Mad FORCs host the Dirt Retreat with Alison Dunlap

An excellent weekend of mountain biking was had by all who

attended the Mad FORCs Dirt Retreat June 27th & 28th in Madison. The weather cooperated beautifully for Alison Dunlap who was one of the many talented instructors teaching mountain biking skills and techniques benefiting every level of rider from beginner to elite racer. Of course this awesome event wouldn't have been possible without the help from our many sponsors, listed to the right, Alison, Instructors and Dirt Retreat attendees. THANK YOU Sponsors for keeping all of us (students, moms, professionals, teachers, doctors, musicians, scientists, engineers) riding !

CAMBA Festival of the Trails

Renee C, Renee V, Pam and Carolyn all made their way "up north" to enjoy the first Festival of the Trails on the CAMBA trails. Good times were had by all . . . with food, schwag, and excellent singletrack!


Renee C. after getting drenched at the end of her ride on the Rock Lake trail. And yes it rained really hard!


Pam rocking the Hatchery Creek trails.


Carolyn enjoying some tasty food during the "Taste of the Trails" part of the weekend.

12 Hours of Northern Kettles

Some pics stolen from Brittany from the 2nd WEMS race, 12 Hours of Northern Kettles. Kathy, Berlie and Barb did a 12-Hour Women's team and Amelia rocked the 3-hour solo. Nice job gals!


Kathy




Barb



Amelia

Photos of our Middle School Ride

Middle School Ride

Last Thursday Deb, Melissa and Renee had the opportunity to go with kids from Spring Harbor Middle School on a bike ride. Originally the plan was to go mountain biking at the Kettles but the weather did not cooperate and the trails were closed that day. However, since the kids were anxious to ride and they had brought bikes to school Jen, their teacher, came up with a new plan. In stead we all rode from their school around the Capitol City Trail loop for a total distance of 20 miles.

It was quite a site - 22 middle school kids and 5 adults - making their way through town and around the trail. For most of the kids 20 miles of riding was a huge deal and at times I think all the adults had doubts if everyone would make it. However, we successfully got all the kids around the loop and back to school at the appointed time and with the only injury being some skinned knees.

Let's hope we can get them out mountain biking in the future!

Watch Women Mnt Bike Racing!

Know how you end up on websites you weren't really meaning to visit? This morning I stumbled upon female US Cup mnt bike racer Melanie McQuaid's website, racegirl.com. Her April 2nd entry has a video from the Fontana City, CA US Cup race.

The race starts on a nice downhill. Notice the stupe spectators at the bottom who almost get clipped. They would have deserved it too! About halfway through, they are coming off another downhill section and onto a road. Notice the black guardrail. I can't tell if it's solid or plastic, but that's a pretty scary "obstacle" to avoid coming off a downhill.

I think we so could ride that trail! I did notice much of the video showed hill climbing, and most of you know I am NOT a fan of the climb. But this year I hope to get over that. Funny thing is I love to climb on my road bike (got a new one-yay!), but not so much on the mnt bike. Maybe I need therapy to find out why.

Chequamegon Bound!

I just looked in my checking account and saw that my check for the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival has cleared! I made it in. Now I am 4 for 4. My goal this year is to do it under 3 hours and 40 minutes. The last time I did the race I completed it in 4h 10m.

Yay!!

Barb

Welcome Unwin Chiropractic and Wellness Center

The Mad FORCs are pleased to announce our latest sponsor . . . Unwin Chiropractic and Wellness Center. Now everyone can feel comfortable riding and racing as hard as they want and then making a visit for an adjustment or massage. Heck, you could even just get a nice relaxing massage instead of waiting until your muscles are a knotted mess.

Here's what Renee has to say about this new sponsor - I've made several visits this winter for post-ski race massages and I can vouch for how awesome it is to have them on board. I don't think I would have made it through my ski season without Lee's massage work . . . especially post-Birkie (and 35k of skiing with a leg cramp).

Spring is in the air!

Time to get this blog "rolling" again . . . we've had some nice spring days and people are out riding now. Feel free to post stories and photos!! To that end we've got our April/May ride schedule done and our kick off meeting planned. You can check it out on the FORCs website.

The Kick Off meeting is Tues, March 31 at the Wil-Mar Center on Jenifer Street here in Madison. Meeting at 7pm with treats provided. Our rides start in April with road and Cap City trail rides on the traditional Tuesday/Thursday schedule. Mountain bike rides are tentatively planned to start in May as usually the trails are dry by then. We'll be riding at Cam-Rock more this year due to the trail expansion there offering more riding options. Should be a fun year!!

Oh yeah, and Alison Dunlap is coming back for the Women's Dirt Retreat on June 27 and 28. Maybe we'll get dryer weather this year!!