Uncategorized – Downhill Midwest

DHMW and LSGS Finale 2026!!

Alex — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:34:16 +0000

Downhill Midwest at Spirit Mountain went down this last weekend and was the finale for both the Downhill Midwest Series and the Downhill portion of the Lake Superior Gravity Series!! For the LSGS series, both the women and men came into the weekend with ties for first place! So it was expected that the riders were going to be trying hard all weekend to bring home the big checks!! With $1,000 on the line, riders were putting it all on the line!

This being the inaugural season for the Downhill Midwest series it was fun to finish with a race at Spirit Mountain!

Cat 3 got to race Happy Camper from the Happy Hub again, same as last year.

The Cat 1&2 trail was similar to the round last year, with a few tweaks. Starting with the roll in into Wrecking Ball, but at the end of Wrecking Ball the “rock jump” was left wide open. And rider took advantage of that, taking a bit of a different route across the mound. Which was more of a huck to flat than the normal jump.

Then into Calculated Risk riders went. Utilizing the left entrance into the Terrarium feature, but with a new, more direct, cut across back into the Terrarium. This entrance made a very straight line into the main feature. Giving riders all the speed they wanted! Maybe even more than they really wanted… Many riders crashing at the bottom trying to make the corner out of the section.

This year riders got to rip their way through the Talladega Berms before exiting Calculated Risk into the “Downhill Midwest” section from last year. With a bit of a different entrance and a more open tape job, making more line choice and speed available to riders. A bit more area was opened up and a new exit was used this year. Riders seemed to enjoy this section more this year than last year.

Then out into a couple of grass corners and into the bottom rock garden of Calculated Risk! Some wide tape at the exit, than a few “too easy” grass corners round out the course. With the finish line being right at the bottom of the lift.

Riders were treated to some fog on Friday morning for track walk, but that quickly dissipated and the weather for the rest of the weekend was perfect fall. Chilly in the mornings, warm in the afternoons. Just awesome temps for being out on the hill!

Saturday saw seeding runs go down. With some fast times showing up! Lilli Regenold was able to put 6 seconds into the competition for her seeding run. While Rocket Altmann was squeaked out a second over second place!

After seeding riders went to check out the new final hits on the black jump line! A big drop into some booters! These jumps really rounded out the line so well and are an amazing addition to the mountain!

There was rain predicted for Saturday night. Which had some riders nervous, but none of that rain seemed to fall on the mountain. So the trail remained fast!

Sunday started out with Cat 3 racers taking to Happy Camper!

Riders of all ages came out to tackle the course. With little rippers as young as 6 putting down race runs!

One of the highlights from the Cat 3 racing was the twins, Jake and Pete Kurth putting in almost exactly the same runs. They ended with 2:25.68 and 2:25.88 respectively. Only two tenths between the nine year old twins!!

The battle of the two top hitters in the male 12-16 group raged on as well. With Jack Smith IV getter the better of Levi Hansen by 3 seconds with a 1:42.

After Cat 3 racing concluded, Cat 1 and 2 racers got to take to their course for a practice run before their race runs.

Riders really decided to push it in their race runs compared to seeding!

Most racers put in faster times than seeding by pretty large margins! Some by as much as 12 seconds even without crashing in seeding!

With that extra push, came extra crashes. Multiple people were caught out in corners throughout the course on their race runs.

In the end, Lilli and Rocket were both able to back up their seeding run wins!

Payton McKeown was able to get within 3 tenths of a second of Rocket on the race run!

With this being the Finale of the Downhill Portion of the Lake Superior Gravity Series as well as the Downhill Midwest Finale, there were a lot of awards to get through!

Overalls for DHMW were handed out. With the series being only 3 races, and races being so far apart, not many people attended the whole series. It was still very exciting to see those who showed up be honored for taking part in the series! Christy Hammerstrom was able to create some very fun awards for the overalls this year! Thank you so much to her!

There were also prizes from sponsors like Broken Spoke and Ski Hut handed out at the awards!

If riders had raced all three stops of the Downhill Midwest Series they were entered into a drawing for a SR Suntour fork! One for men and one for women. Alesia and Corey were the winners of this awesome prize!!

As stated earlier, the men’s field was tied for LSGS coming into this race. Payton was able to win the $1,000 overall prize! Originally we all thought Kaden had second place locked in. But Rocket wasn’t far behind! And with him winning this race and Kaden finishing 4^th, they tied for 2^nd in the series! Rocket was officially awarded the 2^nd place using the place at the final round as the tiebreaker!

Lilli and Mara battled it out, back and forth, all season long! Lilli was able to secure the win over Mara this weekend to take home the $1,000! With Christy Hammerstrom rounding out the women’s podium!

Onyx Racing made some amazing medals for the age group categories for LSGS as well!

Both series’ were such a blast this year. Lake Superior Gravity Series will look very similar next year (as always). While Downhill Midwest is working to maybe bring some new locations into rotation! So keep your eyes pealed for that!

Thank you to all the Downhill Midwest sponsors for making this race and the series possible!

Intense Cycles Podium Payback

Thank you to the Lake Superior Gravity Series sponsors for making the series and payouts possible!!

Rock Solid Trail Contracting

North Country Cycle Suspension

Lakeshore Bike

Downhill Midwest

GNAAR Mountain Bike Coaching

Intense Cycles Podium Payback

Quick Stop Bike Shop

See you all next year!

(or at the final LSGS Enduro, Marquette Fall Enduro, this coming weekend!)

-Alex

Copper Harbor Trails Fest 2026 – LSGS

Alex — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 02:48:02 +0000

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!

Great work to the Copper Harbor Trails Club and all the volunteers for putting together another awesome time in the Harbor!

The Downhill Finale of the Lake Superior Gravity Series is September 25-27 at Spirit Mountain for the third and final round of Downhill Midwest!

The Enduro Finale for the Lake Superior Gravity Series is the following weekend, October 3-4 at Marquette Fall Enduro!

Don’t miss these races to see who is going to take home the money!!

Photos: Dylan Juchemich

Words: Alex Anderson

Thanks to the LSGS Sponsors

Rock Solid Trail Contracting

North Country Cycle Suspension

Lakeshore Bike

Downhill Midwest

GNAAR Mountain Bike Coaching

Intense Cycles Podium Payback

Quick Stop Bike Shop

Standing Rocks 2026!

Alex — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:04:21 +0000

If you missed it, YOU MISSED IT!

Standing Rocks is the little enduro that could. After a few years of putting in multiple “race only” lines to create a more technical enduro. The crew were allowed to put in permanent technical lines. We knew they were putting in work, but they PUT, IN, WORK!!

Multiple brand new trails, big drops, berms, tech and more. We couldn’t believe how much had changed in such a short amount of time!

It pretty much felt like an entirely different set of trails from 2025. The Standing Rocks trails were fun before, but now they are a blast!

Rain on Friday really helped set up the generally sandy trails, creating amazing conditions for the race on Sunday!

There were multiple category options for riders to choose from. The Youth category did 3 stages in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. Sport racers did all 4 morning stages and 2 of the afternoon stages. Then the Expert category did 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.

Racing kicked off at 10am and riders quickly scattered to the morning stages. The morning had a lot of the more original stages in them.

Make Fun Please, Vigilante, Local DH, RoB Resurrected were the morning four. All of which were raced last year. They were a great way to start off the day!

As the timing systems were moved to the afternoon stages, riders had access to a local food truck for some lunch!

After a little rest and refueling, riders headed back out for the afternoon set of stages.

Gadzoom Combo, Hextables, Mad Hatter and Smaug!

Hextables was probably the most talked about stage of the weekend. Although this stage had been raced in the past, it had been given a major facelift! The drop from years past had been magnified tenfold. Built up with some beautiful rock work with a nice landing. They also added in some “moto whoops” and more features throughout the trail. It was fast and a heck of a lot of fun!!

Smaug was the trail they used to give out an SR Suntour Durolux38 fork to the fastest rider! One of the new trails. Smaug had a jump into a rock garden up towards the top. A little bit of a climb in the middle, then a drop towards the end. A good mix of everything! Alex Anderson was able to take the win on this stage and go home with the fork!

Gadzoom Combo was a slight switch up from last year. Bringing riders down a more direct path with more off camber, flat style corners. Before coming to the jumps at the bottom. Many riders couldn’t decide if the jumps or the go around was the faster option at the bottom of this trail. If you raced, which did you think was faster?

Overall the trails were super fun. The weather for the day couldn’t have been much better. And riders enjoyed a great day of racing!

In the end the local ripper, Alex Beach took home the win! He was one of the many volunteers that put in a ton of time building the new sections of trails and putting on the race. And he threw down some great times on the day! Nathan Zinzow and Rhys Valerius rounded out the men’s podium.

For the women, Leia Schneeberger took the win! With Harper Zinzow and Christy Hammerstrom rounding out the top three!!

This was their fourth year putting on this race, and it does not disappoint! If you have the ability to make it to this race next year. You certainly should!!

Event: Standing Rocks Enduro

Photos: Dylan Juchemich

Words: Alex Anderson

2026 Duluth Trails Festival – LSGS #4

Alex — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 17:59:01 +0000

This is the first year of the new name for Duluth Trails Festival! Formerly Bike Duluth Festival, it’s now officially being run by Duluth Devo and COGGS and there’s been addition of running events to the weekend. So it was the perfect time to rebrand to Duluth Trails Festival!

The Enduro and Downhill portion of the weekend is the 4th stop of the Lake Superior Gravity Series as well!

The weekend kicks off on Friday with one of the most fun events of the year, chainless downhill!

Racing down smorgasbord. Riders remove their chains and dawn their silliest costumes for a best of 2 run format. With well over 100 riders participating, it’s always a hoot!

Have you ever tried riding without a chain? It certainly exposes weak spots in your riding when you can’t pedal out of a section you messed up haha

Bodee McFadden and Lilli Regenold took top spots for this event!!

Saturday is enduro day!

Darn near perfect weather conditions were so very welcomed by racers! Hot enough to sweat and get a little sunburn, but comfortable when not racing. After the sauna of Miner’s Revenge, we couldn’t complain.

The advanced riders conquered 7 stages on the day! 3 in the morning, 3 mid day, then one final stage to end it. As per usual for this race, riders were gifted 3 uses of the Spirit Mountain lift to use at any point during the day.

Some people used them after mechanical issues so they wouldn’t miss stage cut off times. Some people used them intermittently throughout the day. Others just saved all three for their last three stages. Whichever you chose, it is always nice to save the legs a bit!

The three morning stages included Beam Fern, a fun flow trail that has a sprinkling of tech towards the bottom located just off to the side of the mountain.

Sprung Boot. Which took a traverse over to Candy Land and down to Boot. The green traverse is such a fun section of trail, but certainly difficult to race pace! Then Boot itself had some interesting tech that drew a nice crowd during the race!

And All Knowlton Rocks. A classic stage that usual gets a fun tape change at the bottom. This year the tape was “easy” compared to previous years. Which probably caused more problems for riders than expected. Many riders didn’t look hard at the area and then during the race ended up off the good line and into the low area! I heard many people say it caught them out during their race runs.

In the morning, Bodee McFadden and Ryan Zinzow were battling back and forth. Bodee was able to win two of the morning stages, putting him just over a second in front of Ryan! Keeping things exciting for the afternoon! Lilli Regenold was able to put in a decent gap of about 20 seconds over Mara Breeuwer in the women’s field!

Afternoon riders got a three pack with some interesting combos.

Port Blast Smorgvil took a pretty standard route down to Smorg, with some lines being taped off, but then cut out of Smorg above the drop. Having riders sprint across the ski hill before dropping into the tech of Anvil! Certainly a fun way to mix up that stage!

Happy Cat Hog traversed similarly to Sprung Boot, but went all the way to the Happy Hub. Then dropped into Happy Camper before skipping over to the bottom of Wild Cat and ending with the jumps of Boss Hog!

And we got the return of Greenman!! The All Weather traverse with a uphill spirit into arguably one of the more demanding sections of trail is certainly either loved or hated by riders! The trail was closed all of last year due to the construction of their new lift. But now it’s back and it was running better than ever!! This was probably the most talked about stage of the weekend. Good amounts of line choice and a steep gradient makes this trail a favorite for spectators and riders!

After the second set of stages, Lilli held her lead over Mara at around 20 seconds coming into the final stage. While in the men’s field, Ryan was able to take over the lead by around 7 seconds!

The final stage of the day brought together Monkey Business and the fresh bit of trail used for Downhill Midwest last year! They modified the Downhill Midwest area slightly to make some areas a bit more approachable to all. Combined stuff the tech of Monkey made for a fun stage!

It was fun having one final stage at the end of the day! It was easy to then tell family and friends where and when they could watch. What a great way to end the Enduro!

Ryan Zinzow and Lilli Regenold were able to secure their wins on the day! Congrats to both of them!

After racing concluded riders and spectators went over to the new black jump line and watched the Whip Off! Riders went big on “pork chop”, the largest jump of the line. Showing off how sideways they could get! Hopefully this event continues on in the future!

Sunday brings Downhill racing action!

Racers tackled Calculated Risk! The go to Downhill race course at Spirit. There was a bit of a twist in the Terrarium. Last year Terrarium went from left to right, this year was right to left. With the left line having a few options on how to enter and get through it. This section caused havoc for many during the race. Weather you caught your front tire and got tossed over the bars or caught your rear and got a flat. Calc challenges riders of all levels!

Practice in the morning lead directly into seeding at 1pm. Times were ridge at the top. Then right back up the hill racers went to line up in order for their race runs!

Times were tight for the downhill race!

The top 8 were seperated by only 3 seconds!!

In the end, the locals came out on top.

Bodee McFadden put down a 2:14.5!

Lilli Regenold went 2:44.2!

Both crazy fast runs!

With the weekend concluded. We can say this was one of the best Duluth Trails Fest weekends ever! Great weather, great trails, lots of fun new activities! We can’t wait for next year!

Next up on the Lake Superior Gravity Series is the Copper Harbor Trails Fest!

Then Downhill Midwest #3 and Fall Enduro!

Words by Alex Anderson

Photos by Dylan Juchemich

You can find Dylan’s Photos on Roots and Rain!

Thanks to all the Lake Superior Gravity Series Sponsors

Rock Solid Trail Contracting

North Country Cycle Suspension

Lakeshore Bike

Downhill Midwest

GNAAR Mountain Bike Coaching

Intense Cycles Podium Payback

Quick Stop Bike Shop

DHMW Marquette 2026

Alex — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:12:53 +0000

THE MOST FUN COURSE OF 2026?!?

Round 2 of the 2026 Downhill Midwest Series was one heck of a good time!!

Hosted at Marquette Mountain, the crew was allowed to rake in some fresh sections of trail. The trail gave riders a lot to think over during track walk!

Riders got to drop in under the old lift infrastructure. Getting a fun framing for a start gate! Immediately out of the gate, riders drop into a bit of off camber rocks with multiple compressions.

Then utilizing some of OG DH, the trail makes it’s way to the Tin Man. And this is when the trail got interesting.

A “road gap” over OG provided a lot of harsh bottom outs and some excitement! Riders wanted to hold the high line after the compression to open up the next tight right hander that had a nasty compression after. Riders toiled over this section for a while, with multiple lines being used by the end of the weekend.

Much of the fresh cut was taped very wide, with lots of lines being used during the weekend. Riders were sure one line was best, but after practice laps they would change their minds.

After the fresh bits the trail joined the bottom of the closed down Superior Switchback trail. The berms from this trail were still in place and were in great condition! With entering the corners from a different angle, riders had plenty of speed to push the limits of the berms!!

Finally the trail hops out into the open underneath the chair lift. Four grassy corners greeted riders as they try and finish out their runs strong!

Friday practice the trail was dry and hadn’t been ridden in at all. Causing for a lot of riders to be sliding around and feeling a bit unsettled. Practice was cut short due to lightning in the area closing down the lift. But riders sessioned sections to really dial in their line choice.

Friday night there was a lot of rain that came through the area. Creating some very different conditions Saturday.

Morning fog had riders taking goggles off. The dirt was amazing in some sections, slippery in others, and riders had to figure out which was which!

The moisture in the dirt really helped establish some great ruts in the fresh bits and grassy sections!

Saturday afternoon was seeding. Rider’s first time to see a time for the course.

Bodee McFadden was able to pull the fastest time on the day with a 1:32.44. But others weren’t far behind!

Lilli Regenold held down the fastest woman of the day with a 1:55.26!

Sunday kicked off with Cat 3 racers flying down Jawbone! Marquette Mountain’s main blue flow trail. This trail has a lot of high speed sections and fun jumps that bring you down to the bottom of the hill.

The fastest time on the Cat 3 course was posted by Jack Smith IV with a 3:09.73! A very fast time on such a long trail!

There were two little rippers in the 11 and under category! It’s so fun seeing them come down the course!

After Cat 3 was completed, Cat 1 and 2 were allowed on course to do a single practice run.

Why only 1 practice run? A few reasons. First, it allows racing to get done earlier in the day. This way riders can start the drive home sooner if they want to. Or riders can go ride the other trails on the mountain. Secondly, it’s good practice for those traveling to bigger races. It can be tough to only do one run on new conditions and then go faster than in Seeding.

But go faster they did!!

With conditions drying out some, and ruts being well established, most of the riders were able to go faster on their race runs!

In Cat 2 Men, Justin Thompson was able to throw down an amazing time of 1:32.76, which was 4th fastest of the day!

Lilli Regenold was able to go two seconds faster than her seeding time for a 1:53.49!

Bodee McFadden threw down a heater of a time with a 1:30.28!!

So many fast racers out on course! It was an awesome weekend! Cheers to everyone who came out!

The next race is a shared finale with the Lake Superior Gravity Series at Spirit Mountain on September 25-27!! Hope to see you all there!

Thank you to Dylan for so many awesome photos!

Find his work on Roots and Rain after they get uploaded.

Words by Alex Anderson

Thank you to our sponsors!

Intense Cycles Podium Payback

2026 Marquette Trails Fest LSGS

Alex — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 18:14:22 +0000

2026 Marquette Trails Fest and round two of the Lake Superior Gravity Series is a wrap!!

What a great weekend! After last year’s absolute SCHORCHER of a weekend, there wasn’t much to complain about on the weather this year! Sure, we were still sweaty, but we weren’t melting!!

The event has so so much going on, but we’ll focus on just the gravity events.

Friday the weekend kicks off on the Benson Grade at the Dual Slalom course!

The youth competitive crew kicked off the evening with some fantastic racing! It’s amazing how fast the young group was flying through the course!

Leland Kyser inched out Payton McKeown for the boys win! While Quinn Rhoades beat out Willa Boilini for the win in the girls bracket!

For the adults, the format was a bit different this year. No longer was it a race to register, as they opened up registration to 64! Although 64 were able to enter, only 32 were allowed into the head to head brackets. Creating some tight racing action!!

While the intense racing action was transpiring, Transition Bikes supplied hot dogs were being slung by the Quick Stop Bike Shop crew! 336 dogs this year! So glad they’re able to add that to the weekend!

As we said, racing was tight this year! Riders were pushing the limits of the trail each time they went out. Slide outs, mechanicals, and more hit the racers while they were on trail, and the crowd couldn’t have asked for more!

In the end Lillia Regenold and Ryan Zinzow stood atop the brackets as the winners of the evening!

With tired legs and full bellies, racers head off to sleep before the enduro on Saturday…

Saturday the second round of the Lake Superior Gravity Series Enduro Series, presented by Onyx went off! Racers were treated to some beautiful weather and awesome trails all day!

Sport and Beginner riders got to start off the day with their morning stages, then later in the morning the Expert racers took to the trails!

Riders got to enjoy 6 stages on the day. Three for the morning, three in the afternoon. There was no order to the stages, allowing riders to choose their morning and afternoon adventures as they saw fit. The morning adventure options were Jawbone, Burning Stump and Jethro.

Jawbone is located on Marquette Mountain. It is one of their blue flow trails and it leaves many riders divided. For some, they love racing Jawbone! High speed, blue flow with some jumps and berms! Others, not as much enjoyment. Plenty of pedalling, lungs burning, steep road to get to it, Jawbone brings the pain!!! (in a good way??)

Burning Stump to Smiley is a classic. Fun flow with one or two pretty punchy climbs! If you were one of the few to complete this stage without putting your seat post up, we commend you for your leg strength! The sand corners in Smiley were running amazingly and riders were really able to open it up during the second half of this stage!

Jethro to Yah Hey brought the tech to the morning! Some good rocky tech at the top, turning into tight corners with some jumps at the bottom. This stage was many racers favorites for the morning!

After a bit of a lunch break, riders headed out for the next 3 stages of the day. 225, Flow and No Dab.

225 to Carp Eh Diem got a fun bit of tape through the infamous top rock garden. Sectioning off the normal entrance and one of the main areas on the right made riders think through where they wanted to go this year! Always fun to get a bit of creative taping for a stage.

Flow is a classic train on the Benson Grade. Lots of exposed roots and tight corners greet you as you drop in. There was a slight reroute around a bridge that, as we were told, is in need of repairs. Otherwise this long standing trail was about the same as you would come to expect. Physical and challenging! So many ways to approach sections that it can be difficult to find the “flow”

Lastly, Chunder, No Dab to Hatchet! This was the stage that had riders talking the most. Hatchet was recently opened up and had some RAWness to it that we haven’t seen in a Marquette enduro race in a while. Chunky loose rocks, drops into piles of messy rocks and catch berms that were in a different place every time you rode the trail. It was FANTASTIC! No Dab is an old school Marquette trail. Tight and technical with punchy climbs over rocks and down trees, you needed to hit your marks to get through there quick! And the view from the top of Chunder Muffin is one of the best we ever get. This stage was certainly many a riders favorite this year!

In the Men’s Expert group there was some tight battles. The top 3 were only separated by 7 seconds after 13 minutes of racing!! Micheal Noble jumped between getting second and third place stage finishes all day to wind up erd overall. Moses Waite was able to secure two first place stages on the day to hold down the second place on the podium. But it was Ryan Zinzow this year who was able to win the other 4 stages and secure the overall win on the day!!

For the women, the top three were all from different age groups and had tight times as well. Lillia Regenold had one stage win and held down the 3rd place spot coming out of the 17-39 group. Kyia Anderson snuck two stage wins from the youngsters from the 40+ group. But that didn’t stop her from claiming second on the day! And from the 16 and under category, Mara Breeuwer had 3 stage wins and clinched the overall win for the day!!

There were more festivities that evening including Crit Races and live music at the awards ceremony.

Sunday the cross country crew kicked off the morning, rolling out from the base of Marquette Mountain. Then the first of the Lake Superior Gravity Series Downhill Series presented by Broken Spokes took center stage!!

Racing Gypsum, the downhill race course on Marquette Mountain, racers were greeted to dusty conditions, high speed, and a new taping through the main rock garden. The main rock garden was straightened out a bit by allowing riders to drop into it just a bit sooner than in the past. It was really fun watching riders pick their line through there this year. Four entrance options formed, with three options for the lower section, it really kept it interesting for racers and spectators alike. And the spectators were out as always for the racing action!! There were many people out hooting and hollering (other than during the silent cheer) for the racers! It couldn’t have been much for fun than it was on Sunday!

For the ladies, it was another three age group podium! Michelle Belgiano took third, Mara Breeuwer was only 2 seconds behind for second place. Then Lillia Regenold took first with a time of 2:30!!

For the men the birthday boy Bodee McFadden took 3rd, “coach” Micheal Noble was able to get second place with a 2:00, and Ryan Zinzow took the win! Ryan’s time was a 1:57, which is the first time anyone can recall this course being done in less than 2 minutes! It was speculated at the start of the day that with this taping it would be done, and Ryan was able to pull it off!!

It was such an amazing weekend of racing! And we have to shout out the Dobbs for putting on such an amazing weekend! This is their last year as the race directors of this event. After 12 years they’re going to step back (not away, just back), and hand over the reigns to somebody new for the future. They have put in so much time and effort into growing this event into the rocking time that it is today! This won’t be the last we’ll see of Nic and Aurora, but we have to say thank you to them for such an amazing run and for all the amazing memories we have thanks to their dedication to the sport and this amazing community! Cheers you two!!

Photos by Dylan Juchemich. Find Enduro and DH on Roots and Rain for sale! Dual Slalom can be found on his SmugMug!

Words by Alex Anderson.

Find out more about NTN and Marquette Trails Fest HERE.

Find the other Lake Superior Gravity Series Races HERE.

Thank you to the 2026 Lake Superior Gravity Series Sponsors

Marquette Fall Enduro Race Report

Alex — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 16:51:23 +0000

2025 Marquette Fall Enduro finished off the Enduro portion of the Lake Superior Gravity Series with a bang!

Who would have expected temps in the 80s and sunshine for October in the UP?? Pretty darn nice way to end the season!

For the morning the open category had 4 stages on Marquette Mountain. Riders pedalled up to the top for their first runs then got to utilize the lift for the other 3 runs.

Racers were treated to some fantastic stages on the mountain. Jawbone, Fiddlers Creek, Original DH and Boone’s to Hemi!

After the morning stages racers were met with a 3 pack of stages. Yah Hey, 225 to Carp Eh Diem, and Southern Cross to Doctors.

Riders get a few hours to recoup, refuel and change into their evening attire for the night stage! After the sun goes down riders get to rip down Original DH with their lights on! The trail is partially lined with lights up in the trees and spectators get to see what everyone dresses up as! A costume contest adds a little fun to an already awesome stage!

At the end of the day Ryan Zinzow took the almost sweep of every stage for the men. While Maria Horton did the same in the women’s category! Each of them won every stage but the night stage, in which they only dropped to second on the stage! Crazy impressive riding from both!

Fall Enduro also happens to be the finale of the enduro portion of Lake Superior Gravity Series. After prizes were handed out for the event, series podiums commenced.

After 6 races, the overalls came down to some tight point races. In the women’s category, Kyia Anderson inched out the win by 1 point over Mara Breeuwer!!! Lindsey Lee was able to hold on to the third place spot with only 5 points between her and the next two ladies.

In the men’s category Ryan Zinzow came away with the win! Bodee Mcfadden had second placed locked down, but 3rd place came down to the wire. In the end 3 people were within 5 points of each other and Payton Mckeown locked in the final spot on the podium.

But racing wasn’t over just yet. With then E-Bike race happening on Sunday! Participants got to do another 5 stages of racing Sunday morning with the assist of their e-bikes.

Beautiful weather yet again for the day treated the riders.

The brothers Payton and Kaden Mckeown took the top spots of the men’s podium with Jack Culvey not far behind.

Maria Horton took her second win of the weekend. With Kristy Mcbride and Sabrina Wallace coming in behind her.

The Lake Superior Gravity Series does track the two e-bike races that occur during their season. With Owen Vandal being the most consistent in the two events. While Maria took the win in the women’s category.

It was an amazing season of enduro’s for the Lake Superior Gravity Series and Marquette Fall Enduro is always an amazing way to finish off the year! We can’t wait for next year to get back to racing!!

Check out this fun recap from Marquette Fall Enduro!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @marquette_fall_enduro

Words – Alex Anderson

Photos – Dylan Juchemich

Loam Pass Launches 2026 Season Pass!!

Alex — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 13:49:58 +0000

Ride Now, Save Big and Unlock Exclusive Perks

Loam Pass, the ultimate multi-destination MTB season pass, returns October 1 with the launch of its 2026 pass — and it’s packed with more value than ever. Early buyers will score the lowest price of the year ($200), plus free access to the rest of the 2025 season, and new Pass Holder Perks from top industry brands.

With two free days at each of 70+ destinations, the Loam Pass unlocks rides at legendary bike parks and shuttle spots like Killington, Windrock, Angel Fire, Ride Rock Creek, Spider Mountain, and more.

In the Midwest there are currently 8 parks that partner with Loam Pass. Pine Mountain, Marquette Mountain, Chestnut Mountain, Spirit Mountain, The Highlands, Keweenaw Adventure Company, Shepherd Mountain, and Howler Bike Park.

And this year, Loam Pass adds even more value with exclusive discounts (10–40%) from brands like Crankbrothers, ARI, Bikeflights, and others — just for pass holders.

What’s New for 2026:

Ride Now: Buy early and ride the rest of 2025 free.
70+ Locations: Including icons like; Killington (VT), Angel Fire (NM), Windrock (TN), Ride Rock Creek (NC), Jackson Hole (ID) and Porcupine Shuttle (UT).
Perks from Top Brands: Save on components, travel, and gear from trusted MTB partners.
- Crankbrothers
- 6D Helmets
- ARI Bikes
- Troy Lee Designs
- Gripit Gloves
- BikeFlights
- EVO.com
- Train To Ride
- SCC Tech

How It Works:

Buy the pass at loampass.com, set it up, and start planning your fall and summer 2026 trips. Redeem two free days at each participating location, and take advantage of exclusive partner deals throughout the season.

Availability:

The 2026 Loam Pass Early Bird Sale runs October 1–14. Price: $200. Purchase your 2026 pass now and receive a 2025 pass good until the end of the year with 2 days at each destination.

DHMW Race Report

Alex — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 18:26:29 +0000

WE HOSTED OUR FIRST RACE!!!

The first ever Downhill Midwest race, and Lake Superior Gravity Series Finale went down September 12-14.

Coming into the weekend, the forecast called for high 70s and partly cloudy weather. But as we know, it’s a bike race, so expect rain! Sure enough, Friday morning rolls around and it rains. Not torrential downpour like it did during Bike Duluth Festival, but enough to make everything wet. After that it never dried out!

It didn’t rain anymore over the weekend. It was just some incredibly dense fog!! So much so that the course continued to stay wet, or even get more wet!

The fog made for some amazing conditions all weekend. The course was damp. Grass, Roots and Rocks all had a slight layer of moisture on them. But riders didn’t come down sopping wet. Goggles stayed clear. Shoes weren’t filled to the top with water. It was all the fun parts of the rain, without the miserable parts!

Friday Cat 1 riders got to start out on course, then in the afternoon the Cat 2 riders took over. This was a bit different than what people were used to, but it seemed to work out well. Giving riders time to watch the other category practice, plus ride with people of similar speed on course.

Saturday was, you guessed it, foggy again. This time Cat 2 started out the day. With Cat 1 taking up the afternoon shift. The course started to get some ruts ridden into it and seeding runs began at 3pm!

Cat 1 U16 rider Payton McKeown put down the fastest time in seeding with a 2:29.01! Lilli Regenold took the top spot in seeding for the women with a 3:05.40!

After seeding runs were done, and unnoficial jump jam went down on the new black jump line built by Zenith Trail Contracting! Ski Hut provided hot dogs and swag and people threw down! James even pulled a backflip!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by James McNamara (@jamestheprimate)

Sunday started out as foggy as ever! Cat 3 riders took to practice for the first hour of the morning before dropping in for their race runs! 30 riders came out to race the Cat 3 course, which was awesome to see! Hugh Uphoff had the fastest time of the men with a 1:43.6 and Willow Krawcyk had the fastest female time with a 1:57.9!!

At 11:30, Cat 1 and 2 got to hit the course together for their hour of practice runs. The fog was thick and the wind was whipping, but riders got in their final chances to pick their lines.

At 1:00 riders lined up for their race runs! The fog never let up a bit and it felt like the course had continued to get slicker throughout the day!

Did we mention that about a third of the course was fresh cut? Freshly trimmed grass, no berms, wide tape, line choice, and a couple technical sections gave racers a run for their money!

Rider Zach Day had a rough one at the end of the fresh section. This rock roll caught out a lot of riders all weekend long. There was a short course hold, but luckily we saw Zach up and walking later on.

After a brief course hold and riders got back up to the top for re-runs, the race came to a finish!

After racing was completed awards were handed out!

Ski Hut was kind enough to give out a Reserve wheelset to the fastest person in the fresh section! And there was a tie!!! Ryan Boushee and Payton McKeown tied for the fastest split in the fresh section. In the end, Boushee’s style got him the wheelset!

This race was also the Finale for the Downhill portion of the Lake Superior Gravity Series! We got to see riders take home some big payouts from the year!!

If you weren’t there, you missed out on a great weekend of downhill racing! Thank you to everyone who came out, volunteered and cheered on the racers!! We are so excited that people came out and had fun at the race!

Full results over on the Race Page!

Photos by Dylan Juchemich and Alex Anderson. Words by Alex Anderson.

Check out Alex’s seeding run to get an idea of what the track looked like!

Copper Harbor Trails Fest Race Report

Alex — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 04:01:59 +0000

2025 Copper Harbor Trails Fest was another amazing stop on the Lake Superior Gravity Series schedule.

The weekend was littered with amazing events! Thursday afternoon Trails Club hosted a group ride with a dinner after. It was a beautiful evening and three groups of people went out on the point trail. With well over 50 people joining the ride, it was a super nice way to start the weekend off. If you haven’t checked out the Highlands trail, you should! There is a beautiful overlook and some cool rock features on the way up. The way down has some fun flow and is a fun ride.

Friday the Otter Belly Lodge crew put on a stopwatch race down Thunderbolt! This was a part of their Eric’s Downhill Series this summer. Which was a free to race, afternoon downhill event to promote community and downhill racing! Almost 50 people showed up to take a hot lap down, and it was a blast! Transition bike demo driver Ian took the win for the night!

Saturday race action kicked off for the main Trails Fest events! The XC started off the morning with a bang, while the downhill riders headed up Brockway for some practice laps on Overflow. There might have been some rain earlier in the week, but by the time practice was over it was hard to tell. Corners were loose, the trail was dusty, and some of us sure were happy to have a dry race weekend!! (It’s me, I was very very happy!!)

The Trails Fest downhill race is a best of two run format. So the best of your two runs counts for your race time. The top spots in the men’s field would have looked different if the first run times had been used. Which, at the end of the day, the top 5 men were within 0.8 seconds of each other! Talk about tight racing!! Bode McFadden was able to sneak his way to the top of that battle. The women’s podium was separated by less than 4 seconds! Mara Breeuwer claimed victory over the other ladies!

You may have noticed, this wasn’t the Lake Superior Gravity Series Downhill Finale. It has many years marked the end of the Downhill season, but this year they’re doing something different. They’ve added a Downhill specific weekend to celebrate the end of the series. Go check out the Downhill Midwest race September 12-14 for something a bit different than we’re used to in the Midwest!

Sunday the 10K run took off early in the morning. Then the Enduro started out at East Bluff. Expert enduro got 4 stages at the bluff and they were all fantastic! Thunderbolt and Loam Rider – Eh Horizon may be two of our favorite trails in the Midwest! Plus some Citrus Tech and Whipsaw will make you want to not have to leave the Bluff!

This year riders were allowed to take their vehicles back to the community center in Copper Harbor from East Bluff. This was to help alleviate the congestion out at the Bluff for the rest of the day. After a nice little break racers pedaled up to Overflow for another fast stage! The downhill race course was modified slightly to make it more approachable. The Overflow gap was taped off, and riders skipped over to Flow at Dyno Rocks. Missing The Pants feature. After the downhill race on Saturday, some of the berms were very dusty!

Back up Brockway yet again to get to East Woopidy, and ending with the ever classic Red Trail. A techy, old school singletrack trail with a couple punchy climbs!

If riders took the ride back to Copper Harbor, they ended the day with around 24 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing on the day! Not too shabby!

After all that riding, Mara Breeuwer took the women’s win and Ryan Zinzow took the men’s!

Racers got to end each day with live music, food and a beer garden! What an awesome weekend!

Thanks Copper Harbor Trails Club for another amazing Trails Fest!!

Riding photos by Dylan Juchemich. Podium photos by Copper Harbor Trails Club. Words by Alex Anderson.

Check out Alex’s 4th place run from the Downhill race on Saturday.