MIKE HALL, Adventure Sports, Travel, Overlanding, Backcountry, Avalanche, Snowmobile, Snowmobiling, Snowboard, Snowboarding, Sledboarding, Winter Fat Tire Mountain Biking, Mountain Biking, Ski Patrol, Motorcycle, BMW Adventure Motorcycling, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Jackman, Maine

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Great Lakes Fat Tire Series / Winter Fat Tire Mountain Bike Racing / The Solstice Chase

 CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE!!
This was the first race in the "Great Lakes Fat Bike Series". A bit behind on the posting. I'm going to recap.

This race was "The Solstice Chase" @ St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. It was a 42K distance on snowy x-country ski trails. The conditions were fast and temps were mild, about 28 degrees.

Jeff Hall and I arrived early, 8am for a 10am start. One of the things about winter riding is that it is a good idea to keep the pick-up truck running to have a warming shelter to get set up in. JP LaMere arrived and we decided on a tire set-up for the race.

It was a strong field with the series champ from last year in attendance. He is a racer from Michigan. Also at the line was Brandon Moore a former Minnesota State MTB Champ.   
 It was a fast start with Hollywood and Brandon leading out.

 At the half way point the front group had been formed. Jeff Hall, Brandon Moore and Josh Bauer formed a 3 Man Fat Tire train rolling along at a fast pace with a rider following back a bit in 4th. There was a chase group that was a few minutes down.
 Jeff Hall roaring along on his LaMere Cycles mount, looking very fast.
 This is the team manager / bottle hand up / photo taker / driver / bike and pack carrier tools. I got some good miles and pictures during the race. It is a good time roaming around to find the key spots around the course.
 Lead group stayed together all the way through with Brandon and Jeff testing each other. They had put a 10 minute gap on 4th place by the end of the race.
 A couple miles from the finish on the final lap, Jeff and Brandon charged up the big climb in the race and dropped Josh. It was a 2 Man sprint to the finish with Brandon and Jeff trading places at the front.

Jeff powers up a climb about 1 mile from the finish. It continues with Brandon pulling ahead of Jeff. In the final decent out of the woods with Brandon leading, Jeff let it all hang out and made a move to the inside of Brandon, passing him 70 yards from the line and powering across for the win.
 The Top 3 Men / 1st Jeff Hall @ 1 hour 50 minutes/ 2nd Brandon Moore / 3rd Josh Bauer
 Jeff and a Furry Friend...
 Jeff and JP Buzzy LaMere with the winning Fat Tire LAMERE Cycle. All smiles!

Damn cool that the owner and namesake of LAMERE Cycles, Buzzy LaMere is out there racing and putting his bike through the paces and asking for input and feedback on his bikes from Jeff.
 The LaMere Crew. Yours truly, Mike Hall, Jeff Hall, Jon Sabes, JP Buzzy LaMere and  Scott Olson
 The podium. Jeff, Brandon, Josh
Cooling the LAMERE down after the race...
The Ole Dog = Ride On!!

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