2009: Ore To Shore 48 Mile Mountain Bike Race / Marquette, Michigan

We took the scenic route, many miles of forest highway through northern Wisconsin and Michigan. From Minneapolis to Hayward, Wisconsin, then north through the Chequamegon National Forest.

Stopped in Cable, Wisconsin on Friday morning so Jeff could get a bike ride in. We found the new headquarters of the Chequamegon Fat Tire Race and were given the tour of the new faculties by The Man, Gary Crandall. You have got to check it out if you are in Cable, WI.

The jersey that Greg LeMond wore when he won the Chequamegon 40 back in the early 90s, the same year he had won The Tour de France. It caused quite a bit of excitement when we found out that he was racing. I remember drafting out the 3 miles on the pavement on his rear wheel. As soon as we hit the trail he was gone. My ole buddy Scott Hebel finished 2nd to Greg both years that Greg won the Chequamegon, the second time with a broken hand he suffered during the race.

At the same time Jeff was winning the Short and Fat 16 Mile Race on the same day (Jeff won the Short and Fat twice, when he was 16 and 17 years old, then won the Chequamegon 40 in 1995 when he was 19).

Some of the trophies of the Chequamegon.

Hollywood / Silver Cycling were the colors Jeff was flying in Marquette, Michigan.

Front line of the 1000 or so racers for the 48 mile race.

Jeff Hall and Doug Swanson up front.

They were in a large group for the first few miles because of gusty crosswinds.

Jeff Hall, 9th on this day. 48 miles with a time of 2 hours and 34 minutes

Northern Wisconsin of course.

The short cut through Montreal... Wisconsin. All in all a great week-end, about 1000 miles traveled in 50 hours. Drove through several small mining and lumber towns on our trip, we were off the main highways and traveled on back road highways. Thanks for the great accommodations for the 2 nights. Good Times!!

Motor Pacing Jeff Through Wisconsin

My support motorcycle packed and loaded for a total of 300 miles. Of which 103 miles would be providing food, water and motorpacing Jeff when we hit some nasty headwinds. I carry everything we might need including extra clothes and energy drinks for both of us. This day July 17 was windy with temps in the 50s and a couple of rain showers. I wore my rainsuit all day.

"Motorpacing" is me, riding my motorcycle in front of Jeff on his bicycle. I act as a pack of bicycles enabling him to ride at a tempo in my draft. It can be very tricky with wind gusts on my motorcycle and he is about 6 inches from my back tire. He must be very attentive not to touch my tire and I dictate the pace so he has to respond to my throttle inputs. It takes very steady throttle control. I also comunicate the traffic coming up from behind, we are on public roads so we deal with traffic and on a busy hiway such as #77, I protect Jeff by flashing my brake light and riding behind him on the white line.

With storm clouds in the sky all day and a stiff wind out of the north, Jeff and I embarked on a 103 mile ride. Him on his cross-bicycle and me on my 1200 Suzuki, I had a few more horsepower under me.

The goal was Jeff's in-laws cabin in northern Wisconsin. His wife and kids would be there to meet him. 103 miles in 5.25 hours, it was a good pace on the cross-bike with knobby tires.

I would eat a POWER BAR, drink a caffeine drink get back on the motorcycle and ride 140 miles to arrive back home by 9:00PM, started the day on the motorcycle at 9:30AM to ride and meet Jeff in Wisconsin. 11.5 hours on the motorcycle this day for me. Good Times!!

Summer Mountain Biking in Minnesota

Riding my non suspension bike, shooting a short vid, a little bumpy. It's great to get out in the woods.

We caught up to 2 guys ahead of us later in the ride. One of them hit a skunk on a twisty section and got sprayed, the smell was unbearable. We stayed ahead of them the last 2 or 3 miles back to the trailhead. I'll bet that was a nasty ride home for those 2 in their car. The spray got on him and his clothes and all over his bike. Never had that happen to me.

Jeremy Jones

Check out my link to Jeremy Jones. The guy just finished 27 days in remote Alaska with a group of guys that are at the start of a 2 year filming project. The goal for Jeremy is to explore remote areas on snowboards using primarily human power, to film their experiences and open new ideas.

They were flown in by a bush airplane to a remote area in Alaska on a glacier. Then set up a base camp from which they would hike up to the surrounding peaks. One or two runs a day, then back to base camp. It sounds like Cliff Bars were one of the major food sources... they are fairly easy to prepare. Read his story to find out more.

New Training Blog

I'm starting to ramp up a new blog geared toward athletes in training for... well anything, biking, snowboarding, ice hockey, hiking, endurance training, ect.. My email is on it and I posted a few sample weekly training schedules. I'm still trying to find a good format. Any questions are good and I can help work with training issues.

The link is, MJ HALL / ADVENTURES / Training on my link list. The site is slightly different, at www.mhall-mtb-snow.blogspot.com

I've got over 35 years experience coaching, personal training, motorpacing bicyclists with a motorcycle, running clinics, consulting and competing in hockey, mountain biking, snowboarding, Ski Patrol, mountain backcountry snowmobiling (powder boonedocking... ever try to wrestle a 500 pound machine in 6-9 feet of powder. Not ditch banging, or trail riding, big difference). Have much experience with altitude and adapting. How about airline flying with 2 bikes and 200+ pounds of gear. Questions? I'll try and help.

Any ideas, comments, link to the new site and comment or drop me an email.

Thanks, Mike

THINK SNOW!!

Going out to Snowboard Patrol today. Getting out about 3 times a week right now. Haven't done any trips for over a month. Just boarding here keeps ya sharp, the snow has been soft during the day and stiffens up in the evening.

Try to find some time for a run out to the mountains soon. There's plenty of snow out there.

I put a new link to Jeremy Jones on my blog links, check it out. The best big mountain snowboard rider in the world. The guy rocks in Alaska in some videos, just punch in his name on u-tube or check out this trailer.

Teton Gravity Research :: TGR TV :: Video Viewer:: "Lost and Found: Teaser 2"

March Maddness

Spring Storms

I have 12 years of snowboarding and winter travels, with more and more winter backcountry travel, along with a fair share of backcountry mountain biking. My wife and I have done several mountain bike trips to the Marble, Crested Butte area of Colorado, awesome rides. Someday I want to do a winter travel trip to this area. I bought a book a while back, Dawson's Guide / Colorado Backcountry Skiing by Louis Dawson, check it out.

I have been using my sled to access areas, scouting terrain for snowboarding. I mentioned earlier about learning to ride the snowmobile, it takes time to master riding in the mountains. If I get myself into a tough situation I want to be able to handle it. My plan was to ride with riders that were more experienced than myself. It really has paid off. I had the chance to ride with 2 different groups this past January, both trips were total powder fests. We got feet of snow not inches. It was a great challenge, with some great boonedocking in the trees. I found some potential snowboard slopes on each trip.

Boarder Patrol / Sneakin up and getting the wave off.

Ski Patrol / Board Style

Snowboarding under the lights.

Arctic Cat 660 4 stroke Turbo / Wide Track

Training

-2 Degrees

Cold Smoke

Wyoming > January 09, the Story

Dang, I dig this powder!

The trip started out at 12:30AM Monday morning with an all night drive to Wyoming, 990 miles. Arrived Monday afternoon, got settled in.

Day 1. Fueling up Tuesday morning in town and ready for the 2 feet of fresh powder from the storm over the week-end. The morning started out with a refreshing temp of -20 degrees. Glad I brought my serious cold weather clothes. The sleds were a might stiff, but popped off after a few pulls. The sun was out and the snow was great. It was cold smoke powder, and deep.

The climbing Mountain Cat, M8.

The 900 RMK Beast.

An afternoon lunch fire,

The sun was out and the temp stayed cold all day.

The sleds ran great and we found good snow.

The gang after a good day in the mountains, ready for a burger fest.

Sometimes ya just gotta roll the critter to get unstuck.

Day 2, found temps about 35 degrees warmer, at about +15 degrees. With it came some fresh snow. Now it is shaping up to be some serious deep powder. We went into an area with some awesome powder and began descending through the trees. We entered several openings in the forest where we would explore the area and then regroup and move on to another untracked opening in the trees. The whole time it is snowing and making for an epic day and getting deeper.

Deep...

Yours Truly, riding the Dragon.

This is what mountain riding is all about, boonedocking and cold smoke powder.

Lunch fire while it kept on snowing.

Using a pine branch grate to get the grilling done.

Deep in the woods, the sleds were snow covered during our lunch. With snow all day, our tracks from the morning were pretty much covered and it made for a challenging ride up the mountain through the woods to the trail back to the trucks.

The winds had been blowing hard all day, 50-60 MPH, so it made for a true mountain experience. That is what draws me to the mountains, it is the rawness of the weather. It is interesting how the weather can be raging up in the mountains and 6 miles back to town it is a toned down weather experience.

Day 3, as we drove up toward the mountains the clouds were hanging over the peaks, giving us the clue that we would be in for even more snow. The mountains did not disappoint us, the winds were howling at over 40 mph and the snow was falling. As we rode up the trail, with the snow swirling we made our way to an area that we had ridden in on day 1. As we dropped into the valley it was apparent that we were experiencing incredible deep powder conditions.

This was truly an epic day to top off an epic 3 days of backcountry snowmobiling.

Yeah I found the powder and we had a great mountain experience. Everyone came home safe and we pushed our powder sleds to their limits. GOOD TIMES!!

It is riding with mountain snowmobile riders like I have had the experience to ride with on 2 trips in January that help make me a better rider and able to access some of the snowboard mountains I want to reach. Anybody who wants to use a snowmobile to access backcountry mountains to snowboard, needs to take the time to learn to ride through the trees and ride in the powder and climb with your sled. You will get stuck and you will wrestle your sled, you need to have the know how and skills to get moving again and to know the snowmobiles capabilities so you can have a good time and get back to the truck at the end of the day.

These snowmobile trips will lead to me returning with the snowboard and snowshoes to these areas this spring for some great backcountry boarding. This is the on-going ground work for future adventures.

Wyoming > 09

Wyoming > January 09

I'll have a story and more pictures up later. It was a great trip with much powder. Found a couple mountains for later snowboarding trips. Have a good week-end... later.