Each year, we donate 100% of event proceeds to a local organization. BikeReg, the company we use for registration, takes a small fee and we had merchandise costs for the t-shirts sold.

In 2022, all proceeds were donated to the Antigo Youth Nordic Ski Team! We were proud to donate $1000.00 to this new organization growing our outdoor community!

In 2021, all proceeds of our event were donated to the Boys & Girls Club of the Northwoods. We were proud to donate $862.68 to this great, impactful, and local organization! 

Click here!

Awesome - please send us an email: langladecountyexplorer@gmail.com.

Thank you for helping ensure our event is a success!

• Langlade County Accommodations (click link for full list of options)

Our event is a mixed-terrain event. All routes feature newly paved county roads, classic farm roads, gravel, firelanes, ATV/UTV/snowmobile trails, logging routes, and river crossings. While some of the trails are quite smooth by mid summer, the pavement provides a nice respite from the rougher terrain featured in our routes. The course does have some wild sections that past athletes expressed were 'atypical' for a gravel race - some of these contain a lot of small to hand size rocks, roots, sand, and ruts from water erosion. 

All routes begin with a 2.5 mile pavement start before heading east on Knight Road, cross State Highway 45, and then enter the Neva Firelane, which weaves around small lakes and steep pitches. This area was logged a bit last year, but this year there has been far less logging equipment and it appears to only be maintenance currently. There are often ongoing, continually changing logging operations going on in the Langlade County Forest throughout the year. As of early summer, most of these are exclusively on the 125 mile route, which features the most challenging, diverse, and true adventure trails within the county. All routes feature the following, iconic 'roads' of Langlade County:

• Neva Firelanes

• Jack Lake Firelane

• Rice Bed Road

• Hunting River Crossing (no bridge)

• Fitzgerald Dam Road

• Bogus Swamp Loop

Short answer - yes.

Longer answer - if you typically use Strava or a similar app on your smart phone for navigation while riding, you can give this a shot. Service in these areas is not always the best or available, but sometimes if you load the route with service it will provide navigation regardless of service throughout the route.

You can also try using cue sheets - to access these, click the 'RwGPS' button on the 'Routes & Reg' page for your desired course. This will redirect you to the Ride With GPS website and allow you to view turn-by-turn analysis and view/print cue sheets. However, these may not be 100% accurate with small turns due to the frequent splits and branches of the trails in Langlade County. 

For riders that are experienced and comfortable on gravel, ATV/UTV trails, logging roads, and rough terrain a gravel/adventure/cyclocross bike will do the trick and be the most efficient with the pavement sections. However, the minimum tire width recommendation is 38c - running tires narrower than this may be faster on the pavement sections, but you will increase your chances of flatting, cutting a tire, denting/cracking a rim, and/or crashing. Slicks are not recommended and will most likely not make it through the first 20 miles. If there has been a lot of rain in the days prior to the event or is any rain in the forecast for race day, things will get even more adventurous. Choose your tires wisely - something like the Specialized Pathfinder is an example that is suitable and everything you need for the terrain of the LCE. The weather and logging operations greatly impact the conditions, but please keep these recommendations in mind.

For riders who are on the fence of what bike to ride or are more confident and comfortable on a mountain bike this is a great tool for the job, especially the 45 and 85 mile routes since they are shorter in distance and duration compared to the 125 mile route. Even with a mountain bike, a medium or hybrid tire tread would be a good choice for the varied terrain. 

Click here for a short video of Lost Lake Rd (featured on the 125 and 85 mile routes). These conditions are similar to many of the firelane and logging roads on all routes. 

No - our event is grassroots, local, and also a fundraiser for local organization(s), so we keep things simple and focused on showcasing the beautiful forests, roads, and trails of Langlade County while raising and donating funds directly to our chosen organization(s).

No - our event is a fundraiser and we donate all of the money to local organizations. Your registration helps make a difference to the kids in our local community!