Copper Harbor Trails Fest 2026 – LSGS

Copper Harbor Trails Fest is always one of the most special weekends of the summer! This is the final Trails Fest weekend in the Lake Superior Gravity Series Calendar!

Copper Harbor is such a special place for mountain biking. Little to no cell coverage, amazing trails, live music and good times with friends. It’s tough to beat a weekend in the Harbor.

This year was no different.

Rain Friday gave the trails a much needed boost of grip and stability. Like many areas this year, the trails in Copper Harbor had not seen much moisture this year. But the rain Friday made the rest of the weekend fantastic for riding!

Friday evening the Otter Belly Lodge crew put on a free downhill race at East Bluff as a apart of the Erics Downhill Series. 60 racers got a free lift up to the top of the bluff to do one run down Thunderbolt. Riders hopped in the back of an old box van, with exhaust circling into the box, benches that didn’t survive the trip and a bumpy road to the top! It was certainly the feeling of, you get what you pay for haha. But it worked! One run down, no practice runs, just a fun run with a timer set up. The timing got messed up, so racers didn’t get to see results until later in the weekend, but again “you get what you pay for” and racers had a blast regardless!

Saturday was long cross country in the morning, then into the Downhill.

Downhill was the classic Overflow. The dirt was insanely grippy after the rain Friday! Plus the work volunteers had put in earlier in the week had the trail running so so well. This year a start gate was built for the race, which was a super fun way to start your run!

For the downhill riders get two runs. The best of those two runs counts as their race run. The shuttle for the race was a bit hectic as the first and second plans fell through. Luckily the Otter Belly crew and volunteers rallied together to use the box van, a truck with a trailer, and a passenger van to get riders up for practice and racing!

Even after doing the long xc race in the morning, Ryan Zinzow was able to pull out a win over Kaden McKeown and Rocket Altman.

Mara Breeuwer was able to put 5 seconds into Lillia Regenold! And Leia Scheeberger rounded out the women’s podium.

Sunday the enduro kicked off at the East Bluff Bike Park. Riders either had 7, 4 or 2 stages on the day.

The expert group got a treat this year. After doing Thunderbolt, racers went down a fresh bit of trail in Speed Trap. This trail was raked in through a new backcountry ski cut. The dirt was soft and was changing a lot throughout the weekend. The final section was the top spectator spot of the day. A-line was all off camber. With a bunch of roots at the top. Then a large off camber rock with a root crossing it to finish it off! The B-line was no joke either. Steep and straight down with a bit of root scattered and a small catch berm at the bottom. This section brought the excitement for the spectators and racers!

This year they extended Whipsaw by adding in EBBs to the mix. Making this stage longer and still incredibly fun!

Loam Rider/Eh Horizon and Bermasaurus rounded out the time at East Bluff.

Racers could then either pedal back to Copper Harbor, or get a ride back in a vehicle. Next up was Red Trial. The ever classic of Copper Harbor. The raw, techy trail was in it’s prime after the rain. Dirt was grippy and roots were dry. What a great day to hit Red Trail. But after 5 laps at East Bluff, the legs were burning for the dreaded climb towards the end of this one!

Lastly riders head up Brockway to hit Overflow (all B-Lines), for the final stage of the day.

You’d think after the downhill race on Saturday that the trail would have been in tough shape, but it was still running great. Maybe even better than for the downhill. Ending your day with Overflow is such a fun way to finish off the day.

With Strava’s measuring the day at around 24 miles and 4,400 feet of elevation gain, this might be one of the Midwest’s biggest days on the bike for an enduro.

Ryan Zinzow was able to beat out the brothers of Kaden and Payton Mckeown for the win in the Men’s.

Lillia Regenold was able to sneak out the win over Mara Breeuwer and Kyia Anderson for the Women’s field!

As in Copper Harbor fashion, everyone then got to hang out in town with the beer garden, food vendors, and music to finish off an amazing weekend of racing!