Hayward Fat-Tire Unofficial

By Luxo-D

Who loves a weekend get away? Well I sure as heck do – how about you? You know, get away from the monotony of the rat race, and responsibility, by having "The Good Ol' Times," with your buddies, and stuff. Get out on the bike dammit, and ride your brains out! For mountain biking...this is it. A carnival of biking delight!

Where to Bruté?
Hayward Wisconsin, is your classic weekend excursion in this part of the upper midwest. 3 hours Northeast of the Twin Cities more or less. A regular fisherman's cabin oasis to be exact. With a plethora of cabins, lakes, and woods. It is also home to a fairly popular mountain bike race every September as well – The Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. A classic 40 mile mountain bike race on pretty nice chunk of the American Birkebeiner Cross Country Ski Trail.

The boys of TEAM SPROCKETS™ gave it a go recently, and to much joy indeed. With an excellent mix of single track, logging roads, snowmobile/ATV trails, paved highway, and The Birky Trail – it was your basic variety of ambrosia, pure and simple. The G-Man, Spud, and myself drove up from the Twin Cities the Friday night before, (including four stops to McDonald's for a chocolate shakes), so we could get a fresh start the following day. We stayed at an awesome lake cabin called Haycreek Cabin, nestled snugly into a fantastic wooded area on a gorgeous lake in the Chippewa Flowage.

Expedition Activated
Getting started at a reasonable time the following Saturday morning, we visited a local bike shop in town, for some reassuring guidance. The Blue Moon Bicycle Store. It is an awesome store, with a great selection of bicycles, and accessories. It also has plenty of cross country ski gear too, if you're into that kind a thing. We got plenty advice, recommendations, and directions for our full day Odyssey. Our route was straight forward enough, Hayward to Cable.
We even enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a local woodfired pizza establishment midway through our ride in Cable to boot (The Rivers Eatery & Ideal Market). With a bounty of thirst quenching beers too, I might add. The pizza...savory vontastic!

The BEST Day Ever
If there was a perfect weekend for weather, this was it! An absolutely beautiful fall day for riding. The forest was at it's peak of Fall color, with the air temperature at a regular 60 degrees the entire day, and a gentle, comforting breeze. It was a treat, to switch back from single track, to trail, to logging road, and then back through out the
day – variety was definitely the name of the game. Hills? Plenty galore that's for sure. A never ending roller coaster of them.

Finally, after it was all done, with cramps setting in, and the disorientation working it's magic...we savored our victory with Steak, wine, good banter and Bruce Lee and Quentin Tarantino movies. The next morning, after a great night sleep, morning coffee, and National Lampoons Animal House, we celebrated our weekend Odyssey with a classic morning breakfast at one of Hayward's classic breakfast institutions...The Norskie Nook.

Not too shabby, I'd say...eh? Here's to the "Good Ol' Times."