10th Mountain Hut Trip 2015 / Colorado Backcountry / Snowboarding Snowshoing and Skiing / Day 1

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The band of adventurers fresh for the slog up to the 10th Mountain Hut west of Leadville, Colorado. Me, Weez, Dan, JT, and Shawn, posing before the 4.5 mile journey. Weez and I are up at the cabin for 3 days and 2 nights, the others are up for 4 days and 3 nights.

 We must pack our food, clothes and sleeping bags for the time up in the mountains. The cabin sits at 11,300 ft and it is surrounded by a mountain ridge that reaches up to over 13,000 ft.

 Shawn and Dan shouldering the hefty backcountry packs.

JT and Weez rocking up the trail...

Keeping the legs moving and taking short 10-15 second breaks are the key for me to maintaining a steady pace at this altitude of over 10,000 ft.

 After several punchy climbs and a short lunch break we gained the open meadows that would bring us to the cabin.

 Gaining the view of Homestake Peak is awesome and we know that we are approaching our cabin for the next few days.

 Snowshoing and packing the snowboards...Weez and Yours Truly, MJ.

 A short break in the cabin for a quick lunch and unpack a few supplies. Then it was out to get a few turns on a rock face that I had played around on last year.

 Gotta hike up to get the turns in.

 The snow started and Weez got her first turns in the backcountry this year. Looking good!

 Shawn was next to feel the turns, good to get out for a bit before dark.

 One more hike up the face and make the most of the daylight. The snow was starting and we would end up with about 10 - 11 inches of powder with some good winds to move the fresh snow around overnight .

 Stayed up late and checked on the new snow during the night, the winds were really ripping off the mountains.

It was a very good first day and night at the 10 Mountain Hut!!

Board on!

Fat Tire Mountain Bike Racing / Great Lakes Fat Bike Series / LAMERE Cycles

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Nice shot of Jeff Hall and Brendan Moore at "The Solstice Chase" winter fat tire bike race. Jeff races for LAMERE Cycles and Brendan races for Wolf Tooth Components. This race was the first of the season in the "Great Lakes Fat Bike Series". 

The podium, Jeff Hall 1st, Brendan Moore 2nd and Josh Bauer 3rd.

Winter Night MTB Ride

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Good ride along the river with temps about 12 degrees...like to stop and listen. Heard a lone Coyote howling. Pretty quiet tonight.

Ride on!

Sud-zero Temps Settle into Minnesota for the Week / Fresh Snow / Excellent Fat Tire Biking Times

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A ride along the Minnesota River this week with real time Winter weather, 2 degrees, I'll call it 0. Close enough for a good mtb ride. River was iced up pretty good with just a few open stretches. On this day Jeff commutes to work 25 miles on his LAMERE Fat Tire Bike, then I hook up with him at the Bloomington Ferry Bridge. We ride the river trail East towards 35W and double back. Trail was in great shape and we get a chance to try different tire combinations.  

 Sub-zero Midweek Early Morning Mountain Bike Adventure

 Up at 3:30am and pack the truck. Overnight temps dropped to -11 degrees. At the River Bottoms trailhead and on the bike by 5:00am. Out on the bike till 8:15am for over 3 hours, loaded the truck and swung into a Perkins Restaurant and had a hearty breakfast of steal and eggs. I was at work by 10:45am for my 8 hour work day. Ended with a 23 hour day, not bad...

Nailed the clothing layers pretty good. A bit cool at first, by the first mile I had opened the vents on my pants and jacket.Had a sip of ice tea I had mixed and did some riding and exploring across the river. Then crossed back over the river bridge and rode the singletrack East. The moon was bright in the sky and shining down on my bike.

 Hanging in the moon light...

 With sub-zero temps and fresh snow, the only tracks on most of the trail were Coyote and a few deer tracks.

 It is good time to be out in the early morning darkness. Stopped several times to soak in the solitude and moonlight.

 Daybreak!

Good to have an adventure in true Winter conditions and have my clothing and bike perform flawlessly at -11 degrees. The River is different every ride...

Ride On!!

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

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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!!