This past Labor Day marked the 27th Laddies Loppet at Maplelag. I was 20 years old in between college years working as a head cook at the Concordia Language camp in Bemidi when I started mountain bike racing that summer of 1990. The first race I did was at Quadna mountain and I was hooked, this blog has a lot of bike posts because mountain biking has been a huge part of my life and the reason why I started it. Anyways, I thought it would be fun to have a race at Maplelag. On my day off each week I'd come home and build trail similar to what I raced on, thinking that would be good for training and be good for a race. The first Laddies Loppet had only had a little bit of singletrack and mostly ski trail. There were maybe 60some people with both winners coming from Canada. Since than, more trail has been built and the race grew hitting a high point, attendance wise, earlier this decade. It's all good as it is one of the weekends I most look forward to each year.
We've made some great friends over the years and it's like a family reunion. Many return, some new and some come back after a 3-5 year hiatus. One family we have bonded with is the Johnson family. The last few years Matt has helped out with the sponsorship, lining up the posters, shirts and media stuff. Big thanks again to Matt and his family. We had them for dinner Thursday night and a nice way to kick off the long weekend.
Denny Barry heading out to blow trail Friday morning. It had been dry all week and getting dusty in spots.
That all changed Friday afternoon when the forecasted .10" of rain turned to 1.2" of rain. With the first leaves coming down around Labor Day, we try to blow off the trail right at the last minute. This year meant blowing in the rain and big thanks to Denny and Ben Olson for doing that Friday afternoon.
Saturday morning the skies cleared and a beautiful day was on tap. The track was a little greasy but all things considered it turned out pretty good. Better for the later races for sure. Love the scene above...
Scrapping "baby poop" of the low areas on the singletrack early morning. Did a bunch of drainage work this summer but with 8" of rain in August, the ground was pretty saturated and takes a while to drain off.
Jonell and crew at registration. Jonell has done so many little things to help make it such a great event. Every Monday night we write down things that could be improved and enhanced. Always appreciate the feedback and take note of it.
Steve Wenzel still cranking it 27 years later.
It's been fun seeing all the families grow up over the years. Many of the adults above didn't have kids when they first came, now in the teens and ripping it up. Awesome!
Big thanks to all the sponsors and the Bacso family for the nice cork Mapleaf gift (very nice) and thanks to all that came that made it another great weekend.
First day of school on Tuesday after the weekend. Jack big Senior and Jens the freshman. Keep the wheels moving.
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