Anyone Following these old timers on the Bookface?
Three, self proclaimed, Old Guys are riding from Grand Rapids, MN to Fairbanks, Ak on Snowmobiles! 4,000+ mile journey. It’d be one hell of an adventure and a lot of fun! I’m sure it took lots of preparation, but man it looks like and amazing trip!
Could you do it!?
No way I could do it, but yeah I have been following them. THey have run into some issues already. A tree went through the belly pan of one of the sleds and then started it on fire. Pretty much the whole belly pan is gone. LOL
Yeah, as they tried to make there way to a place to fix it, a piece of wood was lodged in under the exhaust and caught fire!
Wow, that is super cool!
There’s no way I could do it.
First, who has that kind of time for such an adventure?
Second, every time I ride hard I end up feeling it the next day. Maybe up there the trails are so much nicer and with plentiful snow that it wouldn’t be an issue?
Kudos to them for doing it and sharing their experiences along the way.
@buckybadger
If you ride enough, the soreness will go away. At least that’s what I’m told! lol
I think they said it will take a month or so to do the entire journey.
I couldn’t really think of a better time of year to do it. Sun is getting higher everyday, things are slowly warming up. IDK if I could do it either, but I can’t help but think how much fun that would be!
I think they are done riding trails already and are breaking trail which takes a ton of time, fuel and energy.
I think they are done riding trails already and are breaking trail which takes a ton of time, fuel and energy.
Yes, They wanted to take the “back country” trails which haven’t been used in decades.
“The “3 Old Guys” have shared from the beginning that they prefer the road less traveled. As such, much of their route was intentionally designed to follow historical treks and backcountry. This required extensive research and diligence leading up to the trip- just another part of the adventure. One of their favorite aspects of this was learning about the rich and important history of this area.”
I’ve been following these guys as well. They’ve been dealing with a lot of blowdown trees across trails and I can tell you from experience, that kind of chainsaw work isn’t fun even for a single day.
I don’t even consider myself old, but my back would be toast after the first 30 miles. 
I’ve done a few 300 mile days on snowmobiles, and even when I was in my prime, it was not fun by the end of a 300 mile day. I know the sleds are drastically improved with 15 inches of suspension travel, heated seats, power steering, 4 stroke fuel injected engines, and so forth, but I can’t imagine wanting to ride all day, every day, for a month.
Are the local clubs guiding these guys to the best trails or are they 100% on their own?
Are the local clubs guiding these guys to the best trails or are they 100% on their own?
100% on their own as far as I know. If you scroll down on their bookface page, there are posts about the planning of the trip. Pretty cool stuff.
There’s 3 Guys from the Kick Ass Tribe. 
and No, I couldn’t do it.
I know the sleds are drastically improved with 15 inches of suspension travel, heated seats, power steering, 4 stroke fuel injected engines…
These 3 guys are running new Artic Cat 800cc 2 stroke twins. Which consists of a gas and oil hungry motor mated to an older chassis technology. Not much has changed with Cat since 2012.
In my mind I would be just happy for the machines themselves to not break down.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mojo wrote:</div>
I know the sleds are drastically improved with 15 inches of suspension travel, heated seats, power steering, 4 stroke fuel injected engines…These 3 guys are running new Artic Cat 800cc 2 stroke twins. Which consists of a gas and oil hungry motor mated to an older chassis technology. Not much has changed with Cat since 2012.
In my mind I would be just happy for the machines themselves to not break down.
I see one of the guys is a Hibbert, you’d think Arctic Cat would have done some promotional sponsoring of these guys. The new Thundercats have some technology borrowed from Yamaha, and would have been a nice improvement for these guys. For all that Kirk and Tucker Hibbert did for AC over the past decades, they should have stepped up, but I suppose that could have backfired if the guys fail to complete the journey.
Not much has changed with Cat since 2012.
In my mind I would be just happy for the machines themselves to not break down.
That chassis is pretty much bulletproof though.
Have you seen the new CATalyst for 2024? Its badass.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jason wrote:</div>
Not much has changed with Cat since 2012.
In my mind I would be just happy for the machines themselves to not break down.That chassis is pretty much bulletproof though.
Have you seen the new CATalyst for 2024? Its badass.
Lol I’ve never heard any one refer to a cat as bad ass besides my dad, which every cat he’s owned has let him down.
Lol I’ve never heard any one refer to a cat as bad ass besides my dad, which every cat he’s owned has let him down.
Check it out. It is absolutely as advertised. Though its only a 600 for now.
I’ve been following them from the start. They got Lucky the other day when one caught on fire and they got it out.
To ride 4000 miles is one thing but now there are no trails to follow and basically breaking their own trail. ALOT of work involved
Yesterday they were riding for 16 hours and never made it to their destination and either missed the trail there or havent gotten to it yet. They had to camp. That would be rough.
Props for doing this on a sled. It’s hard enough doing it by vehicle. I wonder at what latitude their snowmobiles will become snowmachines? Alaskans don’t call them snowmobiles…
@duluth1an I absolutely want a report on that trip. Sounds awesome.
Having lived in Alaska and traveled on the Alaskan Hiway, I can tell you they are in for a heck of a ride. When they get to the mountains in the Yukon Territory and Alaska it will be a challenge for sure.
@duluth1an I absolutely want a report on that trip. Sounds awesome.
thanks Ralph! I’m planning on taking a bunch of pictures and detailed notes along the way. We will also have a gopro along for documenting the trip. I’ll be sure to write up a full report once we are back. We are starting the trip 5/26
Thanks for the heads up on these guys. Just “followed” them on FB. Buddies and I always talked about riding from Cokato to our cabin near Baudette back in the day. Obviously thought that was too much! They are inspirational for us middle age guys that think we can’t do it. Whatever IT is.
Joe, if you can’t do it now then when? Don’t be the guys who sit around at 65 and say “what if”……….
Looks like they finally made it to Southend, Saskatchewan. “Only” took 8 days.
I’m curious which route they will take once they get into the Mountains to the west.
Looks like they patched up the burned sled pretty good. Seems like the belly pan was replaced. Pretty impressive. Getting through the mountains will be extremely interesting for sure.
I just followed them and took a look back at their trip so far. As someone who has an old (mid-80s) parent that refuses to let age define them, I think this is fantastic! They look like they’re having the time of their lives. Quite an inspiration! Agree, though, that their toughest times are ahead. Hope they stay safe when they hit the Canadian Rockies.
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