Last night’s dinner was fantastic, as expected. The ONION soup was absolutely a 4.5 STAR, and the pasta dishes are always top notch. Unfortunately for our author, the Onion Soup and the Lasagna put me into a food coma, and it was not long after dinner that I tucked myself away for the night.
This morning’s scheduled departure time was 8:30am. We were gathered and ready by 8:15am, standing in the -13 degree parking lot, waiting for Action Dan to finish his last minute sled check, double check and triple check. Our first scheduled stop is the Ski Doo dealer, 15 miles up the trail.
We need the Ski Doo dealer because Ron’s Superior Bombardier Product need a nut for his suspension’s left side spring, as it currently dragging on the track. Nice Pre Trip sled inspection Ron, ready for the trail, eh?
We are only at the Ski Doo dealer for approximately 30 minutes as members of the group join together and jump in to solve the problem. The area that this Ski Doo dealer is in is a obviously a major tourist area. While we were there, a Guide departed with about 20 2up sleds with a group from Switzerland that was in town for a pee wee hockey tournament. The rental room looked like a ski lodge rental room, with all the gear and protective equipment necessary to outfit such a large group for their day’s expedition.
Back on trail, off we went with the sun shine shining, and the pack gelled nicely into formation. We actually got to have lunch today at our gas stop too! Lotsa cheeseburgers all dressed was for lunch, and delicious chick pea soup!
Oh yea, Ron found a bad spot on the trail. It was right in front of tree off the right side of the trail. Apparently the snow dust conditions and the Sunshine shining thru a break in the trees in the turn, got him sidetracked. I don’t know, 12 other sleds made the turn. But with Stick pulling on his Snowbungee, and Ron working the throttle, we were back on the trail pretty quick.
Today’s ride was intentionally made longer, if anybody watched our Spot Tracker, as our night’s destination was only about 100 miles away, and there are lots of loop trails in the area to sight see. However, we may have made a few too many miles as the day wore on. We fueled around the 65 mile mark, and we were now approaching 175 miles, and sleds were getting thirsty. Kevin the Brinch ran out of fuel, and had to tap Connecticut Jim’s gas caddy for a couple gallons to get in. The rest of us rode in with a bright orange gas pump light burning our retinas. We ended with about 194 Ski Doo miles at our final destination.
A large hotel, I don’t know the name, if it’s that important for you check the website, with a No Vacancy notice posted on the door. Fortunately, Fearless Leader Craig got the right night for our reservation, and we were in like Flint. The place was filled with high school age kids and their chaperones, probably for a hockey tournament.
Dinner here was average, and the standard hotel food. However they did have a strong representation of Chinese food? After dinner is when the fun and memories began.
We retired to the quaint 6-7 person seating bar the rest was standing room, in the dining room, and continued ordering our Double Doubles (Dylan & Stick have added a variation to the Double Double, by now just saying Same Ole Same Ole after three). While overcoming our language barrier obstacles in ordering our beverages of choice, a gentleman, seated with his 21 year old son, explained to us that “they don’t speak English”. We all chuckled at this, and began to engage in conversation with the two.
Come to find out they are from Pittsburgh, Pa. USA. It is their first trip to Quebec. As conversation developed, the son, Bryce Evans had talked his father into bringing him to a local Red Bull Ice Cross 2020 where Bryce is attempting to quality for the USA Team for, what we understand, to be a season long series. (an example of a track layout can be, if I did it correctly, viewed here https://www.redbull.com/int-en/videos/red-bull-ice-cross-world-championship-atsx500-quebec-3d-track-animation.) Bryce was quite a conversationalist, and very nice young man. We had many laughs at his expense, as when he got quiet, he was contemplating and rewatching the track layout for tomorrows qualifying race he was about to encounter, and he would mutter “it’s freaking steep” with a slow shake of his head.
As our conversation wondered on, and the Darkside Team continued with Same Ole, young Brice was sipping his soft drink, while is father sipped a cold beer, shaking his head at times as well, as if saying “what has my kid talked me into taking him too?”. As our conversation continued Stick posed USA team hopeful… “This is obviously not a cheap endeavor… do you have any sponsors?” Bryce replied “No… well one guy at home gave me $100 for gas!” I went further and said “I bet I could get this Darkside Team to pony up $500 in sponsorship money, if you were interested in wearing a DarksideAdventures.com sticker on your helmet!” Bryce’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?” and before you knew it $600 was collected, Bryce was getting his helmet from his room, and Stick was getting a handful of stickers from his sled for our new Sponsoree. Not long after, our future Red Bull athlete was off to bed, and his father continued on with the Darkside Team for “just one more”.
Good Luck to Bryce Evans as he competes on Friday February 21, 2020 for his “Lose Yourself” moment! (credit Eminem) Go get ‘em Kid!!
Not long after, the rest of the Team was dispersing back to their rooms for night of rest before the next days ride.
But that rest was short lived too! Around 12:50am the power went out in the hotel. My life support machine (cpap) was sucked into my face, and wide awake I was. After 15 minutes of trying to find a working plug in my room in a drunken stooper, I was finally convinced the power was out in my room. I opened my room door, and the hallway was dark. Using the light on my iPhone, I staggered down the long hallway to the stairwell, trudged down to the first floor lobby, also blacked out, and heard voices down one more floor in the mechanical room. I continued my search for electricity when I finally came across the voices I heard, and it was the Hotel manager and an electrician playing with the breaker box.
After my presence was noticed, the manager, in a perhaps perturbed demeanor, questioned my presence. I simply said I can’t sleep, I can breathe, making a hand gesture of a mask over my face, as my attempt to translate my dilemma. He, again not so accommodating, replied “yes, a CPAP” and returned to his desperate attempts to correct the situation with the electrician. I wandered back to my room on the second floor in the dark, and was resolved that I had just checked into the Hotel California. The power did come back on about 20 minutes later, and I survived the night.
Tomorrow’s ride is about 150 miles, estimated, and is a nice lodge in the woods. Tune in tomorrow to see what the trail holds in store for us.
Double Double, Same Ole Same Ole, bye for now…
Stick