Race Report: Chequamegon Fat Tire 40

Here’s a belated race report by Robert Sorenson from the Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 from Sept. 17. If you’re not mentioned in this article, I’m pretty sure you’re the only one.

14925296_10211265100730182_2193721815587581715_n

It was 12+ years since I completed my last Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. Back in my day “fat bikes” were simply known as “mountain bikes.” A dozen years ago I rode a fully rigid Breezer Storm for Team Nordik in Green Bay (Josh and Lisa Hanson owned the shop at the time). I originally bought the bike from Dominic Petit and Michael Geraths in 1994 and I still own the bike and ride it as a commuter. Man, I love that Ritchey Logic tubing.

This year I rode a Santa Cruz — a carbon hard-tail with 27.5 tires – bought from JB Cycle & Sport in Howard. It’s a fun ride and I managed to take 29 minutes off my best time to make it a great day of racing in mud and a little rain (despite my rear derailleur failing at mile 33).

14963206_10211265103570253_666531455833312785_n

 

The best part was seeing and riding with old and new friends. The guys from Gryphon Velo always make the day fun as do old friends friends like Dale and Dave Mangin and their families.

 

You want to see a great collection of Breezer bikes? Ride with the Mangins. They have Storms, Lightnings, and Thunders in all colors. Add in my newer Breezer Lightning and it was a complete set.

14991894_10211265106730332_7852349019065099293_n

I’ve raced Chequamegon with Bill Withbroe (ed: aka “My Friend Bill”) many times and it’s still great riding with him.

Morgan Fisher joined us this year for her first taste of the Fat tire weekend, riding in the Short and Fat with Bill. The smiles on their faces as they crossed the finished line were a testament to the fun they had.

14947856_10211265101210194_2674225703327707786_n

It takes a lot of people and businesses to make these races a success. I have to pass on my thanks to Skratch Labs, JB Cycle & Sport, Specialized Bicycles, Downtown Auto, Classic Renovations, Robinson Metal Inc., Borah Teamwear, DeFeet and others supporting the team.

Weekend Snapshots: Battle of Waterloo and Hugh Jass Fat Bike Series #3

The Battle of Waterloo had a little of everything: sand, off-camber hills, a ride/run-up, and the requisite flag of Flanders.

A full run down of team results from the past week can be found here.

 

Weekend Snapshots: Estabrook Park Beer Garden Classic and Cam-Rock Cross

Summer-weight racing gear in November? In Wisconsin? In November?

True story.

A full run down of team results from the past week can be found here.

GVR welcomes Organic Valley as new partner for 2017-18

Cows? We like cows.

And so does Organic Valley.

ov_logo-tagline_blue

Gryphon Velo Racing is proud to announce Organic Valley as one of the team partners for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Organic Valley is a Wisconsin-based independent cooperative with over 1,800 member farms in 36 states. You can find organically certified products — including milk, butter, yogurt, produce and Organic Fuel recovery drink — in grocery stores across the United States and 25 other countries.

And Organic Valley knows cycling. The company backed 2016 Olympic time trial gold medalist Kristen Armstrong.

6

Organic Valley joins our other partners and suppliers for 2017-18 including:

GVR welcomes FunkAway as new partner for 2017-18

It was mid-summer and months of sweat were soaked into my cycling gloves.

Most people would say they stunk.

“You should burn those,” the other occupant of the home said.

Whoa, hold off on lighting up that bonfire, let’s give this sample of FunkAway a try.

fa-web_2_02

With a few squirts of the odor eliminator, the … ummm… funk of the gloves faded to nothing more than a bad memory. Harmony quickly returned to the household and no fires were needed.

FW version: 1800 V2.16 FW name:ContourROAM2 UPDATE:N UPDATE_FW:N 1RES:P/1 1BR:H 1MIC:17 1LED:1 1LSR:0 1SILENT:0 1EV:-1 1SHRP:3 1AE:C 1CTST:56 1AWB:4 GLOBAL CAMERA NAME:ContourROAM2 DT:2016/10/01 14:59:47 FPS:30 CAMERA INFO CUID:1243010110483 USER DATA DATA:ContourROAM2 Camera DATA STRUCTURE UPDATE Y:YES N:NO UPDATE_FW Y:YES N:NO Format Settings Resolution(RES) (A)1920x1080 30fps (NTSC)/25fps (PAL) (B)1280x960 30fps (NTSC)/25fps (PAL) (C)1280x720 30fps (NTSC)/25fps (PAL) (D)1280x720 60fps (NTSC)/50fps (PAL) (P/#)Still picture 5Mp captured at intervals of 1 picture every 1, 3, 5, 10, 30, 60 seconds (where the time is measured from start of picture to start of picture) Bitrate(BR) (H)High (L)Low Microphone Sensitivity(MIC) 0 ~ 42dB Lighting(LED) (0):disabled (1):enabled Laser(LSR) (0):disabled (1):enabled Silent Mode(SILENT) (0)Enable Beeps (1)Disable beeps Exposure(EV) -4 ~ 4 Sharpness(SHRP) 1 ~ 5 Auto Exposure(AE) (C)Center (A)Average (S)Spot Contrast(CTST) 1 ~ 255 AutoWhiteBalance(AWB) (0)AUTO (1)2800K_Incandescent (2)4000K_Flourescent (3)5000K_DaylightD50 (4)6500K_DaylightD65 (5)7500k_Cloudy (6)9000k_Shade (7)10000k_XenonHID Global Settings Frame Rate(FPS) (25)25/50fps (30)30/60fps Camera name(CAMERA NAME)[up to 20 characters] Name entered by user e.g. Jason's Contour Date and Time(DT) YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm:ss YYYY : 2012 - 2040 MM : 01 - 12 DD : 01 - 31 User Data(DATA)[up to 100 characters] 'User' value in the universal settings section where the line contents are simply preserved by the camera.

Gryphon Velo Racing is proud to announce Illinois-based FunkAway as one of its partners for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. FunkAway is touted as product that doesn’t just mask smells, but eliminates them. That means things like your cycling gloves, shoes, helmet, jersey and other bike stuff that stinks.

FunkAway is designed to get the stink out of work gear, sports equipment and more common items like socks. And it does it “every funkin’ Time.”

newfunkawaybottle

For more information about FunkAway check out the website or find one of us (we’ll be in the bright yellow or pink with the FunkAway logo on the back).

FunkAway away joins our other partners and suppliers for 2017-18 including: