Fearless, and dumb, but what a memory!
Lengthy, but I need to describe the circumstances...
Winter 1995-1996. I was riding the USA-Canadian border trail (has granite monuments defining the exact border). The border was apparently drawn on a map then transferred to the landscape - straight up over some tall mountains of the northern Appalachians. Beautiful day. I was riding my We left from my camp, rode sleds to Appleton Corner, banged a left towards Eustis, Maine and about 3 miles in there was a small trail on the right that connects to the US-Canada Border trail ... we took it. The border trail is not groomed, can have many feet of powdered snow. This was about early March, so the season's snow had settled a lot. We rode some steep slopes over a few of the mountains, one was about 3200ft tall. I made it in about 17 mies off the main trail, came down off the side of a mountain pumping my brakes to keep my speed down. I waited for the rest of the gang to catch up and we took a break there. When I fired up my sled to continue, I gave it the gas and - nothing, it didn't move! WTF?!
After checking for a blown belt, then a broken chain to no avail, we tipped it up on it's side and discovered the driveshaft had sheared at the chaincase end. I had no power to the track and no brakes! OH SHIT!
It took 2 powerful sleds with straps to my ski handles to drag my riderless sled back up that last tall mountain, they couldn't do it with me on it. We got the sled up to the top and tried to figure out how we were going to get it down the other side. We thought about using a strap on the back hooked to one or two other sleds to rely on their brakes going back down. The slopes were so steep you would accellerate if you locked them up! So we decided they would probably end up an entagled mess at the bottom of the mountain if we tied them together so abandoned that idea. I really didn't want to leave it there, I didn't have insurance on my sled.
So I decided I'd ride it to the bottom with no brakes. I thought I could swish back and forth like a skier to burn off some speed. So I got on, swallowed hard and my buddies pushed me off and away I went! I got about one swish in before I was going way too fast to do it again. The trail meandered a few degrees left and right as I quickly went faster and faster, suddenly I came up on an intersection that I had forgotten about! (On the ride up there was an exceptionally steep section and they split the trail into 2 one way trails ... one Up and one Down. We took the trail on the right on the way up). So I had about 50mS to decide and automatically took the trail on my right - which I had never ridden before). Holy shit! I'm doing at least 100MPH by now, the trail turns into a washed out ravine on the side of the mountain, stumps, roots and big rocks sticking out both bankings beside and just above me. There were huge rocks in the trail under the snow, I launched off some of them and flew through the air a couple hundred feet and about 15ft above the trail trying to stay on the sled, keep it upright and position for the next landing. Not kidding, I would not be surprised if I hit 120MPH at some points. After screaming through the ravine the trail merged with the trail we rode in on, the terrain smoothed out and the slope diminished as I coasted to a stop in the flat area before the next mountain. My ride down the mountainside decended about 2000ft and took about a minute I guess. The guys couldn't believe how fast I was going when they saw me emerge into the clearing at the bottom. They then started down the mountain, pumping their brakes trying not to go more than 10MPH because it becomes challenging to slow down beyond that. Most were scared shitless just doing that.
I NEVER had such an adrenaline rush in my life. I probably would have crashed and died had I not already ridden 4000-5000 miles that season to hone my riding skills. We looked over my sled after the guys caught up with me. My sliderails looked like twisted linguini, 3 idler wheels were blown off the rails, my handlebars were a bit bent but the sled took it well. The remainder of the ride was not as steep, they towed me along and I rode down a few more slopes but never exceeded 50MPH on the rest.
I know nothing about snow machines, They have brakes? How does that work?
The engine has an external cetrifugal clutch (primary clutch) on the crankshaft. A drive belt connects the primary clutch to the secondary clutch which is connected to the upper gear of the chaincase. The chaincase has a chain connecting the upper gear to the lower gear and the lower gear is connected to the driveshaft which has interlocking drive cogs mounted on it that drive the track. Most moden sleds have a lever on the left handlebar to activate the hydraulic disk brake attached to the top gear of the chaincase (external to the chaincase on a short shaft).
When I broke down in the mountains, the end of the driveshaft sheared, essentially disconnecting the chaincase with associated brakes from the track so the track could freewheel regardless of applying the brakes or reving up the engine to accellerate.
So its not really brakes, like a jet ski? edit, wait so a little better its actually stopping the belt?
holy hell my dude
Ride of my lifetime! About 10 seconds into it I realized I couldn't bail off the sled without serious injury. I was crushing the brake lever the whole time, not that it did any good beyond psychological support.
Fearless and dumb, but what a memory!
Right on all three counts! Amazing story
You're also in Maine IIRC? Some things you have mentioned previously gave me that impression.
I could tell you of many more wild and crazy snowmobile adventures in Maine and Canada. None got my adrenaline up like this adventure though. I'm lucky to be alive. Other adventures include remote open water river crossings in the Gaspé and in the Allagash (we were on the local news up there as a result), 1/2 mile or more of open water skimming on Indian Pond (and back) near The Forks (I thought it was just slush on top of the ice) ... many more stories.
Sounds awesome, you're a good storyteller. I'm out in northern California btw
Damn, almost missed this one! Fuk’n EPIC!!! And to think there are crazy bastards that do shit like that on purpose. Ride’n 100+ mph on a trail through timber on flat even ground would have me shit’n myself. Add the rest of that, no thanks! Experience matters, but still……
Let me put it this way, I'd never want to do that mountain with no brakes again. I don't think I could successfully repeat that performance of 25 years ago and I'd probably have a heart attack on the way down.
+100MPH in places through the groomed woods trails at day or night is really no big deal if you are a skilled rider. The washouts (start looking for them late Feb-early March) up here can really suck at speed. Cruising along at +/-100 doesn't give you time to slow down, and if you hit the brakes it transfers weight to the skiis making the washout that much more dangerous to hit. I learned early to give it full throttle if I came up on one fast, acceleration will transfer weight from the skiis to the track. So the skiis stay above the depression in the trail, the rear suspension takes the real hit on the far side of the washout. These washouts are typically 2-4ft deep and 6-8ft across, frozen solid. You don't want to slow down to 60mph to ride down into them because they will launch you into the air upon exit. I've taken hundreds of hard hits at speed as the rear suspension slammed the far side of the depression and drove the impact up my spine but never damaged me. The newer sleds with really tall suspensions would absorb these hits much better than the older sleds. I used to ride as point man most of the time and If I encountered a trail hazard I'd flick my brake lights a couple times to warn those behind me (if they were keeping up). I was a true adrenaline junkie, not so much anymore. I'm older, not as strong, more brittle and have no one to nurse me to health if I really screw up ... I'd still take some of the mostly flat and relatively straight groomed trails at 100+ though - after riding a few hundred miles first that season to refresh my riding skills. There is no speed limit on Maine Snowmobile trails whereas NH has a 45MPH limit on state maintained trails. Northern Maine has the most incredibly maintained trails in the state, you can find out how fast your sled really goes up there. Canada is a notch above the trails in Maine but I haven't ridden there since 9/11.
That sounds insane. Rode my Knucklehead 100-120 mph plenty of times, but that’s on smooth pavement and never for very long either because those “would if thoughts” would start eat’n away at me.
Never been on a snowmobile, but I’m sure if I’d have grown up around where they were prevalent I’d of been all in. All but for the cold it looks like a blast. Goin’ 100 mph can get you a long ways from any sort of help pretty quick should a problem arise! Not to mention in harsh winter conditions. I’m a pussy when it comes to cold now, wasn’t when I was young in CO & WY. Farmers and ranchers and some hunters used snow mobiles in the winter, but I don’t recall it being a big thing in a sporting sense there in the seventies. By the 80’s I was in the deserts. Dirt bikes, mtn bikes and quads were the thing. Now it’s side by sides.
All your ridin’ buds must think you’re a crazy sumbitch! And that ain’t a bad thing!
I wanna see the video
Lol! I wish I had one. Somebody from another group of sledders taped my 2 buddies dragging my sled up to the top of the mountain but I have no idea who they were.
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