| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
10.15 miles
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Route:
Makwa
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Time: 01:36:09
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Avg Speed:
6.33 mph
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Max Speed:
0.00 mph
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Calories Burned: 0
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Weight:
184
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Altitude Gain:
0 ft
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Terrain: Off: XC
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Bike: Cannondale Rush Trail/AM
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| Club: Secular Cycleism |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny. Warm. Perfect. |
Ride Description: Tour de Trails... CAMBA-Festival of the Trails. W/Sue...
We had time, so we rode the entire Makwa to Gravel Pit Road.
That is one sweet, fun trail! |
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CAMBA (Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association) held its first Festival of the Trails and we were there for all the fun, singletrack, swag and entertainment.
Friday.
We got to the park at Hatchery Creek late Friday afternoon with our bike lights fully charged and ready for the Twi-Night de Trails, a night ride on the Hatchery Creek Trails.
We've done night rides before, but never on singletrack of this caliber. So it was a new experience for both of us. We're slow in the daytime, so we knew we'd be even slower at night. We rode at our own pace (slug slow) and had a great time. Hatchery Creek has several shorter loop options available, and after getting our limit of technical night light fun (3.87 miles in 42 minutes) we opted to cut our ride short and head back to the Trail Head for some cool beverages (provided by the Angry Minnow), and good conversation by the campfire. The main group was fast and returned from the entire 9 mile loop about 10 minutes after we had the bikes loaded in the car and got a seat by the fire.
Saturday,
We arrived at the Mosquito Brook Trail Head for what would be our favorite event, the Taste de Trails, a singletrack journey of the Makwa and Hatchery Creek Trails with food stops provided by local eateries. Singletrack and food. It doesn't get any better than this!
The first stop on the Makwa Trail was for some incredible Calzones by Ideal Market/Rivers Eatery. These tasty morsels were cooked on a fire right there on the trail, and man were they delicious.
Next we stopped at the Sublime Sub stop for some of the best sub samiches I've had in a long time.
The first stop on the Hatchery Creek Trail had some energy drinks and gels from Hammer Nutrition.
After a long climb we were treated to the gourmet samples of the Rookery. We loved the unique menu of the Rookery so much we went there twice during the following week. Mooselips Cafe provided scones and coffe type drinks at the trail head. Mmmmm, yummy.
The Tour de Trails provides a sample ride of one of the local trails. Shorter routes are marked, and everyone has a card that gets punched at the half way point, and the finish. Each punch is worth a ticket, the more trails you ride, the more chances you have at some sweet swag.
We went to Ojibwe Trail for our first trail sample. Sue had ridden the Ojibwe four years ago when she started mountain biking, It was not a great idea to take a beginner to that trail, and we had to cut that ride short. So she was a little nervous about riding it again. But her skills have improved and she rode well and actually enjoyed the trail this time. We took the shorter alternative route back, but got slightly lost when we missed a trail marker or two. I know the area somewhat, so I was able to find the way back to the Trail Head. But we ended up the the dreaded McNaught Road sand pit. I really dislike riding in soft sand.
On the return trip to the trail head, the weather was acting up. Sunny, then cloudy. We heard thunder nearby and then the sun would reappear. As we loaded the car, it started to rain. Then the skies opened up and released 2 inches of rain on us.
We went to Rock Lake to see what was going on, but the rain had turned to sleety snowballs hitting the windshield. The parking lot was full, but we decided against riding in the rain.
We also missed riding the Namakagon Tour because of the rain.
Later we found out the Namakagon loop was only 3 miles and the Rock Lake loop was about 4 to 5 miles. The Ojibwe loop was over 8 miles and took us almost 1 and a half hours to ride. (Did I mention we were slow?)
If we had known the mileage of the Tour loops, we would have gotten more punches on our tour cards before the rain cut the day short. But then we would have missed the sweet Ojibwe trail, so it wasn't that big of a deal.
Not being hard core racers we decided to skip the Time Trial de Trails and do the Tour rides. We also missed the Teaching de Trails, a riding skills class for kids and adults.
On Satuday night we went to The River's Eatery for great food, (stone oven cooked pizza) A good bluegrass band (sorry I didn't catch the name) with a banjo and guitar/slide guitar singing duo, and a couple good mountain biking movies, The Collective and Roam. Great flicks! I own them both.
Sunday.
Because we had already ridden the Hatchery Creek Trails on the Twi-night ride and the Taste de Trails, we got our tickets punched for that trail and went out to ride the Makwa Trail.
The tour ride was a short cut ride, but we decided to ride the entire trail to Gravel Pit Road. (Where we did trail work last October) Makwa is fast becoming my favorite CAMBA trail. It's not as rocky and technical as Rock Lake, has less (steep) climbing than Hatchery or Namakagon, and is faster and easier than Ojibwe. The first 1.5 miles are more technical hand made trail with fewer rocks and roots than Hatchery. And then the machine assisted trail starts after the Sugarbush singletrack section. This part of the trail is just plain FUN! It is an out and back trail (with good sight lines) with such a great flow it feels like there's more downhill sections no matter which direction you're riding! That's great trail design.
As the fun came to an end on Sunday afternoon, we gathered at the Hatchery Creek Park for more yummy brats, burgers and refreshments. We turned in our cards for raffle tickets and enjoyed our new friends we met here.
I won a cool Salsa riding jersey/shirt, and Sue won a Timex watch.
CAMBA Trail builder extraordinaire John Leighton won the grand prize raffle, a Trek Fuel EX-9 bike, (+$3000 value) and after some friendly ribbing about needing a bike with that much travel for the rock drops he's building at Rock Lake, sold the bike to the highest bidder ($2300) and put the money back into the CAMBA Namakagon Cluster trail fund. A good deal for everyone!
I'd say the first Festival of the Trails was a hit. I heard there were 100-150 registered riders. Hopefully there will be more next year. It was a great event. We had a blast!
Thanks to CAMBA, and all the sponsors and volunteers that made the first CAMBA Festival Of The Trails an Epic Event!
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