Two of the finest bikepacking racers in the world!
We welcome you to our newly named and re-tooled bikepacking races, The Wolf and The Fox. If you are looking to take your cycling skills to the next level, or are curious about bikepacking style racing, or maybe just want to finally use all of your cool new camping gear OR…have cobbled together borrowed stuff…this is the event to do. Tour Divide next year? Test ride here. Never camped out with your bike before? We are here to help!
The Wolf is our 3 day/2 night event spanning 330 miles of North Shore wilds. This event will start and finish in Two Harbors on August 27. We will attempt to have a pre-event meeting on the evening August 26 if Covid GUIDELINES allow. The route will proceed from Two Harbors to Ely to Grand Marais back to Two Harbors.
The Fox is our new 2 day/ 1 night race covering 120 miles of the same amazing Northern Minnesota backcountry. This event will start and finish in finland, MN on SATURDAY august 28. The route will proceed from Finland to Grand Marais back to Finland.
We created The Fox as a shorter version of our historic Heck Epic/The Wolf. This event has race days that are about 60 miles in length (compared to The Wolf’s 100 plus miles per day.)
The rules will remain the same for both events.
Riders will need to carry what they need to sleep outside for the event (no motels, indoor lodging, pavilion use allowed.) All riders will sleep solo, no sharing of gear, tents, etc.
Each day will be a timed stage. The rider with the lowest combined times will be declared the event fastest rider.
Racers are expected to be prepared to handle all repairs, nutrition and self care during the day’s stage on their own. Depending on Covid 19 precautions/guidelines, we may be able to offer our usual midway aid station en route. We will update this as we know more.
Depending on Covid 19 guidelines, we will provide a mix of dinners and breakfast with some being handled independently, as well, by the rider.
One of the hallmark features of this event historically is the social nature of camping together after the day’s racing is done. We will do our best to build this safely into the event design.
On Saturday, August 28, all racers from The Wolf and The Fox will be hosted at Grand Marais’ beautiful bayfront campground. This will be a perfect time to see old friends and compare notes between the routes and
Please note the separate start/finish locations and dates for each event.
We have moved the dates from mid July to the end of August to try to gain some distance from Covid 19. We apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused by this change. Planning in the time of this pandemic is a practice in patience, mental gymnastics and pseudo-epidemiology. Thank you for your patience as we try to produce the best events in the country!
Please email me, Leah Gruhn, Larry Mishkar or Avesa Rockwell with questions about bikepacking. We are happy to help answer ANY question. Please see our Gravel Go-To page for contact information (this should be live today or tomorrow…stay tuned!)
Ride the Good Line!
Jeremy Kershaw jeremybkershaw@gmail.com