Saturday, August 3, 2024

2024 The Wolf Bikepacking Race


Bikes waiting to start day 2 in Grand Marias
I've had The Wolf on my mind for many years, since it was called The Heck Epic. The Wolf is a three-day bikepacking stage race coursing through the heart of Minnesota's North Shore wilds. This is the event that will test your endurance and grit and maybe even set your eyes on bigger adventures like The Tour Divide.

I've never done back-to-back century rides, let alone three in a row. I was doing a lot of planning around pacing strategies and ways to pack on-bike food. The nice thing with this event, the race provides breakfasts, and the camps are in town where you can get dinner eats and resupply some on-bike food. But being sure that I didn't wreck my legs before finishing the third day was stressing me out. 

Big news hit my inbox at the start of July: 
Due to the extreme storm on June 16, we have had to make some major changes to the race. Major flooding damaged many roads and trails in the Northland, and despite our efforts, we cannot find a safe and open route in and out of Ely. This means that Day 1 to Ely has been canceled.

Having watched the news of the June 16, I was concerned the whole race may be cancelled, like 2024 The Fox (the 'introductory' bike-camping - 120+ miles over two days).

Driving to Two Harbors
I was very happy to find a carpool with long time gravel-grinding friend, Sean Mattner. Sean also offered a ride to another friend, Chase Grieves. All three of us, and our bikes, packed inside Sean's 'vintage' minivan Friday around noon and made our way to the North Shore, with a dinner stop at Pizza Lucé in Duluth, all of us getting extras to-go for the campsite out of Two Harbors. 

We arrived at a familiar lot in the hills above Two Harbors, the East Alger gravel pit, this is the start/finish of the Heck of the North. There was a check in tent and a couple outhouses set up. This camping area is VERY primitive, without running water or electricity. Sean, Chase, and I took time to get our bikes out of the van, set up our sleeping systems, get checked in, and take shakedown rides on sections of the Heck of the North routes. 
The check-in crowd
As the sun was getting low, Jeremy started a fire and we all gathered around, not for warmth, but to keep the bug off of us. This old gravel pit was full of biting flies and as the sun got low the mosquitoes started coming out. As the mosquitoes got worse, I realized I made a mistake not bringing long sleeves and long pants, so I decided it was time to bed down and stop feeding the bugs. As I got into my bivy, it was still too warm to need a sleeping bag ... but the bivy bug netting was right on my shoulder and those little shits were getting me inside the bivy. So I pulled the sleeping bag up to keep the mosquitoes off me and fell asleep while sweating. I woke up a few times in the night, hearing this massive and frustrated swarm of mosquitoes inches from my face, and I was stressed out thinking about how I was going to get in my cycling kit in the morning without getting eaten alive! 

My Friday night campsite 
Day 1 | Two Harbors to Grand Marais 
We had breakfast served at 7:00, with egg & sausage on English muffins (vegetarian option available), plus yogurt, granola, berries, bananas, and just about everything a biker could want before a 111-mile ride in the Northwoods ... oh, and COFFEE!! 
The Wolf Pack gathers for day 1 
As we all gathered, we had our rider's meeting, and I found myself right by the front of 60 riders because I got a picture of Sean with his Hub teammates. So when when Jeremy said "GO!", I rolled out right at the front of the pack ... I know that's not gonna last. LOL! I let about half the field pass me in the first 5 miles as I settled into a mellow pace to hold all day. 
Here's both day 1 & day 2 routes - nearly all the same roads, but it felt like totally different. 
It didn't take long to see our first ATV/snowmobile trail, before mile 20 we hit a technical double-track trail and the Pugsley was happy as a pig in slop! I was able to ride some very challenging ATV tracks with ruts and loose gravel. I found one small but steep ramp that was too much for my bike-handling skills that required pushing the bike. But on the technical descents, the Pugsley was just a ton of fun! 
The one-and-only check point was at mile 59, it was perfect to refill my hydration, grab another Embark Maple, and a couple Fox wraps (flour tortilla, humus, wrapped around dill pickle). From the check point to Grand Marais, there is nearly nothing, just a handful of cabins ... so you better have everything you need on your bike. 
The checkpoint was on the same corner both days ... in the middle of nowhere!
The volunteers are the BEST! 
Funny little story, many riders have a set of camping sandals/shoes strapped to their bags. On a rough section of trail, I found a single flip-flop in the road. I stopped to pick it up and clipped it my bag to offer it to lost-and-found in Grand Marias. It seems like lost shoes was a common issue on the ride, happily, my shoes stayed strapped to my bag, but they did move around! 
Over the last 20-30 miles, I started riding with Tom, the only other person riding a fatbike on The Wolf this year. He and I enjoyed flying down the double-track trails, letting our bikes roll over all the boulders and nasty trail conditions. As we complained about each little roll in the road, wishing to get to the last long descent into Grand Marais, I confessed my stress about long highway descents and my memory of The Fox descending the highway with our tandem in 2022. And the dumb/funny bit, there was a headwind going down the highway, so we're pedaling nearly the whole way into Grand Marias, that and clearly handling our new tandem in 2022 had left a mental scare that wasn't justified. 

Grand Marais
After I checked in at the campground in Grand Marias, I found Sean setting up his tent and I picked a patch of grass next to him for my bivy setup. I was feeling gassed, and wanted to focus on getting my bivy set up, get a shower, so I could get FOOD! Another dumb packing error, I forget soap, so I filled my hand with foaming soap at the sinks before getting into the shower and did my best to stretch it out ... not ideal, but I felt much cleaner! 
My bivy in the camp village
Sean and I walked to the Hungry Hippie Tacos for dinner, I enjoyed a large Hungry Gringo Taco and a side of Spanish rice. That was great food to refuel! Then we walked over the Voyageur Brewing to claim our free beer! The brewery was full of Wolf riders, and we were invited to the rooftop area, but I had no interest in stairs LOL, so we joined a crew of Wolf riders on the main level. As we were sipping our beers, a rider was stressing that his Garmin had bricked. I was able to share the hard-reset process (press and hold the power button for 10 seconds) and after a few seconds of "is it working?" he was happy to report his Garmin was back up and working! 
The view from my bivy
I was so tired, I fell asleep before dark and wasn't bother by folks still talking around the campground, and I guess there was an outdoor concert nearby, I didn't know anything about it! 

Day 2 | Grand Marais to Two Harbors 
The breakfast gathering in Grand Marias 
The route back to Two Harbors was a lot of the same roads/trails we'd used on Saturday, but there were a few changes to keep it interesting. The start on Sunday is no surprise, but none-the-less a real test of your recovery, the climb out of Grand Marias ... oof. The first 8 miles are all up, you gain nearly 1,000 ft with no real rest. Better still, the first ramp out of the campground gets to up to 10% grades. I was happy with my legs and rode past many riders on the climb, but most of them passed me again up the road when things flattened out. 
The ATV/snowmobile trails seemed more technical on day 2, forcing me to put a foot down a few times ... but there were the same trails in the reverse direction. 
I was feeling the miles on the second half of the day, it was challenging to keep the energy up as things are getting sore ... my hands were raw and I'd move my hand position often to try to find a comfortable position, I was getting some chaffing from the saddle despite the Chamois Butter, bug bits getting itchy, etc. And those damned bugs, when the trail pitched up or there was a tailwind, the biting flies would fly circles around you and the bastards would get in the vents of my helmet, biting me through my cycling cap. That became a real incentive to move quickly ... getting away from the swarms of insects. 
We had a paved highway that's a gentle descent, I was looking forward to letting the bike roll, but just like Saturday, there was a headwind forcing me to pedal downhill. blarg 
As I got in the last mile or two, I had the best closing song hit my Shokz: "Smash it Up" by The Damned ... I found a little nugget of energy to finish strong!  

Finish line smile
Results
I finished 34th place of 55 riders (including 3 DNF). I was the fastest of the two fatbikers. My combined time was 16:41:34. Day 1 was 8:18:31 & day 2 was 8:23:03. I'm happy with my pacing strategy, most riders took 20 to 30 minutes longer on day 2; and I was only 5 minutes slower on a longer day 2 route. Link to the results: https://www.heckofthenorth.com/wolf-results

Driving Back to the Twin Cities
We all agreed to head home Sunday after the ride, and that's fun, three riders without access to showers, and our bikes covered in mud/dirt packed into Sean's van. We made a stop in Duluth for burritos and tots to fuel our drive back to the Cities. After getting out of Duluth, we hauled ass back to the Cities, getting Chase dropped off first in Northeast, and Sean got me home to Hopkins around 8:30 before heading home himself. It was great to get home, get a shower, and share a drink with Lisa to catch up after I spent much of the weekend without any cell service. 

The War Rig 
This is my 2015 Surly Pugsley, customized with Salsa Woodchipper handlebars and Gevenalle GX shifters. The Pugsley, with all gear loaded, is 78 lbs, including 10 lbs of water (4.5 l of water).
I've done well over 11,000 miles on this bike and love how comfortable I am on the bike all day long. I loved seeing other Surly bikes set up with drop-bars at The Wolf, including a Troll and Krampus .... I wish I'd have gotten a family photo of the Surly Freakshow at The Wolf! 
The Pugsley full-loaded
My new gear for The Wolf was the B-RAD Double Bottle Adapter. This is a great way to increase hydration capacity! Also offers me more space to get bottle out with my frame bag. 
I was also running new tires for The Wolf - Schwalbe Jumbo Jim 26x4 that I 'borrowed' off Lisa's Pugsley (thanks honey!). I did a quick post on a tire comparision.  
I ran tire pressures relatively high for a fatbike: 14 psi front & 15 psi rear; but with all the weight of my gear, this worked great on everything from the rough ATV/snowmobile trails and the paved roads. 

List of my bags: 
My on-bike toolbox
The Sleep System:
Things I didn't bring that would be helpful:
  • Sunglasses! and thank you to Chase for having a pair that I could borrow! 
  • Earplugs to keep the angry mosquitoes from disrupting my sleep - I have tons of them, but somehow left them at home
  • Sleeping mask to fall asleep before sunset
  • Long sleeved and long pants to keep bugs off around when hanging around camp
I will be back for another Wolf to test myself against three back-to-back gravel centuries in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region. 

YouTube link will posted here when it's ready in a few days. 



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