Crossing State Lines

2016 Chequamegon 40
We traveled far north to Hayward Wisconsin for the second leg of he Triple Crown. The weather was being stubborn, and after a couple days of steady rain, we were in for another messy race. Despite the mud, sand, rain and wet grass, we only suffered two mechanical issues!

Once we hit the grass, Scott shot off toward the front and looked strong. Nobody saw him 'till the final climb, when Steve caught him and the two flew down the ski hill toward the finish. A brief sprint kept 'em just 1 second apart! All JTree riders killed it out there on this cool, muddy, misty day. Everyone came in under 3 hours!

Steve Poirier - 2:31:22
149 of 1774 Overall
33 of 196 in age group

Scott Walter - 2:31:23
150 of 1774 Overall
32 of 239 in age group

Greg Giles - 2:42:09
316 of 1774 Overall
59 of 239 in age group

Chris Molnar - 2:47:44
400 of 1774 Overall
80 of 239 in age group

Randy Bartz - 2:48:28
409 of 1774 Overall
20 of 159 in age group

Jack Lee - 2:50:41
454 of 1774 Overall
23 of 159 in age group

Bruce Slowey - 2:59:12
595 of 1774 Overall
36 of 159 in age group

Race Local

2016 Maybury Time Trial
We consider this one of our home courses and we represented strong on this hot and humid Sunday afternoon. 

Expert Men 30-39 (17 total)
RJ Meske - 2nd
Steve Poirier - 5th

Jeremy Norris - 6th

Expert Men 40-49 (20 total)

Jeremy Daum - 4th
Scott Walter - 9th
Brian Miller - 15th (without front brake pads!)

2016 Addison Oaks Fall Classicl
This course is tight, twisty, fast and FUN! Sign me up for next year!

Expert Men 30-39 (15 total)
Jeremy Norris - 4th
Steve Poirier - 6th

Brandon Thielen - 7th

Expert Men 40-49 (21 total)

Brian Miller - 4th
Scott Walter - 13th
Jeremy Daum - DNF :(

Sport Men 50-59 (31 total)

Jack Lee - 8th
Steve Wickham - 11th

Beginner Men 40-49 (22 total)

Jeremy Craig - 7th

Sometimes, we swim. Other times, we run. From time to time, we do both!

We've got some pretty amazing athletes on our team. Check out what Dave Krenk and Bruce Geffen did this summer. 

Steelhead Half Ironman
On August 14th, Dave Krenk finished 47th out of 417 at his first half ironman event. Congrats Dave!

Mighty Mac Swim
Have you ever wanted to swim across the Mackinac Straits? Me neither. But Bruce Geffen did! Here's a write up from his experience this past weekend:

It was a bit of a challenge. There was about 2' chop from the South we were swimming against. Current wasn't too bad going from W to E. Water temp was an excellent 69 degrees, perfect for a full wetsuit, or even a sleeveless one. I was expecting about 5-5.5 hours. On a calm day, in the 4 hr range. Surprised myself finishing in 3:28:08. 34 went into the water, 30 came out. 1 had a medical, 1 quit, and 2 were DQ'd for violating the Exclusion Zone. Not sure how that happened with support boats guiding helping to make sure that didn't happen. Somewhere between the S Tower and S Caisson, the waves calmed down a bit and I was able to really swim and cruise well. Had a support boat right with me all the way from there to the end. I was third from last out of the water, but no matter, I did it! First place was Chris Thompson, Olympian, World Record Holder, U of M Water Polo standout, and Open Water Swim trainer to the Navy Seals. Most everyone was a Collegiate Swimmer or something like that. He won a 20k check! So did the first woman to cross the finish line. She is a professional triathlete from Arizona. Great times!

White Kits + Red Mud = Battle Scars

2016 Ore to Shore
When we revealed the 2016 kits, the first thing everyone said was "that's not gonna work out so well at Ore to Shore." I saw it as an opportunity, a blank canvas if you will, for battle scars. Race tails. War stories. Anyway, on to the race...

We started making the annual pilgrimage to Marquette in 2010 and honestly, this was probably the toughest O2S we've raced to date. The rain may have tamed the sand, but it also filled the mud bogs higher, made the roots more slick, and greased the rocks just enough to make things interesting. Despite all of that, we put down some record finishing times!

Hard Rock
Jeremy Daum - 2:41:31
Brian Miller - 2:48:29
Steve Poirier - 2:49:38
Jon Roobol - 2:51:15
Greg Giles - 2:52:40
Scott Walter - 2:52:41
RJ Meske - 2:57:54
Jeff Poirier - 3:04:07 (Mr. Flat Tire returns)
Jack Lee - 3:05:36
Chris Molnar - 3:07:05
Bruce Slowey - 3:20:05
Steve Wickham - 3:26:44

Shore Rock
Brendan Giles - 58:43
Jodie Giles - 1:12:40

Jr. Rock
Anna Giles - 22:15

Ride Bikes. Check. Drink Beer. Check. Win. Check!

2016 Tree Farm Relay
We entered 6 teams this year, (24 riders!) and put down some serious results... and beer. Sunny skies turned gray and the air got cool as the storms rolled in, but that didn't stop our expert team RJ and the Dadbods from starting out hot! Brandon Thielen and RJ Meske were relentless on the competition. By the time the torrential rains moved in, they had the team out in front by a minute! Sketchy conditions and monsoon like rainfall leveled the playing field a bit and after a couple of lead (and bike) changes the results were in. RJ and the Dadbods took first place out of 27 teams in Advanced Men.

Not to be overlooked was the repeat performance of our coed team Smells Like Team Spirit, who took first place out of 6 teams in Advanced Coed!

JTree Bike Chicks took 4 out of 5 in Sport Women
Gears N' Beers took 12 out of 27 in Advanced Men (bonus points for only having 3 riders)
JTree Geriatric came in 17 out of 27 in Advanced Men
JTree #2 (come on guys....) took 25 out of 50 in Sport Men

It was a tough day, and everyone busted A$5 out there in the mud and rain and eventually, sun, heat and humidity. A huge shout out to our main squeeze, Wheels in Motion for getting our gear back in order after the race. Brake pads, shift cables/housing and everything in between.

Also, thanks to Chelsea Ale House for hooking us up with libations for the day, because without them, we wouldn't have that check mark next to 'drink beer'.

And that energy has got to come from somewhere - that somewhere is Infinit Nutrition and Honey Stinger. With Infinit, we just keep going and going. And Honey Stinger is like a nectar from the gods... but it's really just from bees. Mmmmm.

2016 Mid-Season Race Update

Here's a brief recap of races we've put our stamp on so far this year:

2016 Fat Bike Series
We sent riders to all 5 races this winter. Competition was tough but we put down some good results - and had fun doing it!






Waterloo Grit and Gravel Road Race
Several racers took on the inaugural edition of this race and a couple of us even ended up on the podium! Scott Walters took 4th in his age group racing the 100K, Anderw Sics picked up a 1st place finish, RJ Meske landed 3rd and Brandon Thielen finished 4th in their age group in the 50K.

Barry Roubaix
We sent close to 30 racers to BR this year - maybe it was the weather, maybe it was us... but we crushed it out there! Tons of personal bests - and in the team competition we took 4th overall!













Mohican 100K
MIki Razo took 7th overall! SWEET!

Team JTree 2016 update.
We've been so busy riding bikes that we forgot to update our blog! We'd like to welcome a couple new sponsors this year:

Honey Stinger is helping us ride strong with their great line of all natural products. Organic honey waffles. 'Nuff said.

Kali Protectives is keeping our brains safe with their kick-ass helmets.

Chelsea Alehouse hydrates us AFTER the ride.

Stay tuned, we'll be back with race updates in the future. Woo!