This was another ride for the annals of history. After a look at the parking lot I decided it would be best to just stop on the side of the drive instead. Shawn arrives within minutes, makes a loop around the lot and is back by the road. When Joe gets there he simply stops on the shoulder. The sun is bright and it’s getting warmer by the minute. We are all set to go before 10 o’clock and as soon as Joe sets his GPS so he can find his truck again, we are off to the trail. There are about six inches of snow on the trail, with some spots more and others less. Joe leads and I bring up the rear as usual. After a while I move up to second and find out Shawn only catches me when I take a fall. No question that it is a little harder following tracks than making them. The other side is that finding the trail slows you down. In a new section that is marked with ribbons, I’m able to stay with Joe. As soon as it open up though, he’s out of sight immediately. About 40 minutes out, Joe stops at a two track, I’m there and no sight or sound of Shawn. When he does arrive in a few minutes, it’s change plug time, as the engine has been acting up on him. It took a little time but we made it and were once again on the trail. When Joe said he’d been leading enough, I took over so he and Shawn could play chasing each other. My head start would be eliminated when I had to stop and look for the trail. This arrangement was going well even though Shawn managed to break off his brake lever. He had put on new bars but no guards yet due to time restraints. Things were going fine until I came to a rather quick stop with a broken chain doubled up over the CS sprocket. The master link had broken. My only other chain problem was a master link coming apart 21 years ago. It took a little doing for the three of us to get the chain off and there is no question that the clutch cylinder guard worked. I did have a spare link with me so it was head for the lot. Joe said .6 miles by the GPS but my odo was more like one mile. We made it back with another adventure to talk about. The only reason Joe was safe from being kidded about a problem was that he started his bike in the trailer with the door closed and we didn’t know how long it took. Six kicks we were told. A round of thanks for another good day in life and we were on our separate ways