Jan 21, 2008
Is Winter Here?
Well, winter came and went and appears to be back. Hopefully it will stay this time so we can get the sleds and groomers out and put some major miles on the trails. If you have not been out for a ride yet, like me, be forewarned that as usual there are some trail changes throughout our trail system. Please keep this in mind as you journey out and stay on the marked trails. It is at the land owners gracious permission that we have our trail system. If we disrespect the landowner we risk losing the trail and the adventure we so enjoy each winter.
The crews have been out and marked trails, worked on bridges, trails, gates and everything in between to make this the best year yet. Each year the crews work to improve from the year before, learn from the year before and make our trail system better than ever. If you see any of the crewmembers out and about please be sure to thank them for their commitment and efforts to make everyone’s riding experience better year after year. And while your at it ask them how you can help out this year or next and add your hours to the hundreds of hours put in every year by the crew.
Fundraisers
As you may well know it all comes down to money and that is why we are always doing some kind of fundraiser it seems. A few tickets are still available for the February lottery calendar. This pays out between $100 and $250 per day based on the pm daily number, for $50. 1-27 and 3-2 we will be hosting the VFW breakfast and you are encouraged to attend. Ride in for breakfast snow permitting. Enclosed you should have received raffle tickets for Spring Bristol Sprint Cup races. Please sell these and turn in prior to the drawing so we can continue improving our club.
Special points of interest:
Enclosures: Bristol tickets raffle tickets - 2007-2008 membership forms on card. 2 VFW breakfasts quickly approaching. Groomer on order.
Groomers and Grants
Our grant amendment was given a verbal approval and we were told we could begin the purchase of our new groomer. The groomer committee voted and the decision was to purchase the groomer that was demonstrated on our trail system last year. It is called UTV SG 01. It is similar in size to the Thiokols we currently have but is diesel powered and hydrostatic. This machine with drag will cost app. $90,000. The drag is currently being built for it by the dealer and should be ready for delivery the beginning of February and will be here as long as we get our grant money as scheduled. So as you can see there are a lot of variables. As for the other groomers they are well on the way to being ready for another season of laying down a smooth trail for your enjoyment. One is still at Hayes Performance getting it’s final touches and the other is at Munsee Excavating receiving the same treatment. Contact Mark or Bill if you would be able to help with those finishing touches and give the regulars a much needed hand or break. With three larger groomers in our fleet the curent idea is to keep the new one in Corry for the rail bed and Wattsburg routes. The others would be staged in Bear Lake and Spartansburg for routes in those areas. This will depend on the arrival of the new one. If you would like to operate a groomer come to a meeting to express your interest and to inquire on the required training for the operators. With the cost and liability of these pieces of equipment we must regulate who runs them.
