Akunin

On 4/21/2021 at 12:14 AM, Freedomflyer said:

Hey Akunin, been a while. Sorry we werent able to link up last November when we were down in Rapid. Wasn't much of  a pleasure trip. We had to go down and move the inlaws out of their house, was not a pleasant ordeal.  Went from 5500 sq. ft to about 950. Spent 8 days there getting things packed up, a few home repairs, a little plumbing. Hadn't a minute to ourselves,  we were ready to get home that's for sure. 

Saw you bumped this thread I'll add a bit to it. We took our first ride of 2021, it ended up being the same place as last year, took a bit of a different route but went out about 2 1/2 weeks ago officially making it the earliest we have ever been out. It was a great day,  was about 32 degrees when we started but warmed to about 70 as a high.
Was an interesting ride, I didnt expect as much snow as we ran into. Some of the trails we went on were labeled Black diamond, have been on them before but being's they are nestled in the trees, many were solid ice making the decent on some of them way more technical than what I'm normally used to. Planning how to maneuver a turn when corners are sharp and dry is one thing, planning how your going slide around it without flying off the edges is another. Made for an exciting but tiring day. My Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tires  performed flawlessly. Since I was the designated leader I also doubled as the Guinea pig, made several walking trips back up the hill to guide others down and to ride my wife's machine down through several tricky areas. Was some of the best riding I've had to date, just had to think clearly and be careful. We stopped at a spot called "The Lunchroom" an area between these big slabs of rock with a couple of rudimentary tables to eat lunch. Am growing more fond of this area each time we ride it. Rode from about 9 until 4:30, with the slippery trails that was plenty. Got home about 5:30 spent 4 1/2 hours cleaning up the machines. Looking forward to the next ride.

Hey FF! Sounds like a truly rough several days. Hopefully all is well on that front. As for the ride you took.. as always great pics! Looks like a great way to open 2021!

3 hours ago, GrizzlyRider said:

I agree, great pics @Freedomflyer, your latest and the ones you posted in October, really nice. Looks like an amazing time.

@Akunin that drone footage is awesome, looks like out in the middle of nowhere. Very cool!

Thanks Grizzly. To think all that is just 20 mins from Rapid City and all the trails that the Black Hills have to offer in the mountains. Lots of different kind of riding out here for sure!

Just out tooling around. Great weather!

Since this picture the wife has added a rear rack (Can Am official), replaced the hand guards and added fender flares for the mud. For our neck of the woods, this XxC hauls butt through trees and the Fox shocks have soaked up everything we've thrown at it.

KFI winch plate nicely accommodates a Superwinch Terra 35

and the Can Am plate for the plow we just leave on year around and in the picture below shows how flush it sits with the belly.

Well why not Renegade ro ride the woods AND plow snow? I've had the Can Am alpine plow since 2017 and love it, the amount of snow it moves is unreal and the Renegade has plenty of power and weight to move it. Mine is just a 800 but I've never had any issues. Great machine!

And last one. Fun day just playing with the drone and riding about 45 miles.

And I'll throw this in for good measure, just playing with drone footage a bit. Nothing spectacular but shows the area better than the pictures above. 

This thread needed a bump!

Lets see if a panoramic turns out. Took this off the drone today. My favorite riding area!

And if the pano doesnt work than this other one will do

Figured I'd post another. Taken last summer with my son NW of Rapid City in the Nemo area. GPX was loaded from my Voyager Pro. If anyone is ever in the area and you love burgers and fries Sugar Shack has the best in the hills hands down!

https://bnc.lt/RFZm/9d2hoQBvZdb#.YC7B0zHhM10.link

10 hours ago, Harold Wallace said:

POLARIS RIDE COMMAND! https://bnc.lt/RFZm/V6XJRRBMSdb

Nice ride! Wow, looks like great country to ride in!

This is more like an example of using the Voyager Pro then uploading the GPX to Ride Command... and the hours show how long I forgot to turn off tracking. 

https://bnc.lt/RFZm/bHtru1q6Ydb#.YC7B07fBlH8.link

Polaris Ride Command works great and the Trail Tech Voyager Pro (also a Polaris product) uses the group ride feature. My experience with the Ride Command on my phone is great until I lose cell service and with all the mountains, valleys in our area cell service becomes very intermittent if not gone all together. That's the biggest reason I like a dedicated GPS on my rides. I do record the tracks on my VP and upload the GPX to my Ride Command so I can access it there so its not without use

The Voyager Pro GPS is easy to see in daylight and at a glance when I'm riding, either standing up or seated. It displayed just the info I need with multiple modes to choose from. My TRX700XX didn't come with any electronic gizmos or speedo so having the VP is a great addition to this bike. Just wanted to share a few more pics of it mounted on the quad

I have a Garmin Montana 680t and was also using the Avenza maps as well until Trail Tech updated the Voyager Pro gps to use custom base maps. So now the Garmin has become a backup and the Avenza being pretty much moth balled. 

Having the custom basemaps you can use MVUM maps by making MBtiles maps. I use Caltopo for creating my maps and I can easily add boundary markers such as public land or even icons and such for point of reference and I also use it for creation of my routes. The Voyager Pro (VP) imports them effortlessly and the display is very easy to see even in bright sunlight. A few pictures shows the tile I created in red and its an enormous riding area (but small file) and the VP can load multiples of MBTiles at a time if need be. For example I created the entirety of the Black Hills SD MVUM trail system in just 1 MBTile file that the VP loaded with no issue.

I won't get into the other benefits of the VP due to this being a GPS thread but if some are interested I can create a review thread to showcase some of its other features. 

To get an idea how the Buttes compare to the entirety (very close anyway) of the Black Hills trail system. Miles and miles of riding!

25 minutes ago, Ajmboy said:

Wow that’s petty cool. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! Sadly I'm no photographer and these pictures don't do it justice.

Railroad Buttes or as they are better known locally as Farmingdale. I thought I would share a few pictures from there since this winter has been incredibly mild and has allowed a lot of riding to be done. The Black Hills offers terrain of all kinds from the forests the area is known for to the rolling prairie. The Buttes are a personal favorite for when you want to let your hair down and run full out or just cruise slow and take in the scenery.

Excellent riding out here and a completely different experience than riding in the Hills.

Greeting from the Black Hills. I've been lurking quite awhile but decided now is as good a time as any to join and perhaps meet some like minded folks in time for the another riding season. We've got a few quads in our stable so I thought I'd share a few. A 2013 Can Am Renegade 800r XXC, 2007 Yamaha Raptor 700r, 2005 Kawi Prairie 650 and my favorite.. the Honda Trx700xx. Last year I took the Voyager Pro off my dirt bike and put it on the 700xx and it changed how I rode that old quad completely and reinvigorated my desire to ride. That new desire is what got me back online and how I found this site.