This March and April, Life Above Eight is putting on two Bikepacking 101 Rendezvous in Seeley and Eau Claire. Learn about bikepacking routes in the area and check out some gear at these spring bikepacking meetups. Join Seeley Dave for a free, fun rendezvous to learn about bikepacking. Dave will bring the Bikepacking Gear Lending Library he maintains so you can see the different shelters, sleeping systems, bikepacking bags and other gear available for locals to use. He will have tents set up, air mattresses, bikepacking bags, etc., all for you to check out in person. The Seeley event will take place on Saturday afternoon, March 16 at the Freight Station Theater at the Sawmill Saloon. Learn More. The Eau Claire event will take place on Wednesday evening, April 17 at Compass Bike Lab. Learn More. You can borrow what you need from the Bikepacking Gear Lending Library to give bikepacking a try without buying lots of expensive gear. Bring your bike and try fitting the bikepacking bags to see how they fit. Dave will also give a short presentation about different routes in the area, which GPS navigation systems he recommends and bikepacking websites he refers to for routes and gear reviews.. Already an experienced bikepacker? Awesome, bring your rig, favorite gear and some stories from a trip to share!

Today's Reader's Route is a modification of the Sand County Caress bikepacking route from Kiel Hynek. It explores the beautiful Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. Enjoy the views of wildlife on this flat route. Submission from Kiel Hynek This route seeks to take advantage of as much of the available space within the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge as possible. You'll see a variety of almost completely unpaved roads ranging from the most pristine gravel you could ask for all the way to pure sand. There are a multitude of roads to allow you to either avoid excessive sand or to cut down the total distance. While you won't encounter much elevation, the sand can be vexing at times, however the majority of the route makes up for it with immaculate biking surfaces and stunning views of wildlife especially during waterfowl migration. Take note that there are several trails in the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge that are off limits to bikes and they are clearly posted. Submit Your Reader's Route All Reader's Routes So Far

With the onset of the spring gravel biking season, we're talking about making sure you have your fit dialed in on your bike. Paulie Glatt from GO PHYSIO joins us to share 4 important areas of bike fit to make sure you have a healthy and comfortable riding season. To learn more about Paulie or to schedule a professional bike fitting, visit GO PHYSIO. Words by Paulie Glatt Spring is here, it seems. Or at least it is sticking its head around the corner and staring at us. Are you ready? As we officially prepare to take the bike off the trainer it’s important to go over a short checklist to make sure that we are setting ourselves up for success. As a Physical Therapist and Bike Fitter I like to address both the body and the bike, so here we go… Let’s start with the ABCs (air, brakes, and chain): A - Air: Top off your sealant. Check your tires for any damage and wear. B - Brakes: Inspect your brake pads and discs. C - Chain: Check your chain. There are few things worse than having to throw on a new link in the middle of a race or ride. If necessary, roll into your LBS for an inspection and potential overhaul. It’s worth the cost. 4 Bike Fit Issues That You Can Address This Spring Digging a bit deeper, let’s look at some wear issues on the bike that might be tattling on your bad habits. My eyes go straight to the 3 contact points: pedals/cleats, saddle, and bars. Here are some things to look for: 1. Cleats When we think of the warm embrace of our pedal and cleat we can appreciate and benefit from some float (the ability to move our heel closer to and further from the chain stay while staying clipped in). However, we must also consider the amount of movement around the long-axis of the foot. Visualize the bottom of your foot looking left and right while resting on the pedal. As cleats wear out they gain the ability to rock back and forth which can cause a cascade of issues up the proverbial chain. As you sit reading this, push your arch down towards the floor and watch your knee follow. We’d really like to prevent this from happening while pressing down on a pedal with significant force thousands of times. Additionally, worn cleats become a safety concern because your foot is more likely to jump free from the pedal at inopportune times. If they’re worn, replace them. 2. Saddle Saddles typically need to be replaced every few years. I just heard you say, “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” I’m not. Saddles can lose their structural integrity after years of use which can increase pressure in the wrong places. It is also important to inspect your saddle for uneven wear and fabric disintegration, both of which are strong hints that your fit is off. Are you leaning more heavily on one side? Are you constantly scooting yourself back on the saddle? A visual inspection of the saddle can give us some good ideas about your bike fit. 3. Bar Tape One of the first things I look at during a bike fitting is your bar tape. It tells me where you have been spending most of your time. A clear indication of a poor fit is significant wear at the “elbow” transition between the tops and the hoods. This typically means that your hoods are too far away and that you aren’t ready to brake at all times. (Pro tip: Be ready to brake at all times.) If your bar tape is falling apart, replace it. The fact is that your bars are one of the few parts of your bike you get to look at when you’re riding it. Enjoy the view. 4. You What was your focus this winter? The best answer is, “Riding my bike, or nordic skiing, or (insert endurance exercise here) and working on strength and mobility, especially my weak and tight spots.” No? You don’t know where your weak and tight spots are? Don’t worry. You’re not alone. I recommend treating your body like you [should] treat your teeth. Folks go to the dentist twice a year in order to avoid losing their teeth. Imagine all of the injuries you might avoid if someone assessed your movement patterns once a year. You’d be less likely to “throw your back out” bending over to pick up your shoes. Find someone in your area who performs a Functional Movement Screen (we do!) or something comparable. Or see a PT to address that lingering pain in your (insert body part here). Taking care of your body off the bike will improve your enjoyment on the bike. Spring is a great time to step back and evaluate if you and your bike are ready for the coming season. However, give yourself some grace. You might not feel great on those first few rides. Your body, your bike, and the roads need some time to get reacquainted. If things don’t come together after 1-2 weeks of riding then your job is to identify the hurdles and find a way to clear them. Ask for help. There are plenty of us out here ready to help you. Happy riding. About Paulie Glatt As a competitive cyclist with a history of low back pain, Paulie has a great understanding of how critical a proper bike fit is to our experience on a bicycle. He rides Road, Gravel, Mountain, Bike Packs, and commutes by bicycle throughout the entire year. His longest race was The Day Across Minnesota, a 240-mile gravel race that he completed in 17 hours. To learn more about Paulie or to schedule a professional bike fitting, visit GO PHYSIO.

MinneIoWisco is a week-long gravel bikepacking loop through the picturesque Driftless Area of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The 273-mile route uses a mix of gravel, bike paths, backroads, and a smidge of singletrack to take in the region's many highlights, including the Kickapoo Valley, the Elroy-Sparta State Trail, and countless eclectic breweries and restaurants along the way... Created By: Scott Haraldson Originally published on Bikepacking.com and featured here with their permission. From BIKEPACKING.COM: Named for the fact that the route navigates parts of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, the 273-mile MinneIoWisco falls entirely within the beautiful Driftless Area. While no formal boundaries define the region, it encompasses much of western Wisconsin as well as the corners of southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa. Described as the land of many hills, Driftless represents why this landscape looks so different from the rest of the Upper Midwest. In short, the land was spared from the flattening effect of the most recent passage of drifting glaciers. As a result, it has an unmistakable character and unique topography that creates opportunities for winding roads to lead you up hundreds of feet to the top of bluffs before sending you swooping and racing back down into the valleys and rivers below. MinneIoWisco Bikepacking Route Map: BIKEPACKING.com is dedicated to exploration by bicycle. They inspire and inform through original bikepacking routes, stories, and coverage of the gear, news, and events that make our community thrive. They believe travel by bicycle has the power to encourage conservation, inclusivity, and respect for all people and cultures. More here. Disclaimer: If you choose to ride this route, you do so at your own risk. You are 100% responsible for being prepared for all conditions and making sure that biking these routes is legal. Before riding, check local weather, road conditions, closures, and property ownership. Obey all traffic laws and follow land use restrictions. Do not ride these routes without proper safety equipment and navigational tools. The accuracy of these routes cannot be guaranteed neither can we guarantee that these routes are on public property. TheNxrth.com and its contributors are in no way liable for the personal injury or damage to property that may result from cycling this route or any other routes on this website.

Today's Reader's Route is from Marty Larson and starts in Northfield, Minnesota. This hilly ride shows off beautiful views and takes you along Farmer Trail, an all time favorite local gravel road. Enjoy. Submission from Marty Larson A hillier choice but worth it! The course name comes from the farm up near the top of Cabot avenue. You will feel this climb as it works its way up to a terrific view at the top of 163rd Street. And Farmer Trail is simply one of the most treasured roads in the county - beautiful in every season. I prefer this route clockwise as shown - be careful crossing highway 3 on the way home Submit Your Reader's Route All Reader's Routes So Far

The US Fat Bike Open was held on Feb 24 at Ariens Nordic Center as part of the Snow Crown series. Brian Davis just dropped his Youtube recap of the race. To get an inside look at the race and what might be planned for next year, check out his video here. To learn more, visit Brian Davis Races on Youtube or check out the Snow Crown fat bike series. Cover photo by Mitchell Vincent.

We recently launched a new series called "Gravel Goals" to help you train for your 100 mile gravel races. Today Coach Paul Warloski discusses why you should include intervals in your training plan and how to use them to make you a faster, stronger cyclist. Words by Paul Warloski of Simple Endurance Coaching. To learn more, visit our Introduction to the Gravel Goals series. Boost Your Gravel Racing Performance: A Guide to Interval Training To have your best performance in a long gravel race, it’s important to do intervals throughout the season to maintain and build muscle strength as well as cardiovascular adaptations. Intervals, riding hard for short periods, followed by short periods of recovery, prepare your body - and your mind - for the challenges of gravel racing, especially over a long distance. These are generally high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions that can go anywhere from 30 seconds to about 20 minutes, depending on your purpose. Doing intervals will help you finish your gravel century more comfortably - and a lot more competitively. This is the fourth in a series of gravel-centered articles, designed specifically to help you achieve your performance goals at long gravel races this summer. Using the 80/20 model to schedule workouts. Learn More. Building a base for gravel racing performance. Learn More. Five keys to training for gravel racing. Learn More. Four Reasons to Do Intervals for Gravel Race Training 1. Cardiovascular Efficiency Interval training significantly improves cardiovascular health. It increases the heart's stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped per beat) and cardiac output (the total volume of blood pumped by the heart per minute). Improved cardiovascular efficiency means that more oxygen can be transported to the muscles during exercise, enhancing endurance. 2. Muscular Adaptations During high-intensity intervals, fast-twitch muscle fibers are recruited. These fibers are typically underused in cycling, which primarily engages slow-twitch fibers. Training these fibers can improve overall muscle strength and fatigue resistance, allowing an athlete to maintain higher intensities for longer periods. 3. Lactate threshold improvement Interval training helps in increasing the lactate threshold, which is the point during intense exercise at which lactate, which is a fuel source for energy production, starts to accumulate in the blood faster than it can be used. A higher lactate threshold means an athlete can perform at a higher intensity for a longer period before fatigue sets in due to excess lactate accumulation. 4. Capillarization Intervals, like endurance training, also help build more mitochondria and increase capillarization. This means there is the potential for more energy produced in the cell, improving efficiency, as well as more blood vessels to carry oxygen. Start With Your Weaknesses in Base Training For gravel racing, I generally suggest that cyclists work on their weaknesses in the base period. For most of us, we always need to increase our VO2max. VO2max measures the maximum rate at which your body can use oxygen, directly impacting the amount of energy your muscles can produce aerobically. This means higher sustained speeds or effort levels before fatigue sets in. A higher VO2max means you can maintain a harder pace, climb faster, or reach the summit with less exhaustion. With intervals designed to improve VO2max, we recruit fast-twitch muscles to make them stronger and more fatigue resistant. In the winter, for example, I often assign sets of 30/30s, 30 seconds as hard as you can sustain for the whole time, followed by 30 seconds of easy pedaling. Typically, we do four sets of six to eight repetitions. Longer Threshold Efforts Come Later in Race Preparation After you build your base of fitness, you’re starting to work on your specific race fitness. What are the requirements of your particular gravel race: Are there long hill, short hills, is there loose gravel where you just need to put the power down? Usually, gravel races require a lot of power for a long time. That means working on intervals at or above race pace for increasing amounts of time. This again means you’re recruiting - and strengthening - fast-twitch muscle fibers, which make you stronger. For example, you might do four sets of eight minutes at a hard pace, with two minutes rest. These are at or above your second threshold: the point in your breathing where you start to pant and can’t talk much except in short bursts. Once you feel those long intervals are manageable, increase the time to 10 minutes, then 12, and so on. What is the Frequency of Intervals? You might start with one interval session a week during the early base period. After a few weeks of letting your body get used to them, you can add a second. During the winter, I often tell my athletes to do Zwift races because they tend to max out your power and heart rate. In general, I recommend athletes only do two hard sessions/days a week with plenty of recovery in between. Interval sessions build up a lot more fatigue than endurance sessions so it’s critical to recover fully before starting another. Intervals Make You Fast Endurance training builds the base of your fitness. Intervals get you fast. If we continue with the building analogy from the last post, endurance training creates a big and sturdy foundation, threshold intervals raise the ceiling, and VO2max intervals raise the roof. Doing intervals are a critical part of training for gravel racing. Doing just endurance miles, for example, strengthen mostly just your slow-twitch muscle fibers. Intervals round out your strength by training the fast-twitch fibers. About Coach Paul Warloski Paul Warloski is a Level 2 USA-Cycling Coach, a certified yoga instructor, and a certified personal trainer. He supports everyday endurance athletes at Simple Endurance Coaching, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He's been racing gravel, road, mountain bike, and cyclocross for decades, so he brings both experience and training knowledge to help you to your best gravel race performances in 2024. He'll be racing the Big Rivers Gravel Series in Illinois, the Hungry Bear in Cable, likely the Coon Fork 40 in Eau Claire, and other gravel races this year. To learn more, or for a free 30-minute Virtual Coffee to talk about your training and your goals, visit Simple Endurance Coaching.

Popular mapping apps often have inaccurate gravel surface type classifications. To get a better view of where gravel roads are, many people turn to GravelMap.com. Here we discuss why GravelMap.com is a poor place to make gravel surface updates and why OpenStreetMap.org updates are significantly more powerful and further reaching. To learn more about OpenStreetMap and to add gravel surface types to all the mapping apps you use and love, visit OpenStreetMap. When planning gravel rides in new places or looking for new gravel roads for bikepacking routes, it can be hard to get accurate information about which roads are gravel. Popular mapping apps like RideWithGPS, Strava, Komoot, and Gaia are all known for having inaccurate surface type classifications. Known gravel regions might all be depicted as paved roads in a mapping app or your favorite gravel road might not even show up in your mapping app. That can get pretty frustrating when you're trying to plan a gravel route and maps are all incomplete. It makes sense then that a lot of people turn to GravelMap.com which is a user-generated map dedicated to displaying gravel roads. If someone has updated that area, it can give pretty good representation of where the gravel is and anyone can contribute to growing GravelMap.com as a community gravel resource. On the surface, GravelMap.com can seem like a really useful and even indispensable resource. But there are several reasons I think it not only falls short of being a useful solution but gets in the way making updates that are actually useful to the much larger gravel community across many more mapping platforms and more device types. Read on to see why we think it's better to never update GravelMap.com and instead contribute to OpenStreeMap.org. Why to NOT Add Gravel Surfaces to GravelMap.com 1. GravelMap updates don't ever appear in actual route planning apps. Updates that you add to gravel surfaces in GravelMap.com only exist in the closed ecosystem of GravelMap.com. If you use any popular mapping apps like Ride With GPS, Strava, Gaia GPS, or Komoot, gravel surface updates from GravelMap.com don't ever sync with those tools are never usable because they don't contribute to those platform's base layer maps. 2. It's a poor tool for serious route planning On a surface level, GravelMap.com seems like a nice tool. If you've ever been frustrated by other popular mapping apps' lack of accurate surface types, seeing a dedicated gravel map seems refreshing. But a simple visualization of gravel routes is where it ends as GravelMap.com lacks the serious route planning tools of the much more powerful routing options. 3. There is no mobile app or multi-platform syncing GravelMap.com is just website. No mobile app. No ride recording. No automatic syncing with your GPS. It's nice to visualize gravel surfaces on GravelMap.com but it doesn't do anything else. Updates that you contribute to GravelMap.com are stuck in a closed, single-channel platform. Using OpenStreetMap as an Alternative to GravelMap.com OpenStreetMap is the wikipedia equivalent of street maps. It's made of user-generated roads, trails, rivers, and WAY more. Imagine the power of GoogleMaps but anybody can make updates or fix incorrect map features and it updates other mapping platforms of all kinds. Because it's such a powerful map with global collaboration, popular route planning apps like Strava, Ride With GPS, Gaia, and Komoot all use OpenStreetMap to update their own proprietary mapping software. If you update OpenStreetMap, it'll eventually trickle down to all the mapping apps that cyclists use. 4 Reasons to Add Gravel Surfaces to Open Street Map Instead of GravelMap.com 1. OSM (Open Street Map) Automatically Sends Surface-Type Updates to All the Apps You Already Use & Love Ride With GPS, Komoot, Strava, and GaiaGPS all utilize Open Street Map data for their routing tools. When your surface type updates get added to OSM, they trickle down to your favorite mapping apps and those gravel surfaces are now usable for everyone around the world. 2. OSM Gives You the Power to Fix Incorrectly Mapped Roads (And Update ALL Map Apps at the Same Time) Do you have a favorite local gravel route or bikepacking adventure that shows roads in the wrong place? Anyone can fix incorrect roads in OSM and those corrections will end up updating tools like RideWithGPS, Strava, Komoot, and Gaia. 3. OSM Lets you Add Missing Roads Have you ever tried planning a gravel route in a place where you know there is a road but it doesn't show up in your routing app. By simply adding the missing road in OSM which syncs to other apps, you can personally update Ride With GPS, Strava, and Komoot at the same time. 4. OSM is a Free, Global, Crowd-Sourced Tool. Anybody can use OSM for free and contribute to one of the most powerful maps in the world. Your contributions extend way beyond the OSM platform and have an impact on travelers and adventurers across many disciplines beyond just cycling. 5. Adding Gravel Surface Types to Open Street Map Is EASY. Okay, so there's a little tutorial you'll need to start with in order to start making OSM updates, but that's good because it ensures that the global community of contributors making map updates actually know what they're doing. After you learn the tool, adding gravel surface types takes just a minute or two. New to OpenStreeMap? Here's What You Need to Know 1. It's a Powerful Tool with Lots to Learn OpenStreetMap is an extremely powerful resource with a lot of mapping tools and it really helps to take the tutorials on the website that they guide you through. You'll learn how to make fast and accurate updates of all kinds without breaking things. 2. Updates Take Time to Sync to Other Platforms Every mapping app like RideWithGPS, Strava, etc adopt updates from the base maps at different frequencies. When I update a gravel surface in OSM, I usually see the update synced to RideWithGPS' map in a few days to two weeks. When I add or fix missing roads, those usually take slightly longer like two to three weeks. Yes, it's a slower process but the impact is open-sourced map data that can reach unlimited numbers of other apps, devices, and recreational activities. 3. Get Started With OpenStreetMap.org Want to give it a try? This story isn't sponsored by OpenStreetMap and doesn't have any affiliation wit it whatsoever. It's just a tool we love because it helps improves maps everywhere. To get started, head to OpenStreetMap.org, and click "Start Mapping" so that you can create an account, take the tutorials, and start editing gravel surface types and adding or correcting missing roads. After submitting your updates, give it a few weeks and then enjoy seeing your map updates in the different mapping apps that you love.

Today we're announcing our very first signature destination Gravel Guide at Wedges Creek Hideaway in Wisconsin. Wedges Creek is a wood-fired pizza farm and bar with camping and tiny cabins in the middle of gravel country. Early Access to this Gravel Guide is now available to Patrons on our Adventure Team tier. Join us on Patreon to get access now.

As our eyes turn to the 2024 gravel season, we're releasing a brand new northern lights-inspired 2024 Nxrth jersey in time for gravel races and woodsy rambles. Designed and manufactured right here in Wisconsin's beautiful Driftless region by Borah Teamwear, these Pro jerseys are available until Thursday, Feb 22. Every jersey comes with: Fit Guarantee Recycled materials Silicone waist gripper Three rear pockets Lightweight Moisture wicking Made in Wisconsin Shop the 2024 Nxrth Jersey

In this week's installment of our Gravel Goals series, coach Paul Warloski talks about balancing the key components of a training plan into your busy life. Follow along with the Gravel Goals series to improve your performance in your 100+ mile gravel events. Words by Paul Warloski of Simple Endurance Coaching. To learn more, visit our Introduction to the Gravel Goals series. This week in our series on training for a long gravel race, we’re focusing on how to actually create a schedule that can work in your daily lives. It’s important to create a schedule that maximizes your training time. And we need to include endurance training, strength training, and yoga to improve our health, mobility, and fitness. How do you do all of that? Set up a gravel base training schedule around your life and work schedule Remember, here’s what we talked about in the last post: One long day of endurance riding Three to four days of short endurance riding Two days a week of strength training Two days a week of yoga - recovery and/or strength One or two days a week of intervals One rest day Scheduling Your Key Long Easy Ride Generally, most people have more time on the weekends, so schedule your long rides on weekends if that works. Plus more people are free on the weekends for group rides. Your other workouts can be scheduled for 30 to 90 minutes on days you’re working, again, depending on your schedule. You might find it easier to do double days or maybe you can ride to work and ride home the long way. You have lots of options to fit your schedule! Remember to practice your fueling and hydration along with using potential race gear like bags. Strength Training on Hard Days Generally, I advise athletes to have hard days and easier days. That means on hard days, couple your strength and your intervals. Unless there’s a specific reason you’re working on strength training, I’d suggest doing the intervals in the morning and strength training after work. We’re not trying to become Olympic lifters or bodybuilders so it doesn’t matter if we’re a little fatigued when we lift. Our goal is to lift to fatigue the muscles a little more than usual. Base Training Endurance Days I schedule longer base endurance days for the weekend when I have more time. If I’m training for a gravel century, I don’t necessarily need to eventually ride 100 miles in training. On the other hand, doing 60 miles Saturday and 60 miles Sunday at an endurance pace puts a lot of training stress in the bank and doesn’t cause as much muscle damage. During the week, you can add in as much endurance riding as you’re able to muster with your schedule. The more volume you can build with easy endurance miles, the better off you’ll be. But make sure you increase the volume incrementally each week. If you try to ride 60 miles and you’ve never done more than 20 before, you’re going to set yourself back! Scheduling Yoga Sessions Yoga for recovery - shorter sessions based on simple movements - can happen any time. For example, I have an 8pm Yoga Recovery session for my athletes every Monday on Zoom. Yoga for strength, a Hatha or Flow class, can be counted as strength training or done as part of a double day when you do your ride in the morning or after work. Do the yoga AFTER you ride. The 80/20 Model Keeps You Focused The idea of the 80/20 model is that 80 percent of your sessions or four out of five rides are endurance and the others are intensity. As we’ve talked about in the previous article, endurance rides are key elements of your training plan. You can build up a lot of training volume and stress without as much of the fatigue that builds up with higher intensity. So generally, do mostly easy endurance miles and some hard interval days, and you’ll get the adaptations you need in your muscles and cardiovascular system without too much fatigue. Sample Week Monday: Rest day Tuesday: intervals and strength Wednesday: easy endurance Thursday: easy endurance and strength Friday: rest or recovery ride Saturday: intervals and endurance Sunday: long endurance day You can always switch the weekend days. Try to get at least 48 hours in between interval sessions for full recovery. About Coach Paul Warloski Paul Warloski is a Level 2 USA-Cycling Coach, a certified yoga instructor, and a certified personal trainer. He supports everyday endurance athletes at Simple Endurance Coaching, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He's been racing gravel, road, mountain bike, and cyclocross for decades, so he brings both experience and training knowledge to help you to your best gravel race performances in 2024. He'll be racing the Big Rivers Gravel Series in Illinois, the Hungry Bear in Cable, likely the Coon Fork 40 in Eau Claire, and other gravel races this year. To learn more, or for a free 30-minute Virtual Coffee to talk about your training and your goals, visit Simple Endurance Coaching.

The newest episode of The Northwoods Ramble podcast recently dropped. Seeley Dave and TJ talk about ice riding, the lack of normal winters lately, and the conditions and snow making up around Seeley and Cable. From the Northwoods Ramble Podcast: It’s been a month since the last Ramble. I guess that is better than the two months between show 9 and 10. Anyway, Seeley Dave and TJ are back for Northwoods Ramble Show 11 and a review of the winter that wasn’t. 2024 started out with a New Years Day paddle down the Namekagon River for Dave and Liz. With almost no snow this winter, we go swale watching to see the piles of manmade snow the Birkie has stored and intends to spread out to create a 10K loop for the 50th. TJ explains a bit about the Birkie’s snowmaking capabilities. We discuss the huge economic hit the area has taken from winter lack of visitors. Dave gives an update on his frozen lake riding goals.