Manitoba Ride 2010

[Sasquatch]

Yep Glen Howard is where we stayed two years ago. Nice Hotel!

 

[Sasquatch]

We can work on developing a number of daily rides/tours. I work for the Hydro company and I maybe able to get some guided tour of the inside of Seven Sisters or Pine Falls dams if stuff like that is of interest.

So if I have this straight Sasq,,,, we would want rides organized from 250 to 300 miles per day? Does the organizer usually make the arrangements if lunches will be setup along the way etc?

250 to 300 mile days are possible but remember that if you want to ride that far then you have to leave early in the AM. This has to be set out ahead of time because if you leave at 10:30 your not getting back till way after supper.

Secondly large groups travel slower then small groups. Something to keep in mind as well is type of trails, some just take longer to cover even if they are shorter. Keeping the rides to a smaller distance of 150 to 200 might be a better idea.

Now Swiss Sledders favorite trail is down through the Sandi lands. Awesome trail to ride 300 plus miles but worth it. With lunch stops its a 10 to 12 hour run with a small group moving at a high rate of speed. Not for the faint of heart. P.S. I love it too!!!!!!!!!

If you run into Nopoming you have to check if they are open for fuel and will serve a group of sledders. They are closed on certain days or at least have been in the past.

Same with the hotel in Falcon they close the kitchen sometimes. Or at least it has happened to us before.

Organizing a ride is a lot of work and it may be a large part of why it demised. Brian did it for three years I think. He did an awesome job leaving a very large set of shoes to fill.

He pre ran the trails, made arraignments at the hotel for a discount for TY riders, he got volunteer riders to help herd the sheep and pre run the trails, he made sure of the grub stops and photo ops, plus treated the riders like royalty at the local club house with a great meal, he set up a sausage cookout on Saturday the final day of the run and made that a shorter day so more mingling was possible. Everyone heads back on Sunday so they can resume their duties of putting grub on the table and paying for the trip.

My hat is off to Brian for the work he did and I thank him for some memorable rides!

So Blustar if you want to step up and take over your more then welcome! A Manitoba ride is a wonderful thing. I will help you with it if you like. We need more Manitoba riders input on this as well. What do you guys want?

 

[Sasquatch]

Anyone know of someone hiring!? lol.

No but I can give you a list of those laying off!!!!!

 

[Sled Dog]

Charlie with those big mitts you have for hands and sausage fingers how in the heck do you type on these keyboards so fast? lol

 

[BOUNTYHUNTER]

Charlie with those big mitts you have for hands and sausage fingers how in the heck do you type on these keyboards so fast? lol

...ABSOLULTELY

 

[hlmrx1]

Now if you want to replace the Manitoba TY ride with a TY bagger ride around Manitoba. I guess it would be a 7 day for me unless I can find a place to park my truck and trailer for 5 days. Not a problem when staying and leaving from the same hotel everyday but more so when bagging it. Most Wives and kids will opt out of a 5 day bagger trip. Bagger trips really limit who shows up.

Hey, let me know if you ever need somewhere to park your trailer in and around Ldb, if I don't have room in my yard I sure I can find room as some friend's place. Better than leaving it at a hotel parking lot.

I agree with the bagger trips, that limits the people that can make it, although blustar sounds like he has them down and they sure sound interesting, just don't know if I could get the time to do that, or if my sled would make a long trip like that without issues. I'm sure that I could make a couple rides if they are based in Ldb.

 

[Sasquatch]

Charlie with those big mitts you have for hands and sausage fingers how in the heck do you type on these keyboards so fast? lol

Skills?

 

[Sasquatch]

Thanks Don!

 

[blustar]

What is everyones preference of dates. e.g. Wednesday, February 24 to Sunday, February 28 or do you start on Thursday to Sunday?

Thoughts

 

[BOUNTYHUNTER]

What is everyones preference of dates. e.g. Wednesday, February 24 to Sunday, February 28 or do you start on Thursday to Sunday?

Thoughts

I belive Brian always started on Wednesday as to have all the trails too ourselfs for Wednesday, Thursday & Friday as Saturday everyone else is out. The Sunday ride was short and sweet as everyone is pretty much pooped out by then, as we always put on a big lunch for the crew as well.


Just Foof 4 thought...pardon the pun

 

[BOUNTYHUNTER]

BTW...Don't forget to think about a support team incase someone breaks down and has to be towed back....Turk lost some parts on the trail but I managed to find them and get him back up doing wheelies we had a good laugh on that one

As well you might want to let the RCMP & 1st Responders Unit know whereabouts the group will be on which days just incase there is a problem.

As well as contacting the local snowmobile clubs to see what days they groom, so you might be able to get them to be out just before we hit their trails. Plus having a lead sled and a slow poke who knows the trails [Me] and keeps an eye out for people who make wrong turns or have glove issues...LOL

...Just food for thought, as I know Brian did all of this with Margret way ahead of time to make our TY Ride fun & Worry Free. There is a lot of behind the scenes and pre ride prep that goes on in running a 1st class TY Ride, and Brian & Margret did a Fricken Awesome Job...Big Shoes Too Fill



I hope I haven't scared you off...but these are things to think about.

 

[blustar]

Thanks for the info Bountyhunter. NOT SCARED AT ALL. This stuff is typical work for me but FUN WORK. LOL I agree Brian and Margarets shoes will be hard to fill but it will be a challenge.

We need people to come up to the plate and volunteer.

I will be speaking to Brian (SRXTwins) about all this on Wedenesday when I meet up with him.

The routes are starting to come to fruition but I need some feedback on them from others. Are they the right ones? I will also consider having a shorter ride each day for the slowpokes but need to put some thought to this.

I was thinking about getting a few SPOT units so that the RCMP as well as others will be able to track how the groups are moving along their routes. A central command station would be great if we had a volunteer and laptop back at the Glen Howard hotel hooked up to the internet. This would also be linked into the rescue team.


In the meantime. Here is the format for the routes. Comments please? I will create a few more to make it from a Wednesday to Sunday (short ride)

 

[Sled Dog]

I wouldnt call them slow pokes some just have a different mind set of what they enjoy on their sleds. Some get a thrill by going into corners leaving no room for error in case someone else is coming the other way into the same corner. Others just enjoy the ride and slow way down on corners. Some like going break neck speeds on the lakes where others dont. Some just enjoy the sights cruising at a relaxed stress free speed and enjoy the smell of pine. You can call them slowpokes but in reality they are sledders who enjoy riding stress free with less chance of hurting themselves as they have jobs and kids to feed and clothe when the ride is finished. Also you will find most will not want to do 300 miles a day but more in the range of 150 to 200 at most. Finally thanks for stepping up to the plate and organising this ride your well on the way to making it as great as Brian and Margaret did for three years in a row.

 

[Turk]

I would have no problem booking a room at the glen Howard for 3-4 nights & riding big miles every day. The pool/hot tub is awesome after a days ride.
Some how tho my bar/restuarant tab was higher then my room tab was last time i was there!!!!

 

[blustar]

Turk, I'm going to call the Glen Howard hotel and find out what kind of rates they can give us. Can you recall how many rooms were occupied by TY riders over the years? Eg. 5, 10 , 15?