Already well into 2026, we put together a list of events we're checking out this year. Six of them, to be exact. Spread across four seasons, all in Wisconsin. Most of them we haven't done before.
At a Glance
1. American Birkebeiner
Fifty-five kilometers through the Northwoods. Ten thousand skiers. Finish line on Main Street in Hayward with the whole town watching.
The Birkie is the largest cross-country ski race in North America, and it's in northern Wisconsin. The trail cuts through birch forests, and from what we've heard, it's the kind of quiet that's hard to explain — just skis and breathing and snow.
The race gets most of the attention, but Birkie Week sounds like the real draw. Live music, community dinners, the Fat Bike Birkie two days later. A few thousand people who decided February is not a month you need to spend inside.
We've never done this one. We'll be up there documenting and hanging out on Main Street in Hayward cheering on the brave souls. Catch us on the track in 2027.
2. Canoecopia
It's March in Wisconsin. The water's still frozen. And a few thousand people are already planning their summer on it.
Canoecopia is the world's largest paddlesports expo — three days at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, run by Rutabaga Paddlesports. Gear demos, presentations, exhibitors from all over, and a building full of people who are stoked on canoes, kayaks, and anything you can paddle. It's the kind of place where, apparently, you walk in to browse and walk out having committed to a trip you hadn't considered that morning.
Nobody's on the water yet and everybody's thinking about it. That restless energy between ice-out and launch day — we want to see what that looks like in a room full of paddlers.
3. Rib Mountain Adventure Challenge
Run, bike, paddle. Map and compass. Central Wisconsin wilderness. Figure it out.
The RMAC is a legit adventure race — teams of 2–4 or soloists navigating through the woods around Rib Mountain and Wausau with no marked course. Just checkpoints, a map, and whatever your team can handle. They run 3-hour, 8-hour, and 18-hour options, so there's an entry point whether you've raced before or you're just curious enough to try it.
It's put on by IRONBULL, a local nonprofit that runs a handful of races in central Wisconsin, and it's part of the Wisconsin Adventure Racing Series.
4. Waupaca Boatride
Waupaca Boatride is one of the largest grassroots volleyball tournaments in the country — hundreds of teams on grass, an AVP beach tournament alongside it, and a weekend in Oshkosh that runs on equal parts competition and chaos. Professional athletes and general enthusiasts on the same grounds. Some may say it's a party disguised as competition.
5. USA Triathlon Nationals
USA Triathlon keeps picking Milwaukee for their national championships, and it's not hard to see why. Lake Michigan swim inside the breakwater, bike over the Hoan Bridge, run through Veterans Park and finish along Lincoln Memorial Drive. August 7–9, for the eighth time in Milwaukee.
This year they're adding draft-legal sprint nationals and mixed relay nationals on top of the usual sprint and Olympic distance championships. We're not racing this one — just showing up. Watching a few thousand of the country's best age-group triathletes tear through our city is a pretty good way to spend an August weekend.
6. Door County Century
One hundred miles through cherry orchards, limestone bluffs, and shoreline on both sides.
The Door County Century has been running since 1979 and draws riders from all over the country. Door County sits on an 80-mile peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan, and by all accounts the riding is stunning — Cave Point's crashing waves, Peninsula State Park's canopy roads, and the strawberry shortcake rest stop at mile 43 that everyone talks about for months afterward.
Why These Six
Honestly? Because they sound fun. Skiing the Northwoods in February, a room full of paddlers in March, navigating the woods by compass in May, volleyball in Oshkosh, a national championship tri on Lake Michigan, and a century through Door County in September.
That's a full year of goodies. Most of it will be new to us. We'll be at all of them.