80mph and off I go

[rustman]

Was out on the river playing last night, doing some short drag style runs between my two '93's. I was winning on mine so we switched machines to see if my weight was helping with hookup, my g/f only weighs 110 or so. First run after switching we decide to go a little further, I hammer it and the right ski comes up pretty good, i keep on the throttle and it just comes up higher, I though it would settle down like normal...not a chance. It lifted up so high that I was about to barrell roll the sled, things happened pretty quick but the best I can tell is that I pushed hard on the handlebars to try to prevent a roll-over and then I was sliding along the river watching the sled cruise down the river and towards the tree-lined bank. Sled stopped about 5' from a tree but didnt roll which was very good, I didnt break anything even better. Turns out the limiter straps were broken clean off. We headed staright for home after that at about 20mph. Pretty scary stuff, funny thing is while I was sliding I tried to get to my feet and well I was sliding faster than my feet could run in leathers and boots so my legs couldnt keep up and down on my face i went. I have to admit I chuckled a little at that. My g/f was freaking out, she turned around and came driving towards me, I figured she was pissed that I almost smashed up her ride....nope she was worried about me. I said the hell with me, did the sled hit anything...lol

 

[8BU]

Glad to hear you and your sleds are alright.

Last time I drank and rode sled was something like that. Screwing around on a hard packed forest rode. Slid sideways, sled caught and threw me. I was sliding down the rode think this dam thing was going to roll over the top of me soon. So i crawled as fast as i could away from it. When I finally turned around it was sitting on the hood still running. I quickly flipped it back over and jumped back on. but it was to late. My buddies saw it all happen and were laughing there a$$ off at me. That was a wake up i needed and glad nothing happened other than a small crack in the hood.

 

[mjdevries]

I did that once at about 90 mph. I had ran a couple drags against a guy and smoked him. So he suggested some running starts to see what happened at top end. My belt apparently had gotten a little warm and sticky. It doubled up around the secondary and locked the track up at top end. Needless to say, all hell broke loose in a flash. My helmet was off before I hit the ice. I had unbuckled it between races and failed to buckle it back up when we ran the top end races. I hit flew a long way before I hit the ice and slid. The whole time I could hear my sled tumbling behind me and the only thought I had was, I sure hope that I don't get mangled by that thing. Fortunately I did not have the hood on my sled that day. The handlebars were bent down and one ski was broke off, and the brake reservoir cap was broke. I got up and limped off the lake with just a sore knee. My buddies helped drag my sled back and get it on the trailer. That was over 22 years ago. If I did that today, I'd be laid up for a long time.