Junior is Being Helpful
Family ride in Nisbet with a
BBQ. Crazy carpets for the eskers are great for the kids.
There was several families involved, and the kids had a great
time. At the end of the day we were riding out and junior was in
front of me on our
ZL
500*
Arctic
Cat, to date the quickest 500 we had owned. Because it had the
.75" track it was faster on the top end than a
ZR
600 , just because the
ZR
series had a 1" track standard. In stock form this
500 engine was not refined with power valves and had a little
higher engagement to get her rolling. Incidentally several years
later I bought the '03 red
FIRECAT
F-5
, and
although it had power valves and was very refined in comparison
laydownengine and all, there was a brief moment every time you
started the F-5 that the exhaust valves cycled and for a split
second you heard the old ZL 500 bark when it idled! On this day
the 'Ol ZL barked to life with out me realizing it was going
happen. It was just dark and as our group as pictured here there
must of been 6 or 8 sleds in a convoy heading out of the forest
for the trucks, and in the dark I took my hand off the throttle
and started coasting down from maybe 80 or 90 Kph, to slide my
hand out of my glove to adjust my jacket or something don't
exactly remember. When suddenly while hanging on with only my
left had the 'OL ZL barked to life and I thought for sure I was
going off the back! Instantly the throttle was modulated
precisely and I knew I wasn't falling off, turns out junior
thought dad needed some help. Unbelievable, he
modulated
the
throttle perfectly and we kept up with the whole group like
nothing happened. This has been quite awhile, but I am pretty
sure I let him operate the throttle all the way back after that!
You know that you couldn't wipe that smile off his face if you
had to!! I said "Don't tell mom!!"
* Don't let
this article lead you to believe that the ZL 500 was slower than
the ZR 500...they had exactly the same engine, in their minds
obviously the green ZR went faster because of the bright color
and also probably because it cost more. Kinda like many moons
ago our car was a 1973 Red Pontiac Formula 400 Firebird,
everywhere we went we were stopped by the police!!!! Sometimes a
little incontinent when you are trying to get from point A to
point B. You just about could tell after passing or meeting a
cruiser when it was time to lean on it for a quick couple miles
and for the fun of it quickly pull off into a bluff of trees
etc. Yup at Mach 100 they would go by!! |