“What do you guys do all summer?” It’s the second-most common question we get asked around here (right behind, “What’s your favorite sled?”). You mean other than putting together another outstanding season of American Snowmobiler magazine? While that is how we spend a lot of the summer, we do find some time to participate in a few other passions we have. In the coming blog posts, we’ll fill you in on what we’ve been up to, and what you can look forward to in the upcoming season of American Snowmobiler magazine!
Stephen W. Clark, Western Editor
It’s all about seat time for Stephen, even when he’s not on one of his long-tracked mountain climbers. You can probably find him seated on two wheels most days, either mountain biking or aboard his KTM 300. Here, he recounts an early summer highlight: racing the Idaho City 100!
This past weekend marked our annual trip west to race the Idaho City 100. This year was my third year competing in the event, and after two years of struggling to the finish, I was determined to come home with a better result. I started preparing in February, riding as much as possible and constantly working to improve the setup of my KTM 300. Brock Buttars from Brockstar Suspension was super helpful, mentoring me and re-valving the suspension on the bike.
Training and preparation for the race was all on track until about three weeks before the race, when the wet weather arrived and left many of our local trails basically un-rideable, which really limited my amount of seat time prior to the race. After two years of being late to almost every checkpoint and struggling to finish in the A class, I decided to enter the B class on the Long Course, allowing for a few extra minutes to get to each checkpoint.
We had a great group of about 15 guys, mostly from the snowmobile industry, head to Idaho City, with eight of the riders competing for the first time.
I started on the 85th minute with Justin Steven. Almost immediately after leaving Idaho City, the course turned off into single track and through a pretty technical rock section. I struggled through the first segment, trying to fight off the nerves and get used to the terrain. I rode very conservatively in the first special test, as I thought I would need the energy just to finish. I was pleasantly surprised to arrive at the first checkpoint about five minutes early.
Keeping a similar pace, we got to the next checkpoint about 10 minutes early. This was a huge morale boost, as I knew we had the pace to make the checkpoints while still having some energy left to push it in the special tests. The highlight of the race was getting the third-best time of the class on the grass track. We finished the 114-mile course on time and ended up placing sixth in B4 Vet 30+, scoring a silver medal and 43rd overall in B class. Had I known at the first special test that I would have had the energy to push to the end, the results could have been different, but that’s racing.
Idaho City always leaves you feeling like you could have done better, and I guess that’s what keeps us coming back every year. Overall, I’m really stoked about how the race went and honored to have been able to compete with what I feel is the absolute best bike and gear available. I really appreciate everyone who has helped out in the months prior to Idaho City; above all, thank you for making such great products.
Stephen is also spending plenty of seat time behind his computer keyboard, editing articles, photos and videos for AmSnow. He’ll write Long-Term Test articles on our 2015 mountain demo sleds, including Ski-Doo’s 174-inch Summit. In a number of issues this season, his West Report 2016 comparison articles will feature the new Polaris AXYS RMK, Yamaha and Arctic Cat suspensions, and more T3 technology from Ski-Doo. Stephen is also the man behind bringing our readers the Real World Mountain Evaluation. Look for that in our Spring Issue.
Make sure you don’t miss out on any of the exciting articles, photos and videos Stephen and the rest of the AmSnow editorial staff will be bringing you this next season. Sign up for a print or digital subscription today!