A chilly weekend for the I500 race. Polar air sat across the Midwest for most of the weekend. Hopefully, everyone stayed warm for the races. Winds were also a factor this weekend picking up snow producing a low visibility in some areas. In other weather events, Montana received snow over the last week andRead More
Max Racer- Finishing my first USXC I500!
Two 500 mile races in two weeks! Now we’re finishing up in Bemidji, MN for the legendary USXC I500. The last three days have been a brutal 500 miles of racing through the Northern Minnesota countryside. Like last weekend’s Soo I500, this was my first shot at competing in this endurance race. The raceRead More
Max Racer- Soo I-500 Recap
Wow, what a week! We have been on the U.S. border in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, for the 50th annual Soo I500. This was my rookie year at the Soo, and I had the honor of riding with Keith Gainforth from Gainforth Racing. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Soo I500, itRead More
Lavallee Nails Historic Back Flip
Our on the snow reporter, Steve Dubbs, captured Levi Lavallee mid-air as he performed an historic snowmobile back flip for a pre-game day crowd gathered for Super Bowl 52 in downtown Minneapolis, Minn. The 35-year-old wasn’t concerned about the minus zero wind chill and falling snows, but he had been concerned that winds of moreRead More
Max Weather- your weekly sledder weather forecast
The past week has been pretty quiet for snow fall. Higher elevations in the west increased their snow depths and North Dakota was also able to increase their snow depths by an inch or two. The Ohio River Valley had a light snow cover. Northern Maine was lucky and also received snow over the pastRead More
Opinion: The New Rider Market- New attempts to grow the sport and invite new riders.
Having been around this snowmo-biz as an opinionated editor since the mid-1970s, I find it heartening to see another attempt to invite new and ride-again winter enthusiasts to experience our sport. This introduction of “new rider” sleds like the recently announced Polaris Indy Evo and the “bridge” 200cc sleds from the snowmobile partnership of ArcticRead More
Max Weather- your weekly sledder weather forecast
The big storm of the past week was the low surface system that came across the Midwest from Sunday to Tuesday. As shown in the modeled snow depth, the storm left a nice band of snow from Nebraska northeast into Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula. Snow falls were up to 18.5’’. White-out conditions made travelingRead More
Max Racer: Park Rapids recap
This weekend brought us to Park Rapids, Minnesota, for round three of the USXC series. It was originally supposed to be a woods terrain race, but with our lack of snow it was moved to the lake for our second ice race of the season. We faced a bit of a struggle this weekend. WithRead More
Max Weather- your weekly sledder weather forecast
There was plenty of good news for the Midwest this past week. While the Northeast had some unfortunate weather, the Midwest was full of wind and snowy conditions. Starting on Wednesday night, January 10th, a strong wave of energy came through North Dakota and Western Minnesota. The highest snow totals from that stormRead More
MaxRacer: Manvel race recap
Coming at you from the frozen tundra of North Dakota. We just finished up at the second stop of the USXC series here in Manvel, ND and it was a rough one. The course was a 25-mile lap, made up of mostly ditches, fields, a little bit of woods, and a short section of river.Read More