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A 40 mile ATB ride. Our rides at home are rarely longer than 10 miles. This is going to be work. I'd always considered off-road riding about four to five times harder than road riding. So this should end up "feeling" like a 160 to 200 mile ride!

At the start line we get word that the course has been shortened this year by 5 miles due to the non-stop rain they've had here for the last 10 days. The course is very wet. What the heck, it's a mountain bike ride, let's go!

Hanging out at the back of the ever growing mass of riders, we decided it was better to start at the back of the 1500 riders so we wouldn't get run over at the start. From several blocks up the road, at the start line, we can hear the PA announcer keeping the riders at the front fired up. We can't understand much of what he's saying, but I do hear him say "Greg LeMond" followed by a cheer.

"What's he doing here?" The A to Z Classic is going on in Ohio this weekend and he's supposed to be in it. Must be the Honorary Starter for this years event here, then he'll probably catch his private plane to Ohio.

The gun went off, and we waited. And waited. It takes a while for 1500 riders to get going. We were the last ones out of town, but when things got rolling, they really got rolling! The first 3 miles are on the highway and we were going about 25MPH! The sound 3000 knobby mountain bike tires make at 20+MPH is amazing.

You jump off of the road at Rosie's Field, and by the time you reach the far side of the field and enter the woods, you are so in oxygen debt you wonder how you are going to make the next 36 1/2 miles!

The description of the course basically says it is a 40 mile long roller coaster of hills about 40' high. Today, however, at the bottom of each of these hills is a small lake! The past 10 days of rain has saturated the ground to the point where water was standing everywhere. What wasn't open ponds was mud.

At the start I tried going around the mini-lakes, but everyone ahead of me had done the same thing and turned the ground to life-sucking muck. It was much easier to just aim for the middle of the ponds and blast through. The spectators loved it when you'd hit the water at 30+MPH! Yes, there are spectators in the middle of the northern Wisconsin woods!

Terry and I reached the first sag stop, 6 miles into the ride, and were eating muddy donut holes when another couple of riders rolled up and asked about the leaders. One of the sag workers said "LeMond and 6 other riders came through here about half an hour ago." Wow, I'm in a race with Greg LeMond! A Half Hour Ago! Six miles into this ride and I'm already 30 minutes behind. Wow.

Another feature of this ride mentioned in the course description, Firetower Hill. Terry and I were rolling along when a volunteer ahead of us was directing riders to the right. We turned, I took about 10 pedal strokes and came to a stop.

Firetower Hill is about 4 or 5 of those 40' hills stacked one on top of the other. It goes up a little, then levels out, then goes up, a little level then up again. It got to the point where I was actually riding the little flat spots because it was so hard to push the bike up the steep parts. This is becoming the 2^nd hardest ride of my life!

Terry and I finished together, and in the next issue of Fat Tracks Magazine, this years ride was declared "the worst conditions in the 8 year history" of this event.

Greg LeMond won the race of course, and did go to Ohio to do the 2^nd stage of the A to Z Classic the next day. He dropped out, this must have been a tough ride for him too.

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Gary Crandall, the director of the Fat Tire Festival, assured me "this tear will be much better than last year." So three van loads of mountain bikers headed north out of Kokomo to the great Wisconsin wilderness. I'd been watching the Weather channel all week and conditions realy were looking great for Hayward, WI, unlike last year's monsoon.

In the motel the night before the ride, I was awoken by thunder at about 1:00AM. Man was it pouring! It continued pouring right up to the time to get to the start of the ride. For those of us who were making our triumphant return, Greg LeMond was back for his 2^nd too, we were all having flashbacks, or should I say splashbacks, of last year's slop-fest. Knowing what was waiting for us, we rode through every puddle we could find in town on our way to the start.

Yup, this year's course made last year's look almost pristine. The "little" lakes at the bottom of each hill last year were HUGE lakes this year. Last year people would get off their bike and walk around them at the edges of the trail, this year there was no room at the edges. The course was again shortened to 35 miles.

By the middle of the ride everyone looked just like everyone else. You recognized people by their voice because we were all totally brown. If you were wearing glasses, you couldn't ever see anything. Trying to wipe them off with a muddy glove just doesn't work. And eating at the sag stops was a treat too. If you took off your glove to get a donut hole, you found that your hand was dirtier than your glove.

Terry and I were slopping along when we saw a volunteer directing us too the right. Then I recognized where we were, FIRETOWER HILL! I'm sorry to say I didn't even attempt 1 single peddle stroke on that climb. I just stopped at the bottom, got off and started walking. On the hike up I thought about having a jersey printed up for next year saying "I lost my self respect on Firetower Hill".

Terry and I finished together again, and we "cleaned" ourselves up in a mud puddle that was cleaner than we were at the finish. It was ineresting to see the riders all coming across the finish wearing the exact same shade of brown from head to foot.

Greg LeMond won the race again, and Tom Schuler placed 4^th. This race is starting to draw some big names! The next issue of Fat Tracks magazine declared this year's Fat 40 "The worst conditions in the 9 year history of the event". It couldn't get worse next year.

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With no rains, but still a few puddles, this was to be the best conditions we'd seen here (big surprise) and promised to be a good ride. The course was the full 40 miles, and Firetower Hill is still there. Ugh.

It turned out to be a really bad ride for me in spite of the conditions. I just didn't have it in me at all. I attempted a few strokes on Firetower, but ended up walking as usual. At least I got some of my self respect back.

Terry rode away from me early in the ride and finished a good 20 minutes aheas of me. But I still enjoyed the ride and strongly recommend thhis ride to any one who enjoys a fun challenge.

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Susie has said she will do the ride with me this year! She couldn't have picked a better year or more beautiful weekend. The ground was so dry, I could recognize tread patterns in the dust on some areas ao the trail. It even got into the low 70's at the finish!

I completely regained all my self respect by conquering Firetower Hill for the 1^st time! A really tricky climb even in the best conditions. And I'm feeling GREAT!

Susie's not feeling the same. This is becoming the toughest ride of her life. Harder than the 230 miles she rode in 14 1/2 hours. Mountain biking is not her thing. She took a real dislike of the "7 Mile" to go marker. I'm still unsure of what that sign did to her, but even at the finish she was still hating that sign.

LeMond didn't come back for a 3^rd win this year, but other names of note this year, Travis Brown of the Trek team placed 2^nd.

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Sept. 14, 1996 40 Miles 3:31:44 677nd Overall 56th Class

This would prove to be my best year yet. I felt good, rode good, cleaned Firetower again and set my best time. Terry was having his bad year, I finished 33 minutes ahead of him. But better yet, I was only 36 minutes behind Davis Phinney!

Other names of note in this year's event was Bob "Bobke" Roll who finished 2^nd.

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Sept. 18, 1990 40.5 Miles 3:21:00 634nd Overall 31th Class

It's been 3 years since I was here last, and I was glad to be back! Still one of my favorite rides. I felt very lucky to have gotten in this year's event. With the new lottery entry system for the Fat Tire Festival, it's a real "luck of the draw" to even be here. The course conditions were good, for the most part. Still a couple of dandy water holes to keep things interesting. I once again bested my best time here, and just about collapsed doing it. At the bottom of the last climb of the ride, there is a left turn in a sand pit before you get on the hill. I got into the sand and just fell over. I couldn't even get my foot out of the pedal to stop myself. I even had to walk the last 30' of the hill. At least it's all downhill from there. Except for the finish line of course, but that's a nice grassy slope that's easy to climb.

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