Chequamegon
FAT TIRE FEST Fine-tuning and tweaking are all that remain for the 2000 edition of the CFTF
By Ron Bergin The first Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival of the new millennium is almost
upon us. Things have been anything but quiet in the mountain biking and silent sport world of northern Wisconsin this year, but that's a story for another day. As usual, CFTF director Gary Crandall and his crack staff of festival organizers have been hard at work fine tuning and tweaking event details to once again bring the 2,500 festival racers as high quality an event as humanly possible. Other local developments impacting this year's have been few, but important.
 Let's start with the event facility and host site, Telemark Resort. If you've been following the Telemark saga for the past few years, you know that it has been a Birkie Trail roller coaster of a ride for the area's most famous resort. The good news is that Six Hats Hospitality, the management company charged with resurrecting the fabled resort, has risen to the
task, and then some. There is an entirely new attitude with regard to customer service and reconnecting with the community and local events. The new food service staff has delivered quality and tasty dining experiences from a varying menu, including many ethnic and international specialties.
With its kitchen revamped and back in full working order, Telemark will resume providing all food and beverage service during the Fat Tire
Festival. Telemark will also host the traditional Friday evening Pasta Feast with the usual all-you-care-to-eat pasta, salad, garlic bread and beverages. What a better way to fuel up for the big events of the weekend while swapping tales and sharing war stories of Chequamegons past.
Numerous cosmetic and infrastructural changes have taken place over the past year and a half, improving both the appearance and the functionality of the resort. Perhaps most noticeable is the long-overdue
demolition and removal of the Coliseum. All of the structural material and miscellaneous debris from the former Coliseum have been removed and by festival time there will be nothing left but a huge cement slab. Telemark has not decided exactly what will be done on the slab, but for the mean time, it will add a significant amount of space for Fat Tire Fest finish line facilities, including various racer services such as the
bike corral, sponsor expos, merchandise sales, etc. There has even been the suggestion of setting up a Sunday Funday "Infinity Spiral" course on the former Coliseum slab. The net result is that there will be far less congestion at the finish line area than in the past.
As usual, the 2,500 limited person registration was maxed out many months prior to the event. The lottery
system this year resulted in the fewest returns since a limit was first imposed, with less than 200 race entries being returned. The event breakdown continues to be 1,700 in the Chequamegon 40 and 800 in the Short & Fat.
Alternate methods of riding or participating in the CFTF main events, such as the PowerBar Clean Up Crew and the 50 Ways to Ride the Chequamegon essay contest, were also well-subscribed. The PowerBar
Clean Up Crew motto for this year: "We pick up where you leave off." Now in its second year, the "50 Ways to Ride the Chequamegon" essay contest proved to be an interesting and entertaining way to get a last chance at a reserved spot for the 2000 Chequamegon event. Over 90 essays were received, consisting of poems, song lyrics, CD video productions, fake newspaper articles and promises of wedding vows to come at the finish line if picked to ride in the event.
"It was a tough choice," cited Crandall, who read and re-read the essays several times over in an attempt to narrow the field to the best 50, who would receive reserved registrations. "Some day it will make good material for a book on why the Chequamegon event has captured the hearts of such a wide variety of competitors."
It looks like another tough women's field for the 2000 Fest of Fat Tires, with the past three women's
champions, Kyia Malenkovich (1999), Brett Schulze (1998), and Catherine Walberg (1997), all vying for a repeat victory.
It's been a rough year for 1999 men's champion Scott Quiring, who is recovering from two concussions received in different events this spring and summer, and will be unable to return to defend his title. Steve Tilford, third in 1999, will be back, however, gunning for a thus far elusive victory.
Short and Fat champions of 1999, Cindy Storm and Linden Klein, will also be ready to defend their titles, with Storm looking for an incredible 11th trip to the winner's podium. Another Klein, Gary Klein (no relation), designer of Klein Bicycles, is also a possible participant. We must, however, dispel any rumors about Lance Armstrong. Try as he might and as influential as he might be, festival director Gary Crandall
was unable to persuade Olympic road racing officials to change their dates so Armstrong could come to Cable instead of Sydney.
There's nothing major to report from either the Chequamegon 40 or Short and Fat courses, as all is status quo. The Rough Stuff Rendezvous might see minor alterations due to work by Northern States Power on the powerline. NSP is replacing the mulitple wooden poles with individual towers and possibly bulldozing some of the tops of the higher hills.
Some new formats for the Cable Criterium are under consideration. This year there will be a single speed division and organizers are examining a possible change to a last man out format. The course will be designed to be more spectator friendly to attempt to even out the field a bit to create a better balance between the power riders and those more technically skilled. The final decision had not yet been made on the ultimate format of the event.
Perhaps the most unusual event in Chequamegon history will take place at the finish line of this year's event when Bill Schneider, 34, of Wauconda, Wis. and Susie McGinnity, 32, also of Wauconda, will tie the knot, or "link the chain," as they become the first people to exchange wedding vows at the conclusion of their respective fat tire races. Let's wish the lucky couple a good race and a happy ride down the trail of married life.
Changes in an event that has been around for 18 years are sometimes slow and even imperceptible. And as festival director Gary Crandall says,"We have a successful formula as evidenced by our immense popularity and return rate. So if it ain't broke, why try and fix it?"
TELEMARK MTB TERRAIN PARK UNDER DEVELOPMENT Among the goals the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association set for itself during the off season last year was to initiate the development of new single track trails throughout the CAMBA system. Long recognized as a needed component of the CAMBA trails, the new single track initiative would eventually add technical and cross country single track trails in most CAMBA clusters.
Since the CAMBA trails cross many land management jurisdictions, the task of selecting where to begin this initiative was a complicated one. In order to facilitate a more rapid start to the project, a "path of least resistance" approach was chosen. The majority of CAMBA trails are on public land, either Chequamegon National Forest, Bayfield County Forest, or Sawyer County Forest. Each of these agencies would require
some level of review and even environmental assessment prior to beginning work. The only area of significant private land is at Telemark Resort, where one CAMBA trail head is located and several CAMBA trails originate. As it is private land, the only thing CAMBA had to do was meet with the resort managers and explain the project.
Telemark General Manager Bob Butschke and Marketing Director Phil Van Valkenberg enthusiastically
embraced the concept. Also fueling the acceptance of the project was the fact that IMBA trail guru Kurt Loheit was going to be conducting a trail building school sponsored by WORBA and MORC at Telemark in early June. The proposed Telemark single tracks would serve as the demonstration site for the trail school. This additionally assured that the new trails would be designed and constructed according to the
proper IMBA specs. The original concept called for a longer distance, moderately technical trail originating at Telemark and traveling some distance out on Telemark property and eventually connecting with other CAMBA trails south of Telemark in the Bayfield County Forest. Valkenberg proposed an additional series of trails more adjacent to the lodge in the wooded areas between the various downhill ski runs. The terrain
in this area is much more severe and thus would require the construction of more technically designed trails and, as such, was dubbed a "Terrain Park."
The first section was begun by the IMBA trail school workers in early June. The crew completed almost one half mile of trail in a large pie-shaped piece of woods just south of the newer Chritiana Villas. The trail winds and traverses the hill numerous times as it climbs to a point just west of the JB Ski Hill lift. Work
continued on this section throughout the summer completing approximately 3/4 to one mile of new single track in this area.
>From the top of the first section the new trail continues in and out of a small island of woods and drops off into another larger section of woods between the JB ski hill and the Morgedal slope. This next section first runs downhill a bit and then winds around and begins working its way back up the hill and ends at a small
cross trail. Construction on this section is hoped to be completed by Fat Tire time. An additional section further uphill of this area is also under consideration, but may not be finished by the festival.
When completed, the new Terrain Park will feature nearly two miles or more of challenging single track trail in some very scenic wooded areas tucked among the various Telemark ski runs. Van Valkenberg hopes
that when the ski lift system is back up and running, some of these trails will be able to be accessed via the lift and ridden from top to bottom. Present plans call for the trails to be ridden in either direction.
The Terrain Park trails will definitely be for the more experienced mountain biker and very different from anything else in the CAMBA system. Once the Terrain Park areas are completed, work will commence on
the longer distance, point-to-point or looped single track trail. It is hoped that trail will be ready to ride early next summer.
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