I went with some righteous dudes to Cuyuna for two days of great mountain biking. The trails are a beautiful and functional sculpture cut into 100-year-old piles of mine tailings. Someone, mainly Tim Wegner, put a lot of engineering skill into making grand, banking curves on all the downhills so that you could really speed. I was a bit cautious, riding right at the edge of my ability to control the bike, but still had a ball on these downhills. This video doesn’t capture the feeling, of course, but it gives you a look at the banked curves of “Bobsled”.
A motivated visitor could hit just about all the trails in a two day trip. The major idea I’d like to get across in this post is that you don’t have to be any kind of expert or have special gear to enjoy most of these trails. There are a couple of double-black-diamond sections that are clearly set off and contain rock gardens and crazy wooden bridges that require you to bunny hop and unload your rear tire and move it sideways.
I rode a single speed with no shocks and I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. It could handle most of the uphills, except for some difficult switch backs that I probably couldn’t have done on any bicycle.
I had on Kenda Nevegal tires that I had bought about two years ago and never used. These made a huge difference in how confident I felt going around corners at speed. I think the tires I replaced would have felt like they were sliding out from under me.
I really enjoyed the people I went with. They probably couldn’t tell, since I took a sip of whiskey and passed out each night, but I did enjoy their company.
They were fantastic trails. I’d go back again soon, but the weather will probably prevent that.
You didn’t mention the best waitress in the world.