First Dirt

I once wrote about the “in-between season” before snow arrives where one changes outdoor equipment, bikes to shotguns, shotguns to skis.  In the “spring” it usually reverses and skis are traded back to bikes or turkey guns or bows.  With the advent of fat bikes, the two wheels were never tucked away, and ran right alongside the skinny skis more or less.  Maybe there is no in-between season now?  Of all the seasons, spring is my least favorite with the only saving grace being turkey hunting.  This year, not only did spring never really arrive, but the birds seem few and far between as well.  Usually it’s slop for a few weeks, really no fun to bike in and the usual ATV and sno-mo trails take a long time to firm up, limiting riding opportunities. 

Luckily, even with snow stretching into May in places, Levis Mound can dry quickly and get us back to pedaling on decent trails.  With snow and a lot of rain as recently as the past week, I’d been anxiously waiting for a chance to “scout” Levis and report in on it’s drying progress.  With a beautiful day this past weekend providing the opportunity, I rolled out the door to explore.  Levis Mound is all sandstone and the surrounding singletrack, twisting and turning up and over the mounds tend to be sandy and dry quickly.  I stayed with my Salsa fatbike, now being my ride of choice year ‘round, and hit the trail.  

Surprisingly, even the lower trails were dry, with barely a puddle anywhere-I hadn’t expected that!  The climbs to the top of the mound would be bone dry I’d guessed and as I ascended to the upper routes, found I was correct.  Even with all the snowbiking this winter, I am not in bike season shape, so this day was one for just touring, stopping and clearing deadfalls, snapping some photos and just checking my bike handing skills.  An easy relaxing ride.  Levis Mound is blessed with five unique cliff side overlooks, and I had to visit each one-slowing rolling up to the edge and checking out the leafless forest below-an unusual view.  Turkey vultures rode the thermals surrounding the mound and pausing to watch with envy, gave me a chance to rest.  

Although I love riding the snowy packed singletrack with friends all winter, there is something special about the first ride on dirt by myself-almost cleansing after the long cold ‘tweener time of year.  Not wishing to pay the price too much for an early season ride, I exited Levis to start some downhill singletrack ripping, barely keeping the speed in check but smiling all the way.  Although more snow is forecast, the dirt is here to stay and I’ll be back with buddies to ride the rest of this gem of a trail. Lets start summer!

Crust Biking

The holy grail of cross country skiers-skate skiers, are the few rare days, sometimes just hours…..each spring known as “Crust Skiing.”  Until this “spring” I’d never considered that as something any other sport might long for.  I was wrong.  Enter “Crust Biking”. 

Mother nature needs her ducks in a row for crust skiing (or biking) to take place- warm, sun high in the sky spring days followed by a crash of temperatures during the overnight hours.  The colder the better for the crust will reach deeper into the snow surface providing a stronger lid on the snow pack.  For skiing, one can skate by (pun intended) with a slightly thinner surface, but as I found out for a fatbike, conditions need to be perfect.  Since the cross country crowds at Levis Mound have quietly abandoned skiing for the season, I decided to veer off our packed singletrack and do a trail “inspection” of the ski loops.  The previous day had been sunny and warm-almost 50 and the cold temps overnight produced boilerplate ski trails which barely noticed the fat tires skimming along on top.

It was the easiest pedaling of the year to be sure-almost no resistance except for the low pressures in the tires.  Deep, frozen slush deer, wolf and coyote tracks were a reminder of the previous day’s warmth and springs' return.  This base wouldn’t last long. Approaching an ungroomed trail, the thought started to wander into my head if it might be possible to ride unpacked snow-like I’ve always done crust skiing.  Would the crust be strong enough?  Would the tires have enough low ground pressure to keep me on top?  Without another thought, I turned onto the pure unblemished snow....and didn’t go a$$ over teakettle! I could hardly believe it was possible to do this-yet another vein of riding to chalk up to the fatbikes!  Floating along almost silently on this shell of snow made me feel like I could explore anywhere now.  Well, almost anywhere.  Suddenly I hit a spot when the sun hadn’t quite reached the day before and instantly both wheels dropped through.  I was stuck, still in the pedals sitting vertically…motionless. Hmmmm, dismounting, and pulling the tires free I moved down the trail and found a stronger crust to continue on.  Soon, one learns which snow will provide the strength and where to avoid.  There are subtle nuances in the seemingly uniform snow pack.  Places that angle toward the sun will be great, shady corners, out of the reach of the sun, will not work and one will be punching through constantly.

Discovering that there was such a thing as crust biking set me off in search of other suitable snow.  Large clear cuts should provide the proper mixture and I headed off toward several in the Levis Mound area.  It was crazy to be riding along anywhere in those spots-free to explore terrain we never venture into.  Swampy wet areas were perfect-they were still frozen and the snow crust covering perfect to ride on.  I know this land well, but “crusting” opened so much more territory….temporarily.

As much joy as I was having this morning-it would end all to soon.  By late morning, the sun already was high and the tires rolling on the surface started to make a different sound-almost like the snow was groaning unto the weight of bike and it’s peddler.  Cracking the surface with more frequency eventually forced me back to our singletrack-there the riding was still rock solid.  My window of crust biking was over for the day.

Looking at the forecast, I may have one or two more chances at the new form of fatbiking-just maybe.  Rain was moving in, which would really make a good crust, as long as cold overnight temps get mixed in.  If so, I’ll be back out, full grin on my face and taking advantage of a new found freedom on a fatbike.

Sweaty Yeti

Russell in Winter Colour

It has become apparent that the Fatbike scene is not just a flash in the pan novelty. The big wheeled bikes have been around for some time, the first being modified double rim jobs first seen in the Iditasport race in Alaska.  In the rest of the country, they have been rare it seems until the past couple years and now they are popping up in a lot of cyclists garages-especially this winter.  I've long ago embraced the fatbike as my all around, all season bike-I just like how it rides and where it can go.

If you have a bunch of people with a new found love of winter riding, you'll probably get someone who thinks out loud- "Well, we should race these things!"  And there was and we do.  The just-for-fun races kicked into full gear last year, including our inaugural "Sweaty Yeti" race at the Levis Mound Trail.  Although small in turnout, there was a growing enthusiasm there and we brought it back for a second year.  Doubling the riders and having the perfect winter day made for a great race-the course getting better with every lap (Thank goodness!). 

This post isn't a race report really-as race director, I tried to be sure I had great volunteers and as many ducks in a row as possible so riders visiting our trail would have a "I wanna-come-back" experience.  Everything starts running itself after the gun goes off, so I had a rare opportunity to walk the course, camera in hand and make a few photographs of what this whole snowbike/fatbike thing is about.  

Scott on Bear Den

We'd had an unwelcome dump of snow 2 days prior to the race, which made the job of all the groomers that more difficult.  One trail however, the Bear Den, turned out to be amazing.  It was conceived as a winter only downhill section after last years race, and with the addition of a connecting trail, ended up being the racers favorite.  Good friend Scott Cole above gave it his approval.

Racing on Bear Den

A short connector trail off the Upper Glen trail turned out well, and even with a small climb midway through, it remained a swoopy fast section worthy of a race course.

Justin Racin

Hammerhead, nice guy and eventual race winner Justin Piontek rocked the course and could traverse the climbs and downhills at amazing speeds-ahh, it pays to be young and have a great coach.  Unlike so many top race dogs, Justin is friendly and always appreciative of the work done by trailbuilders and our meager race prizes of hand made mittens and aSand Creek sixpack seemed to be more than enough as race winnings.

The Sweaty Yeti

It's very difficult to get a good photograph of a Sweaty Yeti....I just know one came riding in and he was.  

Flyin Down the Bear Den

The new snow left a very scenic landscape and I liked the longer distance images of the riders as they passed by.

The Look

Upper Glen is not an easy climb, but once up and over the rocky crag, one is is rewarded with a fast sketchy downhill-well worth the gear grinding effort.

I Heart MY FatBike!

GoPros

Good friend and singletrack grooming guru Dan Hiller decided to make his bike as heavy as possible during the race, so Go Pro cameras were attached at about every braze-on-we're all anxiously waiting for the amazing video he'll produce!

Upper Glen Climb

Jen on Upper Glen

There are core groups of Fatbikers around the state and Jen Barden is a top notch pedal masher from the Wausau clan.  She'll be at the highest podium for most races, but more importantly is an advocate for the sport and so enthusiastic for everything that includes a bike and being on a trail.

One by Nine Climb

Too twisty and narrow for a snowmachine to groom, all of the new winter trails had to be packed by snowshoe-working out well in our case because we had so many volunteers putting in the hours to make it work.  As the race went on, these sections just became firmer and firmer and a blast to ride.

Elevation

Trail volunteer Mark Haferman finally pulled the trigger on a fatbike and decided to enjoy some of his singletrack handiwork by racing this year-all smiles by the end.

Race Start

My recent piece on ski trails and fatbikes living together should have included this image or several others of skiers and bikers alongside each other.  Okay, so this was an unusual case with the race and all, but still it illustrates that these sports can work together as my biker trash friends Laura, Phil and Dan can attest to.

Sweaty Start

I decided to finish this post with the start photograph.  Keeping with the fun-at-all costs theme of fatbike racing, we used a Le Mans start-shotgun blast and a running sprint around a deer and back to mount the bike and willy-nilly take off.  It works and is a fan favorite.  I just like seeing all these fatbikes speeding away on "my" trail!

Growlers Snow Bike Race

Pugs Ready for the Start

On my to-do list for sure this year was to make the trip to northeast Wisconsin and set wheels on the trails of the Bear Paw Inn and the surrounding area near Langlade and White Lake.  It has been no secret that the folks up there have been developing miles of singletrack more than worthy of rolling the fat bike over.  A check mark appeared on that list this weekend, sooner than I expected, when Scott Berry and his crew whipped up the inaugural “Growlers Snow Bike Race” at the Bear Paw.

The Kayak Tree

The Bear Paw Outdoor Adventure Center and surrounding forest, where nearly wiped off the map by a F4 tornado in June of 2007.  The swath of this storm leveled 14,000 acres of trees and millions in property damage, so it was uplifting to see the re-building and recovery of this area and the development of such great trails.  As a trail builder myself, I can’t imagine how difficult the clean-up process was.  A mid-winter cold put the skids on my plans to race, but I wanted to be there to take in this fairly new phenomenon of snow bike, or fat-bike racing.  Plus, in a few short weeks, Levis Mound will be hosting the Sweaty Yeti, and I hoped to get a feel of these events.

Sweet, Flowy Snowtrack

Although I’m no stranger to managing races, the WORS events of years past have an entirely different “feel” to them than these low key, fun at all costs “races.”  It’s the only way I’d venture back into the race directors chair!  This is a race, and there are teams and a race course, but there isn’t the dog eat dog-killer attitude of some race formats and that is just a welcome environment to be around and involved in.  In arguably the coldest and windiest day this winter, the riders still rolled in, checked tire pressure and donned their warmest gear.

Team Sluggo

I do believe this was the greatest gathering of identical white Pugsleys I’ve ever seen-a testament of how many riders have jumped onto fat-bikes in the past year.  A smattering of a few other brands also were on the line for the Le Mans start.  A total of 14 teams were formed, including a fair number of individual riders who were recruited to join teams with many on borrowed bikes.    After shooting the start,  I headed out on the double track, which quickly climbed and funneled into a stretch of singletrack.  There is no shortage of rock and boulders here and the racers needed to be able to weave those big wheels up and around them like a slalom racer.  It’s a unique feature of singletrack in this area and I loved it-the packed snow between the rocks made it a smooth rip on the tight downhills.  By the second and third laps, the thinner snow cover became icier, and touchy to navigate on some of the sharp corners.  Hanging out in the woods on course was great fun and rider after rider,  I could tell, were having a good time, despite the temps (which didn’t seem to matter after a riding a while).  The laps were between 15 and 30 minutes and there were some tough climbs, but still allowed for a PBR hand-up from time to time.

Randy and the PBR Hand-Up

As racers carved their final turn into the exchange zone-tagged their teammate and logged a completed lap, there seemed to be a sense that the fun factor was still high, that even after two hours, riders still wanted to get out and ride the course and whoever had the most laps was secondary.  From what I saw-this was a three hour race, and everyone was going to take advantage of every minute they could out on the trail and all the camaraderie to follow.

Lap Two