The house in the woods of Carolyn and Harry, the clouds is not a representation of them!!!
The tents are loaded, bikes on the roof, a bunch of 5 gallon water-coolers are filled, all the other stuff found a place somewhere and Harry's car is loaded to a unhealthy state... but off we go. A short drive to Hatchery Creek Park.
Harry is lending me one of his super-doper mean machine, a Treck Full-Suspension, wheels of dreams... but I can't afford such a toy and that's why I don't have one of them, but what fun to ride it. I already got a good taste of it when we all did our little warm-up ride, and I'll be really afraid, because there will be lots more in store for me this weekend. Let the party begin!!!
Harry's unhealthy loaded car and trailer...
On location we start set-up camp, tables and tents in various locations, I meet some other organizers, volunteers and riders, as usual with the Mountain-bikers, a fun bunch! Banner and posters are going up, registration is ready to go and and more riders arrive.
Banner and fliers get tacked-up everywhere...
The Festival is ready to start!!!
My job is done for now, Harry sends me off with Carolyn for a Tour de Trail. The way this works is; we all get a punch-card, at the trail-head you sign in, get a trail-map, then you have to ride that trail to a set point, there you'll find a puncher, punch one side of your card, and when you get back to the trail-head, the guy there punches the other half and signs you out, with that they have proof that you'd ridden the trail. It is not a race, it is a way to introduce bikers to these trails, thus the name "Tour de Trails". This is just a handful of trails from the whole CAMBA (Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association) system, and I can tell you, these trails rock!!!
First we're riding the Hatchery Creek Trail, a single-track path zigzagging between trees, a little up a little down, almost no shifting required, and if only on the back-derailer, the woods are lush and green, just a great adrenaline-rush for 5 to 6 miles. I actually didn't even see the punch, Carolyn had to holler at me to come back to it. I had so much fun, why bother stopping for a little punch, the guy at the end completed the set of punches needed to prof the ride. Now it's time for one of them beers from the locale brewery in Hayward, "The Angry Minnow", one of the many sponsors of this festival. Might as well go to town and have dinner there.
After all this riding I was starving, Carolyn and I went to the local Brew-Pub in Hayward, "The Angry Minnow"...
I had some pan-fried Blue Gill with Fries, and some Coleslaw that the waitress almost forgot, Carolyn had a Fish Taco. For Harry we picked-up a Burger with Fries in a togo-box. On the way out Carolyn run into some friends and we chatted a bit. It was Kristen and her beau, Ron, both are from the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN), I met Kristen at the Christmas-party we had at the Seeley house in 2004, (I had no recollection of her, until Carolyn showed me pictures from then), she also owns a house in the Seeley Highlands where Carolyn and Harry have their house. Well it was nice to see her again.
By the time we get back to the festivities I'm basically just fried like on of those Fries I just had, I skipped on the night-ride with the gang and we all went home instead. After all there is more Apple-pie to be had!!!
Saturday, June the 13th, 2009 let there be sunshine...
It a beautiful day out, can't ask for anything more, Harry was already at the computer printing out stuff and is all excited about the next step of the festival. We ate breakfast on the go, load this, fill that, check those... This morning is HIS day, he hardly slept last night he is so excited, his job was to line-up all these Restaurants who sponsor this ride to have a food-booth in various locations in the woods. He heads out first to see for things to go right.
By the time Carolyn and I get to Mosquito Brook, a different location than yesterday, all kinds of things are going on. Lots of bikers unloading and checking their bikes. I have to help with tables ad tents again, ride-up to one spot and help the guy from Sublime Subs set-up his booth along the trail. Back down to the parking-lot, then test ride the Hatchery Creek trail, I do that with my camera mounted to take some clips to show you how much fun that is, to much fun. Now I wish I had a professional mount for the camera to really get to it, but I make it work by strapping it around my chest, then mount it on the seat-post, and on the handlebar to get the various views.
The booths of Sublime Subs and Rivers Eatery, soo much food so little time...
Video Clip to be here at some point of time in my life!!!
By the time I get to the Pizza-guy who is representing his restaurant in Cable, WI, the Rivers Eatery. He is there with his kids, an open fire in a pit, warming the little calzones he made early this morning. Here the walkie-talkie does not appear to work, so I ride back to the parking-lot and come back up with a different radio, just to find out that the range is too far for the radios to work, alrighty then, I go back down to return the radio. Then back-up to finish the trail. By that time the "Taste de Trails" is in full roar. I think they signed up over a hundred riders, the parking-lot is buzzing with cars and bikes, coming and going. Barb from the Mooselip Java Joint is serving Espresso-Martinis at the trail-head, well that should get you going.
Barb and her partner from the Mooselip Java Joint in Seeley make and serve fresh Espresso-Martinis...
Now I go for a "real" ride with Kristen and Ron, we ride all the way to the Gravel-pit Road on single-tracks, then turn around and meet-up with the "Trail de Taste" have some pizza, run into Carolyn and Harry, battle a few more mosquitos, learn that the time is running out for the last place to get some more food to try. This part of the event is closing at one. Of corse I didn't know that, running around all morning long without even reading the schedule, but so it is. The 3 of us hop back on our bikes and bust a move, a quick stop at the Sublime Subs, a few snacks there, a braise here, and back on the saddle. It's almost all down hill on the Berkebeiner Trail, past the parking-lot to the last food place on the Makwa trail. The Rookery Pub has a booth there with all kinds of delicacies, but by the time we're there, 1:03 pm the place is all cleaned-up, what a shame. From here Kristen and Ron take off on their own, further out on the trail, I ride back on the single-track to the parking-lot. Help with the clean-up and loading Harry's car and trailer back to a unhealthy status before Carolyn and I drive to the next event.
Caught Carolyn and Harry eating Calzone Pizzas, a delicacy in these woods here...
We drive back to the main-highway Rt-63, go north, to Seeley where we stop for the last cup of coffee out of the Mooselip Java Joint, right before they close. Ahh what a lucky moment. Then continue on Hwy-63 to turn right in Cable towards the Telemark Resort, but stay on CR-M (County Road "M") all the to town of Namakagon. Here at the Town Hall is the next ride. We also brought with us 2 trays filled with those delicious sandwich-slices from the Sublime Subs. One we delivered on the way her at the Rock Lake Trailhead and the second tray is for here, the Namakagon Trailhead. I rip through the plastic-wrap and help myself for one, then another one. I get Carolyn and my bike ready for another round of single-track riding. The weather changed really fast here. By now the sky is black in the north and I can hear the rumble of thunder in the distance. We better hurry-up, lets hit that trail. We're not even 5 minutes into it it started to rain, it is kind of a nice thing here in these dense woods, you hear the rain but can't really feel it because of the canopy from the trees is so tight that the raindrops not fall though yet. But after a while the rain gets stronger and now we;re getting wet, let the fun begin. When I was here in 2004, Carolyn and I rode the Rock Lake trail and it was the very same thing, we're soaked and covered in mud by the time we popped-out of the woods, it will be the same today...
At 3 o'clock I get rained on while riding the Namakagon Trail...
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