Field Trip to Spirit Mtn. – Duluth, MN

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We’ve rolled Fat-Video Tuesday together with the Danger Gnome Podcast with team coverage from a fabulous weekend up in Duluth. I was joined on this little junket by the ever-popular Dustin Marsh and my homie, Tony Grande. Duluth is home to a vast network of trails and there’s a ski resort that’s right in town that’s been running lift service fat-bike programs for the last few winters called Spirit Mountain. Our plan was to hit some local groomed trail on Saturday and then see what lift service fat-biking was all about on Sunday. Dustin suggested that we drop in on Dan Cruikshank at Spokengear and see where they make Cedaero bike bags as well. On Sunday, we recorded an episode of the Danger Gnome Podcast at Spirit Mountain’s Grand Avenue Chalet with some additional interviews of fat-bikers out on the hill. All three of us shot photos and Tony Grande put together a pair of short videos from each day. So buckle up for an audio/visual Field Trip Sit/Rep from Spirit Mountain in Duluth, Minnesota.

On Saturday we met up with Rudy. He’s the local trail shaman assigned to the Piedmont system. The four of us rode in what would have been splendid snowshoeing conditions. Friday night delivered eight inches of fresh snow over what had been a solid groomed base. But that’s fat-biking. Rudy got out there at four am and wrestled their groomer around the loop that we rode/hiked and most notably, totally freak’n enjoyed. I can honestly say that we all got rad during that ride, but it was Rudy that rode like a true Jedi Knight. Check out the yard sale in Tony’s Video (below).

After our ride, we had lunch at The Duluth Grill. This place serves delicious food! Get the Brussel sprouts…sofa king good! Later we shot up to Two Harbors and got to Spokengear just before closing time.

Dan Cruikshank

After we shopped, Dan showed us the Cedaero production space and gave us a nice rundown on what goes into the design and construction of Cedaero Bags. Then we all met at Castle Danger Brewery for a little after-work libation. 

Sunday we met up with Rudy at Spirit Mountain. We recorded a couple of thoughts before we hit the high-speed quad and took a few runs. For real-time reactions listen to the podcast. We had permagrin all day long!

Rudy makes it look easy…

We had a blast at Spirit Mountain! My face hurt from grinning so much – my Industry Nine Hydra hub was wailing like crazy in spots on the way down the hill – Good Times!

Ski Patrol on Fat-Bikes

For more information about Fat-Bike Lift Service at Spirit Mountain visit – https://www.spiritmt.com/

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Just an old cat that rides bikes, herds pixels, ropes gnomes and sometimes writes stories. I love a good story.