Beating the "Dead Horse"

Flogging a dead horse (alternatively beating a dead horsed) is an idiom that means a particular effort is a waste of time as there will be no outcome. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. A few months ago...

A few of us signed up for a new self supported, 200 mile, bike-packing ride called the "Dead Horse" as part of it takes place on a Wisconsin trail named the Dead Horse and it looked to be a good mix of dirt road and double-track in the woods of Wisconsin and nothing beats bashing around the back woods with your buddies.

The night before we arrive late and hole up in the RV so we do not have to repack camping gear. Repacking gear sucks, it takes time and it's often wet and, well, it's almost always cold out. Add to that, you want warm clothes on for the hour or so before the start and if you change early and repack you have to stand around in gear that it's idea. This way, you can change into riding gear at the last minute and head out.

Morning of is cold and wet, yep, that's about right! We meet the ride organizer and get the cue cards or what we call tulip cards. They are the backbone of gravel riding in Minnesota. A card from a ride I did in 2015 is to the right while below is Josh picking up our sets of cards for the Dead Horse.

Early on a few people new to bike-packing turned back as they had very heavy gear and were struggling on the hill. They decided to drive to the camp we were all headed to and camp and ride from there and we'd see them later that day. Only 1 of them showed. 

Early on everyone is together so we can get to know the other riders, make some friends and help everyone get their navigation legs. Remember we have 200 miles to go so you'll probably need help before it's over.

Our friends Neil and Jen surprised us by showing up.

Some of the interesting things you find on long back country rides is the local junk pile. We can't help but stop and look around.

Regrouping after a small navigation error. The road signs don't always match the cue cards but it's not hard to figure it out if you're ok riding a few miles out of your way.

 

Resupply at the local store. We need to get a dinner as this is the last town before camp. I get a steak and some snacks. I have a pasta side to cook if I have to but getting something substantial is better and I can always have second dinners. Second dinners is a real thing on long rides.

Just down the street is an eatery and it wasn't even asked, we all just pulled in for a hot lunch. The owner tried to sell us, seriously hard sell, the business. Talked on and on about how great it is. I tried to tell him, we are just passing through and have zero interest in owning his problems. He replied by how he would share his secret hamburger bun recipes. It was tempting but we said, sorry.

 After lunch the route gets a lot more interesting and we have all settled into 2 groups. I'm in the lead group with Josh, Neil and Jen.

Behind is the organizer of the Dead Horse and a few others, however it's been too long and I forget their names. Below is the Organizer.

We start running into the mud holes all too common on forest service roads and low maintenance roads. Some ride around, some through. Hard to say what's better. Walking around is always muddy but less wet, riding through is wet but no mud and you never know how deep the mud or the water is so it's a crap shoot.

 

 A few miles from camp the cue card contains several errors in a row making a mess of navigation. We are supposed to turn Right on 187th, but there is no right, only a left. We head up the road like 3 miles, realize it's wrong, turn around and find part of the second group coming up the road. We talk, head back, make more errors and eventually get on route. The last instruction on the cue card is turn onto the trail before the road bends. We can't find it. Almost everyone is there by now. We are on the spot and everyone is searching up and down the road but it's all houses and people cutting their grass and washing cars. The only trails are their driveways. Everyone quits and just sits on the road waiting for one man, the organizer to show us. He arrives and turns into someones dirt drive and around a tree and around that tree and we are on a old dirt road headed to a really great campsite.

 Camp at last. I think the day ended at about 90 miles. It was great if you ignore the 30 minutes of searching and the frustration of being totally lost for 5 miles. The large fella is the one person that drove over. He and someone take his truck into town to get beers so everyone could have suds with dinner.

 I didn't get pictures of my camp. I used a bivi bag and small tarp. I slept well but bivi bags are not comfortable. Back on the road, headed back to the start using new roads. The route has us listed for 90 more miles and the "Dead Horse" trail.

Many hours later the roads are in poor shape, we left camp late and our cue cards contain more errors so things are going slow. We talk about it and figure we're not going to get back until 6pm or later and all of us need to drive the 4 hours back to Saint Paul. That is not good and it's not going to happen but we have little option on our bikes. What we need to food and beer and a good thinking.

 Long about that time we find a road house with all the fixings of a good escape route.

 We pull a MN Snowmobiling map down and start planning our exit. Everyone wants out! It's already close to 3PM

 We all have bits of the map on our camera and we stay together so nobody gets dropped and lost. By now we are all friends trying to get home.

HOME AND IT'S STILL DAYLIGHT!

We started out knowing we could do the miles and wanted a little adventure with our friends. We thought we would have no trouble beating the dead horse, but as it turned out we didn't finish - but we did get to the end. We rode for two days and really got nothing done because we didn't stay on route so, oddly, you could say we got nothing done and that's called Beating A Dead Horse. 

CAMBA (Wisco Trip II)

Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association:

We'll explain the cover photo in due time but for now we are about to take a 3 day weekend in the Cable/Hayward area of Wisco for some trail time. It's deep into fall and we need to get our wheels on some new dirt.

The plan, if you can all it that, is to ride most of the trails in the CAMBA system. I've been here a few times for a race but did almost no riding outside of the race route. Blake and I want to get out of town and with the RV we don't care about finding camping like the last time. Read about it here, Wisco.

 Danky Dank is new and recommended by two gentlemen doing trail work but for now we are going to finish "Rock Lake". It's not our favorite, cuz, all the rocks. :-)

Weather is good and the riding is going great but Blake isn't feeling very well. His energy is low from a new training diet as he attempts to condition for endurance Triathlons.

CAMBA is really a nice area. The forest is ideal for riding because it's bright and open so you can see the trail as it bends and you don't get surprised. That and they have over 100 miles of trail.

 Most of this map is trail but not all of it is single track. We ride maybe 80% of it. There are other areas outside of this map that also have trails, so there is a lot to chose from.

 Time for Danky Dank!

It's very well laid out and flows well in either direction. We enjoy it a lot more than Rock Lake.

It's not a finished trail. We got word from the trail builders that a short part is 'hike a bike' and it's about to start. The trail building tools are basic and require a strong back to use them all day.

Notice the orange flags. They indicate the intended trail. It's already well scouted and planned to be interesting to riders.

 Below: It's called a bench cut for obvious reasons.

 Back on old established trail.

  We don't get the chance to double back and return to our staring point on the Danky Dank. It takes longer then expected, we run short on time, take a shitty gravel road back and get lost. Ultimately, we end up in the wrong place.

Into town for dinner and we stop at a bar that's nicknamed "The Squirrel Bar" by mountain bikers because of all the macabre dioramas of animals. Most date back to the 50's or before.

Last day is the trails nearest Hayward. We park at the trailhead for the night and ride first thing in the morning.

 The closer you get to Hayward the 'better' the trails become as the money and tourism improves with usage. Nobody pays for trail work way out of town.

Below is the part of the 107 kilometer Birkie Trail system as it's shared in summer with the mountain bike trail.

Nearing the end of the day, Blake stays back at camp and I go out riding for an extra hour. I do it mostly to gain some solitude and recenter myself around the weekend and the woods. 

Peaceful end to a rock solid weekend.