Interview with Peter Spencer

We had a chance to visit with race director Peter Spencer about this year’s event and what makes the Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival so special.

Silent Sports

Are there any significant changes to the Chequamegon route for 2025?

Peter Spencer

There are no changes for the People’s Race, the amateurs. I’ve been tweaking the course since 2019, and think we finally have a great course for everyone, from the Short & Fat to the 40. We have a minor change for the pros, just to bring them in down the Birkie Powerline Trail. This creates a little bit more of an interesting dynamic with a mile or two to go. It will really be kind of fun to watch them figure out who’s helping who if it’s a group.

Silent Sports

What other features of the course are worth highlighting?

Peter Spencer

There are sections of the course that are kind of known, such as Firetower Climb, which is kind of a party zone. The Pirates are coming back this year! They kind of disbanded and took a couple years off, but I talked to the Head Pirate, and he said they’re coming back in force. Besides cheering riders on, we’ll call them an aid station, but just be cautious on what a pirate is giving you! Then Seven Sisters trail will lead you up to one of the last aid stations. It’s a series of punchy climbs getting up to the high point. We’ve got the Yeti’s Lair, which is the north end ski trail, and a friend of ours has a yeti they put out in different locations, so it’s a fun thing to look for. The Powerline for the Short & Fat when you head out is known. You’ve got Camp 38, which is an ATV trail and is super-rocky, and you’ll want to pick the good line. I knew in the last couple years because of the later stuff for the pros, we’d start at Wheeler Road, and literally it’s straight up hill, so all the 40 riders have to go down Wheeler Road, turn up to the Birkie and it’s just this really steep climb that separates a lot of people quickly. We’re going to call it the Wheeler Wall.

Silent Sports

For those that might be newer to the event or haven’t gone for several years, what other activities and events are going on that weekend as part of the festival?

Peter Spencer

There’s so much going on in the area! Within the festival, you’ve got food trucks, music, and vendors up in the Telemark Village Area of Cable. There are some pre-race shakeout rides, some hosted by pros and some hosted by sponsors. Those are always fun to do, just to get out to see some of the area and the finish as well. A newer activity that’s been growing at the festival is a stein-holding contest. It’s just a fun activity, and the amateurs and pros have both been getting involved.

The course for the Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival is mostly on the Birkie Ski Trail, ATV trails, and gravel roads. It’s not super-technical, so when people come up early or stay later, riders can also explore over 100 miles of CAMBA singletrack trails. You could spend literally a week trying to ride all the different trails. Throughout the area, you can hike, there are some swimming holes, you can golf, fish, and about whatever you want, you can probably find in the area. There’s so much to do, and I’m probably forgetting stuff!

At the Mt. Telemark area, Birkie has added a bunch of singletrack as well. That’s really impressive, and it’s been a combination of Trek and OTM (One Track Mind Foundation). They’ve been working together to build some flow trails, singletrack, and enduro-type runs, so there’s a mix of everything. You could have anything from kids that want to rip down a hill, to an old guy like me that just wants to keep the rubber side down!

In the area, there are so many second homes, cabins, and great lodging, that people just gather. Families all come up, whether riding or cheering, and it’s just a gathering place for everyone. People can just kind of disappear into the woods and do their own thing. The towns all have great restaurants and places to hang out. It’s amazing - we try to keep people around as much as we can enjoying the festivities we have, but the festivities are really just the people. The people kind of create their own festivities with the fun vibe and energy that they bring.

Silent Sports

The pros may garner a little more of the media attention, but the amateurs and weekend warriors are the vast majority of riders. Can you give us a sense of what percent are professionals compared to other riders?

Peter Spencer

People do give the pros a little bit of attention, and I try not to downplay that because they are a big part of what we do and host, but it’s all about the amateurs - the people’s race. I’d say it’s about 98% amateurs, and the other 2% that are just ridiculously fast and crazy. The pro race is also super fun and spectators hang out and wait for them at the finish because we have a different start time for them. Everybody else in the 40 and Short & Fat start at 10AM, then the pro women start at 12:30 and pro men at 1:00. That allows for 99% of the People’s race to finish, and everybody just hangs. They stick around, enjoy the music, the food, enjoy each other and the vendors. Then all of sudden when we start announcing that the pros are coming in, people just gather and it’s a really cool scene to see how many people hang out and wait and cheer on these crazy athletes. But our focus as the event is the amateurs. That’s what Chequamegon was built on, and it will always be there. With the pros, who knows if they’ll be there every year or not? This is definitely more about the weekend warriors and people who could be training just to beat their time or beat their buddy. I always say there’s a race within a race. I’m never in the front - I’m always kind of in the pack. When I’m riding, we’re having fun all throughout that race and we’re talking to each other, but at the end, I’m taking down whoever I’m riding with - or at least trying to!

Silent Sports

How long have you served as the Chequamegon event director, and what is your favorite part of directing the race?

Peter Spencer

Correct. Gary Crandall, “The Fatman” - he was the man. He really built the event up, and when he decided to retire, they asked me to fill his shoes, which I’ll never fill. He’ll always be the Fatman - I’m just trying to hold up tradition. He’s still involved, is always around and volunteers. I can call him anytime and he always helps me out.

My favorite part of directing the race is the community. I think we have the most amazing community of people that come out as volunteers and staff. Seeing friends, the community, the people, the energy, I can’t even explain it. It’s like as you get older, we get so caught up in our lives, marriage, kids, whatever it is, and it can even be hard to see your friends. It’s the one time we get to throw a party, and all your friends come and they all have something in common. It’s either hosting and welcoming people to their community, or it’s that we all have biking in common. You always have a way to expand that family of friends, and that to me is so exciting to see, and we just have fun. It’s entertainment. It’s healthy. All these people come out, and they’ve been training or not training, everybody has a bike, and all kinds of different body types. Men, women, and kids - the youth generation now is unreal with NICA and the Minnesota Cycling Association, Iowa’s got a youth cycling program. It’s fun to see so many different people and it’s inclusive. One of the great things about Chequamegon is that the course is not technical; everybody can do it.