info @ epgacceleration . com

4 / JANUARY 2025 / SNOWGOER . COM