Home > Outdoors > Time to break out the bikes, spring is here!
Time to break out the bikes, spring is here!
BY KATIE BERG
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
ISSUE: 78/27
TYLER SWEENEY / STATESMAN
The chains on a bike wait the chance
to ride again.
RYAN HANSON / STATESMAN
A bike sitting in a garage is ready to be
dusted |
off now that the first signs of
spring are becoming evident.
TYLER SWEENEY / STATESMAN
While some snow still remains on the
ground, the opportinuty to ride again
is quickly approaching.
After a few years of absence from campus, the UMD Cycling Club is finally pulling out their bikes again. Senior Mike Smith, an avid bike racer, is head of the restored Cycling Club and is interested in helping students get into the sport more. He helps to set up daily rides as long as the weather cooperates and is excited to get things going for cycling once again at UMD.
“It’s a lifetime sport, easy to get into,” Smith said. “We accept people that want to just ride for fun and [those who] could be interested in starting racing.” The Cycling Club accepts all different types of bikers. This varies from mountain bikers to road racers, to even those that just want to get in shape by biking the hills of Duluth for a bit.
The Cycling Club meets Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 3 p.m. and on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:30 p.m. underneath the dining center for group rides. The club is always open to having new people come and try it out. Smith noted that if the weather doesn’t cooperate, they don’t go out. The recent blizzard seems to stand as an example, which delayed the starting bike season. “Duluth’s weather kills us,” said Smith.
Whereas sometimes clubs focus simply on racing, mountain biking or road biking, the Cycling Club tries to encompass all the different facets of biking. As a result, the group knows all the local places to go for each of the different styles of biking. “We know where to go more or less …” said Smith. “We ride up the shore a lot when we want to go for a long ride … good mountain biking are the trails at Spirit Mountain and at Hartley, [which is] four blocks away from Stadium Apartments. “We’ve had a few guys do the Munger Trail [which is the bike trail that runs parallel to 35S from Duluth to the Cities]. It’s our first year so we’re still trying stuff out.”
The bike club is even working on trying some different things that are a little out of the ordinary. “We’re going to try to have a race next year in Bagley [Nature Center]. That’s a closed course ... [we] actually have to get off the bike at points and shoulder it, run and keep racing—it’s really goofy, but [to explain it] in words, it’s kind of crazy,” said Smith.
Smith said when he hands the reins of president down to Anthony Braden for next year, he has hopes that the future of the bike club will include lessons on teaching bike maintenance, bike swaps and bringing races to help promote the sport in Duluth. “Next year, our goal is to continue to grow and attract as many riders and racers as possible,” said Braden. “We will be holding two races on campus during the ’08-’09 school year and hope to attract many to the great sport of cycling through those events. Look for us on the road in the maroon and gold jerseys.”
