MOONBIKES.

These electric snowmobile tourist attractions. "Light, agile, perfect for beginners." Bullshit. Hand on heart - ride one of these things. Really ride it, not just in circles. At first it feels like riding a drunk horse across black ice. Everywhere you want to go, the bike wants to go the opposite direction. After a short time you're sweating, feeling your arms and shoulders because you're constantly counter-steering. And still - or maybe exactly because of that - I didn't want to get off. Howdie.

The whole time I kept thinking about Jim Rippey. Not Heath Frisby, not the X-Games generation. Rippey. Maybe the name means nothing to you. But if you've ever seen a Rippey Flip - or as it's actually called, FS Cork 7 - on a snowboard, then you've witnessed his legacy. Rippey is the guy who landed the first backflip on a snowmobile when that was still completely impossible. Not for likes. Not for Red Bull. Simply because he knew it was possible if you just set your mind to it hard enough.

That's exactly what I felt on the Moonbike. This mix of "Shit, this is harder than I thought" and "I want to understand this and nail it now." That feeling when your head says "This will always look like shit" but your gut knows "Nah. This'll work."

Sure, my personal limits are far from a backflip. But that's not the point. It's about that moment where theory meets practice. Where you realize all that YouTube knowledge is worthless as long as you're sitting up there and the thing just won't go where you want it to. And that's exactly what pulls you in. What brings you back to the moment. Where you're completely with yourself again. Everything else doesn't matter. Just you and this stubborn piece of tech showing you where your limits are. And the question is: Do you accept them or do you push them?

Rippey knew the answer. And now I, the tourist from the flatlands, do too.

CHECK: MOONBIKES