Penn Cycle Fat Tire Loppet / Minneapolis, Minnesota / Great Lakes Fat Tire Series 2015

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Setting up the pit the morning of the Penn Cycle Fat Tire Loppet. Plenty of LAMERE Bikes, not so much snow after the warm temps the previous week. This morning the temps were cold, 12 degrees with a 15 mph wind out of the north. Good winter racing weather. The course was altered because of the low snow conditions, the race was to be a 24k distance and it would be three 8k laps. About 19 minutes a lap for Jeff Hall and Jesse LaLonde. This race was, Jeff said "like a short track race, on the gas from the start to the finish".

 Jeff geared up and ready to rock and roll!

 Start from the gun was fast and furious.

 Josh Bauer, Jeff Hall and Hollywood pegging it for the woods over the hill.

 Josh, Hollywood and Jeff together chasing down Jesse who was out front.

 Jeff feels good to follow Hollywood's lead for the first mile. Then Jeff and Jesse put the hammer down and dropped the chase group.

 The two racers that battled it out the week before at the Cold Fish Cup were once again locked in a high speed showdown...

 Jeff leads into the final lap firing on all cylinders. Jesse would jump ahead on a long climb, Jeff marked him, got on Jesse's wheel and powered ahead. Jeff lead into the final corner as they entered the final straight to the finish. Jesse slipped out a bit, Jeff turned the corner under control and jumped ahead for the sprint win.

Two Elite Fat Tire Racers putting on a show of power and trading wins in two races in two weeks... 

 Sprint win!

The Ole Grizzled One and Jeff.

 Team LAMERE on the top of the Podium.

Thanks to Pat Sorensen and Penn Cycle for supporting Mountain Bike Racers and Mountain Bike Races.

 Jesse LaLonde 2nd, Jeff Hall 1st, Josh Bauer 3rd and Pat Sorensen.

Winding down on the ride back to the truck with Jeff and Josh.

Race On!

Angry Catfish / Cold Fish Cup Fat Tire Race 2015

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A fast downhill start and the pack was off and pedaling.

 The race was 3 laps at about 5 miles a lap. After a pedal around the lake the front group was starting to form. Hollywood was hanging tough in front of Jeff Hall and hot on the wheels of Jesse and Dominic.

  Jeff is zeroing in on Hollywoods' tire and ready to start pushing the pace.

 Jeff rocking on the LAMERE liking the singletrack.

JP LaMere was out rolling along on his LAMERE steed.

 Jeff and Josh pushing the pace.

 The group of 4 at the front. Jeff Hall, Jesse, Dominic and Josh, a fast moving train.

 It came down to the last lap, with Jeff making a move with him and Jesse roaring the last 5 miles and it came down to a sprint finish to the line with Jesse edging Jeff by a wheel. Good tight racing with the top level riders pushing each other. 

 The team managers fat tire LAMERE getting a few miles snapping some pictures and handing up bottles to Jeff.

 The Man Josh setting up Jeff Halls' LAMERE bike before the race.

 Weez had a good time hanging with Jeffs' kids, enjoying the winter weather.

 I was able to get a ride with Owen out on the lake loop after the race.

 The podium, with Jesse in first, Jeff second and Dominic third.

Later That Night / My Midnight Adventure Ride Down By The River

Ride on!

10th Mountain Hut Trip / Colorado / Heading Home / Day 3

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I took one last look back and the hut was looking good with the snowfall.

 A stop for quick lunch and then Weez puts the hammer down out front breaking trail.

Semis chaining up after the Tunnel at the top of the mountain pass.

"On The Road Again" 1025 miles to get back home. Left Wednesday night in a snowstorm and drove through the night. Pulled over to a wayside rest area at 3:00am and got 3 hours sleep...Got rolling again and pushed through the final 650 miles.

Drive on!!

10th Mountain Hut / Colorado Backcountry / Snowboarding Snowshoing and Skiing / Day 2

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Homestake Peak @ 13,200 ft, blanketed with a foot of fresh snow. A good storm with 60-70 mph winds dropped a foot of snow overnight.

 At the cabin, the cabin sits at 11,300ft.

The kitchen is well equipped with pots, pans and dinnerware. We have propane for cooking, water is the snow melted in the pot on the wood burning stove. That is an important task that everybody pitches in to keep filled. With the water we need to use it for drinking, cooking and washing dishes. The pot has a spigot so filling a water bottle is easy enough, at this altitude we are drinking water frequently.

 Great views out the windows in the common room. The outhouse is a short stroll away. During the night of the storm it is a trip out with the shovel to keep the walkway open.

 Blanket of powder made the mountains spectacular. It is a blast to break trail through the fresh snow.

 Crossing some of the slopes requires just one at a time for safety.

 The 3 guys preparing to drop down off the ridge line we were crossing.

A description of how this turned out from Weez..."Beautiful day today 12 inches new snow, ascended a 3 hour hike ridge line, decided to descend. Well let just say ran into a 200 foot cliff band very sketchy situation lots of inprov. Made it back safe ahh..."

The guys ended the desent with a slide down a 30 fott rock face. We tried a route to the north, with some sketchy snowboarding along the top of the cliff band. there was no room for error. We came to a dead-end. So our decision was to backtrack out. It required snowshoing back up some of the rock faces. The snow was sketchy and it took about 45 minutes to cover 20 yards. We were able to gain the top of the ridge and then it was a matter of backtracking our trail from earlier.   

 This was a good experience of keeping together in 2 groups and coming up with a solution to our predicament. Everybody got back to the cabin safe and in one piece...and we had a story to tell. 

 I decided to hike back up the rock face we had snowboarded on the day before to finish the day. Got one last run for the day. Another full day with good scenery and adventure...and good company. It was good to get back to the cabin for our last night. Food, drink and a bit of card playing. We had the cabin to ourselves, the 5 of us...until about 9:00pm when Dan spied a headlamp out in the darkness while looking out the window.

Turned out that a young fellow from the Breckenridge area decided to ski up to the cabin for 2 days. He got off work and drove up to the trailhead where we had parked, about 4.5 miles down the mountain. He was familiar with the trail and made a night approach. Impressive...interesting fellow, Weez and I sat up till the middle of the night chatting with him. This was a good day!

 The 10th Mountain Hut.

 The guys stayed an additional night so they skied out in the morning and climbed the ridge to the north of the cabin.

Yours Truly, just before the snowshoe down off the mountain back to the truck at the trailhead. It was good, with more snow falling. Three days and two nights make an adventure to remember.

Adventure on!!