MOUNTAIN ROUTES

 Hartley Park | Pokegema | Spirit Mountain | Piedmont | Lester-Amity

A BRIEF WORD ON ILLEGAL RIDING

Here's the thing: You won't get arrested for riding on the Superior Hiking Trail, the Grand Portage Trail, City of Duluth Nordic ski trails, or any of the many other Duluth-area trails on which mountain biking is either expressly prohibited or dubiously acceptable. But aren't there a lot of other lame, stupid, and uncool things you could do without winding up in legal trouble? Doesn't mean you should do 'em.

We're not perfect; we've ridden those trails unintentionally and, to be honest, with very conscious intentions. We also try to avoid doing so as much as possible, because we understand that walking trails—as much as some mountain-bikers don't want to admit it—are routed, packed, and traveled in ways that make mountain-biking on them damaging if not dangerous. We also know that hikers often carry long, stout sticks.

You can follow a simple principle to make sense of such matters. Christians refer to it as the Golden Rule. Buddhists and Hindus call it Karma. All religions have some way of phrasing it, and non-religious folks call it The Ethic of Reciprocity. Here's our version: You don't want someone being a jerk to you, or messing with your stuff? Don't be a jerk to them; don't mess with their stuff. (And if you choose to be a stuff-messing jerk, assume it will come back at you, probably when you least need or expect it to.) 

 "If I could ride only one bike in Duluth," says Ski Hut guru Mick Dodds, "it would be a mountain bike."

But what one mountain-bike ride would Doddsy choose? "That's a horribly unfair question," he says. "You could probably make a six-hour Duluth mountain-bike ride without repeating any terrain [and with relatively little time on pavement]. Lester to Hartley, Hartley to Piedmont, Piedmont to Spirit Mountain, Spirit to Jay Cooke. Point-to-point, that's 20 miles one way."

"Mountain-biking in Duluth," says bike-handling savant Scott Kylander-Johnson, "can be as technical as you want it to be," depending on where and what bike you ride.

Disparate options do exist: Spirit Mountain is rocky & rooty, aggressive, and fun if you're into screaming descents and anaerobic climbs; the wide, flat, Western Waterfront Trail is pleasant and bucolic, and fun if you're into leisurely bicycle strolls. But most choices between those extremes lean toward what casual or inexperienced cyclists might find a bit intense.

"Duluth has no easy mountain biking," says Kylander-Johnson. "Unless you want to ride the Munger or the Western Waterfront trails, Duluth has no...."

"No giggle trails"—ones appropriate for cruising and giggling, instead of focusing on staying upright—says Scotts's wife, Sarah Kylander-Johnson, a former competitive cross-country skier who's been one of the Midwest's top mountain bike racers in the last five years.

"Wisconsin and the Twin Cities have smooth, buffed-out mountain-bike trails that I could take my Trek Madone road bike on and not hurt it," says Scott. "That's both a plus and a minus for Duluth. It's a hard place to start learning without a tough skin. It's tough to build confidence, especially if you ride with people who are experienced.

"Some top riders from other areas come here and can't do our races--it's the rocky, rooty nature of the trails. It's very unforgiving. When she was first learning to ride, Sara would say her brain was getting full. It's just a natural part of the geography. When you build a trail in Duluth, there are giong to be rocks and roots. Even if it starts smooth, it gets rocky and rooty."

"You have to build up a tolerance," says Sara. "If you ride and are trying to intentionally become a better rider, you'll improve. But it would also be a good idea to create a beginner trail—a fully, truly beginner trail."

"Full suspension is nice around here," says Dr. John Morrison, who spent a fair amount of time living and riding in the Twin Cities metro before moving to Duluth a few years ago. "I don't know how Marshik [Morrison's riding buddy and fellow St. John's alum Ryan Marshik, a Duluth physical therapist] rides his bike [a fully rigid Surly 1x1]."

Morrison continues: "Most trails here, compared to trails in other places, seem a bit more wild. Like you're just out on some deer trails. Like they're not super-planned, even though they are. I went up to Grand Marais and rode a trail. It was nice, but it didn't compare to anything around here. It just seemed like a trail going through the woods.

"Trails around here seem unique. They have a lot more rock. Better climbs. You could take the Piedmont trail and compare it to any trail anywhere else."

Patrick McEnaney, who started mountain biking when he lived in Santa Cruz, CA, and who now lives in Corvallis, OR, after a handful of years in Duluth, says that "the unique thing about Midwest trails in general is that they're more technical and tight than out west. Out there it isn't the same forest ecology, so you don't have the effect of having to work your body through trees. Duluth makes you bring your A game to any ride."

"Everything up here is technical, and COGGS [Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores] is definitely trying to establish more variety," says COGGS member, and experienced trail planner and builder, Ryan Nelson. "The technical caliber of trails here is beyond other places, even out west. We have long climbs and scary downhills. We also have lush, green creek bottoms, and a lot of other trail features that make these trails incredible, and even if they were four times as busy as it is now, they still wouldn't be too busy.

"Most of the time it feels like mountain-biking might as well be my own activity, because a lot of times I'll go ride and not see another person. It can actually feel a lot more personal than riding does in some other places. Picking through ferns and rocky creek bottoms on my own, it feels kind of intimate. With the quantity of greenspace in town, Duluth has the potential to be a huge destination—we could have a hundred miles of singletrack in town. And all those existing trails and all that potential just happens to exist in a quaint town."

"We have full intentions of making a lot more trails through COGGS," says Sherie Nelson (Ryan's wife). "There's always something challenging here. It totally could become a hot spot, especially with Michigan and Wisconsin so close, and with so much good riding."

And with options to do that riding year-round. Seriously.

"My favorite time to mountain bike in Duluth is actually winter," says Scott Kylander-Johnson. "I like the trails when they're really narrow and the snow on either side is deep, and the price of getting a little bit to one side or the other is going off your bike. Winter trails are always smooth. Your bike is always clean. Can barely tell anyone's been there."

"A lot of people think mountain biking is only for summer months," says The Ski Hut's Dodds. "But at this time of year [he spoke in early December], if you have the right clothes, riding can be better than it is during the summer. If it's 25 degrees and there's no fresh snow, and the trails have been packed by snowshoers and dog walkers, they're a lot of fun. Normally bumpy trails are smooth."

"It's interesting how hard-packed trails, with the right tires and pressure, can be so fun," says Duluth physician's assistant, and Arrowhead 135 winner, Matt Evengson. "It's not slippery, and it's much smoother and faster without so many rocks and roots. If the cross-country skiing isn't good the biking probably is, and vice-versa. It's also true that if there's no snow in the winter, there's crazy traction.

"If there is snow and you ride at night, with a headlamp, it's like a glowing white tunnel. Night riding seems crazy, but it's fun. It takes a trail you've done a million times and turns it into something new. If you're bored with the trails you usually ride, ride them at night, in the opposite direction."