Every October, the weekend following my birthday, I go up to Laona, Wisconsin, to experience the best gravel Wisconsin has to offer. The name of the race series is The Bear. It occurs in May (The Bear 100) and October (called The Hibernator). There are multiple route & length options, a 3-mile singletrack section, and, of course, beautiful gravel & fall colors.
It’s a beautiful time of year for a gravel race on the backroads of the northwoods. The route I took was the 103 mile option, though there were also 31 mile and 63(ish) mile options that are also beautiful.
This race isn’t easy at any length, but the 103 mile route was particularly brutal this year. A mix of dry weather and a particularly hot October 4th made this race dusty & the gravel quite loose. The first section heading south out of Laona is an ATV trail that is notorious for being loose. Though it’s gotten better over the years, it was particularly loose & hard to get through on this day. I made it through okay, but others had to get off their bikes at a few points.
Once through that section, I was at the back of the second pack, surrounded by about 10 riders. This was the start of the Rat River Trail, which was, by far, my favorite section of the day. The gravel was perfect and there were leaves across most of the trail. The peaceful rat river to the north, following a hill on the right, and the cool morning air was a perfect combination. For that few miles, I was in a cyclist’s heaven. That would soon end.
After the Rat River Trail, we navigated some loose, quick turns to get to Bear Lake. I caught up with some folks from Green Bay and chatted with them for a bit. It was their first time coming up, and they were doing the 63 mile route. We headed west on Goodman Park Road from Bear Lake, which was the first paved segment of significant length. I let them get ahead of me as I was thinking I should pace myself. That was bad thinking on my end.
The next intersection was the location of the first (and due to the route taking us back here later, the 3rd) water stop. I skipped right past it because I was cold and had barely touched any water or snacks. We turned right here, on to Rat River Road. This was gravel but it wasn’t too loose. Considering the conditions, it was actually pretty alright. I was enjoying the ride and keeping a decent pace. A guy I had passed earlier, Mike, caught my tail and we started chatting. He was from Milwaukee, and it was his first time doing this race. He was on a Trek Domane, running slick 28c tires – definitely the wrong setup for that day. He wasn’t feeling it too bad at this point, though, and when the option came to take the fork to the 63 mile route or the 103, he followed me. We continued on to Camp 1 road.
Things were beautiful at this point. The sun was starting to breakthrough the clouds & trees, the breeze was nice, and it wasn’t too cold. Soon after this, we’d get caught by Graeme, a really cool guy that had an awesome looking bike. This would be my crew the rest of the day. About a mile and a half after the above photo was taken, I got a flat. We were stopped for about a half an hour. About 15 people passed us.
After getting moving, we kept moving. The next 30 miles was pretty alright. Gorgeous fall colors, good conversation & company, plenty of climbs, plenty of descents. Mike told us about how he had started biking just about a year ago and most of his riding has been on indoor trainers. He only just completed his longest training ride of 75 miles in preparation a few weeks prior. He was regretting his gear choice, but nonetheless was holding up extremely well. It was here that I had learned about a crash he had earlier in the day on that sketchy ATV trail. Rough start, Mike. But I would soon get another flat, at about mile 50. Another 10 or so folks passed us and it set us back another 25 minutes. It was now 12:30 and we were way behind everyone else.
The next stop was the Strong Falls singletrack, which I thought was at mile 54. I thought there would be a rest stop there because in May’s edition, there was a whole crew there with a bench & tools. I couldn’t quite get my tire inflated all the way because the small pump we had was difficult to use. I was annoyed and felt bad for holding these guys up, so I persisted with a little less air in my tire than I probably should have had. The next 9 miles was brutal. When we saw the sign for Strong Falls, we all got pretty stoked. But we were quickly disappointed to find that there was nobody there. “Well, there will be someone on the other side”. We filled our bottles, used the pit toilet, and took on the singletrack.
Mike had never ridden singletrack. The Strong Falls Trail is pretty easy, but any singletrack is still challenging for a first timer, let alone a first timer on a road bike with 28c tires. We gave him the best advice we could – keep it on the inner chainring, keep your hands on the hoods, squeeze (don’t pull) the brakes, ride the rear, and practice using your body weight to control the direction of the bike rather than turning the bars. He handled himself extremely well. Graeme led most of the way and was impressive to watch.
Did I mention that Graeme’s bike is cool as hell? It’s a Fuji Gravel bike that’s green with red accents and matching red tread/tan sidewall Gravel King tires. Awesome build.
Anyways, we were riding through, and I definitely felt my rim bottom out a few times. I was nervous but didn’t flat. At the end of trail, where I was sure to find salvation, there was not a thing. On to the next rest stop, at mile 74.
I was excited for this part of the route, because a long time ago, my spouse and I (while we were still dating) came up to a cabin on Camp Six Lake with their mom, brother, and his girlfriend (and as of recent, his wife – if you’re reading this Nate & Virginia, congrats!). I was familiar with the area and have been super happy to come back and ride those roads again every year. Nearby that lake, there is a driveway that is marked with license plates that have my spouse’s name on them, so I took that photo and sent it off. This marked being well past the halfway point, at mile 75. Where was that next rest stop?
That would be at mile 85. After a couple grueling miles on the unpaved section of Goodman Park Road, we had a lovely descent that got us to the final (which, as noted earlier, was also the first) rest stop. We drank some Pepsi and water, ate some Pringles, and enjoyed a nature break before heading off into the literal and proverbial sunset.
We stopped at a favorite bridge of mine, a spot where I’ve taken a photo every year of the race. Things were finally looking good as we entered the last 13 miles of the race. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the colors were definitely peak and I managed to get one really beautiful photo of Graeme in front of me.
Very shortly after getting that photo, my rear tire gave out again. This time, we were set back another 20 minutes, but at least it went quickly. Soon after that, we ran into Brent, the race organizer. He was doing the final sweep of the route. He’s a good dude and took some photos of us before heading off to complete the sweep. Shortly after then, I asked the other two guys to stop for a second so I could put just a little more air in my rear tire. Of course, as I was pulling the pump off, I pulled out the presta core, too, and dumped all the air. Another 10 minute stop.
Finally, we were moving again and got on the last stretch of gravel – Old Highway 8 Road. This was a really cool road that had some nice curved descents. Great for me and Graeme because it was rowdy, but Mike had another fall here. To his credit, he got right up with a smile on his face though. Real trooper – next year this guy is going to kick ass.
After 10 hours of elapsed time, 104.56 miles, and over 4k feet of elevation, we were finally at the finish. There was one person behind us, the only DNF of the day. We were the last ones in. But it was a great time that I’ll never forget.
Stats for the nerds below. Yes, this was, somehow, a 100 mile PR for me. I plan to address that by the end of the year.
