Doing The Hard Things – April 2026
What’s inside: A note from the Director of AdventureCABLE POQUETTE :: The impact of Adventure TeamAdventure Team Registration :: April 18 :: BE READYVolunteer with Adventure Team :: Today’s kids need youNew on Made UP Podcast906AT/Pactimo Gear Store :: Open until 4/122026 Leadership Summit :: Sign up TODAYMTRS :: Adventure Your WayEvents with 906AT A note from the Director of Adventure “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” I have always enjoyed reading stuff from Stephen Covey. I credit his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, for opening my 20-something eyes to how much I had left to learn about leadership and people. I was 25 at the time – a point in life when ya feel like you know it all (until you pick up a book written by a guy much older and wiser). Seriously, tho. The book had a real impact on me as a young man – an impact that has stuck with me into my 50’s. If you haven’t read it… I highly recommend it. I’m gonna date myself, and you too, if ya remember what I’m about to reference. Mastercard did a marketing campaign in the late 90’s that highlights emotional experiences over physical purchases. Each commercial would end with the tagline “There are some things money can’t buy.” To honor that iconic campaign, I’m gonna prove it. This is your April newsletter easter egg! Send me a story about an experience you or one of your friends had during a 906AT event and how it has impacted you (them). If you’re a parent, send us a story that highlights an experience from one of your kids, and what they’ve learned from it. Include a photo with your story, please. We’ll share those stories throughout the day on Tuesday (April 7th) via social media and select a winner that night. If you win, you’ll get a season pass to the endurance trilogy! I started with a story about Stephen Covey. I’ll end with one, too. Let’s talk about “Keeping the main thing the main thing.” The world is full of distractions and noise. Now more than ever. I can tell you for us, a small nonprofit with three employees, it’s not just about distractions and noise, it’s about manpower, too. It can be hard to keep the main thing the main thing, but we must. And what is the main thing? The main thing is giving kids a chance to: get outside, learn about their community, experience adventure, make new friends, feel valued, take chances, overcome failure, and learn how to embrace the journey. That is not an exhaustive list, and those items are not listed in order of importance. They’re all important. They’re all the main thing. And we need to make sure through all of the fun we have on our own adventures that we never forget it… Because if this community can’t prioritize adventure for these kids…. Who will? “It’s something to fall back on, a stress reliever – it helps kids in tough times.” -Cable Poquette I first interviewed Cable Poquette in 2020 for the TV6 Morning News. I shared his story then – as 9-year-old Cable completed his first Crusher EX40 – riding 54 miles. He inspired me then, much in the same way he continues to inspire me today. You can watch that first interview here. It’s worth watching – you can see the remarkable young man he was becoming – the Cable I interviewed again last week. I sat down with him to learn about the impact of growing up in Adventure Team, riding shotgun to the ups and downs his dad, Todd faced as he began the program in 2014 and grew it to what it is today. If you’ve ever wondered how Adventure Team programming impacts a child, I can’t think of a better example, than Cable Poquette. “Biking and Adventure Team has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When it first started, I was too young to participate, but I was always there,” says Cable. Cable began riding with Adventure Team Marquette in 2019, he looks back on that first year with a smile. He says it was an amazing experience. He admits he wasn’t used to riding with other kids, but he enjoyed the noncompetitive atmosphere. “It made us all better,” says Cable. Better on the bike and better human beings. He says Adventure Team broadened his horizons. He met kids from other schools, kids from outside his social circle, and he learned how to interact with adults. His confidence in biking grew. His skills grew. And it wasn’t long before he was riding with kids older than himself. He became a leader in the program. “The one thing that I learned pretty quickly was – don’t make kids feel bad. Everybody is where they are at. I wanted to always help – I liked telling them that they’re doing a good job – not bragging about myself.” Cable recalls learning from the other kids and adults in the program, watching the way they supported one another. It’s a lesson he continues to mimic today. “Growing up in Adventure Team and playing basketball – my dad would always tell me to show up and be the best person I can be – and help others be the best person they can be.” Cable says the best thing about the Adventure Team program is the way it brings people together and expands their world. “It helps kids get comfortable with meeting new people and making new friends. For kids who don’t like sports or don’t know what they like to do yet… at least they’re trying it – and most kids fall in love with biking. It’s something to fall back on, a stress reliever – it helps kids in tough times.” When it comes down to it – when you strip everything away – egos and influence – Cable says biking is biking – you go
Doing The Hard Things – March 2026
What’s inside: A note from the Director of AdventurePR26 MASS START: #BLAMETODDPR26 MASS START: Extreme VolunteeringNew on Made UP PodcastTeaser Alert: Marquette Trail Running Series (MTRS) 😱Adventure Team Countdown!2026 Leadership SummitEvents with 906AT A note from the Director of Adventure As you go through this month’s newsletter, you’re going to read about a lot of cool stories. Cruz, a 13-year-old young man who not only finished the Polar Roll MS15 on February 21st, he won it; while 44% of the field was quitting, and he wasn’t the only kid present for what some are calling the worst Polar Roll conditions in 11 years. There were many others, and they finished, too. You’re going to hear about Jaymie who not only showed up… she finished two minutes before the cutoff at 8:30 pm despite a cancer diagnosis, volunteers who showed up at 4:45 in the morning to setup… and were still there at 8:30 that night to tear down – and they did it all with a smile! Or how bout Steve Flemming, an ultra rider who missed the 48-hour cutoff but refused to go home until he finished… and finally did after 60 hours. He didn’t do it to win the race or get a buckle; he did it because he believes in finishing what he started. I really hope you can take ten minutes to read what we’ve put together for you this month, and then take a few minutes to let it sink in. I’ll tell ya what I took away from last weekend and all of the stories we’ve heard. Who you surround yourself with is incredibly important. I believe it has the power to change your life; in fact, I’ve watched it happen countless times over the past 11 years. When you hang out with people who have high standards, your standards change. When you hang out with people who won’t quit, you don’t wanna quit. It’s contagious. When you learn to stop comparing yourself to everyone else, it frees you – and all of a sudden you can just show up and compete against yourself. If you don’t like drama, you need to start hanging out with people who don’t do drama. It makes sense when you say it out loud, right? Enjoy the newsletter. The team puts a lot of time into it for you. You might even wanna share it with someone who needs to hear some of the stories, or maybe they just need a place to feel welcome and accepted. PR26 MASS START: #BLAMETODD In true 906AT fashion – we don’t make anything easy – and this year’s Polar Roll was anything but! From grooming the trails to participants battling the Mackinac Bridge to snow, wind, and conditions that pushed people to Find Their Limits – Polar Roll 2026 will be remembered and talked about for years to come. It seemed to be more of a mental test than a physical test. When you showed up to ride your bike in the snow and ended up pushing more than pedaling – could you find the will to keep going? Could you adapt to the experience you were in versus the experience you expected? 545 people signed up for Polar Roll.429 people started.185 texted #Quitter.244 finished. It Gets Worse, Before It Gets Worser. Polar Roll is perhaps too often considered the ‘gimme’ of the 906AT Trilogy. It’s just 15 or 30 miles. For those working toward the Secret Event and the Triple Crown – Polar Roll is the first to check off the list, the event with the least amount of miles. But surprise? “I’d rather do Marji 100 than ever do that again,” said one PR finisher. And isn’t that the point? Isn’t that why we put these events together? Isn’t that what you show up for? An experience that pushes, tests and takes you out of your comfort zone. Polar Roll 2026 certainly did that. What is hard? The answer to that question is different for everyone. In fact, while there was a lot of frustration during Polar Roll – there were also a lot of people enjoying the experience, riding, walking, laughing through the challenge – whether they finished or texted #QUITTER. 13-year-old Cruz Woodbury, the first place finisher of the MS15, who may never realize the significance of his accomplishment, said he just rode his bike and never looked back. Was he excited to take first place? Sure, he seemed happy – it was hard. But, he also was just out enjoying a day on his bike. That was his perspective. Now, let’s flip that to the perspective of the last finisher. Jaymie Smith was out there to do a hard thing. To feel every mile, every push, work through the challenges, and FINISH, no matter what. And she did with just two minutes left to cutoff. For Jaymie it was a celebration of life. Days after Polar Roll Jaymie said, “I finished chemo – I just wanted to celebrate that I’m alive by doing something that is me – going on an adventure, pushing my body and my mind.” Jaymie’s first 906AT event was supposed to be Crusher last year – but a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment kept that from happening. And so, her first 906AT event became Polar Roll. And after 12 hours on the course… she finished, tears streaming down her face – not out of frustration, but with gratitude – for the adventure, the experience, the opportunity to push her body. That was her perspective. “If I can make it through these awful procedures and experiences – come on, I can do this,” said Jaymie. “I think it helped that I knew I was going to be slow – it wasn’t about physical fitness, it was about what was between my ears.” It’s easy sometimes to get lost in the way things were supposed to go – but it’s something really remarkable and beautiful to watch 429 people dive into the possibility of what happens
Doing The Hard Things – February 2026
What’s inside: Todd UpdateNew this Year: Adventure by HIKEMarquette Trail Running Series: Adventure Your WayPR26 – Polar RollTriple Crown: “I just want to see if I can do it.”New on MADE U.P.Monkey Loob: “I can’t imagine where I would be without these experiences.”Become an Adventure Team VolunteerEvents with 906AT Excerpt from the Mental Health Foundation: “Adventure experiences for children are diverse. They might include forest schools, high ropes courses, adventurous play, camping, water sports, and climbing, amongst many other activities. Adventures range from once-in-a-lifetime experiences, to everyday adventures, accessible to all.” Mark Rowland, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation added, “Adventure helps to generate a range of positive emotions, including excitement, joy and wonder. It also helps to develop a healthy relationship to uncertainty. That is so important in boosting confidence and in children learning how to manage fear and anxiety.” The key elements of adventure include: Connection with nature Physical activity Unfamiliar experiences Challenge and risk Physiologically energized Working together and Supporting relationships From Todd Poquette, Director of Adventure: More than 10,000 people receive this email every month. Several thousand more people are reached through social media. I want to challenge you. Each and every one of ya. Are ya ready? Here it goes… Help us put wonder back into childhood adventure and stop conditioning kids to be afraid of everything around them. Instead of advocating for avoidance help us teach kids how to prepare for challenges, and overcome them. New experiences and the unknown shouldn’t scare us – they should excite us. Advocate instead for preparation, and learning how to properly asses risk. Let’s be real… If we are teaching kids to avoid every little thing that is scary and uncomfortable… What are we leaving them with? I’ll tell ya what I think it is… A phone, or a tablet, or an Xbox, or potentially more common and concerning, we’re leaving them with nothing but an empty room and anxiety. This doesn’t have to become our legacy. We don’t have to be our kids hero. We need to give them the space to become the hero of their own story, and that should be enough for us. Adventure: an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity. You don’t have to threaten me with a good time 😉 See ya out there. New this year: Adventure by HIKE 906 Adventure Team in Marquette is piloting a new program this summer: Adventure Hike Club. We’re starting with 50 spots on Wednesday nights from 6:00-8:00 PM at Tourist Park through the summer. This is a youth resilience program for kids 5-17 years old. First hike: June 10Last hike: August 19Cost: $150 The concept mirrors that of Adventure Bike Club – create a space for kids to adventure and do hard things – surrounded by a community of leaders who support their personal path of growth and development. We’re taking everything about the bike program and bringing it to kids minus the bike. All the same core values: respect, effort, grit, consistency. Growth Mindset and the “Power of Yet.” You vs. You! Registration opens April 18 – based on the response from the community, we expect spots will full up fast! We also need volunteers. We need dedicated volunteers who will show up for the kids. This is the most important part. If we can’t get volunteers we can’t get kids. Simple, right? Click the link below. Everything ya need to know is there. And then sign up. Our cap as of today is 50 kids, but if we get enough folks who wanna step up we’ll reach more. Two hours a week for 12 weeks this summer could change a kid’s life. LEARN MORE Adventure Your Way The Marquette Trail Running Series was created in 2009 and is the longest standing trail running series in Marquette. MTRS was formed by Andrew Rickauer and a small group of volunteers. Andrew’s commitment to organizing these runs and building community is truly commendable. As he steps away and 906AT takes over the series, we move forward with the intent to honor the work he’s put in and the community he’s created. MTRS has been under the 906AT umbrella for the past four or five years… and this year, we’re diving in a bit deeper and shaking things up a bit. We want to broaden our reach. We want to see more people get into the woods. And we want to offer a program that serves people of all ages and abilities. Running has always been a part of 906AT events – it’s an area that we’ve seen continue to grow over the years – and one we’re excited about! Director of Adventure Todd Poquette and Dawn Lundin are going to lead the Marquette Trail Running Series this year. We’ll be sharing more information in March but expect all new routes this year, including trails in the West End and the North Country Trail system. Our intention is to offer two distances each night of the series – a beginner/kids distance (3 miles or less) and a longer more advanced distance (6 miles or less). Before we finalize the details of this season – we’d like your input. Below is a link to a 3-question survey. If you’re interested in MTRS, take a few minutes and let us know what you think! Take the Survey PR26 – Polar Roll We are just under three weeks away from this year’s Polar Roll Mass Start in downtown Ishpeming on Saturday, February 21. Mother Nature has hit the U.P. with a winter to remember – from blizzard conditions to arctic temperatures – we can’t predict what she has in store for Polar Roll – but now feels like a good time to highlight the environment – quoted from the PR Field Manual: “The environment will be hostile. The topography features punchy climbs, deep snow, and potentially frigid temps. Frostbite is possible, water containers will freeze, and trail conditions
Doing The Hard Things – January 2026
What’s inside: New Year. Same Mission.RESEARCH: Playing in dirt transforms children’s healthVolunteering in 2026: Register NOWLeading Adventure Summit: April 25 & 26Adventure Team Youth ProgrammingYouth & Family InfoAdventure Team Registration: Get Ready!New on MADE U.P.Events with 906AT We’re dedicating the entire newsletter to the youth program and kicking off volunteer recruitment. The LMS (Learning Management System) has been updated. Quizzes have been streamlined and shortened. Video was added to diversify the training experience, and you can complete your training on a mobile friendly app. Progress. Ya know… I remember a time when the LMS was a three-ring binder. We had a handful of coaches and one Adventure Team. The training was nothing more than stuff I collected to hold myself accountable… A handful of ethics, core values, and rules of engagement. We focused a lot on HOW we would do things because how you do things creates your culture. IMO nothing is more important than an organization’s culture. When you have a group of people who believe in each other, trust one another, and like each other… You can do and overcome anything. Nothing can stop you. Failure is not an option. I’m a big believer that we’ve been successful because of the kinda people that get on our bus. Before I let you go, there’s one thing I would like to add. It’s something that keeps me up at night. I’ll call it the “Tyranny of Safety.” Our society has become obsessed with scaring the sh!t out of us so they can swoop in and be the safety police. It’s infecting our minds. It’s impacting our kids. We are losing touch with the world around us because we’re afraid of it, and that brings me to this. Our organization will continue to focus on personal accountability, resilience, courage, adaptability, and helping people become more independent. We will continue to provide difficult experiences to test you, and bring you together. We will continue to serve you before ourself, and lead by example. The world is a dangerous place. No one is going to change that. What we (you) can change is our level of readiness and training. So on that note, it’s 2026… let’s get started. RESEARCH: Playing in dirt transforms children’s health A few weeks ago Todd forwarded me and Marc a link to an article in The Guardian, “read this when you have a quiet moment.” I wasn’t surprised to see the article had to do with kids and the impact of play outdoors. I also wasn’t all that surprised to read about the positive impact on kids who were not just playing outside, but getting their hands into the dirt. I grew up in a small town outside of Grand Rapids. A highlight of my childhood was spending nearly all of my days playing outside. It wasn’t a question of whether we were going to go outside every day – we woke up, had breakfast and were sent out the door, often only returning for snacks, lunch and the occasional bathroom break. We had an endless number of made up games, tree forts, and shenanigans that were top priority. We took a bath nearly every night because we were typically filthy when we came in. Of course, I didn’t realize, and I’m not sure my parents did either the added benefits of playing in the dirt. It’s just what we did. We’re beginning to now understand those benefits on a deeper level – because of the negative trends that began popping up when kids weren’t spending their days in the outdoors. Medical experts are asking and beginning to learn the answer to – why are heath trends in today’s kids on a decline? Our world is different today than it was when I was a kid. Today’s world moves faster, it’s louder, distractions are everywhere. Play, like what’s discussed in the article, often has to be intentional – but that doesn’t make it any less impactful. I don’t think it’s ever been more important to make sure we’re creating opportunities for kids to adventure, play in the mud, and get dirty – it opens up a whole new realm of imagination and discovery – and how great that at the same time, as the research in this article suggests, aids in healthy growth and development. This article also presses the importance of protecting green spaces, parks, trails and places for kids and families to spend time outside together. We need to work together as a community to ensure there isn’t a barrier for this type of play – that our kids have the spaces and places to get dirty. I loved reading the below article and learning about what they’re doing in Finland – I only wish there was more of that happening on a larger scale. But, we can all do our part – and it’s rewarding to know we’re all a part of a community, the 906AT community, that’s creating opportunities and spaces to do just that!By Elizabeth Peterson READ THE ARTICLE VOLUNTEER IN 2026: SIGN UP IS OPEN! The number of kids we’re able to sign up for Adventure Team programming is directly tied to the number of volunteers in each community. For every volunteer, we’re able to open up three youth spots.Volunteers do NOT need to be expert bikers. We provide the training to be an effective volunteer. Volunteers DO need to Lead by Example and commit. Commit to the program. Commit to the 906AT ethos and mission. Commit to putting Service Before Self. And commit to showing up and being present. This program doesn’t just positively impact the kids participating – it changes the adults – for the better. Volunteers must pass a background check and successfully complete the 906AT online training module. You’ll also have the opportunity to attend the Leading Adventure Summit in Marquette in April to further your training and development. 906AT needs active, engaged and dedicated volunteers who believe in building up today’s kids – not by