Despite white knuckling the many rocky kamikaze descents, slipping off a few narrow bridges, hooking a couple trees with my bar ends and being brought to a sudden halt by chain suck a handful of times, I survived the 24-mile course at the Copper Harbor Fat Tire Festival a month ago. Since it took more than three hours to complete the race, my brother-in-law and I had dehydration and cramping to contend with. And while we were among the last to finish, we were as awestruck as anyone with the raw beauty of the trails at the northernmost point of the U.P.
It turns out the singletrack has also impressed the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). In a recent interview, Ryan Schutz, IMBA regional director for the U.S. mountain states, actually ventured outside his territory when asked to name the best mountain bike trail system not many people know about.
“Man, that’s a tough one,” he said. “There are so many. If I have to pick one I’m going with the trails around Copper Harbor on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Big views, epic terrain, and trails for every taste.”
Now, in addition to featuring a Copper Harbor trails rider on the cover of the organization’s most recent newsletter, IMBA named the Copper Harbor Trails a “2009 Epic Ride.” IMBA has bestowed epic status on 50-some trails in the U.S. but until now only two others — the High Country Pathway in Michigan’s Pigeon River State Forest and the Levis-Trow Mound trails near Neillsville, Wisconsin — were in the upper Midwest.
“Copper Harbor’s trails showcase superb, scenic views above Lake Superior,” it says in the 2009 issue of IMBA Trail News. “Extensive singletrack, linked by cedar-planked bridges and boardwalks, winds through old growth forests. The trails skirt streams and inland lakes amidst the purest, most vitalizing air on earth.”
IMBA goes on to praise the Copper Harbor Trails Club for it’s trailwork, cooperation with area landowners and ongoing campaign with Keweenaw County to purchase 1,900 more acres to expand the network. The full write-up can be found here.
What is an “epic ride”? Well, that seems to be in the eye of the mountain biking beholder. In a piece in the October issue titled “An epic ride of mythic proportions,” Silent Sports contributer Mark Ollinger takes a literary approach to the concept.
Share your epic rides with Silent Sports by e-mailing editor@silentsports.net.