Powderkeg Snowshoe Race

Powderkeg Showshoe Race 2011 (all Pictures)

On Saturday, January 29th, Chippewa OffRoad Bike Association (CORBA) put on the Chippewa Valley Powder Keg (formerly the Rumble in the Jungle) on 2-mile and 5-mile courses that wandered through the woods of scenic Lowes Creek County Park. Snowshoers were greeted with comfortable temps and ungroomed, tightly twisting singletrack with a handful of short-but-steep hills thrown in to keep the body warm. Prior to the main event, children under 12 and local mascots raced on a fun 1/4 mile race on the Expo Center grounds.  Eau Claire Bike and Sport along with Oakwood Hills Animal Hospital, Spring Street Sports, Xcel Energy, Insty-Prints and Bear Paw Outdoor Adventure Resort.  Yankee Jacks, Fazoli's, Fantastic Sam's, RoadID and Scheels contributed prizes.  Overdrive members Laura Plummer, Cheryl Olson, Jerry Christenson, Linda Slowiak and Paul Ried competed in the 5 mile race, while Ricky Wells and Jim Peterson ran the 2 mile course.  Linda and Jerry also volunteered along with Jim Schmitt, Tim Camlek, Jim Blodgett and Jim Shannon.

TV-13 also did a nice story on the race, as did the Leader-Telegram.

The Overdrive Cycling Club came together at Jerry and Jane Christensen's home to celebrate a wonderful season of biking and fun. Jerry and Jane did a great job decorating Jerry's Man-Cave. We had a wonderful ride followed by excellent food. Bike and Sport and Overdrive contributed door prizes and Wally LaFrancis was very appreciative of his new ride, a Giant XTc 29er. The evening ended with some friendly competition on a contraption built by Derek Parr and Chris Magyar. A big thank you to Jane and Jerry for the wonderful space and hospitality and a big thanks to Terry at Bike and Sport for the great prizes and the bike.

End of Season Party

Eau Claire Century and Chicken Dinner

The Eau Claire Century and Chicken Dinner, held the day before Labor Day, was a collaboration between Overdrive Cycling and the Cleghorn Lions Club to raise money for the Feed My People Food Bank and the Lions Club.  This was the brain child of Linda Slowiak and Jerry Christenson.  Work started in February laying out the routes of 25, 65 and 105 miles.  Great Harvest and Festival Foods provided food and drinks for the rest stops.  Foster Cheese Haus let us use their patio for the rest stop in Foster.  Of the 95 participants, about 1/3 chose to do the longest loop, starting in Cleghorn and traveling through Mondovi, Eleva, Foster, Augusta, Fall Creek and Brackett before returning to the Cleghorn School Park.   Upon returning to the park the riders were greeted with a wonderful charbroiled chicken dinner.  On September 22, Overdrive Cycling presented Executive Director, Emily Moore with a check for $1700 and the Cleghorn Lions also donated $275, which was half of their net proceeds from the chicken dinner.

Eau Claire Century

Here is a nice video from our friend Ron:

Frederic Lions Time Trial and Eau Claire Triathlon

The Frederic Lions Club Classic Bike Race is one of the oldest citizen bike races in the state and this was the second year they used a very hilly 26.4 mile course that heads east and then south out of Frederic.  This year our top finisher was Ricky Wells with a 15th place overall and 4th in his age group.  Dave Hogue took 2nd in his age group.  Steve Harmon was 5th, Wally LaFrancis was 6th and Jim Blodgett was 7th in their respective age groups.  This  race is known for their unique trophies and awards and this year racers refueded with rootbeer floats.

FredericTT2010

Eau Claire Triathlon
The Eau Claire Triathlon was held at Half Moon Beach on a very cool Sunday morning. It started with a 500 Meter swim in Half Moon Lake, followed by a 17 mile bike out Eau Claire's West Side and finished with a 5k run through Carson Park. Overdrive Cycling was well represented.
For the men:

• David Rosenberger: 4th overall and 1st in age group
• Kevin Potter: 7th overall and 1st in his age group
• Dan Rouse: 8th overall and 2nd in his age group
• Bob Swanson: 42nd overall and 1st in his age group
• Steven McMahon: 53rd overall and 17th in his age group

For the Women:

• Jaci Grafenberg: 5th overall and 2th in her age group
• Cheryl Olson: 45th overall and 4th in her age group
• Mindy Rosenberger: 49th overall and 15th in her age group

2010 Bike Maintenance Clinic

Bike Maintenace Clinic 2010

This year Jeanne Chilson offered the Chilson Motors facility on Highway 93 for our bike maintenance clinic. The April rain was needed and we hoped it wouldn't keep anyone away and it didn't seem to. In all, thirty cyclists signed the guest book. Similar to last year the tire changing station saw a lot of action. Matt Evans put together a nice poster on how a tire stays on and participants got to put their new tire levers to use on the practice wheels and tires. The bike cleaning station was aslo a big hit. Jerry shared his wealth of knowledge of maintenance and advice while participants cleaned up their rides. This year we added a "What's in the bag?" area. Jim, Linda and Scott laid out the contents of their bags and explained the purposes for what they carry. Terry from Bike and Sport also loaned Scott and Linda some tools and other items to provide examples of what is available. To top the event off, Chilson and Overdrive provided cookies and drinks.

Bike Maintenace Clinic: April 24 @ 1pm

2009 Bike Clinic

Date: Saturday, April 24th from 1pm to 3pm Location: Chilson Motors on the corner of Hwy 93 and Brian Street Chilson Subaru has graciously offered their facility for our Second annual Bike Maintenance Clinic. Building on the success of last year's clinic, participants will again learn how to: Change Tires Lube and clean chains and gears Clean, maintain and make minor adjustments Pack for short, long and really long trips Survive common bike "catastrophes" Overdrive Cycling will provide refreshments and tire changing kits, while supplies last. The Clinic will be followed with a fun ride of indeterminate length. There is no charge for this clinic and it is open to the public.

First Group Rides of 2010

First Group Rides of 2010

We decided to take advantage of the perfect weather for the first weekend of March and get our bikes out. Saturday we met at Bowl-Winkles. The usuals Jim, Ann, Linda, Jerry, and Wally were joined by new member Mike and UWEC student John. John moved from Maple for better riding weather. The bright sunshine more than offset the crisp air as we headed west out E and C. It was an excellent chance to catch up and start building base again.

Sunday was even warmer and we had a bigger group: Jim, Wally and Mike, plus Scott, David, Steve and newcomer, Jeff left from Fairfax wondering if we had dressed too warm. Sarah met us at the turn-about and we realized there was still a little nip in the air. We took our normal route south on Lowes Creek and then headed west to W, across Marsh and Hemlock to Z. It turned in to a little longer ride than we had planned, but after a winter of skiing or riding indoors, everyone was ready to do a little extra.