Riding the Sheyenne River Valley - Lisbon to Valley City and back, North Dakota started by JD
	March 13th 2009 at 10:19 AM Post #1
	JD Senior Member 3115 Posts Group: Members Member Since: March 6th 2006 Location: North Dakota, USA Current Sled: '02 XC 500 SP 2008-2009 Miles: 1625
	On Sunday, March 8, four of us rode the Sheyenne River Valley. It was myself, my wife, my brother, and my brother's wife's brother. Let's say brother-in-law for simplicity. Or "friend" would be a better description. We parked at the Ransom County Fairgrounds on the west side of Lisbon. The trail follows the basic path of the Sheyenne River upstream towards Valley City. Some places the trail is right next to the river, and some places it is a few miles away. Trail break There were a lot of whitetail deer to be seen everywhere. We went through the small, historic towns of Fort Ransom and Kathryn. Between Fort Ransom and Kathryn, our friend complained that his clutch and belt were "grabby." We found that one of the rollers on the primary clutch had a big flat spot on it and the weight would bind, causing the clutch to stay slightly engaged, even when rpms dropped. We decided to keep going towards Valley City, where we had lunch. We discussed the plan at lunch and decided to head back, due to the clutch problems. Just south of Valley City, our friend got hard on the throttle and when his clutch engaged to a certain point, it wouldn't disengage at all. But, with a little prying action, he and my brother got it to go back. He decided not to go over 60 mph the rest of the way. In this photo, there is a little speck above the throttle on my sled that is our friend and my brother stopped while working on the clutch. View of Valley Here's a view as they came up to where my wife and I waited. View Up the trail a little further, there were about 60 deer in a field where the wind had blown most of the snow off. Here's a photo of a few of them as they ran off. Deer We decided to stop at the convenience/general store in Fort Ransom on the way back. A Coke and some snacks tasted good. A little ways further, my brother tried to play in some powder and got a little stuck. Not too bad, though. Stuck It's too bad we had the clutch issue and had to turn back, because the trails were good, and we heard later they were even better north and west of Valley City. Overall, when we got back to the trailers, we had put on 107 miles. Nice, easy Sunday ride. Rating: 0 Quick Edit Edit Topic

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	March 13th 2009 at 10:45 AM Post #2
	flatlander_summit The Law flatlander_summit combined yesterday, combining today... Updated Last Sunday at 9:15 AM 1173 Posts Group: Members Member Since: February 3rd 2005 Location: Jamestown, ND, USA
	I've always wanted to try to make the complete loop. This winter I've been on the trail between VC and Ft. Ransom a couple times. We even hit up the river between Kathryn and Ft. Ransom a couple weeks ago. I've been between Jamestown and Valley City as well, all times the trail has been in decent condition. JD, next year we'll have to hook up and try to ride the complete loop. 04 MXZx 440 03 MXZx 800 Factory Mod--soon to be 144 with some more goodies. 99 Summit X 670 98 MXZ 583 It's starting to look like I bleed yellow. Rating: 0 Quick Edit Full Edit

	March 13th 2009 at 12:55 PM Post #3
	JD Senior Member 3115 Posts Group: Members Member Since: March 6th 2006 Location: North Dakota, USA Current Sled: '02 XC 500 SP 2008-2009 Miles: 1625
	I have wanted to do the complete loop, too. It was 53 miles from Lisbon to Valley City. By the map, it looks like it's about 60 miles by trail, through Spiritwood Lake, to Jamestown. I'd guess 40 to 50 miles down to Lamoure, and another 40 to 50 back to Lisbon. Would make a decent 200-mile day, which would be easily do-able provided decent trail conditions. Could even add on another 30 to 40 to go down to Oakes and back. The tough part would be getting good snow and trail conditions on the whole loop. This year there would have been a couple times that it would have been good, though. flatlander, do you know how to ride through Valley City? When we came up from the south, it looks like the trail just stops at the Hilltop Cafe/Tesoro. But the map shows it continues north and out the west side of town. Do you have to ride down the hill right through town? There would have been a lot of bare pavement last weekend when we were there. Even gassing up at the Tesoro was a pain in the sack. Bare pavement, and the Winter Show was going on so there was traffic everywhere. Rating: 0 Quick Edit Full Edit

	March 13th 2009 at 2:39 PM Post #4
	flatlander_summit The Law flatlander_summit combined yesterday, combining today... Updated Last Sunday at 9:15 AM 1173 Posts Group: Members Member Since: February 3rd 2005 Location: Jamestown, ND, USA
	I have not figured out how the trail goes through VC. I rode with the Barnes Co. State's Attorney a couple weeks ago and he didn't know how it worked either, we did ride through town from right down by VCSU up the hill just north of the Wintershow building and over to Tesoro then down to the trail 2 weeks ago. I couldn't tell you how to get through town other than you should be able to drive through town based on our actions. It is confusing to me since the start of the trail seems to be right on the frontage road just south of the interstate. I would advise contacting Bayshore or Dakota Cat in Valley, they should know. I believe you're correct about the ride from Valley City to Lisbon being about 60 miles by trail. If I remember correctly it's around 46 miles from Valley City and I believe there is a trail sign that states that it's 23 miles from just north of Ft. Ransom to Lisbon. We were losing daylight both times we rode from Valley City or we would have gone further. The trail between VC and Jimmy is probably right in the 50-60 mile range. I know that we have ridden the trail from Jamestown to Spiritwood Lake then to Spiritwood town and back to Jamestown ditchbanging and have put between 44-50 miles on each time. The trail between Spiritwood and Valley City is supposed to be pretty fun from what I've heard. It looks like I'll be keeping this job in Jamestown for another year so I should be around here next winter. I'll have a running sled all season next year so I would be more than interested in meeting up with you to meet somewhere and try to make the whole loop with you, which should be more than dooable in a day. I'd like to ride this weekend, but I don't think it'll be happening. I had a little mishap with my handlebars on Sat. during that poker run, but expect the parts to be here today so I can put it together Sun. I'll be enjoying some green beers and a huge crowd at the Jamestown St. Patty's Running O' the Green on Sat. If you're not riding Sat. and enjoy people watching or enjoying some green beers I encourage you to come down to Jamestown for the running o' the green. 04 MXZx 440 03 MXZx 800 Factory Mod--soon to be 144 with some more goodies. 99 Summit X 670 98 MXZ 583 It's starting to look like I bleed yellow. Rating: 0 Quick Edit Full Edit

	March 16th 2009 at 12:22 PM Post #5
	JD Senior Member 3115 Posts Group: Members Member Since: March 6th 2006 Location: North Dakota, USA Current Sled: '02 XC 500 SP 2008-2009 Miles: 1625
	Quote originally posted by flatlander_summit I'll be enjoying some green beers and a huge crowd at the Jamestown St. Patty's Running O' the Green on Sat. Jamestown's WORLD FAMOUS Running O' the Green! Rating: 0 Quick Edit Full Edit