Women’s Dirt Shredder Hayward MTB Trip Highlights!
The weekend adventures kicked off Friday afternoon with a safety bike check at Riverbrook Bike Shop followed by an afternoon of fundamental mountain bike skills instruction. The women put their skills to the test riding the Hatchery Creek South/North Loop taking in the changing colors and sounds of Hatchery Creek.
Post-ride appetizers were devoured while listening to a bike maintenance clinic provided by Riverbrook’s female bike mechanic Abigail Paul. The evening concluded with a delicious meal and social time at Main Street Tacos in downtown Hayward.
Saturday morning the women’s group joined forces with CAMBA (Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association) trails crew for our volunteer trail work project. CAMBA is responsible for the development and management of a regional mountain bike trail system of over 130 miles, and over 200+ miles of gravel routes.
CAMBA was formed in 1992 by a group of volunteers consisting of area cyclists, business owners, the US Forest Service, and the Cable Chamber of Commerce.
Endurance Adventures thought up the idea of running a women’s mountain bike clinic in conjunction with one of the Trail Rogue Work Days. The result of the two organizations joining together for this event raised $600 towards future trail projects.
The best part of volunteering is meeting new people, enjoying nature (we had a view of five swans swimming in Lake Solitude), and the satisfaction of helping build a new trail.
Around twenty adults worked on buffing out the newly rerouted Esker trail located off Telemark Road in Cable, WI. CAMBA volunteer trail leader Ron Bergin provided instructions on how to buff out the new section of the trail.
Ron is one of the original founders of CAMBA and was full of CAMBA trail history fun facts. We learned that the Esker Trail used to be the old Bill Koch Ski Trail! After Bill Koch’s athletic career, he consulted in the construction of cross-country ski courses in Frisco, Colorado; Cable, Wisconsin; and Labrador City, Newfoundland. Who knew?
For the non-skier readers, Bill Koch is one of the Olympic legends in Nordic skiing who won the silver medal in the 30 km event at the 1976 Winter Olympics, becoming the first American to win an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing.
Following the trail work, the crew was refueled with hot chili at the new Mt. Telemark Village. The meal was provided by the local women’s mountain bike club (LOBSTERS – Ladies on bikes single-trackers).
The afternoon was spent refining our bike skills with cornering, ratcheting, and climbing drills before heading out on the newly built Trek Trails! The coaching groups road the trails up to the high point and climbed the observation tower to take in the beautiful view.
After refueling with healthy appetizers, coach Kim lead the group in a relaxing yoga session overlooking Mt. Telemark. Saturday evening women enjoyed food, wine, and more social time at Tamarack Farms Winery.
Sunday morning half the group mountain biked on the Seeley Pass trails and the other crew of women toured the hospital trail system.
We ended the mountain bike weekend with homemade soup and lots of fun chatter at Coach Kim’s cabin. The best part of leading women’s mountain bike trips is witnessing the progress of women’s bike skills along with enjoying the new friendships made along the ride! I hope you can join Endurance Adventures on one of the upcoming spring mountain bike trips!
Kim Rudd
