A letter from the VP... With the winter season finally upon us the fall projects completed we are left hoping for cold weather and snow to get things going. Last fall we rebuilt four bridges on the Coarser Brook Alternate trail and one bridge on the Dupuis Trail which completes our projects for the year. We now have resurfaced every bridge in our system with pressure treated wood as per the State of NH directives this should give us a longer time span between rebuilding bridges in the future we have already noticed the pressure treated bridges last up to twice as long as the previous rough cut lumber bridges we built for many years. Thanks go out to the work crews being led by our team captains Frank, Peter, Bobby, Bernie, and there helpful volunteers without whose help we would not be able to complete the projects for the upcoming season. Alone with the trail work such as brush clearing and bridge building a major part of our off season work is getting the maintenance done on the groomers all of which have been serviced for the upcoming season. The biggest project we had to do this fall was to replace the tracks on Groomer number 1 our 1999 Piston Bully. This project was dutifully worked on by Peter, Frank, Bobby and Jack who told me they were sick of turning nuts and bolts by the time the project was finished. As a note on the track replacement: because it is such a huge expense of time and money to replace a set of tracks, often when conditions are marginal at the beginning and end of the season we have to keep the groomers off the trails since most of the track damage is done by groomers running on trails with rocks and stumps not having enough snow cover. We know once we get 8-10” of snow our phone rings to make sure we are going to groom but not only do we need the snow but the trails need to be frozen and solidified to keep the tracks from getting damaged so we hope everyone keeps this in mind before you call trust us we want to start grooming as soon as we can and we want to continue grooming as late into the season as possible last year we groomed all the way to April for the first time in several years. At the club meeting held in November all the above items were discussed as well as discussions on what new equipment we hope to acquire in the next couple of years one of our main priorities is to get another new Piston Bully to replace our oldest unit hopefully we will get the grants to allow us to purchase a new unit. Another equipment item is to make sure to get the brush cutter set up on the drags to keep tree limbs from encroaching upon the trails during the season this item has been a great success the last two years. Another item of business was the discussion of the success of our food booths at the Grass Drags it is amazing the amount of people who supported our cause to anyone who had some of the 750 lbs of French fries, 400 lbs of hamburg, 300 lbs of pulled pork, 50 lbs of steak sandwiches, 240 sausages (hand made by Bernie) or one of the 500 hotdogs we cannot express our thanks enough without the money we make from the food booths we would not be able to cover the costs of fixing bridges and repairing groomers during the winter season. Thank you to the work crew that manned the booth Mike, Lori, Jean, Bill, Frank, Karen, Bernie, Charlie, Dr John, Peter, Maura, Lorraine, Dot, John, and my cousin Paul (who made the supreme sacrifice when his truck got towed Saturday night) if I forgot anyone I am sorry but I know its not just the people at the booths but the people who got the trailers ready like Bobby and cleaned up everything when it got back to Errol like Paul. I think the best part is the fun we have while working often times laughing at our own mistakes and foolish decisions. So far here are the events for this winter the next club meeting will be January 2nd at the clubhouse on Route 26, the Poker Run is tentatively scheduled for January 17th, Steak feed for March 7th. The vintage races which we are always looking for volunteers to help with flagging the corners or parking et are the following dates: Pittsburg NH January 10, 2015 Northwood NH February 7, 2015 Errol NH February 21, 2015 Pittsburg NH March 14, 2015 At this time is appears Four Mile Brook, Squeeze Hole and Coarser Brook Road will be open for riding this year. I hope everyone has a safe start to the season remember give the groomers a chance to clear debris and brush before you motor on down the trails.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:45:24 +0000
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