Bluedog Cycles

12/27/07 | A Season's Recap
A million apologies to my friends close and far, as well as to everyone who has attempted to inquire about the goings-on at Bluedog Cycles and the Driftless cycling scene in the past 12 months. Call it a hiatus; chalk it up to being quite busy with all the fun projects, or my computer illiterateness, but I have not made the time to update our webpage. But as the winter settles in (12 inches of fresh as I write this) I’m finding a bit more time to update y’all on what’s happening currently and an abbreviated recap of a great past year. I’ve also made the smart decision to invite some friends in to help out and contribute some great pictures, some fun writings, and whatever else they may have up their jersey sleeves.

So, without further adieu…This past year was great for us here at Bluedog Cycles as well as Vernon Trails (our sister endeavor). The highlights are as follows:

January-
We were riding strong well into the winter with very mild snowfalls. Eventually the snow came and we all retreated to the trainers, the skis, and the snowshoes.

February-
This is always the quiet time of the year, but a critical time. We do a lot of planning for the upcoming season with lots of meetings and such in February and start to get really excited. This year Bluedog was excited to get involved with the Coulee Region Youth Cycling junior development team. I sat down with Kenny Crook (General Manager of Mt. Borah and Director Sportif), and started talking about how we could help out with this great group of kids. On another note, I had a great meeting with Garith Steiner, CEO of Vernon Memorial Hospital. He had approached us about getting involved with some of the great projects that Vernon Trails had planned. After a short and very positive meeting, VMH pledged financial backing of our junior team, as well as a sizable donation towards a Ditch Witch (mechanized trail building tool).

March-
For the past ten years I get with my long time riding buddy and great friend Dan (Bobby) Pribek. We hit the road to go and rip up some new (to us) singletrack somewhere nice and warm. This year we gathered up five of my Vernon County friends and headed south to the lesser known- Arkansas Ozarks. Once we got there (probably saw 30 cars in the snowy ditches of Iowa along the way), we found amazing trails and 70°. As we rolled back into town, the snowplows were out in full force to welcome us back to reality.

April-
By April the shop was ramping up and the trails were drying out. Sidie Hollow (a Vernon Trails trail building project) faired very well with the heavy snow pack, and came out looking like a trail that has been around for years versus one that was newly established just six months prior. Vernon Trails held its first annual spring cleanup day, and had a great turnout. We also sent a solid crew out to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve for their annual volunteer work day and did some great work out there.
April also kicks off road cycling. This year we had a great group of road cyclists representing Vernon Trails. It was a great beginning to hopefully a long tradition of road cycling/racing for Vernon Trails.

May-
By May we were swamped with repair work at the shop. By the middle of the month we were looking at about 40 tune-ups. “A good problem to have” was the most commonly heard phrase of the month.

June-
Now in full swing at the shop, we’re seeing great customers coming in from as far away as Minneapolis and Madison. When we can, we would rally a daytrip to some great mountain biking hotspots in the greater area like Decorah, HPT (La Crosse), Ash Creek (Richland Center), Blue Mound (Mt. Horeb), and Levis-Trow (Neillsville). Vernon Trails represented in La Crosse at the Blufflands Epic Enduro Race and brought home five first places. It was a great month of riding, only to get better.
We received a special thrill when an IMBA representative came into town for a visit and a guided bike ride out at Sidie Hollow. With his glowing report, the Vernon Trails trail crew knew they were on their way to a successful trail system.
Also in June, Alycann started a Women’s only group ride. The “no woman left behind” themed group has become known as the “girldogs”, and saw groups as large as 18 riders a week.

July-
In July Bluedog Cycles put on the first annual Camp Bluedog, a mountain bike camp for kids at Sugar Creek. These trails were built by the guys up in La Crosse and man did they build some fun stuff. Great job guys. We had 25 enthusiastic kids from around the area spend the weekend ripping it up. This was a HUGE highlight of our year, and we can’t wait to do it again in ’08.
Meanwhile, Vernon Trails worked with our friends at Organic Valley to put on the Butter Churn Bicycle Tour. This is a great fundraising bike ride in conjunction with the Kickapoo Country Fair (an event not to be missed).

August-
August was a blur; with lots more repair work, more riding, and lots of mountain bike sales. The kids are started to get into it, and that’s why we’re here.
We started hosting “Kid’s day rides” out at Sidie, and saw as many as 20 riders a week. It’s absolutely impossible to ride with these kids without having a great time, we went on to do these rides right up till the short days of winter.

September-
September was huge for both Bluedog Cycles and Vernon Trails. Any mountain biker in the Midwest knows that September means “Fat Tire 40”. This is one of the biggest mountain bike races in the country (2500 racers), and is the greatest bike festival I’ve been to. I can’t thank my friend Chris Jackson (Owner of Mt. Borah and Vernon Trails Vice President) enough for getting us into this race again. Jackson, you’re the man. After we took a week off in the northwoods of Wisconsin, we returned home to start planning the second annual Sidie Trail Fest. The previous year we had 60+ volunteers show up and build 2.2 miles of brand new “shared-use” trails. This was going to be a tough feat to beat. However, thanks to great planning and phenomenal volunteer showings, Vernon Trails saw 95 eager trail builders this year as we built another 1.5 miles of great “shared use” singletrack. Now Sidie Hollow County Park is a destination spot with so much more to come.
A huge THANK YOU to all the volunteers, and all the local businesses (too many to list), who did their part to help make this a mountain biking hotspot.
A wonderful Cyclocross Race Series was started by VMH Wellness Center resident cyclist Chris Newlin. Bluedog Cycles was a proud sponsor of this 8 week series and performed countless “race tunes” for the budding 5-14 year old champions. The best part of the series was the huge number of juniors we saw every week battling it out.

October-
Well of course my immediate response to anyone who asks “Why leave the mountain biking Mecca of Idaho, to move back to Wisconsin?” would be- “to get closer to my family”. But truth be told, I missed riding in the autumnal fire (as my friend Kirby from Capitol Brewery calls it). I’ve ridden all over the country, and nothing compares to riding the trails of the Midwest in October. The air is clear and crisp, the bugs are gone, the trails are wide open, and the colors are fantastic. So, as the kids were back in school, and the shop slowed down a bit (to something more manageable), we rode and rode and rode.

November-
This was a big month in Vernon County politically speaking. The Department of Tourism had previously offered Vernon County a Multi-Use Path to parallel the Highway 14 project that they have on the docket in 2011. Thanks to Vernon Trails and other community leaders, the path has been approved and the community will be a much richer place for it. To blow off steam, we worked and rode a lot at Sidie in November. The trail was as fast and tacky as it has ever been, and the talk of a time trial next spring kept coming up.

December-
This December has been a snowy one. So Bluedog Cycles embraced winter and brought in some hockey equipment as well as snowshoes. We have had some great outings at Sidie Hollow complete with bonfires, good friends, and trips to the overlooks aplenty. We’ve seen so much snowshoe activity (beating down the trail) in fact that a few of us have been out there riding bikes. There’s nothing like carving on snow.
Vernon Trails has also started to work with the Viroqua Parks and Rec. Department to groom some amazing skate and classic Nordic trails and has plans to acquire a fleet of rental skis as well as offering
Ski clinics.

12/21/06 | Bluedog Cycles' Holiday Hours and Future Plans

Bluedog Cycles will be closed December 26th through January 2nd for the holidays. We will reopen on Wednesday January, 3rd at 10:00am.

Pete and Alycann will spend much of their January getting set for an exciting 2007 cycling season. Vernon Trails will be holding their winter Board Meeting and discussing some future projects which will include more trailbuilding, some bike tours, and some cross-country ski possibilities. We will also be partnering with Borah to develop a cycling club/team/junior development race squad, mountain biking camps for kids, mtb time trial race series, and a cyclocross race.

Also new to Bluedog Cycles is a rental fleet of Kona mountain bikes, road bikes and Townie cruisers. These will be available for rent from half-day to full weeks. Come and enjoy the new trail system at Sidie Hollow, ride the twisty backroads, or just cruise through town exploring Viroqua's historic places.

10/20/06 | Sidie Hollow Trail Fest, A Huge Success!

On September 30th, over 70 volunteer workers of all ages met at Sidie Hollow County Park and constructed a brand new “Shared Use” trail. The project was hosted by Vernon Trails, a non-profit organization committed to developing and protecting safe roadways and trails, while continuing to create access for trail users.

Trail workers coming from Viroqua, Westby, La Farge, Tomah, Madison, and as far as Minneapolis started arriving by 8:30 am at the north end pavilion. During the seven hour workday, volunteers were divided into trail crews of 6-8 people and were shuttled to the upper campground in the team cargo van donated by Mt. Borah of Coon Valley. At the trailhead, the crews were given trail-building instruction. Tasks ranged from cutting deadfall on the trail, pruning branches, raking debris, removing rocks and roots, and picking up litter. By 3:00 pm, a brand new, 2.2 mile Shared Use trail had been created.

After the trail build, trail workers, as well as the rest of the community were invited to celebrate. Food and drink was donated by local farmers, and area merchants. Entertainment was provided by Finding Monte, a three-piece rock band from Westby, and The Bluedog Experience, a five piece jazz conglomeration, lead by Viroqua’s own Tom Gullion. In addition to the celebration and to honor our trail workers, massages were given and drawings for various cycling prizes were held.

Vernon Trails would like to recognize and thank everyone that helped to make the first annual, “Sidie Hollow Trail Fest”, a tremendous success: Vernon County Parks, Bluedog Cycles, Mt. Borah, Capital Brewery, The Cheese Corner, Finding Monte and The Bluedog Experience, Human Powered Group of La Crosse, Kickapoo Coffee Roasters, Kickapoo Valley Reserve, Kona Bikes, Nelson Agri-Center, Jay Skrede, Kathy Lofton of the Healing Arts Center, Serene Green Fields, and all the hard working volunteers.

Not only was the event great fun, it was a great achievement for the community. The new trail is a wonderful addition to the recreational opportunities of Vernon County.

Vernon Trails will be continuing to work on the trail and volunteers are welcomed. Work days will be held on Wednesday evenings(5pm) and Sunday afternoons until the ground is too frozen to work. For directions, trail conditions, and other information contact Pete at Bluedog Cycles.

Directions: The new trail is located at the upper campground on the west side of Sidie Hollow County Park, off County Road XX. The trail is marked with a small brown sign that reads “TRAIL” on the left side of Campground Road just as it reaches the campsites. The 2.2 mile loop gently rolls through the woods as it crowns the entire bluff, ending across the road from where it starts.

Upcoming events for 2007

Bluedog Cycles has teamed up with Mt. Borah to bring the following activities and opportunities to Vernon County in 2007:

* Youth Cycling Clinics with Pro Racers
* Summer Midwestern Mountain Bike Camps
* Mountain Bike Time Trial Race Series
* Road and Mountain Bike Teams and Club
* Maintenance classes for the whole family
* F.I.T – Families Involved Together
* More Trails to be Built with Vernon Trails

03/24/06 | Day's Work

An inchworm writhes up its filament
threadwise to catch some light.
It winces, cinches up the single strand.

Lime flexed, spinning,
a pin on windswept cilium
whips mad to flag more web.

A mountain biker slows,
unnoticed by a doe
hid behind the spoiling oak.

Sun shears through leafy blinds
as the lean lime larvae line
dangles from this spot in time
to rest on air’s denier.

Soon, a fellow rider stops to catch
the one-worm high-wire act,
then presses onward, up the path,
as the lone doe bounds down rutted tracks.

03/23/06 | Local Artists

Viroqua County Seat

all weather stirs
Ocooch driftless
till

cyclone/flashflood/
white out/deep chill

light bulb tales
and
kettle/

well-settled/
full in what they do

02/28/06 | Mountain Bikers gain new Trail System

On Thursday, February 23rd, Bluedog Cycles and friends presented to the Board of Directors at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. Pete Taylor, (owner of Bluedog Cycles) Brad Merkel, (Bluedog’s frame builder) and Marty Larson, (co-president of the Driftless Area Recreational Trail Committee or D.A.R.T.) attended the monthly board meeting, to present the Board with their request for consideration in making all of the trails in the Reserve open to multi-use functions. Until now, about 50% of the trails were closed to mountain bikers. All of the equestrian trails were off-limits to cyclists, leaving open, only 5 miles of mountain bike specific trails, (dirt roads and two-tracks) and Old Highway 131 (a mostly paved path). While these bike friendly options are beautiful in their own right, they lack difficulty and diversity. However, anyone who has been to the Reserve and traveled the twisty, and undulating equestrian trails has learned that these are the type of challenging, “singletrack”, trails that mountain bikers seek.
The trio had presented the request to the Reserve’s Land Management Committee on February 13th, stating the economic, social, and environmental benefits of welcoming a broader range of trail users to the Reserve trails. After much discussion of the ramifications and reservations of the proposal, it was unanimously voted that it should go before the Board.
As expected, there were concerns about opening the trails to more users. Mainly, the current state of the trail system is delicate at best. And increasing the volume of traffic naturally has the potential to degrade the trail conditions faster. The Bluedog team promised however, that they would put together a trail crew that could help to rebuild and repair the trails alongside the Reserve staff, the Kickapoo Valley Horse Power Group, and the Reserve Friends.
The next meeting will take place on March 2nd at the Reserve, when the bike shop will represent the area cyclists in a discussion with the Horse Power Group, to open up dialog between the two user groups. The goal of this meeting is to open the floor to discussion and make plans for trail days. To follow, is a meeting again with the Land Management Committee on April 10th, to determine which section of trail will be focused on first. The condition of the Board’s decision to open the trails is to open them one section at a time on a trial basis, and monitor the progress as it unfolds.
Slated on the Reserve’s calendar of events, is the Vernon County Spring Cleanup Day on April 29th. This trail day is open to all volunteers, and will be the first work day of the New Year. It is strongly encouraged, that anyone who enjoys spending time in the beauty of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve attend this important function. The 8,569 acres of public land is a treasure and a privilege for the community.
Information about the Spring Cleanup can be received by calling the Kickapoo Valley Reserve office at- (608) 625-2960, or Bluedog Cycles in Viroqua at- (608) 637-6993. In addition, a ‘trail crew’ sign-up sheet has been placed at the bike shop, where passes for the Reserve are being sold as well.

02/13/06 | A Jersey Valley Morning

i figure this is a ride worth mentioning. saturday morning, myself and a couple of fellow BDC riders headed out to Jersey Valley for a few fast laps around the loop before the shop opened. i had been out there the wednesday prior. that had been the first time this year. that day we found about a dozen fallen trees across the trail, (demanding dismount) and about a dozen more that were passable, but at the cost of prickly brush in one’s face.
a couple of days later, on friday, Bluedog’s brad merkel (our future frame builder extraordinaire) headed out with his new bow-saw and cleared the entire loop of debris. well, all but the largest fallen tree. this one he built a cedar ramp for, which makes for quite a launching pad in the clockwise direction.
so this leads us up to our saturday morn ride. bradley, scott vatland, and myself met at the upper trailhead at about eight. we rode a pretty solid pace and pounded out a few laps. the trail has a skiff of snow on it for the most part. in some places it’s a couple of inches deep, and in some places it’s exposed dirt and loamy. there’s a little hidden ice on some of the steeper descents, and some rocks hiding just under the white as well. all in all, the trail is in great shape, and brad did a fantastic job of trail maintenance. thanks bud.
the more i ride out there, the more i think about a time trial this spring/summer/fall (?). the 3.1 mile lap would make a great course. it’s got a totally different feel in the counter-clockwise direction. so maybe we could do a combined time for each direction. it’s a heart-pounder, to say the least, with long, grinder climbs, short steeps, rocks, and tight corners.
the trail is great right now at any rate. and it’s a welcomed escape from the trainer these days. good ride.