We Miss You

On Wednesday, December 16th our community lost a great athlete, mentor, coach and more importantly, a family lost their father, their hero.

Bill Karinen was a great athlete and a tremendous supporter of cycling and cross country skiing in our community. He was a mentor and coach for kids in the Ski Tiger Program as well as the Kids Mountain Biking Team. He was also a beloved member of the Cross Country Sports staff.

In 2007 Bill began working full-time at Cross Country Sports and became our lead mechanic and right hand man at the Calumet Shop. He brought with him a great passion for the sport, integrity, commitment and a love of the business. His quick wit and humor made the shop a fun place to work. In addition to being an excellent bike mechanic and ski tech, Bill was an accomplished carpenter. He was also skilled in auto mechanics. But above all else, he was an exceptional husband and father whose love for his wife Lisa and their six children Nina, Pete, Oskar, Heidi, Ethel & Sami was so very evident every single day of his life. His family was simply his pride and joy, and his dedication and commitment to them was the center of his daily activities.

Bill’s great spririt, his love of family and passion for cycling and skiing will always live on in our hearts. May he inspire us to keep the passion burning, go the extra mile, and focus on the most precious things in life, which are family and friends.

We miss you Bill. Your family is in our thoughts and prayers.

Great Deals for the Holidays - up to 70% off

Cross Country Sports is moving the Houghton Store! Stop in now and get GREAT deals on all gear including 30-70% off alpine equipment. Don't miss out on this one and just in time for the holiday season. Gear is disappearing fast, so stop in now before its gone. All sales final.

Snow is Here, Trails are Open!!

Lake Superior is doing its job, the lake effect snow machine is in full action....trails are groomed...its time to ski or snowshoe and shovel in your spare time. Check out www.keweenawtrails.com for the latest ski reports.

Good News - Copper Harbor is now Epic

All of us knew that Copper Harbor was epic but now it has been designated an IMBA Epic! If you are a member of IMBA (if you are not, you should be), you'll be receiving your fall newsletter with Copper Harbor on the cover and an article announcing it as one of five new Epic Rides. Read more about IMBA epics on their website. Two thumbs up to the local trail crews for providing us with a riding paradise and trails worthy of Epic status....

End of Season? Not Quite - It's Fat Tire Weekend!

It's been a busy summer and we've been due to post an update for a while. Another successful Deer Chase wrapped up on August 15th with Nikolai Anikin of Duluth and Julie Meyer of Hayward taking the 27 mile crowns and 13 year-old Pete Karinen of Painesdale and Kathy Abbott of Atlantic Mine taking home the 17 mile crowns. Yes Pete is 13 and he did beat the 17 mile field by 2 minutes. Check out all the results here: http://www.greatdeerchase.org/ or pictures by Chris Schmidt.

The Deer Chase was event number 2 in the Keweenaw Triple crown of races. Next up is Copper Harbor this Sunday! If you don't race, you don't need to because there's enough excitement just watching the 350+ racers negotiate the rocky, rough terrain of Paul's Plunge from a designated spectator area. There's also music afterwards at the Township Park featuring the Squeaky Clean Cretins. More info at http://www.keweenawadventure.com/ See you there!

Pump Track is Open

Time to head to Michigan Tech and check it out! The pump track is a great way to improve your bike handling skills and fitness.

July Update

Summer is here? Really it is. The temps have been cool but that only makes for good riding. Over the past few weeks, the CCS crew has been busy hosting weekly rides, racing thru a mine http://www.minersrevenge.com/, riding in circles for the 12 hours of potluck http://www.blindstoker.com/, and building trails.

If you haven't heard, there's new trails happening everywhere. The new Farmer's Well trail is open at Swedetown adding to the now ~19 miles of sweet singletrack. The Michigan Tech Pump Track is now ready to ride thanks to many hours put in by our CCS employees Andrew I (project chief), Lori H., Jason L. and a random crew of volunteers. More singletrack is also sprouting up at Tech, so keep your eyes open as you ride. The new Woopidi Woo Trail off of Garden Brook in Copper Harbor is also nearing completion. The riding only gets better and better thanks to a dedicated crew of hard working volunteers. Below is Spandrew 'testing' the tread on the new pump track.

Chain Drive - Results and Photos

Another Chain Drive has come and gone. Results are up and more photos are up daily. Relive the pain, the agony, the fun by checking out the results: http://www.chaindrive.org/ and photos at http://www.brockit.com/ Photos are free to download courtesy of Chain Drive or you can purchase prints online. Congrats to all the paricipants and especially to the CCS riders that took home hardware! Next up: http://keweenawcopperman.org

ForgetMeNot - Time to Ride Swedetown

Thanks to Jan Klemp for this great shot at Swedetown in 2008. The spring flowers are out now, so stop by and experience it for yourself.

Demo Day and Chain Drive

It's June! Well the cold weather doesn't make it feel like spring but we know its here because Chain Drive is just weeks away. June 20th over 350 riders will roll out thru downtown Houghton over to Hancock and the Maasto Hiihto/Churning Rapids Trails. Cross Country Sports will once again be on site to help out with last minute tuneups so stop by the tent if you need anything prior to roll out.

DEMO DAY: JUNE 13TH, 10am-3pm, MAASTO HIIHTO TRAILS

If your bike just isn't up to the task of Chain Drive, maybe its time for an upgrade. Not sure what you are looking for? We got you covered. June 13th, the Saturday before Chain Drive, the Trek Factory Demo van will be in town for you to test out the latest and greatest from Trek and Gary Fisher. Stop by the Maasto Hiihto Chalet at the Houghton County Fairgrounds from 10 am - 3pm for free test rides.

Riding Season Is Here?

The road riding has been good and bad, depending on the day, but it seems that we are finally getting into riding season. Within the next couple weeks, all the trails will be dried out and ready for riding. As of today, the east Tech singletrack is dried out but not the upper but Maasto/Churning and Swedetwon will need few more weeks to dry out. The Tour Da Keweenaw is in a couple weeks (May 16th) and we'll be posting the CCS Ride calendar soon! Then its on to Chain Drive.....

Snowshoe Adventures

It's winter, it's the Keweenaw, it's snowing and snowing and snowing..... What better way to get out and enjoy our wonderland than to snowshoe. With numerous peaks and interesting geology, you can hit up a new location almost every weekend. Some of our favorite off the beaten path areas to snowshoe: The Cliffs, Mt. Houghton, Copper Harbor area. If you're not comfortable with unmarked trails head on over to Michigan Tech or Swedetown and check out their marked snowshoe trails. If you don't have shoes, stop in Houghton or Calumet and grab some rentals.