My wife jokingly refers to The Raven trail as being my mistress. Whenever I’m absent for several hours or more, and my bike is missing, she know that I am most likely out at The Raven working on, or otherwise, building trail. Like most people, she does not understand the obsession.
It is an obsession and, but it’s not hard for me to explain. First of all, I love mountain biking and more trails means more biking. But, it goes far beyond that. There is an undeniable sense of satisfaction to having designed and built a good trail. If I’ve done it right, a good trail will have a nice flow to it and be really fun to ride. I try not to make the trails too hard so that beginning mountain bikers will be able to ride it and that more experienced riders will be challenged by it. Also, I love it that other people love the work that I do. By building these trails I, as part of the Lakeland Area Mountain Biking Organization (LAMBO), are promoting a fun and healthy activity.
This week sees LAMBO, working on a lot of trail in the Minocqua Area. First, we have a lot to do at The Raven Trail to get the new Mountain Biking Skills Course ready for it’s grand opening on October 3rd. It’s also the International Mountain Biking Organization’s “Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day.” So, if you have a kid interested in mountain biking, bring him or her out to this free mountain biking event. There will be guided tours, demonstrations and refreshments all day long.
Secondly, Wheels in the Woods is coming up this weekend and LAMBO is working hard to finalize the Fat Tire course. This course will be about seven to ten miles of gently meandering trails through the woods near the Arbor Vitae Woodruff School in Arbor Vitae. This is a fund raiser for the Arbor Vitae Woodruff School and LAMBO is proud to be a part of it!
So for all you mountain bikers out there, there is a lot of great stuff to ride and I hope to see you out there.
Bryon Black
Thanks for all your hard work Bryon. I race mountain bikes as much as time permits in the US (and a little internationally). I don’t get back to Wisconsin nearly as much as I’d like, but when I do I’m astonished by two things:
1) The reckless disregard loggers have for trails (Face Plant)
2) The speed with which people like yourself fix destroyed trail
Thanks again!