Biking to the extreme

A couple of West Michigan men are so crazy about biking that they hit the trails when most even-avid bicyclists have their rides hanging from a hook.

Feb 26, 2013

Jason Bratton builds a fire while bike camping in Alaska preparing for the Iditarod Trail Invitational Bike Race. (courtesy photo)

Ted Bentley prepares a hot drink while on an overnight bike camping trip to prepare for the Arrowhead 135 winter bike race in Minnesota in 2014. (courtesy photo)

In a recent post for his The Outdoor Journal blog, Howard Meyerson interviewed Jason Bratton and Ted Bentley, who are "geeked about winter bike camping and long-distance touring in the extreme."

“I ride in winter more than in summer,” Bratton told Meyerson for his story, "Up for the challenge: Michigan cyclists prepare for extreme winter cycling races."

Meyerson tells us that Bratton is a 38-year-old software tester from Ada, a Rockford native who recently returned from Alaska.

"He was there to attend a week-long training camp for the 2014 Iditarod Trail Invitational, a 350-mile human-powered race from Knik, Alaska, to McGrath, Alaska, where participants bike, ski or run along a portion of the Iditarod Trail," wrote Meyerson, a former outdoors editor for the Grand Rapids Press.

Bentley is the service manager for a bike shop in Ada. The pair recently took off on a local winter bike-packing tour near Greenville.

To read more of Meyerson's blog, CLICK HERE.