Birkie Fat Tire Bike Race Wrap

Jeff Hall and Buzzy LaMere at the Birkie Fat Bike Race in Cable, Wisconsin. They were both racing LAMERE Fat e-Bikes, full suspension, carbon fiber custom built bikes.

Shea making final adjustment on Jeff’s bike

Jeff Hall

Buzzy LaMere, owner of LAMERE Cycles

Jeff Hall, Buzzy LaMere and yours truly , MJ Hall

Fat Tire Bike / December Recap / Minnesota River Trail / Great Lakes Fat Bike Racing

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Awesome Minnesota River Trail Ride!

Timing is everything in the outdoors. There was a large snow storm moving into the area. We arrived at the trailhead in the late afternoon with snowflakes just starting to float down. The temps were about 15 degrees with a bit of wind, good stuff... 

As we dropped down into the Minnesota River Valley we were sheltered from the wind and after about a mile we pulled over near the river which was chocked with ice flows. It was a chance to adjust clothing and watch the river flow past.   

 The snow was increasing and the trail was accented with the new snow. This is about as good as it gets... Good clothing and our LAMERE Fat Bikes are set for the winter riding conditions.

 The view from the bike bridge over the Minnesota River. Always good to end the ride with a stop and admire the river.

 With snow falling the light lingered into the evening. So overnight we would receive another 5 inches of fresh snow, looks like Winter moving in...

Good to top the ride off with a cold beer and hot pizza.

 The First Race in "The Great Lakes Fat Bike Race Series"

 A solid field of over 200 riders toed the line in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. With full on Winter conditions it was going to be a good test of tires and riders.

Matt Acker and Jeff Hall early on into the race...

 The course had been groomed and prepared the previous week. With the new, 5 inches of powder snow the course would change as the 200 riders packed it in. Temperature was about 5 degrees so there wasn't much pack to the surface snow.

With the early trail conditions, the loose snow, the pack became strung out. The course was primarily singletrack so there wasn't room to pass and it took full concentration to stay on the narrow track.

The course was 2 loops, about 46 minutes per loop for the leaders. As the leaders came through after the first loop Jeff Hall riding his LAMERE was in 7th position. That is where the grooming from the previous week came into play. the top snow was being pushed off to the sides and the hard pack came into play. Jeff was running a 45NTH Dillinger 5 Studded on the front and a 4" Van Helga on the rear. The front studded tire was hooking up and Jeff started picking off lead riders. He was able to work his way up to 2nd place at the finish. Nice come back... 2nd place in the first race of "The Great Lakes Fat Tire Race Series".

Jeff putting the hammer down about 2 miles from the finish.

Frosty after race chat, check out Race results:

Jeff Hall 2nd @ LAMERE, Jeffrey Young 3rd @ Larson Cycles Racing, Matt Acker 4th @ 45NTH

Assistant Race Manager, my Grandson, staying warm with the 5 degree temps.

Plan for staying warm. A pair of choppers, LAMERE winter clothing and pedal your LAMERE Fat Bike on snowy singletrack through the woods for a couple hours... JP LaMere riding and testing his namesake bike. The Boss feeling the ride!

Podium: Cole House @ 1st, Jeff Hall @ 2nd, Jeff Young @ 3rd  

Ride On!!

In October You Just Gotta Be In The Woods On 2 Wheels / Yamaha / BMW / LAMERE Cycles / Ride

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A last foray into the Northern Minnesota forest on the Yamaha WR450 before we move back to the cities for the winter.

 Fall is in full swing on this ride...Speaking of fall...riding the edge of the deep mud hole, I clipped a hidden rock in the brush and got bucked off into the middle of the water. Dang near ended up flopping in, but some fancy footwork kept me upright. All good, ended up with my boots full of swampwater. With temps this day right around 37 degrees it was good not to get any wetter.

This was a good, about 40 mile day on the saddle. Got back to the cabin at sundown dodging the deer along the way.

 Also riding the BMW F800 GS a couple times a week. Exploring the country roads outside the metro area. Generally about 140 to 200 miles in a day is a good balance cruising dirt roads and with mix of 2 lane curvy pavement. Topping the ride off rolling back into the city on the freeway with a bit of AC/DC rocking in my earbuds.  

 Always a treat to pull off a gravel road and have a snack.

 Another opportunity that has come along from time to time is to be involved with a photographer that shoots videos and photos for the running events. This involves me to transport a guy shooting video off the back of the BMW. This was the "Twin City Marathon" event.

Meanwhile Back at the Cabin

 The last few tasks that needed to be performed were the pulling the boats out of the lake. 3 boats total, The speedboat was out earlier, so it was the sailboat and the pontoon. We handled the sailboat, towing it to a landing and pulling it out with our pickup. With the pontoon, it is a cruise across Whitefish Lake and dropping it at the marina. They pick it out of the water, winterize it and it is stored at their location. This is an annual event where as we load the mountain bikes and transport them over. Then it is an 18 mile bike ride back to the cabin. Good times!  

 Mountain Biking in October

 JP LaMere rolling on his branded mountain bike, LAMERE Cycles owner and also test rider. This day he is racing the Marathon race at the last "Minnesota Mountain Bike Race Series" race. The course is set-up in the "Whitetail Ridge Trail System". 

This was the last race of the Minnesota Race Series, The Border Battle. This was a make-up race from the original scheduled race. Nice to be in the River Falls woods during the Fall. Trails were in good condition and a, more open feeling in the deep woods with the foliage dropping it's leaves.

Jeff Hall raced this day, 9 races this summer in the Series. 9 wins, 9-0 for the season. It has been several years since he has done the whole Series. He won the Minnesota Series several times in the early to mid 2000s.

He enjoys being on the bike in the woods on the week-ends as he commutes 5 days a week on his bike. 50 miles a day round trip. That is the riding he does to stay fit and uses the ride to throw in some speed work for certain races.

This summer we traveled to 3 big mountain bike festivals. In Grand Marais, MN "The Lutsen 99er" 99 miles, he finished 2nd. In Marquette, MI "Ore to Shore" 48 miles, 2nd place. In Hayward, WI "Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival" 40 miles, 7th.

A very good Mountain Bike season with a variety of terrain and travel experiences along the way. 

Meanwhile...

The non-racer doing a bit of exploring.

A good day on the bikes along the Minnesota River south of Louisville Swamp. A rainy 47 degree day made for some good adventure. With all the late season rain in Minnesota, the River flooded over it's banks and washed out portions of the trail. This created backwater to flood and dam up the creeks. With a bit of scrambling we were able to cross and made a big loop to return to the car. it was a chance to explore some of the local gravel roads.

October, good month to be out in the woods!

Ride On!

Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival 2016 / Halln' & LAMERE /

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Offroad Weapons Ready to Roll!

 The 2016 Chequamegon 2016 edition was a return to the Northern Wisconsin forest. This marks the 31st year of the trek to Hayward for us. My first Chequamegon race was 1985, the 3rd annual Chequamegon Festival. My racing the Chequamegon lasted till 1993, 8 years... The following year 1994 Jeff raced at the World Mountain Bike Championships in Vail, Colorado, placing 18th as a Junior. From then on I assumed the roll of Team Manager/Driver/ Travel Coordinator/Athlete Trainer/Moto Rider. For many years the moto was an important training tool. Jeff and I used Motor-pacing with my moto about once a week, the single best training tool we used over the years.

It was and still is the roll I enjoy. Really a team effort now with Jeff having his Family and working full time. I still do most of the driving and manage the loose ends. It is, each week creating a game plan. Don't stress the minor stuff, we both know how to travel and be ready to rock and roll when the start gun goes off.

Jeff has a top Sponsor with LAMERE Cycles. They provide Jeff with the best bikes and equipment. That has been the piece of our program that we have needed to create one of the most successful mountain bike race teams in the Midwest, both in the winter with the fat tires and in the summer with whatever bike suits Jeff's needs. Jeff is so valuable as a test rider with the huge amount of world class racing that he has done for the past 24 years. LAMERE Cycles is using Jeff's input to create one of the top Mountain Bikes in the world. Just in 2015-2016 Jeff has won races on 5 different models of LAMERE Mountain Bikes. Also several different tire combinations have been used. 

This is it. The moto is gassed up for the trip on the forest roads to stay ahead of the racers and hand up bottles. Every year Gary issues feed passes to any of the top racers support crews.

Jeff heading to the line 12 minutes before the start as I wish him a good race and the police escort lines up for the lead out of Hayward.

Mr. Chequamegon, Gary Crandall...all smiles as the 34th Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 Mile Festival is ready to roll out of Hayward and finish at Telmark. The top riders will average between 19 and 20 mph for the 40 miles of offroad mountain biking.

The 2 Lead ATVs will lead the riders for the entire race. These guys can really rock and roll with the speeds that the lead riders generate. 

The roll-out is about 3 miles of pavement to Rosies Field, then the race is on, all offroad till the finish. The riders are reaching speeds of 35 mph which helps to string out the 2100 riders.The top 10 finishing riders are in the front group as they enter the dirt.

Cory Stelljes, Jeff Hall, Brian Matter, Tristan Schouten, Jesse LaLonde, Samuel Elsen, Michael Olheiser, David Flaten and Mark LaLonde are at the front on the roll-out...they will be the players at the front in a select group of about 16 riders till OO, 16 miles into the race.   

 

As Jeff Hall pushed the pace and strung out the group down Janet Rd, down a short section of snowmobile trail down Martel's Pothole.

The group was whittled down to about 9 riders by the time the lead group hit Boedecker Rd. Once again with Jeff pushing the pace in the front. Single file and roaring down the forest road!

Meanwhile I'm rocking the backroads myself. Having pre-rode the backroads the day before, I knew what to expect. The race was moving right along, having rode motos at Chequamegon since the year 2001 I know the routine. 

Back to the racers... The pack stayed together through Lake Helane Rd. and it was a sprint to Fire Tower Hill. Cory Stelljes was on a mission this day, he was the first rider over the Fire Tower Climb, just like last year when Jeff was out front up and over the Fire Tower. After that it is an 11 mile sprint to the finish. Jeff was the 2nd rider up and over the Fire Tower after Cory, he was chasing as hard as he could go, pulling the pack which was now down to the select 7 riders. I saw them and Cory only had a 7 second lead about a mile after Fire Tower. When I next see them it is with 6 miles left and Cory had a 30 second lead with Jeff again at the front of the chase group. I want to say that I am saying that Jeff was at the front at these different points in the race. I know a couple other riders did their share of work at the front... just telling it as I saw it the 7 times that I see the riders on the course. When I saw that Cory had gapped the pack I was sure he would not be caught this day with 6 miles left.

A Cliff Bar and a can of Rock Star for me along the course and I'm good ta go. Gotta fuel the Manager, don't ya know... haha! Good times!

They were flying down Camp 38 Rd., hit the short section of Telemark Rd. and Timber Trail. It started to string out a bit and at the finish the top 7 riders were all with-in 1 minute and 3 seconds.

#1 Cory Stelljes / Brian Matter / Michael Olheiser / Samuel Elison / Jesse LaLonde / Tristan Schouten / Jeff Hall / David Flaten / David Lombardo / Mark LaLonde rounded out the top 10.

Jr. gave it all he had... 7th. Fast Men out there today.

Family...They were there for the ride. 

Throw back picture from 2003 with Owen at his first Chequamegon, 1 month old with Weez and Big John looking on. Kinda a family tradition ya might say. 13 years ago.

The Owner...JP LaMere racing his Namesake LAMERE Cycle full suspension 29er. Jeff raced a 29er rigid on this day. I'm running a Yamaha WR450F with a Baja Design street kit, that has plenty of gitty-up and go.

The Kid taking Grandpa's Fat Bike for a ride to wrap up a good day on the trails! Next stop downtown Hayward for much deserved burger and cold beverage!

Ride On!!