b'The Enemy WithinBy Kevin Beilke the choir, so to speak. riders going too fast.In a single Having been involved in the sportThere are several elephants in theday there were five riders killed in for over 50 years now, weve seenroom. Loud exhaust pipes andMichigan, and in a single weekend the growth and rapid rise to fame oftrespassing on private land are twofive more died in Wisconsin. Yes, these snowmobiling and are now witnessof them. All one has to do is readareas had some really good snow and to what could very well be oursome of the colorful commentarythere were a huge number of riders demise. Over the years weve foughton social media to see how so manyout putting on miles so the exposure and conquered many battles, fromsnowmobilers do not understand thewas much greater, thus the argument government emissions regulations toimportance of these two subjects toto educate riders to not drink and ride rising fuel prices to restrictive landget a glimpse of why it has becomeand to slow down is very important. use policies, but these could very wellsuch a problem. Many snowmobilersToo many people are going way too pale in comparison to our currentevidently think it is their right tofast for the conditions and distance number one enemyand all we havemake as much noise as they damnthey can see, losing control of their to do to find it is look in the mirror.well please, and they think they aremachine and hitting things or going Thats right snowmobilers, take a lookdoing no harm by cutting across openoff a corner and crashing. One day in the mirror to find the current causefield and riding outside the groomedsaw three riders getting a medivac of fear and demise of having places toportion of a trail when it suits them.helicopter ride in a single county in ride our beloved snowmobiles. We areOf course, these riders will use allthe U.P. of Michigan, not good. truly our own worst enemy. We couldkinds of logical arguments to supportClearly common sense wasnt handed very well be the main cause of theand bolster their positions, claimingout in equal amounts as we continue decline of our sport. riders drinking alcohol is a biggerto have riders crash into each other, For the past several years weve beenproblem or that riders going too fastwith head-on collisions killing both warning you and talking about akills, but loud pipes and trespassingriders. It happens, more often than we couple of subjects that are having akills nobody. Sounds prettywould like to admit. Again, going too negative impact on our sport, bothconvincing on the surface. If werefast, riding on the WRONG side of in terms of riding areas but also ingoing to moan and complain, why notthe trail, being intoxicated, these are the eyes of the general public andmoan and complain about behaviorusually the factors in such incidents. our image as a user group in general.that gets riders killed?Slow down, stay sober, ride right. Perhaps you know where were goingWe could easily spend our entirePretty simple. with this, because wed like to thinkefforts in this column talking aboutSo yes, these kinds of behavior need those of you reading this are not thethe problems so many areas areto be addressed. We feel like were problem and that were preaching tohaving with drinking alcohol andtalking about these safety items and 16 | Snowmobile VERMONT'