[arcticcatmatt]

EMTP579 has the real pictures. I will probably get them tomorrow and I will revise this thread and post them.

I was breaking trail and leading our group of 2. I was going down the railroad tracks that had 1-2 feet of snow on them. Next thing I know I am stopped DEAD. My chest hit the bars and I bent my bars forward and twisted the throttle and hand grip 90 degrees I hit it so hard. I ended up in front of the sled laying on my back with my neck kinked seeing stars. It happened NOW.. as in .000005 of a second and it hurt. The tekvest took the impact from the bars. I hit the things hard man..knocked the wind out of me for a second. I bet I would have broke/cracked a rib.

I drew this quick sketch to show what happened. My skis got wedged as 2 rails got farther and farther apart. Black - rails.... Green - sled ski's... red - wedged solid.

I called the local trail boss on the phone and he said I am definitly not the first person to do it. A rev did it and it tore the entire A-arm right off the sled. Another guy did it and they had to remove the A-arms from the sled to get it out.

I called my woman and had her help me get 2 sledge hammers. Even with 3 of us that sled was STUCK metal to metal wedged. We beat it back with wood and sledgehammers and got it out. I have a couple new parts to order but oh well.

If you don't have a vest, you need one. I don't care how you ride. Things like this could have happened to anyone
Real pictures coming tomorrow or so.

I will be going to this spot tomorrow and putting a sign up.

 

[powersledder]

How's that spleen feelin?

Couple years ago I thought I was going to jump a small burm, turned out to be an 6' ditch, my RMK went straight down and stop with the tail up in the air. I bent the steering post forward until it hit the hood. Little sore the next day but nothing too bad, not sayin tekvest aren't useful, you just have worse luck than me.

 

[Mad-Boondocker]

yes sir that tekvest has helped me prevent injury some crashes even when I fall of I know that the tekvest is doing it's job and I am proud of it glad u r ok

 

[1FastSPX97]

you hit a switch in the tracks. that really sucks. my buddy hit one a few years back on his pro x2 and ripped the ski right off the sled. rode 10 miles back to where we were parked on one ski.

 

[brian126]

I wonder if it would be a good idea to replace a TekVest after an incident such as this. I'm just thinking the padding, stitching, buckles, straps, etc. have been shock loaded. Will the vest offer the same protection next time? You replace your helmet if it has been in an accident, should the same be done with at TekVest? It's just a thought.

 

[Teicherc]

One question... why are you riding on rr tracks?

 

[2SEWINGS]

Glad to hear you are ok ACM, been thinking about you the last 2 days with the weather you have been getting[thumb]

There are a few places we ride in northern Minnesota along RR lines that could end up with the same results..............

 

[rev500ss]

glad to hear your alright ACM, get some pics up when you get a chance. Its also nice to hear that your riding more this year I hear upstate new york has 30" in some places.

 

[Dragoncald]

#1 Why were you on the tracks.
#2 THAT would not happen to me, because I do not ride the rails.
#3 I don't know about where you live, but here we face fines of up to $1,000 for riding on the tracks.

SAFETY 1ST, glad your alright, but dumb move in my books.

 

[Dman]

I don't get it either. You were riding down the middle of railroad tracks? Is this an active, approved trail? I've NEVER seen that in WI. All the old railroad grades have been graded and all the rails or remnants of train activity have been removed.

 

[sledcrusher]

#1 Why were you on the tracks.
#2 THAT would not happen to me, because I do not ride the rails.
#3 I don't know about where you live, but here we face fines of up to $1,000 for riding on the tracks.

SAFETY 1ST, glad your alright, but dumb move in my books.

A lot of places in the U.S. have closed railways, especially in the winter, which become designated snowmobile trails when snowfall is high enough.

I don't ride the rails for that exact reason. Even if I see someone going 75 down the rails, I by all means will try to avoid the rails at all cost.

GO TEKVEST!

I would also like to say that it can happen to you, even if you dont ride trails! What if you catch a root? How about a covered stump? Catching a carbide on something small is all it takes.

 

[arcticcatmatt]

Will you guys stop blasting me out because I was riding on tracks. You do not know this trail or how it works here. The trail comes out of the woods and up to the side of the rails. We have 12-30 inches of snow here... so you couldn't really tell where the tracks exactly were and didn't really care because they are not used and there was 2 feet of snow over them. Riding along the side of them would have been very difficult as we would have slid down into the woods. So I moved a foot to the right so I did not slide down into the woods.. well that foot put my ski just over ONE rail which turned into two rails that were getting further apart without me knowing of course. This was a distance of FEET not miles. Maybe 20 feet? I will have pictures tomorrow. The guy that took them can't provide them till tomorrow.

The point of this thread is safety and to make other riders aware that this freak occurrence can happen when you do not know what is under the snow you are on.

Don't tell me I am dumb or shouldn't have been doing this or that. This legal snowmobile trail is 6 damn inches from that rail and we were riding in 2 feet of snow breaking trail. I just happened to be going first and my ski went over 1 rail. I have been riding legal trails 17 years. Strange accidents like this just happen and are not really anyone's fault.

Pictures will come later and will explain everything.

Edit - Thanks for the kind words from you others. Yeah we just got lambasted with snow. 12-30 inches but groomers are not getting out because of conditions and such.

 

[Empire087]

Man you have the worst luck Matt! That sucks, to all the guys saying he is dumb you guys are dumb. A lot of trails are rail grades, I've riddin on Michigan and Maine trails which are 1k miles apart that use old rail beds. Hell one of the trails I ride a lot is a rail bed. Hope nothing is too bad Matt.

 

[Ugly_old_Poo_kid]

Lucky you, just getting your balance in the deep snow, and banged into the bars...

So you have bar pads as well?

 

[Freebyrdjason]

Matt, I'm glad your ok bro! And don't listen to the bAshers! Those are the negative folks in life w nothing better to do !!

 

[buckfever]

Glad your alright Matt! I don't wanna hear another story about you like we all had to a couple years ago!

 

[88400]

Agreed. Where I ride the tracks WERE the main trail. They recently took the rails out to make it safer. Glad to hear you're alright... that everclear will make everything feel better haha.

 

[nhrider]

Something similar happened to the group I go riding with last or 2 years ago, I was not present. From what I heard one of the sleds got wedged in the tracks and they actual took a strap and tied it to another sled. The unstuck sled got a running start trying to break the other sled free. I don't think anyone was hurt, though and I know for a fact none of them wear teckvests or any other protection. Its definantly a smart thing to look into.

 

[heshtesh]

I learned my lesson five years ago in Ellicottville NY when i hit a hidden piece of rail sticking out of the ground at approx 60 mph,fractured my sternum broke my arm and gave me a concussion so bad i could'nt talk in complete sentences for a month,also kept falling down because i was having trouble maintaining my equalibreum. As for my sled it ripped the drive cogs right out of my sled,repaired the sled myself rode it another 3400 miles and never ate a drive bearing,so yea i wear a vest. Forgot to mention my friends went back a couple days latter with torches and cut the culprit off.

 

[ArcticOhio]

First and Foremost glad to hear you're OK Matt ! I never considered a Tekvest as I'm the guy you pass out on the trails, I rarely break 35-40mph, mainly because I didn't start riding until I was 42, and don't have the experience most of you guys have, and the trails here in Ohio are really technical. But I might just re-think the whole vest issue,Thanx Matt !

On that note I'd like to share another tip with any of the less experienced riders like myself. In the last 2 years we have had a couple of really bad accidents on our trails http://www.snowmobilefanatics.com/forum/topic/113002/display.aspx for the following reason. Whether you want to or not, sooner or later you're gonna get air, when you do, for Gods sake don't back off the throttle or worse yet brake ! You will end up being bucked off or eating your handle bars. Oh yeah, don't forget to post, flat landings = broken backs. Just thought I'd share.