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Tag: driftless 250

Drifty 5

Written by Jake Gafner on . Posted in Story. No Comments on Drifty 5

If quarantine is good for one thing, it does a damn fine job of drumming up wanderlust. The 5th Edition welcomed our largest group yet while still keeping it within our Adventure Guidelines for the Covid Age. This is the part where we’d write about all the horrible weather that teams had to struggle through. The cold rain in their tents, the hail on the bike ride, and the swarms of gnats. But there was none of that. The weather was nearly perfect which makes for a boring writeup. They made up for it in Adventure though and there was plenty of goose poop. “It’s like a “Choose Your...

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300 Miles on Drifty No. 3

Written by Jake Gafner on . Posted in Adventure, Story. No Comments on 300 Miles on Drifty No. 3

Well, shucks. We’re going to have to throw out all of our Driftless “250” signs. On the 3rd edition, teams got their miles worth by pedaling and paddling for more than 300 miles. This is exactly the sort of effort that makes us blush. What started as a double-dog-dare to get teams to struggle their way to Beer’s Hometown in Potosi, WI, resulted in a rather respectable ramble through southern Wisconsin. Chief of the Lost Trumpet Corps, rallying the troops. This September’s Drifty was held exactly one year after the inaugural trip of Lost Travel and it turned out to...

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Driftless 250 in Review

Written by Jake Gafner on . Posted in Adventure, Story. 1 Comment on Driftless 250 in Review

Team More Bars, Less Hills “The Driftless 250 is a perfect cocktail of adventure, endurance, local flavor, and a whole love of Wisconsin.” The second edition of the Driftless 250 was an adventure of the most royal proportions. Attendees came in from five different states to take on the Drifty and they brought with them varying degrees of preparedness. One hadn’t biked more than 12 miles in a day; one hadn’t been on a bike in 10 years. We had a brother-sister pair, our first all female team, and our first solo participant. True to form, Wisconsin...

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Drifty, Two Ways

Written by Jake Gafner on . Posted in Adventure, Story. No Comments on Drifty, Two Ways

Now that we have two Drifty’s under our belt we’ve started to compare them, like every good parent. We know they’re not created equal but we love them both the same. The Driftless 250 is a complex dish. Sure, both Drifty’s have some peddling, paddling, and camping but the adventure is a bit more than that. To start, the weather in Wisconsin is about as predictable as a three year old with a wiffle ball bat. The 2nd Edition covered lows of 34 degrees, highs of 80 degrees, sun, wind, and hail. The Driftless region also benefits from the wonderful seasonality of the Midwest....

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Supporting the River Alliance of Wisconsin

Written by Jake Gafner on . Posted in Story.

We are super excited to announce that we’re supporting the River Alliance of Wisconsin with proceeds from The Driftless 250! They’ve recognized the awesomeness that is the Wisconsin River and have been working for over 25 years to keep it wild and healthy for both humans and wildlife alike. Their work extends across the state where they’re removing dams, combating invasive species, and preventing pollution from spoiling everything. Read all about the history and some of their major initiatives on, “What Would the Water Say?” Speaking of wildlife, they just finished...

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Verdict: Let’s do it again.

Written by Jake Gafner on . Posted in Adventure, Story.

The inaugural Driftless 250 was one helluva adventure. We captured it all on camera.  Strangers became friends, islands became hotels, a local man saved the day with a pickup truck, and we became one with the eddies of the mighty Mississippi. Teams learned what it’s like to ride a tandem bike, with backpacks on, uphill, and hungover. We learned a few new curse words as Andy fell through his hammock at 1am. We also learned that “doctor’s orders” are merely a guideline… you can, in fact, bike 160 miles with a broken foot. We stopped counting bald...

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