7422-R2_MSA_Jan2021_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News A couple of trail changes should be noted. In West Bridgton, due to a trail interruption, we will have to ride a short distance on the side of Rt 302 before resuming the Trail. There is also a small reroute on the South Bridgton trail near Narramissic. We would like to thank Loon Echo Land Trust (LELT) for rerouting this trail. The Bridgton Board of Selectmen approved the Highland Lake Water Level Policy that officially sets the lake level at 5.4 feet for the winter months and 6.2 feet for the summer months. This will go a long way to eliminating the bridge issues we have faced for several years, with high water level that causes the ice pack to fluctuate and the bridge to buckle. This new Policy should make east shore access to Highland Lake much safer for snowmobiles. In the photo below,13 members of the Bridgton Easy Riders Club trail crew install protective tracks on the bridge to Highland Lake. (At the photographer’s request masks were removed VERY briefly for the photo. The Club has been, and will continue to be, very conscientious about fol- lowing all safety requirements/guide- lines during the pandemic.) The new Snowmobile Trail maps have been printed and are available around town. We decided not to charge businesses for their ads this year. A Big Thank You to our Busi- nesses for supporting us over the years! Please remember to support our local businesses! Since there is not likely to be a Club Snowmobile Trip up North this year, we will make every effort to orga- nize small-group local rides. If you are interested, just sign up at www. bridgtoneasyriders.com We’d love to meet you! Please join us on Face- book. Club Membership Packets will be sent to members soon. Because of the COVID Pandemic, we will not hold any meetings or spe- cial events until things change and it is safe to do so. Please do your part - wear your mask and use proper distancing. We WILL get through this. Happy Hol- idays toAll, and hope for a better 2021! Bill Preis Bridgton Easy Riders SC Club Correspondent www.bridgtoneasyriders.com MEXICO TRAILBLAZERS Mexico, ME Well last year was something else huh?! Here’s to a Healthier & Happier 2021! We have been laying low due to the rise in COVID19 cases in our area. Our in-person meetings have been put on hold until further notice. Officers

are in touch with each other several times a week. Our Facebook page is going to be the easiest way to stay up to date. Questions sent through mes- senger are usually answered within 30 minutes. There is a pinned post with the information needed to be mailed to us with $25 to become a member, $10 for an associate membership. Thank you in advance! As of mid-December, we were hav- ing groomer wheels repaired at Mor- rison Motors. They always do great work, treat us good and we highly recommend them. When the wheels are done the last 2 of our 4 new tracks will go on. Chris Bryant and Elliot Knox have had help from associate member Greg Adley and local welder Peter (Rubberneck) Gallant. We heard from neighboring clubs that their trails have had storm dam- age to include trees down. We are anxious to head out and check our system and appreciate everyone that cleans up an area on their own. Every little bit helps. Lastly, we are looking forward to the 24th Annual Blessing of the Sled co-hosted by the Dixfield Poodunck & Mexico Trailblazers SCs on Saturday, February 13th starting at 10AM with the Blessing of Sleds at high noon. This year it will be held at our groomer building on Pine Street in Mexico near MVMS. Look for signs on the trails. We will be outside with hot dogs, ham- burgers & hand cut fries along with some raffles & T-shirts!! Socially dis- tanced tables will be set up inside the groomer building for those that would like to warm up. See you there!.barring COVID19 related disruption.

Western Maine Mountains. We have had a fair amount of tree damage from the December storm. Our groomers are almost ready for the season with some finishing touches. We have added a New Holland Groomer to our fleet this year, so we are getting excited for the 20-21 season. Temps are getting colder and Mother Nature is starting to give us some of the white beauty we all love. We are still asking folks if you like our trails and appreciate the park and ride, we would love to have your sup- port in joining the club. Forms are available by mail or on our website and also through Facebook. We are planning club rides and special events may be in the future. We welcome everyone. Hope you all had a joyous holiday and let’s look to 2021 with optimism. Remember, ride safe, ride right. See you on the Trails!! Laurie Bowman, Secretary ROCK-O-DUNDEE RIDERS Oxford, ME Hi there. You know, sometimes we have to take the good with the bad....and we all know that 2020 has been a strug- gle from start to finish. Okay...that’s the bad. But it seems to me, every- one around us is trying to work bet- ter together, being more caring, more willing to do their share of the work load no matter how hard the task. And that’s the good. Our crews have been out brushing the trails, repairing or replacing bridges, working with our landowners to be sure we keep the best possible relationship with them. We expect a big influx of out of state riders to our trail system this year. So, getting the signs back up after so many of the trees fell down with the signs on them during the last heavy wet snow storm is another part of our trail work. We should be ready....Are you? Because we CAN NOT WAIT to see you back on the trails. Rock-O-Dundee Riders has signed up for the “Virtual Race”. Watch out for us. We, at Rock-O-Dundee Riders want to wish each and every one of you a Very Happy, Healthy, and Safe New Year. At our club meeting last night, in view of the Coronavirus worsening, we decided to have the trail commit- tee only meet next month at one of their homes....and the regular monthly meeting will be the second Monday of February at the Rec Hall on King St. in Oxford. 7PM Terri Major, Secretary INTERSTATE SNO-GOERS

week. Thank you to everyone who has helped out. As seen with many clubs, our trails also took a huge hit from the mid-December storm. Cleaning up from this quickly became a priority. We held our December meeting on Zoom which seemed to work quite well. The club collected toys from its members to be donated to our area Christmas for Kids. Thank you to everyone who donated toys. Our club is planning a Millinocket trip February 8th-12th. Contact us if you are interested in joining us. We are planning a progressive supper ride on January 23rd and a ride-in open house on February 20th. Follow us on Facebook for updates. By the time you read this, hopefully with Mother Nature’s help our groomers will have been out and our trails open. We have added a Merrill Limb Masher to our new groomer and drag and are very excited to put it through its paces. This year’s maps are available for purchase at the Norway Town Hall, business members Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ, and The Lake Store. They are free with a membership. One of our business members: Norway Lake Marina is planning to sell non-ethanol gas on weekends. Our other business members are: Pleasant Hill Property Services, E.A. Smith Plumbing and Heating, Ari’s Pizza and Subs, Nor- way Brewing, Hillside Cottages, Rob- erts Overhead Door, Snow’s Marine, Morse Logging, M.W. and son Exca- vation, M.W. Trucking and Logging, and Walter Curtis Logging. Please support our business members and tell them the Norway Trackers sent you. See you on the trails. Dan Trouant, Club Reporter

INTERSTATE SNO-GOERS Fryeburg, ME Happy Holidays to everyone, Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases we had to cancel our annual Christ- mas Party and scale back on our nor- mal meetings out of concern for the safety of our members. Hopefully we can resume our usual schedules for the months ahead but we will keep everyone posted on our Facebook page with any changes or updates as needed. Our sled raffle was a success. We sold all 500 tickets and the lucky win- ner was Wendy Heald from East Con- way. Congrats to Wendy! Unfortunately it seems like the hol- iday vacation week will be a quiet one as the trails continue to be closed until we get more snow. Please be patient and stay off the trails until there’s enough snow to support riding out of respect for our landowners. If you see any groomers operating, you’ll know it’s time. I hope this letter finds you all healthy and happy! Now let’s do some snow dancing! Sincerely, Bridget Gorton Club Secretary/Treasurer

BRIDGTON EASY RIDERS

Bridgton, ME Hello MSAMembers,

The Bridgton Easy Riders mem- bership is still very strong, with 105 members so far, and that speaks well for the dedication of our members! Thank You for your support! Our MSA Super Raffle ticket sales totaled close to $900 dollars, pretty remarkable since, because of COVID, we were not able to set up a table in town. Our work parties have been awe- some with about a dozen or more vol- unteers showing up on Sunday morn- ings. We have done a lot of brushing on ITS 80, and we have also reset a bridge on ITS 80 that was partially washed out. With the large size of our crews, we were able to get most of the signing done in one work detail. The Tuckers are in great condition and are waiting the SNOW.

One thing I hope we can all come together on is to THINK SNOW!!! Veronica Child – Secretary Mexico Trailblazers NARROW GAUGE sc Strong, ME Hi Everyone, Narrow Gauge Snowmobile Club has been very busy working on the trails in Strong and Freeman in the Picture was taken at the 23rd Annual Blessing of theSleds and in the pic is TM ChrisBryant beingblessedby Fr. Nathan March assisted by VP Elliot Knox.

Photo Credit: Christy Wight

“The Norway Trackers would like to thank its members for supporting our community’s children. Money and toys were collected and donated to “Christmas for Kids”

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