On Thursday, 4/12/12, the Superior Cycling Association (SCA) board met to hear the latest on singletrack building. Cory Berg, our current USFS liason, says that phase II of the Sugarbush system will start on June 21 and should take 3 weeks. Boardwalk on phase II was constructed by MCC crews last summer. Cory and west-end SCA board member Jeff Lynch were working on a partnership with the Tofte Town Board to finance the building of phase III so construction could contiue through the summer creating five miles of trail by summers end. See these pdfs:
SugarbushMTBTrails
as well as the Pincushion System singletrack in the works:
PincushionMTBTrails
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Superior North Outdoor Center is owned and operated by Mark and Melinda Spinler. The shop used to be in a tiny purplish-pink building with blue trim and a big lawn of soft grass and birch trees. Now they're in a larger space that came with modern drop ceilings and stain-resistant carpet. The Spinlers started Superior North Outdoor Center in 1985 because they wanted to share their love of the outdoors, and especially bicycling, with the residents and visitors to this great place. In addition to promoting human-powered biking, they also gather, boil, and bottle choice maple syrup, run a big CSA garden, use solar power, as well as play old-timey music, mainly out in forested locations. Please come to the shop and meet them and their friends, talk bikes, talk environment, talk sustainability, activism . . . or just come in and look around. -
UP NORTH BIKE CULTURE
The late bicycle advocate Ken Kifer once said, "There are important characteristics that cyclists (bike people, if you prefer) most always share: a love of adventure, a strong whiff of self-sufficiency (self-reliance), a strong desire for good, healthy exercise, a love of Nature and the outdoors, and tendencies to 1) waste less, 2) pay less attention to money, 3) not worry about impressing others, and 4) seek the humble pleasures of life."
Here at SNOC/Velomarais we couldn't agree more. Cycling is more than just a sport, its a way of life. Whether we're out on a casual ride or ripping down some teeth chattering single track, we live, eat, and breathe bicyling. And why shouldn't we? Northern Minnesota is the perfect cycling venue. Living on the edge of Lake Superior with the vastness of the Superior National Forest as our back yard, we're compelled to take advantage of the wonders all around us. -
MAPLE HILL SUGARBUSH 2012
Mark and Melinda didn't get as much syrup this year. Melinda: "It was a short, "re-learn everything I thought I knew about maple syruping" season." But anyway, see our info page by clicking on the "Sugarbush" tab above.
