Photos by Dylan Juchemich and Grayson Wolf. Words by Alex Anderson.
The Bike Duluth Festival at Spirit Mountain went down this past weekend and it sure was an action packed!
Friday saw riders coming in and getting practice laps in for all the events, but the festival officially kicked off at 5pm with the Chainless Downhill Race!
Riders ditched their chains and raced down a modified Cheese Grater to Smorgasbord. Over 115 racers joined in on the fun as this isn’t a typical event you get to see!
Some racers even got festive and dressed up!
E.T. even came out for the occasion
MOOOOVE out the way!
Riders were allowed best of two runs. Spectators and racers alike enjoyed the kick off event!
Saturday morning the enduro kicked off. Slotted to be a seven stage day, riders were ready to be out on the trails for a full day of racing! During the day riders would get to use the lift 3 times, whenever they wanted. So racers got to strategize when they wanted to take a lift break and when they wanted to pedal up the hill.
Riders started off the day all on the same stage. But then as the day went on two different stage groups would open up.
Stage 1 was Sprung a Leak – Candyland – Boot -Steel Toe. With lots of pedaling and corners to start, this stage would end up being the longest stage of the day that counted towards rider’s overall times.
After stage one was completed by all the riders, stages two, three and four would open up and riders could choose which to ride next!
Riders could choose between Port Gitch – Smorgasbord (2), All Weather Trail to Greenman (3), or Sprung a Leak – Candyland – Happy Camper – Wild Cat – Boss Hog (4).
Stage 2 was almost the same as the chainless race on Friday. Smorgasbord is fast with a little bit of tech build in. It’s a fan favorite for all skill levels.
Stage 3 was the most technical trail of the day. Starting with a pedal on All Weather Trail, and a punchy climb to the top of Greenman, racers’ heart rates were already maxed out before dropping into the most challenging section of the day.
Stage 4 was nicknamed Air DH. As the new section of Wild Cat going into Boss Hog has plenty of opportunities to catch some airtime!
After all the racers had completed those stages the second block of three stages opened. But mother nature had something in store for everyone.
Racers got to complete some of the last block of stages, but then a thunderstorm rolled through. And for safety reasons, the lift and race courses were put on hold. After holding off as long as they could, race organizers eventually had to cancel the last block of stages. Only the first four stages of the day ended up being counted towards the results at the end of the day because of this.
With a great mixture of fast and technical courses, riders had a blast even if they didn’t get to finish all of the stages!
Luckily for these riders, their crashes on this stage didn’t matter after the lightning cancelation.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!! After the rain Saturday, the weather was looking perfect for some Downhill action! Riders got to practice Wrecking Ball to Calculated Risk all morning until Seeding Runs occurred just after noon. Unless you were one of the riders who signed up for King of the Mountain. Then you were racing the long cross country course right up until it was time for seeding (some people only did their race run).
This course has been raced here at Spirit Mountain many times over the years! This year they did switch up a little taping. Changing the entrance to the terrarium, and opening up an inside corner lower down the course. The trails is a great mix of high speed and technical sections. Perfect for testing riders willingness to push their limits!
Some pushed their limits a little too far…
Race times were tight, and riders had a blast!
A huge thank you to the trail crew is in order. With all the rain Spirit Mountain has received this year, a good chunk of the trails that were raced on this weekend were still closed just a week ago! Trail crew pushed hard to get them running, and they were running great!
Thank you Spirit Mountain for hosting this awesome event and Bike Duluth Festival for putting it on!
Check out this cool video by Minnesota MTB