MJ HALL / Livin’ & Ridin’ the Adventure

Friday, September 13, 2013

Chequamegon Fat Tire Flashback / 2008 / Jeff Hall / Mike Hall / GOOD TIMES!!

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Jeff Hall at Maplelag 2013 on a Brand New Foundry Mountain Bike.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008

Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival 2008

Traveling up to Hayward, Wisconsin later today for another Chequamegon Race. 40 miles of racing a mountain bike. Jeff averages 19 MPH during the race.

My job is, support of racer Jeff Hall. Prepare the mountain bike, hand up water bottles and anything else that comes up. I'll spend the race on the forest backroads intercepting the racers to hand up water bottles to Jeff. I will cover about 36 miles. The last 7 years I have used my enduro motorcycles, that is a blast. This year I'll use the truck.

I raced the 40 mile race from 1985 - 1993. It sure seemed like more mud back then... I raced both times Greg LeMond raced so that was a good time. Jeff was winning the Short and Fat back then, 2 times, in the early 90s. Jeff won the 40 mile race in 1995. Wow, it has been a hell of alot of mountain bike racing since then. Crazy!!

Have a great week-end. Good Times!!

Mike

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2008

Feeding the Fat Tire 40 Man: Jeff Hall, 18 years of Fat Tire

The steed that which is to be unleashed upon the Wisconsin woodlands.

The portable work environment that follows the woodland steed to the predetermined adventure.

The leaders of the rampage. It takes 2 because of the potential pitfalls to be encountered en route to the destination.

The riders of the steeds will be required to mount upside down and roll over upright before proceeding.

A young man whose father wore this coat of arms... jersey, in woodland traverses with yours truly 2 decades previously.

Unleash the beast!!

A young adventurer will acompany me on my task of feeding the gladiator of the woodlands.

With the approach of the motorized leader, the gladiator will not be far behind. And he will be fed a bottle of PowerBar go juice.

The rewards to be bestowed upon the woodland gladiators that have navigated the harsh terrain at speeds with which few creatures before them, are to be able to stand upon log pedestals which once were among the woodlands that were conquered this day.

You too, young adventurer will some day have the mud of the forest upon your face and ride swiftly.

Scott Hebel and Jeff Hall.
The moral of the story is that these 2 riders could kick Norm's ass every which way, in any foray into the woods... but Norm still finished in 4th place right behind Scott Hebel, Jeff Hall and Gino that rainy day in Grand Marais, MN, in 1993, annddd right in front of the Short and Fat Champion, Jake Richards Dad, Jay Richards. Go Figure.

I never saw this ending coming. Jay ya gota be proud!! Good Times!!

Check out Jeff Hall Mountainbiking and Skinnyski links for more on the Chequamegon.

Formerly Norm.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Former Chequamegon / 2009 / Memories

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2009

1:22AM Chequamegon Morning

Just got done preping Jeffs bike and finished packing everything back in the truck. It is like a ritual of the Chequamegon to prep Jeff Halls bike the night before the big 40 mile race on Saturday. I finish working on the bike, have a beer and hit the bed for 3.5 hours of sleep cause the alarm is set for 5:15 AM. The race starts at 10:00 AM this morning. Jeff finished 2nd last year, there are 1800 riders in this race and this is the 27th year of the race. It's a true classic.

The year of 1995 when Jeff won this race, I had to rebuild his rear derailer and it took until 4:00AM the morning of the race. I never told him cause I didn't want to distract him. Well it worked, with him winning by 4 seconds over Eric Ringsrud.

Got to finish the 16 oz. Silver Bullet and get some sleep, GOOD TIMES!!

Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 Race

The 3 Amigos of the early 90s'. Jeff Hall was winning the Short and Fat, Scott Hebel was placing 2nd behind Greg LeMond in the 40 and I was chasing these 2 jokers with top 50 finishes in the 40 miler. We all raced for the Diamond Back Team, Scott was one of their national riders and Jeff and I were DB regional riders. We had good times all over the Midwest and raced with Scott out in Colorado.

The Man of the hour, Gary Crandall, the man in the middle with the beard. The head Chequamegon honcho. He and his crew have put together the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival every September for the past 27 years. I heard about it back in 1984 and raced it for the first time in 1985.

Starting, staging area.

The front pack of 1900 riders after 3 miles of pavement, reaching speeds of 35 MPH.

After this corner they ride into an open field (Rosie's Field) and it is all off-road and dirt trails for a total of 41 miles(1 mile longer this year I heard).

This at about mile 11 into the race, still a very large group of riders. Jeff is just popping over the little rise and I will hand up a water bottle to him. I will see the leaders 7 times in the race.

Yours truly at OO trail crossing, about 17 or 18 miles into the race.

The lead group has whittled down to a select fast group. Jeff is in this group.

Jeff at the finish, 9th place on the day. time of 2:04. Last year he finished 2nd at 2:08, the riders and the course were very fast this year. The old course record was 2:07.

Gotta like the dust on this day, 41 miles in 2:04, 19.7 MPH average.

Finishing area.

My old race teammates Dru, Tim and Tim's son Joe. Tim and Joe still flying the Finish Line Finder jersey. Back in the 80's and 90's this was the jersey that sent shivers down the spines of lesser mountain bike teams...ha,ha. Jeff was even a Finder back in his early days. GOOD TIMES!!

Monday, September 09, 2013

Fireroads on the New 400 Suzuki / Rainy Sunday / Yeah!

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Monday, September 02, 2013

Maplelag Mountain Bike Race / Jeff Hall / BMW 1200GS

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At the starting line of the Maplelag Mountain Bike Race with Grandson and Jeff. Jeff Hall is racing on a new bike from "Foundry Mountain Bikes".

The course had great singletrack with an old MTB school feel with rocks and ruts.

The Bridge with a classic sign from a past Maplelag Race banner.

The Banner...That race was a UCI race that Jay Richards put on in the Spring of 2007 and Jeff won. It was a big win for Jeff as he garnered some important UCI points for his MTB World Cup season. Jeff finished the 2007 season in the top 10 in the USA Mountain Bike Standings and in the top 100 in the World MTB standings. He had a 7th place result at Snowmass, Colorado in the USA Mountain Bike Finals.

My transportation around the course.

The finish. Jeff Hall and Brenden Moore, second and first place. They had a 9 minute gap on 3rd place.

They totally rocked on a very challenging and true mountain bike course. Two very talented and strong riders had a great day on the Maplelag Trails.

Jeff Hall, Jake Richards and Eric Oftedahl, after the race gathering.

Maplelag is where Jeff and I met and invited Eric and his brother Sam to be part of the HALLN Mountain Bike Race Team several years ago. Mountain biking has been a great meeting and formed many friendships that have lasted for years. Mountain biking has been a great sport and activity for 30 years in my life...Good Times!!

My biking was riding a BMW R1200GS for 260 miles round trip to the race and back. The Beemer was also handy for riding to several spots around the course to photo and hand up water bottles to Jeff.

Me and my Shadow, heading east back home after a full day at the Mountain Bike Race hanging with Jeff, Owen, Jay Richards and "Party on Hollywood"...Later.