WAY TO GO, DWIGHT!

Several members of North Iowa SPIN participated in the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival mountain bike races on September 15 & 16 in Cable and Hayward, WI. This was the 25th Anniversary Festival and included the Chequamegon 40 mile off-road race and the Short & Fat, a 16 mile off-road race on Saturday, as well as the Cable Criterium on Sunday. Among the 2624 participants in the Saturday races was Greg LeMond, a previous winner of the Cheq 40 as well as winner of another famous race, the Tour de France. This year’s event was nearly 100 times the number of riders in the first Fat Tire Festival in 1983. There were 1766 riders in the Cheq 40, 858 in the Short & Fat, and 69 in the Cable Criterium. The conditions were cool and crisp for the start, but the day quickly warmed up to a beautiful, warm fall afternoon, the news of the Iowa State victory put a chill on the afternoon for several of the riders. (Quit messin' with this blog, T.)

The best finisher for NI SPIN was Dwight Beavers of Mason City, who placed first in the Men 70-79 bracket in both the Cheq 40 and the Cable Criterium. Other SPIN riders in the Cheq 40 were Dave Delperdang, Clear Lake, 35th in the M50-54 and 724th overall (with a time of 3:04:28.8); Tim Putnam, Mason City, 166th in M40-44 and 855th overall (3:10:26.8); Eric Rust, Forest City, 116th in M45-49 and 856th overall (3:10:29.1); Steve Younker, Mason City, 181st in M40-44 and 929th overall (3:1:35.3); Robert Polking, 92nd in M50-54 and 1240th overall (3:32:25.1); Barry Trump, Mason City, 47th in M55-59 and 1484th overall (3:54:12.5 – followed by a scheduled total knee placement on Tuesday, 9/19); and Joe Creedon, Woodbury, MN, 52nd in M55-59 and 1558th overall (4:05:03.5) . In the Short & Fat race, Steve Schurtz, Mason City, was 21st in M55-59 and 541st overall (1:33:28.2).

Plans are in progress and training has started for the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival 2008!

The win by Jesse Lalonde on a single speed ranks as one of the most impressive displays of mastery of a bicycle... Read More:
Midwest MTB Racing Recap - Chequamegon
Off the Coach: LaLonde talks about his singlespeed shocker

Cheqwammy Photos