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The Ridge is Rad

Giants Ridge plants its flag in the mountain biking world with exciting, new lift-served trails

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 8/15/18

GIANTS RIDGE— Wow!

That’s the best way to describe the new mountain biking trails at Giants Ridge. I’ve mountain biked for years, but this was my first time on what’s known as a gravity …

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The Ridge is Rad

Giants Ridge plants its flag in the mountain biking world with exciting, new lift-served trails

Posted

GIANTS RIDGE— Wow!

That’s the best way to describe the new mountain biking trails at Giants Ridge. I’ve mountain biked for years, but this was my first time on what’s known as a gravity trail, and it was a blast.

Biking downhill on a purpose-designed mountain biking trail is always a good time, but in my previous experience, it was the getting uphill part that was a bit of grind.

Giants Ridge has solved that issue, with a new lift that accommodates bikes. You take the lift to the top of the ridge and it’s downhill from there…like skiing, only with your bike.

If your idea of outdoor recreation is lounging on the dock with a beer, it might not be for you. It’s intense and requires absolute concentration at all times. You sign a liability waiver before you head up the hill for a reason. As the waiver says in large bold print at the top: “Mountain biking is dangerous.” No kidding.

But if you’re into exhilaration, and don’t mind mixing a little (okay, maybe a fair bit of) risk with your outdoor adventure, you definitely should check it out.

I did just that last Friday, with my wife Jodi and friend Michael, who lives barely a mile from the Giants Ridge chalet. Benji Neff, Giants Ridge’s new director of mountain sports, accompanied us for our first couple runs, just to show us the ropes. He correctly surmised that we were going to be confining ourselves to the LeapFrog Trail, which is the intermediate level run. It’s called Leapfrog because it provides riders numerous opportunities to “catch some air,” while still providing alternatives for those of us who prefer to keep our bike wheels more or less attached to terra firma.

From the moment you head off the lift landing, it’s full-on fun as the roughly mile-long trail twists and turns, rises and falls, on its way down the slope. A word to the wise… check your brakes before you arrive. The rear brake on my fat bike was not working, which isn’t much of an issue on level ground, but was downright scary when maneuvering along a mile-long downhill course. I had to rely on my front brake, which is the one that can send you flying over the handlebars if you aren’t careful. Having good brakes can make negotiating the trail much more manageable, even if you’re a relative newcomer to mountain biking. Yet it’s when you lay off the brakes that the real fun begins.

As we quickly learned, gravity trails allow you to quickly build up speed. With enough speed, it’s like riding a roller coaster— except you aren’t belted in and the car isn’t chained to the track.

And that means you can hurt yourself. Three friends, who saw us raving on Facebook about the new trail, had to check it out over this past weekend. One made it safely to the bottom on the first run and decided that was enough excitement for one day. On the next run, the other two both managed to injure themselves. One ended up with nasty scrapes all over his back, arms, and legs, and had to be brought down by the ski patrol, who now also work the mountain biking trails. The other went head first over his handlebars (too much front brake) and injured his ribs.

The Ridge requires that you wear a helmet, which makes sense. But you might want to consider other protective gear as well. The bottom line is, know your limits. At an appropriate speed, you can run the trail safely. Let loose and you could quickly come face-to-face with an immoveable object.

Keep in mind, this was the intermediate trail. We didn’t even look at the Sector 12 Trail, which is the advanced level trail. But here’s how Giants Ridge describes it on their website: “Sector 12 contains all the elements of a true bike park-style trail, including massive berms, big jumps, fun flowy rollers, rock drops in quick succession, bouldery rock gardens, all experienced at a high rate of speed.”

In other words, a high pucker factor. Maybe I’ll check it out next time.

The best part about mountain biking at the Ridge right now is knowing that this is just the beginning. Mountain biking is already hot. Yet it’s still growing in popularity and the IRRRB is making a major investment in developing the sport in our region. They’ve brought in some big name design teams, like Colorado-based Dirt Candy Designs.

Current plans call for as many as ten gravity trails within two-to-three years, and up to 25 miles of single-track trail, according to Benji. So, in the near future you could spend the whole day working miles of single-track and gravity trails and never negotiate the same run twice. That’s going to make Giants Ridge one of the largest mountain biking destinations in the Midwest, which should keep the Ridge humming all year long. As you might have guessed, that’s the idea.