Nisbet to Shellbrook 99-08

FULL DAY NISBET FOREST CROSS COUNTRY TOURS


FULL DAY NISBET TOURS

RIDE'N WITH THE BOYZ
FEBRUARY 20, 1999

304 miles/490 KM's!!

Lots of folks yick yack about riding 300 miles in a day.....on a groomed trail! This was 300 miles cross-country. We even did the Marcelin Poker derby! (The long route!) I think the derby's "long" route was 60-80 miles.

 Itinerary:
Macdowall 9:15 am departure to Shellbrook 10:14 am $16.08 fuel.

N
ow we are off to Marcelin, 12:52 pm $17.27 fuel. We take in the poker rally, there was times the Yamaha XT 500 I was on was W.O.T. for miles on end trying to keep the pair of 600 XC's in sight! Back to Marcelin 3:32 pm $17.88. It looks like we signed up for the derby stopped at the half way point for a hot dog in the Thickwood Hills (photo #3). Just before we get to the half way point for lunch we attempt to overtake a 2up touring with a guy easily 6'6" riding it, this proved to be pretty difficult. It turns out we are bumping  into a familiar face who is on the green Venture 700. *That dude could ride, smoke' in for a 2up Venture! If the guy would of actually had skis instead of dish pans attached to his spindles! Then stopped to take a couple snaps and play in the powder, all in 2 and a half hours! Somewhere on our way out of the Thickwood Hills the XC's blew by a late model black Indy 500. I remember the rider putting up quite a fuss 'bout getting passed by a 500 Yamaha, the Indy eventually disappeared in the snow dust! But I still have to say 20 years later I remember this Indy 500 putting up  quite a fuss about getting passed, one of the big differences between us....skis, he was on dishpans and I was on SLP Ultralites. Nuff said just had to pick one of his pushing wide turns and dive in there. Done!

B
ack, cross country to Shellbrook 5:59 pm $17.15, supper and back to Macdowall approximately 8 pm. We stayed the night at the Family Inn.


A gorgeous
Sunrise on the morning of the 20th.

A day like this will provide unmatched definition and contrast. These visual parameters are important when you are riding in unfamiliar terrain.

The rolling sand hills that surround the "Road from Fort Carlton to "Green Lake". This is the country side that the Marcelin Derby often rides thru, on this occasion after fueling up in Marcelin we discover that the derby goes the opposite way out of town into the Thick Wood Hills near Blaine Lake.

This familiar face and his 700 Venture was one aggressive combo to ride with, from the Marcelin Derby's half way mark in the Thick Wood Hills for the next 10 or 15 miles of so.?

Pounding some banks just outside of Shellbrook where we stopped for supper, During the short days of February you can bet this was about 5:30 PM. After supper we still had to ride to Macdowall where we stayed over at the Family Inn.

Link to day 2 of our ride.

*With out question years later we take a Venture similar to this, ditch the couch, add skis and a little track (OK 2" more than a little!) and voila the sled (  SR7 700  , [SR 7 or SR VII?]) Yamaha didn't build but was created by many many people over the years to fill that void!

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