Preface: I wrote this in 2006 fully expecting to return in 2007 but much to our chagrin, Lutsen (on Minnesota’s Northwestern shore of Lake Superior) discontinued lift serviced mountain biking following the 2006 season.
This was our fourth visit in 5 years and still Lutsen remains the great big untapped potential.
Joining me, JF “Deer Hunter” Ravenelle (my true given code-name being to vulgar even for here), on this year’s excursion were Catherine “Face Plant” Horbatiuk, Rodney “Blue Steel” Crossman, Dave “Gai-Tronics” Degelman and Caleb “Screams like a girl” Willems.
Every time we come here we’re surprised at just how few people there are. This year saw us come for Canada Day long weekend which coincides with the US’s fourth of July long weekend and still it’s surprising how few humans, never mind how few mountain bikers there were during our stay. If only Winnipeg knew what this place had to offer, maybe then would there be be more than just one Manitoba plate here (mine).
Every year or so we make the 7.5 hour drive Lutsen for the great lift-access mountain biking… The difference between Lutsen’s idea of lift serviced MTB’ing and the rest of the worlds’ is that Lutsen caters mostly to the XC variety of gravity-assist riders. Sure, you can show up, as we did, with the full DH garb (5-plus inches of travel bikes, full faced helmets, flack jackets, knee guards and giver’ but if it’s teeter-totters, ladder bridges and man-made stunts you’re looking for, Lutsen is not the place for you.
What Lutsen does have is tremendous accommodations, the word’s funniest named tram communication system, friendly staff, lots of activities (including the uber-cool alpine slides) breathtaking views and sweet single track that just happens to mostly flow down-hill. If pure speed is what you’re into you’ll be pleased. Lutsen features several nicely groomed trails that point straight downhill from the Mystery lift… We had no bike-computer so we have no terminal velocity numbers to report… other than it was as fast as we could go… Scary fast. The cool thing about the terrain that we encountered was that everyone managed to have fun on the very same terrain…. All you had to do was pick a speed and voila, there was your degree of difficulty. We did forgo a few of our favourite XC trails in favour of the “gravity assist” ones as Dave’s bike wasn’t set up for much pedaling… Not that we suffered much since even the more down-pointing trails were gobs of fun. Allow me to highly recommend the aptly named “Dave’s Glades” as well as Number 6 and Number 7 trails… The latter being like crack for the speed freaks among y’all: smooth, flowing and easy to negotiate at mach 6.
Lutsen was a great warm-up for those of us heading to Panorama in mid-August. It allowed Catherine and Caleb an oportunity to discover the finer points of landing on various peices of protective gear at varying rates of speed. It allowed us to fine-tune our gear set-ups, remember that more forearm workouts and wrist exercises are in order as well as realizing what we need to work on technique-wise before we run this fast again. It also allowed us some time to familiarize ourselves with the notion that gravity is a very good and formidable thing that must be respected if you are to have a safe experience pointing a bike downhill all day.
Oh and then there were the deer.
Everywhere deer. I personally almost hit two of these things while riding… It was like like a wildlife preserve in the woods there… a virtual petting zoo-like environment with all types of animals from show-quality Seagulls to more real-life examples of Bambi than I could count… Turn a corner at high speed and it’s either rabbit, fawn, otter, squirrel, fox or big-ass mommy deer… not to mention the odd American tourist on a comfort bike. Hilarious and scary. Almost as scary as the drive between Warroad and Steinbach… We stopped counting at 30 deer on the road… But I digress.
First, a few gripes. [1] No internet to speak of (no high-speed period). [2] Some of the trails are simply neglected, more maintenance would be nice. [3] The Mystery lift is insanely slow (20 minutes to get to the top). [4] Bike rentals are insufficient. We saw no full-suspension bikes in their fleet. (there is no way you can get folks stoked on lift-serviced MTB’ing with first price-point hard-tail bikes with merely adequate disc brakes and skinny tires). [5] hardly any repair parts for the calibre of bikes we brought along. [6] Their brochure and marketing: What’s up with the 20 year-old MTB pictures? Nothing we saw marketing-wise did any justice in conveying to the masses what lies off route 61. This place deserves to be exposed instead of kept secret.
Now for the good stuff: [1] Tremendous terrain: This place could be a Mecca for mountain biking if someone put some time and energy into it. [2] Tremendous staff: People like Chris, the kind, helpful and gregarious liftie on Mystery and most every other employee we met during our stay blew us away with their genuine desire to please… And this was no pre-packaged customer service pablum, this was genuine “yep the lift is stupid slow but it beats walkin’ up, no?” or “we’re kinda overwhelmed in the kitchen right now, is it ok if I go take care of these 12 other customers before I get to you?” or “thanks for loading up your own bikes on the gondola, let me show you how to operate the carriage” you got a sense everywhere like they’d drop everything if you got impatient… From the belly-laughing funny guy at the top of the Alpine-slide lift to the great people at the rental shop who ripped apart a rental bike on the spot in order to create a brake for Rod to continue riding… Over and beyond what you would expect. Amazing, honest, genuine people everywhere. [3] The view: simply breathtaking… You end up taking it for granted it’s so overwhelming. [5] The installations: Yes, the lifts are old and slow… But their summit lodge on the top of moose mountain is worth the trip. [6] The accommodations: (We stayed at Eagle Ridge) Nice, spacious condos that truly are ride-in-ride-out. very nice and while not cheap, still provided good value. [7] The area, Lake Superior, Grand Marais, Palisade Park, Silver Bay, Duluth, The Angry Trout restaurant in G.M., the hikes we took after riding, the fast drive through the Iron Range (especially Forest Service road 11)… If you haven’t experienced the North Shore of Lake Superior yet you have to find the time in your summer to visit. It’s absolutely one of my top 5 places to be.
To all of you who had other things on the menu for the Canada Day long weekend I have but one thing to say: Plan ahead to 2007 and make sure you join us again for what is certain to put a smile on your face and fond memories in your heart.
JF® 
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