In early 2021, Scott Haraldson and his friends took on Bikepacking.com's new Mammoth Gravel Loop. It's a 105 mile route with 75% of it being upaved. Just for fun, they added another 75 miles to make it a 3 day, 2 night loop. See their trip video and stunning drone shots in Scott's most recent film. Mammoth Gravel Loop Route Details:

Every year winter comes around and I talk myself out of getting a fat bike. I remind myself that last year we didn’t get that much snow and I probably won’t get enough use out of one anyway. It would sit in my garage while I run my cold errands on the studded tires of my all-road Kona Rove ST. Then came 2020-21 which included: 1. A global pandemic 2. Minimal travel 3. Everything that’s fun was closed And of course: 4. Plenty of soft beautiful rideable snow That was all fine and good except for one little problem: Fat bikes were sold out everywhere. A few friends jumped on the train early enough, called a bunch of bike shops all over the state, drove a couple of hours, and snagged one while it was still early. I wasn’t so quick to the punch. You already know what happened next: The snow fell, the fat bikes went out en masse, and I twiddled my thumbs with more than a little jealousy. But to be honest, winter has always been a favorite season of mine for cycling. Hardly anybody else is out, the frosted trees and trails are beautiful, and (if dressed appropriately) the cold, authentic wind on your face feels amazing. So I resolve to get out anyway...even though I’m riding the “wrong” bike. My Kona Rove ST isn’t a fat bike but it is: a.) Equipped with studded tires for the ice and b.) Tons and tons of fun on the snow. I regularly get out to ride weekly for coffee runs, trail riding (not groomed fat bike trails though, of course), social rides with a friend… ...and generally just messing around on a fun bike during a beautiful winter season.

One of our family traditions for the last several summers has been biking to a local pizza farm. Pizza is an easy crowd-pleaser, but it tastes even better in a wood-fired oven at the farm with ingredients that were just picked. Farm to Fork Retreat is a pizza farm that is the perfect distance for a dinner bike destination. We live in the middle of Eau Claire and it’s about 20 miles door-to-door. This gives us plenty of time to work up an appetite while taking in the gorgeous hills, overlapping farms, and woodsy country roads that we love about Wisconsin. Biking With Mom Just a few weeks before this trip, our family got a trail-a-bike. We already do a lot of biking and our 3-year-old has learned how to ride a pedal bike by himself, but the trail-a-bike gives us the freedom to go much further than he could ride in one trip. After installing the trail-a-bike we realized his feet couldn’t quite reach the pedals so we strapped on a few wooden blocks and, voila, we were in business. I (Dad) pulled a Burley trailer with our 10-month-old twins and got to take some video shots of our son spending quality time with Mom on her maiden voyage pulling the trail-a-bike. He didn’t exactly offer a lot of physical assistance propelling the bike, but was definitely an entertaining sidekick. The bike adventure to the pizza farm was pretty exciting for him. He sang songs, talked about imaginary wild animals the whole trip, and didn’t even complain about getting too tired. Halfway through the trip, he said, “Mom! I know a faster route to get to the pizza farm!” And she said, “What’s that?” “Driving!” Getting To The Pizza Farm When we get over the last hill, and can see Hwy 10, the thought of wood-fired farm pizza gets real. And it’s a good thing that we’re excited for pizza because the gravel driveway is steep and we need a little boost to make it up to the farm. We’re always welcomed by familiar faces, friendly farm dogs, and a cold beer from the beer barn to reward us for our journey. We usually meet up with friends and run around the farm throwing a frisbee, racing across the lawn, or, on this trip, flying a drone overhead for some aerial video shots. Wow! What a beautiful area. Leaving is hard In just a few hours, we settle into enjoying life at “farm” speed. The giant campfire is roaring. Dessert pizza is making us feel tired. The setting sun makes the fields glow. But we’ll be back. Sure, we could just order Dominoes. But pizza tastes better when you bike to it.