Why is it for sale?

I need the money.  I am selling it for $8,000 but will take reasonable offers.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with it...I rode it for a couple hours tonight.  Just for kicks I pulled the skis up off the ground while I was driving down the road.  Fun!  So it has plenty of power...and would be perfect for anyone that likes to do some trail riding or some backwoods riding.

Let me know if you are interested.

-Derek

For Sale: 2009 Ski-Doo MXZ Renegade 600 E-Tec

Note: Sled is no longer for sale...unless I get the right offer. Email outdoorsmi@gmail.com

This absolutely kills me....BUT....

For Sale: 2009 Ski-Doo MXZ Renegade with the 600 E-Tec 2-stroke. 137" x 16" x 1.25" Ripsaw track, handle and thumb warmers, analog gauges and more. It is a completely stock machine. I only have 350 miles on it. You don't have to do the break-in! It gets INCREDIBLE gas mileage and the oil efficiency is amazing. No smoke or smell, just as Ski-Doo said...AND it only takes ONE PULL to start it! Even in below 0 temperatures! I just had the 10 hour service done and there were no issues.

It pains me to get rid of it...this is certainly YOUR gain. You can see pictures of it at http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding/NewSled. They were taken the day I bought it (January 2nd)...beautiful sled.

Leave a comment if you would like more information or if you would like to purchase this sled.

A Morning To Ride...

It was a bit chilly this morning!  -6 degrees when I left the house.  Today was the day for my 10 hour service to take place on the Renegade.  It dropped it off at 8:30 AM and had it back around 9:45.  Everything went well!  

I took off from the house around 7:15 AM.  The trails were groomed last night...so they were in pretty darn good shape.  (I rode last night for about an hour too.)  Just East of Alanson I hit the freshly groomed trails toward Indian River.  They were as smooth as I have ever seen them over that way.  Not one single sled had ridden them when I went through.  Blasting down the trail with the carbides and track sticking to the ground like glue was incredible.  I believe I was actually riding a bit irresponsible because of the quality of the trail.  I could stop in a split second, turn on a dime, and accelerate like I was running from the cops.  The light slowly started to peek into the trees and life was good.  

I do have some pictures to upload...some did not turn out good at all because of the lighting in the woods.  The remainder of the ride on the trail to IR was amazing.  I got to Burt Lake Marina's Parts and Service building and dropped off the sled.  The wife came and picked me up so we went to breakfast.  Shortly after I was back on the trail heading home.

I ran home fairly quickly because we are visiting a few houses with our realtor today.  There are a couple promising leads on new houses...though I am a bit scared about financing.  I am not in a position to put a bunch of money down...nor am I in a position to be able to pay all of my current debt PLUS a house payment.  So I am looking for alternatives.  I did some research last night and found a loan called a non-conforming loan.  I do not know much about them but I do know tha they can be used to get more money (to pay off debt) to loan on the house despite the amount of the asset.  Most non-conforming loans are over 100% LTV.  Interesting.  That might be a good bet for me.  We shall see when I talk with the loan people on Monday.  I am REALLY hoping that this all works out...

Anyway...that is enough for now.   Look for pictures and another post possibly tonight.

-Derek

Outdoorsmi Cam Is Back Online...

It took a while but the cam is back online.  I am still using a mediocre camera...but it is back online.  I will try to come up with a new one sooner or later.  You can click on the link on the right hand side of the page to view it.  

It is still REALLY cold out tonight.  Almost too cold for a ride...but I am thinking I might squeeze one in tonight despite the time.  We' shall see!

-Derek

My First Moosejaw...

I finally made it to one! The 44th annual Moosejaw was on Saturday, January 17th. You can read more about it at the Team HSSC website. When we left Harbor Springs I guess there to be about 50 sleds taking off...my number was dead on! HSSC determined about 50 sleds to be in the initial group leaving Harbor Springs. It was kind of neat riding with that many people in a group. My biggest group ever was five I think. :P The little "tradition stops" were fun...they did get old after a while because it seemed like every road intersection had a tradition...everyone busted out their pocket bottles of liquor or a can of beer and chugged a bit down while we were stopped. I do not know how everyone was feeling by the time the whole event was over...but I am sure some of them probably were not able to ride home...or atleast should not have. My small group of 4-5 riders did not partake.

It took us about two hours to make it from Harbor Springs to Larks Lake. Not bad time for how slow we were riding. I am guessing we averaged about 20 miles per hour through most of the ride. Everyone has different ways that they go once they get out into the trail system...so the groups varied in size and riding speeds. When we arrived in Larks Lake I said my goodbyes to the group I was riding with and took off for home. I rode the ride...and that is all I went to do. I really did not know how long it was going to take me to get home...so I figured I had better hurry up and get there. ;) I took the trails back to Stutsmanville Road...then followed the road all the way back home. From there it was smooth sailing to the house. Good times. It only took me about 25 minutes to make it back. I should have stayed up there and hung out for a bit! ;) Ahh well. There will always be next year.

The weather was PERFECT for riding yesterday...despite the bitter cold. It never made it above 8 degrees in most places...and riding at 25-30 mph was horribly cold. The snow fell ALL DAY...so no matter where you went there was some fresh powder on the trails. In some spots it started snowing hard enough that when mixed with the snow tossed up from sleds in front of you...it was nearly impossible to see! I felt bad for my buddy that I was riding with...his visor kept fogging up due to the cold. He had to ride a good portion of the time with his visor tipped up. Ouch! I have a mouth guard over my nose and mouth that keeps most of the moisture flowing down out of my helmet instead of onto my visor.

It is beautiful outside right now...blue sky with just a couple clouds. We had snow most of the night last night and a few flakes fell early this morning. We are up to about 30" of standing snow depending on where you are in the yard. The areas most affected by high winds have a bit less...the calm areas have more. PLENTY to ride on. Time to get outside and play a bit! I think Taco Bell will need a visit first. :P

For anyone local that rides...leave a comment if you are interested in riding! I am always looking for more people to ride with.

Oh! I have four pictures of the moosejaw group...two at the trail intersection where it splits to Cross Village, Alanson, and Harbor...and then two at Larks Lake. It was too darn cold to take pictures while riding. Stay tuned for those...they will be posted in the next day or so. Nothing impressive but it will show the size of the group!

-Derek

Cold? We have that...

If someone is looking for an abundance of cold weather...come on over.  Right now we are sitting at a comfy -12 degrees.  That is our coldest temperature of this winter season so far.  I am thinking we will probably see a degree or two colder and then things will start to warm up a little bit for the rest of the night.  Our lows have far surpassed the projected lows by NWS and local weather stations.  Obviously they cannot predict local temps for individual locations...so I do not hold them responsible...I was just making note that we have gone lower over the past few days.  

Petoskey got rocked with snow last night and through the morning today.  I left the house at 7:45 AM this morning and brushed a light dusting of snow off the car.  As I approached M-119 the snow started showing up on the road.  When I got to work there was about 4 inches of snow sitting in the driveway.  Total overnight and morning accumulations at work ended up being about 5-6 inches by 12 PM.  The snow slowed down shortly after that.

Right now I am looking for some more snow to enter into our area.  We have not really had that much over the past couple weeks.  When are we going to get our big storm?  It does not look good over the next week or so.  We might see some snow...but nothing big.  I will keep my fingers crossed for some serious lake effect sooner or later.  We have not received anything over 6 or so inches of snow at a time this season.  I want 2 feet to plow!

Other than that...nothing really exciting to talk about.  I will keep posting temperatures on twitter as they drop.  Keep an eye on the top gadget on the right hand side of this page.  It shows my twitter posts.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Getting geared up for Moosejaw?

If so, you are going to be COLD! The NWS is calling for a high of only 18 degrees on Saturday. That is chilly when you combine the wind hitting you as you ride. Needless to say I will probably be there! I am thinking a couple guys from work will ride along with me. We shall see. If no one I know is going then I will skip it again this year. I have never gone on the ride before! My uncle used to go...but we never made it out with him on our "clunkers" that we had.

Back in the day we rode a 1972 Ski-Doo Nordic 440 and a 1971 Ski-Doo Olympique 399. What good times! They were easy to get stuck, did not steer for beans, and rarely started without a struggle. Another one of my uncles built spreaders for the skis on the 399. That helped the stability quite a bit. The 440 worked when it was sold...the 399 was killed by me coming over a hill. It had been acting up in the woods and we, by some kind of magical force, made it back to the road. I came up over the top of the hill and sparks and such started flying out of the hood. I bailed and

commando rolled down the hill into the snowbank. The sled kept going until it hit the bank and died. I pushed it about a quarter mile down the road back to the house. There it sat until it was taken away. Good ol' sleds! I am VERY glad we have new technology though...otherwise I would never have gotten back into it. I was too young at the time to mix the gas...and I am very glad I was too young. Kids have it too easy these days! I did find both of these pictures online...they are not of our original sleds. I will find those some day and post a couple of them. :P 440 came from www.powersportsnetwork.com and 399 in the woods came from www.theworkshop.ca. If you are the owner of the pictures and want them taken down just post a comment and I will find another picture to use. :) I want to be fair since I do not promote the use of my pictures without permission.

So I just checked our thermometer...here is the current weather at our house:

Right now it is -10 degrees at our house. No snow is falling. Calm winds under a cloudy sky. Dang! -10 degrees! Time to go stir the fire up. ;)

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Winter Moonlight

Last night was an amazing evening for night time photography.  I worked on my ability over the summer and slowly got better and taking night photos.  Nothing worth posting...but last night was my chance to test it all.  The moon was nearly full and was so incredibly bright that it seemed like someone had turned on a gigantic street lamp that lit the entire land.  You could see down the road, in the woods, all of the yard; it was awesome.  It WAS cold though.  When I started taking pictures it was 0 degrees.  

I took the ol' camera outside and started snapping photos.  I took many that I took last year in an effort to compare the two.  This year's pictures turned out even better and the practice paid off.  You can see the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/dallerding/WinterMoonlight.  In a couple pictures that I did not upload it looks like a bright cloudy day.  These pictures were taken around 1:30 AM.  I hope you enjoy them.  

I do plan to go for a ride this morning...I will take some pictures of the beaten down trails and what is left of the snow on them.  When I was outside around 12:00 AM last night I heard sleds riding them...so you know it was a busy day for them.  I will give an overall trail rating of the trails in our area when I get back.  

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

I should be riding...

It would probably be the best day to ride that we have had all year today.  Mostly sunny, mid 20s, light flakes of snow falling...a beautiful day.  Since last weekend we have received around 6 inches of new snow...the trails apparently are in very good shape in the Harbor Springs area.  I would guess that East of Alanson is horrible.  They need to come up with an alternative to the swamp.

So far I have cleaned the house and watched a bunch of movies.  Nothing too exciting.  We will probably head into town...then I will ride tonight.  I should have some riding pictures posted soon...I have not been out and gone slow enough to stop and take pics...aside from the pics of my sled the other day.

Anyway...it does look like the beginning and middle of next week are going to bring the coldest temperatures of the season.  The problem with cold...is there system snow pretty much stops.  The GOOD thing about cold...the lake effect snow machines turn back on.  Hopefully the winds head in the right direction to give us some significant snowfall.  We have not had any in a few weeks.  

I will get into more specifics later...and try to post pictures and maybe a video of the new sled later.  I finally got my YouTube account setup...so video will be a new feature on this site.

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

My new sled...

A few more quick hints...it is black, has a 137" track, and does not stink when you ride it. It really is a snowmobile though!

My new sled can be seen here.

The anticipation is over! You have no idea how nice this thing is until you have ridden one. I suggest you buy one for yourself though. The power, the ride, the handling, all of it is incredible. So for those who do NOT know what it is:

2009 Ski-Doo MXZ Renegade 600HO E-Tec.

You can hit the trails like any short track...and you can carve the powder like a mountain sled. It is a true crossover as I said in my earlier post.

Anyway...I need to sit back and relax after the 110 mile ride today...so I will sign off for now. :P

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

You have to wait...

I took some sleeping meds a bit ago since I have been on vacation since Tuesday...falling asleep is going to be a nightmare. :P SO I am not going to take a lot of time to write this post. You will have to wait until sometime tomorrow for more hints about what my new sled is. You will be envious when you figure it out. The only hint that I will give you for now is that it is NOT a Yamaha. As much as I like the Vmax...and the '09 Nytro XTX...I talked myself out of going to a 4-stroke. Was that two hints? Yes, I guess so. More details will follow tomorrow. :)

I am looking for good helmet cameras. I am not looking for something expensive...just a camera that will take good video. I do not so much care about sound quality...as I will be adding tracks in the background. I want to start making some videos of my sledding adventures. I see all sorts of them on Youtube...and I want my turn. ;) Now that I have a new sled it would be very cool sharing some videos of powder carving and hitting some drifts in the backwoods! That MIGHT be hint three...but it is not incredibly helpful.

Anyway...enough for tonight.

Goodnight from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

A new snowmobile? / SLOW DOWN!!!

Did I buy one? Yes! Do you know what it is? No!

That is going to be the theme atleast until tonight. I have a couple pictures of it that I will post later. It is an awesome sled...a true crossover. I kind of miss riding the Vmax...so I may fix it and keep it as a trail sled. OR I might sell it and help make a couple payments on the new one. ;) You will probably be very suprised when you learn which machine I chose. I have not talked about it much as I knew very little about it. However, after some research, and the help of a couple co-workers, I decided it would be the best sled for me. F

Stay tuned for some pictures...I might do close-ups of certain parts so you all can try to guess what it is. That seems like fun and might add to the suspense.

Anyway, the weather looks decent for winter lovers over the next few days. Today we might see a bit of freezing drizzle...but as we head into Tuesday and Wednesday that chances for some accumulation grows. That would be sweet...the trails are getting quite icy. I rode from Harbor to Alanson to Indian River to Weber Lake and back again yesterday...the trails as you get closer to Petoskey are good...and the trails the closer you get to Harbor Springs are good. The Indian River area is fairly miserable. LOTS of icy spots. I had one incident where I misjudged the snow level on the trail and the tail end of the sled slid out a bit. Not bad though. I did not cause anyone to hit their brakes. Some people did though...

I wish I had a helmet camera to catch these fools on video. I had FOUR cases yesterday where I was nearly hit or was forced to go off the trail. That REALLY upset me on my new sled. Each of these cases were on my way home. The first was an orange Arctic Cat F6 coming back from Weber Lake. He was following a group of sleds and came around a corner WAY too fast. He drove me into the side of the trail to avoid hitting him. The back of the sled swung WAY out into my side of the trail. Very good thing I was paying attention. The next two were heading toward Alanson on 76. That is a winding narrow trail where no one should be doing over 20 MPH or less in spots. In many areas there is hardly enough room to pass two sleds through. (Any thoughts on that DNR? Maybe we can cut some more trees down for next year?) Guys were coming around the corners way too fast, had to lock their tracks, and still almost hit me. Then the last was the worst. It was just outside of Alanson heading back toward Harbor on the trail just before you reach Moore Rd. Those corners ARE a bit ridiculous and the trail is NOT marked very well...but there is not excuse for the way this guy was riding. He came sailing around the corner, saw me, lock his track, and flew off the trail right in front of me. There was nothing he could do to stop without going off the trail. Luckily it was a field...otherwise he would have been in some serious trouble. I believe that was a new Ski-Doo TNT if I recall. If I was a groomer...I would have run him over. (Maybe intentionally. That would teach him!) So I have to emphasize again this year...PLEASE take into consideration everyone else riding on the trails. Obviously we all cannot see everything around the next corner...so just slow down a bit. You will get to where you are going even if you slow down just a little bit. Or if you risk going too fast you could kill someone or yourself...not get to where you are going...and spend some time in prison. I guess you make the decision...but if you kill me...prepare for the worst hauntings ever heard of. ;)

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek

Happy New Year

We made it through another year!  I hope everyone has a great 2009!  I will be posting a bit possibly tonight or tomorrow...but I am on leave for my anniversary.  We did not go far...just to Mackinaw.  We visited the casino in St. Ignace...went to the Dixie Saloon for dinner...and went to the hotel and sat in the hot tub!  We have a lakefront room overlooking Lake Huron so we got to see the sun come up early this morning.  Unfortunately, the clouds moved in before it made it up.  It was a pretty morning though. 

That is it for now...I have to get ready to hit the ol' dusty trail!

Good morning from Northern Michigan!

-Derek