Plan on Participating in Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week
The snowmobile community is excited to announce the second annual Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week
– which will be held February 12-22, 2010. This elongated week
celebrates friends and family snowmobiling for 11 days including two
weekends (and President’s Day in the United States). The snowmobile
week was introduced to go hand in hand with the Take a Friend
Snowmobiling campaign and has been developed to encourage all of us to
take our non-snowmobiling friends out snowmobiling. We have all had
many conversations, telling stories about how much fun it is to take
people snowmobiling, and many of us are realizing that we have a lot of
non-snowmobiling friends to take snowmobiling.
The event is really designed to be simple. There are a few recommended guidelines. They are:
Safety
training – make sure to cover all the safe snowmobiling behavior with
your friend before taking them out on their first ride. Points to cover
should include:
a. Proper operation of the brake and throttle
b. Shifting weight and slowing down in curves
c. Staying on the right hand side of the trail
d. Dismount the snowmobile on the right hand side of the sled
e. Make sure the vehicle is in good mechanical order
f. Make sure your friend is appropriately dressed and sober
A key ingredient to a
good time for a first time snowmobiler is for us seasoned riders to
make sure non-snowmobilers are comfortable when they first get on a
snowmobile. You need to be cautious and ride slow when taking out a
new rider. You should plan on making numerous stops and enjoying the
scenery. It is always recommended that the first ride be rather short
and include a stop for a light meal or hot chocolate or coffee and a
little camaraderie and storytelling at the local restaurant, clubhouse
or outdoor barbecue area.
Clubs are encouraged
to participate in the activity and try to hold a special day or weekend
encouraging members to bring non-snowmobiling friends to the clubhouse
to go for a short ride and discover what snowmobilers do during the
winter.
This effort follows
the guidelines and recommendations our customer research has shown us,
which highlights that non-snowmobilers know very little about
snowmobiling. Most non-snowmobilers don’t know where the trails are,
really don’t know who builds and maintains and pays for the trail
systems, and have no idea of the beautiful scenery that we enjoy and
the fun that we have in the winter riding our snowmobiles. The research
has showed us that folks who don’t snowmobile rate their desire to go
snowmobiling a solid 9 on a 10 point scale. All we need to do is ask.
We have all heard the
stories of snowmobilers taking friends out, and much to their surprise
the friends enjoy themselves so much, they end up buying a new or used
snowmobile to join in the winter fun. What a pleasant surprise that is
for all of us and why not encourage our family and friends to join us
outside this winter on a snowmobile?
As
a special incentive to take non-snowmobilers snowmobiling, the
manufacturers will give away a $250.00 gift certificate to a lucky
individual who registers and participates in the Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week event. The Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week Registration Form is now displayed on the Go Snowmobiling web site www.gosnowmobiling.org, the ACSA web site: www.snowmobilers.org and the CCSO web site: www.ccso-ccom.ca. Non-snowmobilers
and their snowmobiling friends need to fill out a registration form to
be entered in the drawing for the gift certificate. The registration
form is easy to fill out and can be
e-mailed,
printed out and faxed to the ISMA Office at (517) 339-7798,
· or snail mailed to:
Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week
1640 Haslett Road, Suite 170
Haslett, MI 48840
If you are going to be snowmobiling any time over February 12-22, 2010, plan on participating in Take a Friend Snowmobiling Week. Don’t
forget to fill out a registration form, take advantage of the
opportunity to win a $250 gift certificate, and have fun doing it!
