2014 Mountain Bike Festivals

With the bitter cold weather this week, my thoughts started turning to warmer weather riding and the
Spring mountain bike festivals.  Previously, I have attended festivals in Rapid City, SD,  Hayward. WI,  Crosby, MN,  Quad Cities IA/IL, and Wausau, WI.  Here's what I know now and those I will be watching for locations and dates.

Black Hills Fat Tire Festival (Rapid City, SD) has moved is dates.  The festival had been held Memorial Day weekend.  This year it is scheduled for June 20-22, 2014.  Rapid City Parks & Recreation returns as the organizers.

Today, I was able to confirm dates for the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Festival in Crosby, MN.  The festival will be held on Friday and Saturday June 13-14, 2014.  Headquarters is the Crosby Town Park (camping spaces available).  Explore that trails of Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area.  I have attended this festival since the ride center opened. 

I have not been able to confirm dates for CAMBA Festival of the Trails.  Previously, it has been held over the National Trails Day weekend except for 1 year when it was held over Memorial Day weekend.  In 2013, the festival was held the same weekend of the first annual Mt. Borah Epic Mountain Bike Race.  That race will be held on Saturday, May 31, 2014.

The festivals in the Quad Cities were MidWest Mountain Bike Festival - held there for 2 years.  That festival moves every 2 years - I believe is is being hel in Brown County, IN in 2013-14.

In 2012 I attended GnomeFest.  That yeat it was held at Nine Mile Woods near Wausau, WI.  I have relatives in the Wausau area.  That was the only year it has been at Nine Mile Woods.  No plans to attend this year.

The best situation for me was last year - when I was able to attend Festival of the Trails in Hayward, WI the first weekend of June.  Play tourist in Superior/Dulth.  Then attend Cuyuna Festival.  If the 2014 Festival of the Trails is held the weekend on May 33 - June 1, I may have to skip that festival and revisit the possibility of making the 10 day trip adding Black Hills Festival.


Just for information (June is mountain bike month, it seems) Crested Butte (CO) Bike Week is June  25-29, 2014.

Mountain Bike Festivals

Its time to start planning my Spring trips to the mountain bike festivals.  I you have never attended one of these dirt riding parties, you should include one (or more) in your bucket list.  I have attended several different festivals - each has its own merits.

The first one I ever attended was the inaugural Black Hills Fat Tire Festival.  The festival is held in Rapid City, SD over Memorial Day weekend.  The weekend is filled with socializing, group rides, and races.  I attended this festival for 4 years, but it became too much of a race venue.  Headquarters for the 2013 edition of the Black Hills Fat Tire Festival will be the Gas Light, Rockerville, SD.

Festival of the Trails is held in the Hayward/Cable, Wisconsin area and sponsored by the  Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association.  This year, the festival is back on the first weekend on June.  The tentative schedule is on the CAMBA web site.  This is a festival celebrating the trails - no races.  (Though the same weekend is the Mt Borah racee in the area).  Each year, it seams that the festival highlights different trail clusters.  I may attend this festival again this year.  Fuctions at the 2013 festival are scheduled to be around Wilson Lake and OO Trailheads.

The next weekend (2nd weekend in June) is the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Festival in Crosby, MN.  The festival uses the trails of the Cuyuna Ride Center (Cuyuna Country State Recreational Area).  I attended the first 2 of the festivals here.  Planning to attend again this year.  This is a growing festival.  The festival will likely center around the pack and campground in Crosby, MN.

The last 2 years, the MidWest Mountain Bike Festival was held the 4th weekend in June in the Quad Cities (IA/IL).  I really enjoyed this festival.  The Midwest Mountain Bike Festival moves every 2 years.  Word is that this year it moved to Brown County Park, Indiana.

Exploring Duck Creek Trail

As I headed to Scott County Park, there were storms brewing on the West. Breakfast was breakfast pizza and coffee. Rain was starting by the time I finished eating. Said my "good-byes", stopped at registration for fester goodies, and back to the hotel.

While I was waiting for the rain to stop, I posted the last of festival photos on the web site. About noon, it was time to prepare for my ride. Plans were to ride on the Duck Creek Trail.

Parked at 35th and Welcome. Headed east on the trail. Stopped many times to take photos. Most of the trail is relatively flat - but there were a couple climbs. Had some problems shifting down to the little chain ring. That caused me to walk on hill on the way out.

Made it to "Riverdale" at the end of the trail. Today's photo is me and the road bike at the trailhead sign. Turned around and headed back to the car.

Weather was sunny and very humid. Temp was in the low 80, but it felt like 90 or more. Had to walk a couple hills on the way back. Was happy as I got less than a mile from the car.

No speed records on the ride. Fifteen and a half miles in 1:51. Twenty HDR photos. Should have one to use in a calendar.

Shower and change of clothes, I headed to Thunder Bay Grill for brew and grub. Processed the photos while eating.

Time to put my feet up, get horizontal and relax. Kenosha tomorrow.

MidWest Mountain Bike Fest

Today was a busy day the the mountain bike fest. The day started with a pancake feed sponsored by the Eldridge Lions Club. Needed the food and coffee to get started. The breakfast was served at the Sac-Fox campground site - convenient for all the camping festers.

Next was MtB101 workshop. I want to give a SHOUT OUT for the instructors - Ray Nees and Becky Barnard. This was the best presentation of building mountain bike skills I have ever seen. I should have brought my bike this morning and participate in the class.

MtB101 was a logic progression starting with basics like pedal location, attack position, looking up the trail, et al. Each participant learned riding: a large stick, stick & log, skinny, short drop, log bridge, teeter-totter, and combo with ramp ending with logs. On the naugabike web site I will spend more time detailing the workshop (with photos).

Also in the morning group rides were heading out to ride the other trails FORC maintains in the area - Sunderbruch Park, Sylvan Island, and Illiniwek Park. Others stayed at Scott County Park for group rides. I positioned myself on Long Grove Loop to take photos of the some of the groups.

By this time, it was lunch and then heading back to the hotel for some horizontal time.

By the time I got back to the park, it was about time for the games. Billed as the "Not Lame Games". There was the ever popular "Huffy" toss, followed by Bunny Hop, and "Dodge Tire".

There were more games, a cook-out at the camping area, beer potluck, movies, and night ride. Just a bit too much for this old body. I headed toward the hotel, picked up a Blizzard, and settled in for the night.

Watch for my fest photos on my photo web site: http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

Drive and a Ride

Back on the road for another mountain bike festival. Today, I drove across Iowa to Scott County. Checked into my hotel in Davenport, changed clothes into my cycling kit, and headed to Scott County Park.

That's the location of the MidWest Mountain Bike Fest. Got registered, visited a little and headed off for a bike ride.

Rode the Long Grove Loop. About 1.5 miles of singletrack and another mile getting to the trail and back to the festival shelter. Problem was I was in A-Fib for the whole ride, per my heart monitor. The ride really tired me out.

Treated myself to a beer, drank my G2,took a couple photos and headed to the room. Early to bed tonight. Today's photo - "High road or low road", a trail junction.

Mountain Bike Festival Conundrum

Spring 2011 was awesome, as for mountain bike festival in my area of the country. Black Hills Fat Tire Festival (Memorial Day Weekend) in Rapid City, SD. The next weekend (which included National Trails Day) it was Festival of the Trails in the Hayward, Wisconsin area. The second weekend of June it was the festival opening Cuyuna Country Ride Center (Crosby, MN) with promise of an annual festival.

Whew - a weekend off. Then off to Quad Cities 0f Illinois and Iowa for the MidWest Mountain Bike Festival. A great schedule (though I did not attend the BH Festival - first I missed since it started).

This year, the folks of CAMBA decided to move Festival of the Trails from the first weekend of June to Memorial Day weekend. That gives me a problem.

Last year, with Festival of the Trails and Cuyuna Country (Wisconsin & Minnesota) on consecutive weekend, I just stayed in the North Country. Played "tourist" on Ashland, WI and Duluth/Superior. After all, Hayward, WI and Crosby, MN are only 170 miles apart!

Instead, I will have do decide which of these two festivals to attend. I cannot spend 2 weeks between the festivals on the road. And to drive home between, both festivals are about 500 miles (one way) from my house.

I don't know how many folks will be in the quandary of attend Festival of the Trails or Black Hills Fat Tired Festival - now both Memorial Day Weekend. But, for us in the Omaha/Sioux City/Sioux Falls area - we will had to choose one or the other.

Thanks, CAMBA, for screwing up the Mountain Bike Festival calendar.

Black Hills Fat Tire Festival - Rapid City, SD - May 25-27
Festival of the Trails - Hayward area, WI - May 25-27
Cuyuna Country Mountain Bike Festival - Crosby, MN - June 9-11
MidWest Mountain Bike Festival - Scott County (Quad Cities) IA/IL - June 22-24

I LOVE to Explore on My Bike

After a rainy afternoon and evening yesterday, today dawned sunny. Headed to the Park for breakfast - had breakfast pizza. From there to the HQ area of the park. When I got there, I found that aliens were riding our bikes. Spending the time riding the skills obstacles. (See first photo).

Was a relaxing morning visiting as waiting some away rides left for ride venues. Said my "good-byes" and headed to the motel. Day to explore paved trails in the Quad Cities.

Parked downtown Davenport at the Visitor's Center. They had a great bicycle map of the Quad Cities. From there, rode South along the Mississippi Iowa Riverfront Trail. Rode until that trail ended at Credit Island Park. Back North the trail until it ended at Isle Casino in Bettendorf.

The wind today was coming down the river. Had a easy ride with the wind back to the car.

When I got back to the car, I had just over 13 miles. A good ride, but the day was just too nice. It was ordering me over to the Illinois side of the river to continue exploring.

After some fits and starts to find a trailhead, I found Schweibert Riverfronk Park. Parking spaces and the Great River Trail runs through the park. Awesome!

Checking the map, I set off North the Great River Trail to Sylvan Island. Wantehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd to find out what this island had to offer (since there were "away" ride there during the festival. Found a network of dirt and crushed stone trails.

Rode around the island on my hybrid. Snapped the lower photo of the bike on a river overlook on the island. Stopped and visited with a family that had recently moved back to the Quad Cities from Medford, OR. Guess the economy is in the pits there.

Still not ready to turn back and call it a ride. Rode on North to the Convention Center. Time to ride the wind back to the car. Great 21+ miles ride and over 2 1/2 hours exploring by bicycle. And, I rode in all four of the Quad Cities today!

Finished up the awesome day with a meal at Thunder Bay Grill - just across US 61 from my motel. Settled into a comfy chair. Started with water and a glass of Iowa Pale Ale. Asked the waiter that i wanted to relax and process the photos before ordering. That done, ordered a burger and fries and started this blog posting. Nearly perfect timing - about to finish the post when my food arrived.

Great ending to the day. Packing up and heading to Kenosha in the morning.

Midwest Mountain Bike Festival - Day 2

It was a busy day at the festival. It started off with a pancake breakfast by the Eldridge Lions which was held at the Sac Fox campground shelter. From there is was over to the main festival area.

Group rides were organized. The kid's ride headed out. At that time, I decided it was time for me to ride. My goal was to ride the other loop (Parkview Loop). Carol (FORC member) recommended to also ride the Pine Bowl that comes off of the Parkview Loop.

The Parkview Loop is a little longer, and sections of the trail has tighter clearances and sharper turns. Then again, there are some longer straight-a-ways. The loop is a green trail (as was Long Grove Loop I rode yesterday).

Pine Bowl is a blue trail, yet I found it easier than sections of the Parkview Loop. Did not have the tight turns.

All-in-all, by the time I was getting near done the Parkview Loop, I was tired. Could see/feel I was losing the control of my bike. No crashes - thankfully. After the ride and a sandwich, I decided to head to the room for stretch my legs and maybe take a nap.

After the rest, it was time for the "Not Lame Games". First was "Huffy Toss". The goal was to see who to throw a "Huffy" bike the furthest. The other game was "Bicycle Dodgeball". Riding bicycles, throwing bicycle tires at the opponent in a classic game of dodgeball.

During the games there was a constant drizzle - making the grass very slick. It was also getting cool and damp. I decided I had enough for the day - skipping the potluck BBQ and the beer potluck.

Raining very hard on my drive back to the room. May have to grab the hybrid tomorrow to ride pavement.

Today's photo shows my Fuel EX7 on the Parkview Loop.

Midwest Mountain Bike Festival - Day 1

Was a looong day today. As usual, I could not get to sleep last night - before trip restless. Gave up on sleeping about 3:30 in the morning.

Went into packing the car (as usual - packing 3 times what I need). Normal chat. Then headed into Council Bluffs to gas up the car, pick up a couple groceries for the trip, and lubed the car. Was out of CB before 8am.

Had to stop for coffee and breakfast (getting tired). That gave me the rush to drive on. Stopped in Iowa City for a break. Eventually arrive in Quad Cities 3pm. Checked into the motel and then found Scott County Park for registration.

Back to the motel to change clothes for a bike ride. At the Trek Demo Trailer, it was like "old home weekend". There was Ryan Schutz IMBA Director of Field Programs, Morgan & Steve Lommele of IMBA Trail Care Crew, Hansi Johnson - IMBA Midwest Regional Director, Trek Rep from Des Moines (sorry, have forgotten your name) and Ken Derrico - Midwest Factory Demo Rep.

I was offered to ride with the group. I decided to ride myself to check out the trail (if I can ride it without major difficulties) and I did not want to slow them down. Rode the Long Grove loop (about 2 miles). Almost all of the trail was within my riding abilities. Stopped to walk a couple bridges and walked once to slow down my heart rate (got it up to 120 bpm).

Bed time now - need my rest. BTW, today's photo was taken on the Long Grove Loop, Scott County Park, Eldridge, IA