The second annual Festival of the Trails will kick of on Friday, June 4 and run through Sunday, June 6. Presented by the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA), the event will showcase the outstanding singletrack mountain bike trails in the Cable-Hayward Area of rural northwest Wisconsin.
“The event is intended to give riders a chance to explore the mile and miles of singletrack trails we have developed in the area over the past 10 years,” explains CAMBA executive director Ron Bergin. “We now have over 65 miles of pure singletrack trails and have plans to bring that up to over 100 miles over the next five years,” Bergin adds.
The Festival of the Trails is an ideal way to get to know the CAMBA singletrack trails, as well as some of the 200-plus additional miles of marked and mapped off-road bike trails that comprise the entire CAMBA trail system.
Fun is the word of the day, however, with a multitude of trail-based events that encourage riders to ride as many different trails as possible over the course of the three-day weekend. And the letter “T” features prominently in all of the Festival’s events:
Tour de Trails – a series of self-guided tours on seven different singletrack trails. Riders punch their Tally de Trails card midway through to record each ride. For each punch they get a ticket for random drawings at the conclusion of the event.
Taste de Trails – a rolling food fest over a 12 mile route where riders get to sample specialty foods from five area restaurants: Brick House Café, Mooselips Java Joint, Lakewoods Resort, Rivers Eatery and the Rookery Pub.
Teach de Trails – a series of educational events covering riding skills, trailside bike repair, building sustainable trails and an introduction to geocaching.
Test de Trails – an obstacle course where riders navigate tight turns, logs ramps, and other challenges without having to stop or put a foot down.
Twi-Night de Trails – a kick-off night ride held on Friday night.
Riders also receive a Tally de Trails punch for all additional events in which they participate, increasing their odds in the grand finale swag drawing. With 10 punches, they receive a five-ticket bonus.
Social events are a big part of the festival as well, with a Meet & Greet held on Friday, a mountain bike video fest on Saturday night and a grill-out party on Sunday afternoon. The Fest concludes with the huge swag drawing with over $10,000 in merchandise prizes to be given away.
A sure to be highlight of the 2010 Festival is an appearance by mountain biking legend Gary Fisher. Fisher has been credited with helping create the sport of mountain biking in the early ‘80s in Marin County, California. He has gone on to develop a line of mountain bikes and recently road bikes, which are produced in conjunction with Wisconsin-based Trek Bicycles.
This year’s Festival of the Trails also coincides with National Trails Day held this year on Saturday, June 5. National Trails Day annually celebrates the importance of trails across the country. Sponsored by the American Hiking Society, the day sees a wide variety of trail-based events, from trail openings and dedications to trail work to festivals and special events.
On-site registration for the CAMBA Festival of the Trails begins on Friday at noon at Hatchery Creek Park in Hayward. Many of the Festival’s events and activities are based at the park with other events held at other CAMBA trailheads. Mail-in registration is closed, but online registration at www.signmeupsports.com will remain open until Thursday, June 3.
For more information about the second annual Festival of the Trails, contact CAMBA at (715)798-3599 or camba@cheqnet.net or visit www.cambatrails.org.
It is calling for rain this weekend, how much do you think it will impact the riding. If we get rained out, what is the backup plan?
ReplyDeleteKeeping my fingers crossed! So looking forward to this.