Sorry for the delayed update things have been a little hectic around here both at the shop and within the club. That being said we have good news and bad news, so we will start with the bad news...As of Sunday night, Dr Dave has regretfully informed us that he is forced into retirement from the Piston Bulley. He is in the process of training new operaters as we speak, and working with others to make sure are trails stay in the shape they've been since the Valley Riders Club was blessed by gaining him.
Tuesday night ITS 87 was groomed from its entirty from the Solon Dam to the Chase Pond turn around where we meet Northern Outdoors, who had been down Monday night after the storms to smooth everything up which riders were reporting they did a very nice job of. Since our last report we received about 8in of snow mixed with sleet from one storm and an additional 3-4in Monday evening on top of it. Last night the remainder of our system was also groomed providing riders of the Bingham are with smooth flat trails that are well covered and providing plenty of lubrication. With tonight and tomorrow's cold temps everything should lock up really well for vacation week traffic.
As mentioned our groomer will be out on the trail training this evening and tomorrow evening in hopes of turning over the reins if all goes well. That being said, either way we will have someone in the drivers seat every evening from now through the vacation week with intentions on do half the system one night, and the other half the next. In addition, some combination of Fri, Sat and Sun we will attempt to put in long evenings as traffic requires it the keep everything in great shape.
About the only other thing to report is that ITS 84 section on Frank Savage Rd and Pat Cassidy has been covered up and Pat Cassidy had not been plowed for the last 2 storms, so we dropped the drag to get it smoothed out and mostly covered. Please keep in ming these sections do have some thin spots, so please take it easy to keep the snow in the trail.
Ohhh, lastly we have spoke with the Kingsbury club about the new bypass to get out of town, as we had heard from many concerned riders that there was a fairly substantial washout that everyone was turning around at, and no one had broke trail from the Kingsbury side. Please keep in mind this section is groomed with a pipe drag behind an ATV that travels 10mi just to get to that section to maintain it. Being a new and smaller club, time and resources are limited as with many clubs. They are going to try to get a first hand look at it as will we in the next couple of days to see what can be done to make that section passable and more user friendly so please bare with us. In the mean time if you are over in that section on the powerline, please feel free to throw some bows in the bottom of it to fill in, and add as much snow as your shovel will allow to get it where it can be groomed over and freeze up. Yes that is really what it is going to take at the moment...we need to scout it out from our end to see if we can unhook the drag and drive our Piston Bulley in there safely to push some snow in the hole, but are told it is very narrow and may not be possible.
Other than that trails in the Bingham and Moscow area are in great shape, allowing riders to travel north, south, east and west!
Ride right, ride safe, and stop in to say hello!