By Shelia Christofalos of Activator Cycles

Off road bicyclists from across the country and overseas converged on Telemark Resort in Cable, Wisc. for the running of the historic 30th Annual Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival on September 14-16. A sold out field of 2,750 riders tested muscles, minds and pedal powered machines in the nation’s largest mass start point-to-point off road bicycle event. A dozen riders from LB/LF made the trek north to take on the challenge.

Rounding a turn at Chequamegon bike race

The main event of the weekend, held on Saturday, September 15, was the Chequamegon 40. The mass start roll out of 1,850 riders from Hayward’s Main Street at 10:00 a.m. was again a site to behold. A select few elites competed for the chance to be called champion, while the rest of the field was made up of citizen’s class athletes in it for the adventure and personal challenge inherent in the forty mile off road journey. Lake Forest and Lake Bluff were well represented in the grueling Cheq 40 by the following:

Nick Christofalos – 2:28 – LB
Keith Connolly – 2:37 – LF
Sam Badger – 3:30 – LB
Andy Seikel – 3:09 – LB
Scott Streightiff – 3:12 – LB
Jonathan Meulbroek – 3:17 – LB
Matthew Stockert – 3:34 – LB

The Short & Fat, a 16-mile companion event, offered an additional 900 cyclists a shorter but challenging back woods cycling opportunity. LFHS Junior, Alex Christofalos, placed 1st in the Single Speed Women’s category, with a finish time of 1:13, while Brett Poulton, also a Junior at LFHS, placed 2nd place Overall for the Men’s category with a time of 52:38.
Other local results for the Short & Fat race:

Michael Orr – 1:01 – LF
Alyson Chapman – 1:08 – LF
Dennis Obrien – 1:08 – LF