Not sure were this happened It was on are groomer/warding site !!

Good picture AKA Thumper. I hope the rider was okay. It is more proof that grooming should be done at night and night only. I am sure Freezerburnt will agree with this. The groomer takes up the entire trail. Regardless of speed, when approaching a hill you cannot see over the other side, unless at night with the flashing lights on.

One run on one of our trails is 16 hours long and there is no way to make it shorter, it would be impossible to groom at night only! :( :(

But we don't even run into too many sleds where I am. On a 50 km trail seeing 10 other sleds would be a lot, on a weekend. 2 would be lots during the week.

I have to agree,,,in the Newberry area, if the groomer heads south out of town, its a 16 hour trip with no problems,,,,this makes it awful hard to groom at night only,,,, specially when some places groom around the clock to keep the trails nice,,,, maybe we should learn to slow down near corners and at hilltops,,,, that or complain that the trails are not smooth,,,,,

Originally posted by FeelTheThunder@May 29 2004, 11:39 PM


But we don't even run into too many sleds where I am. On a 50 km trail seeing 10 other sleds would be a lot, on a weekend. 2 would be lots during the week.
MUST BE NICE!

If thats all you have for sleds why does your club even have a groomer?
Just wondering how you justify the cost of a groomer for that mynute amount of sleds.

Originally posted by Mikadoo@May 30 2004, 12:19 PM
If thats all you have for sleds why does your club even have a groomer?
Just wondering how you justify the cost of a groomer for that mynute amount of sleds.
We used to have 800 members but were down to 260 last year with limited trails open. We were not open last year for the first year since the introduction of the OFSC. We are part of the TOP trail system that borders on Manitoba. A lot of Manitobans come down the trail then don't know where to go once they are on Lake of the Woods so they don't bother. Also Manitobans (cheap tobans as I call them) will not pay for trail passes. Trail passes are half the price in (Flat) Manitoba.

Our trails still need grooming even with limited use, some parts are pretty new and the terrain underneath isn't exactly flat.

we see a lot of groomers on our trials here during the day. they do groom at night but its hard enough to get guys to give there time to groom, not to mention go out all night.

While riding up northern NB this year, we got a warning sound on our collett platinum communicaters everytime we were getting close to a groomer. It was a real piece of mind, with the high speed trial systems up there it was nice to know the groomer was around the conrner before you could actually see it. I wish the groomers in my local area had the same warning beacon hooked up.

i'm more worried about other idiots on sleds rather than a groomer doing it's job. :confused: all of our grooming around here is generally done at night. :thumbsup:

Originally posted by FeelTheThunder@May 30 2004, 03:28 PM
We used to have 800 members but were down to 260 last year with limited trails open. We were not open last year for the first year since the introduction of the OFSC. We are part of the TOP trail system that borders on Manitoba. A lot of Manitobans come down the trail then don't know where to go once they are on Lake of the Woods so they don't bother. Also Manitobans (cheap tobans as I call them) will not pay for trail passes. Trail passes are half the price in (Flat) Manitoba.

Our trails still need grooming even with limited use, some parts are pretty new and the terrain underneath isn't exactly flat.
With about 11,000km's of trails and reasonable trail pass prices I am one of the "cheap tobans" that see's little or no need to venture into another province. I have yet to explore every part of "flat" Manitoba.

As for the groomer issue I have come up on a few on the trail. Both at night and during the day. I always slow up on corners and when cresting hills. These operators, mostly volunteers are out there giving a lot to the sport to keep us happy. Limiting when they can operate will only make for fewer operators available as they need to have a life as well. Too many riders out there forget that there are other machines out on the trails, be they sleds or groomers, and carelessness makes for scenes just like what is in the pic. Then again I don't know the whole story. Hopefully the rider was not hurt to badly.

Ouch! :ohmy: We have got to be careful before we make ourselves extinct.

Speaking of beacons, why aren't they standard on all groomers??? It amazes me with as crowded as the UP trails get, and as often as those groomers are out to maintain the beaten trails, that the majority of them do not have the beacons. I just shake my head everytime we pass one up there and there's no warning on my communicator.

:withstupid:

especially since you can get the warning beacons for free!