My boys and I recently got back from 3 days up in Crosby hitting the trails around Cuyuna State Park. We went up with my brother-in-law and my nephew (who mountain bikes for his school). We left on a rainy Sunday, and we were happy to be heading north AGAINST the "cabin traffic" that was all coming back to the Cities from the north:
Hwy 169 was nearly stopped near Mille Lacs!
North of Garrison, this small highway was backed up over a 1/4 mile at a stop sign.
We stop for tacky things.
It was dry in Crosby! We got ready to do a longer ride!
We did the loop around Huntington Mine.
Little bits of paved trail connecting the MTB trails.
Post-ride.
When I went up to mountain bike last year with my boys (also see this post of Garmin data), our "big" ride was a loop around Huntington Mine. On this trip, we started with that loop, but we added more on in the westerly section where last year we skipped across a lot on a gravel road:
THIS year...
...vs. LAST year where we didn't do that spur in the NW section.
Close-up from this year of starting with some of the skills loops.
And then doing a few more skills loops as a separate Garmin activity after our long ride.
My boys were a LITTLE less whiny this year, but Charlie still got grumpy at times. He didn't like the "longer" rides, but then when we got back to the parking lot, he'd want to go and do the skills loops another 10 times. Oh well.
We loaded up and went into town to get settled into our rooms at the Crosby Lofts:
A new mural out back.
Lots of "Cuyuna Red" on his legs at supper! (Iron-rich dirt, not blood!)
Rafferty's wood-fired pizza for supper!
We had some fun at the skate park after supper!
Here are some videos from our time at the skate park. I biked 3 miles in that area that's a bit bigger than the footprint of my house!
The next morning, I got up early for a long run. (My legs felt OK after running an 800 at a track meet less than 48 hours before, but I wasn’t going to overdo it on this run.) I ran from our hotel and into the state park - you can get on MTB trails within a 1/2 mile from our hotel, but I ran on the road for nearly a mile to get straight onto the paved trail. I checked out a gravel road leading to a spot where we thought we might MTB later that morning (to scope it out) to the NE, and then I turned around, started running harder, and hit the paved trail running back through most of the park. I did my “normal” long run of 6 miles “at pace” (meaning harder but far from tempo pace or “all out”) in 38:09 (6:21.5 pace, with half mile splits of 3:17, 3:17, 3:06, 3:11, 3:18, 3:05, 3:02, 3:13, 3:16, 3:10, 3:07, and 3:03) while getting in 11.07 miles total in 1:16:44 (6:56 overall pace). Here’s the map of my run - harder running from the NE down to the SW and back to the little spur to the north in the middle, and then easy back to our hotel:
The numbers are 1/2 mile splits.
A swassy mark from my butt after I got done stretching by my car.
Still passed out when I came back into the room...
A quick breakfast while watching Tom and Jerry.
We took off biking from our hotel and headed up to the NE where I started my run a few hours earlier. We were exploring some trails we’d never been on before:
On the Cuyuna Connector trail.
We saw a trail exiting and then re-entering the state park from a state forest. I downloaded another map to see that it was pretty long (like 3 miles or so) but it was all easy. So my boys and I tried that as Dave and Ian tried some intermediate trails around that unit of the state park. The trail I took with the boys spit us out in Cuyuna where we found a large pump track. So we rode on that for a few minutes:
Lots of random tracks with no direction - just make it up as you go, or cut across the grass!
We made it back to the Yawkey Unit parking lot, grabbed some snacks from my bag, and Dave and Ian showed up within minutes after trying their trails.
11 miles of morning mountain biking! Everything north of the “green” is the connector trail through the state forest.
Close-up around the Yawkey Mine section - we rode many of those trails 2 times.
After those 11 miles, we then had 2+ miles back to our hotel:
Through a tunnel on the paved trail.
A selfie on the trail before turning onto some more single track to get into town.
Lunch on the shared deck of our hotel.
We changed into swimming gear, loaded up our bikes, and drove back to the main part of the park by the skills loops so we could swim a bit. It’s so great they have changing rooms up there so we could change back into our biking gear whenever we wanted!
Taking a dip in a clear, cool, former mine.
Stalking sunnies in the clear water.
We changed into our biking gear and Dave took my boys. Ian and I were going to hit a few intermediate trails: switchbacks along Pennington Mine, some easy trails south of Portsmouth, and then an intermediate trail around Portsmouth before coming back on some paved trails. The switchbacks were fun, and my boys would have hated them! We climbed hills and sped down where we could. We started around Portsmouth and grabbed a selfie:
At a fairly high overlook! Ian figured we’d survive a jump as the water got deep quick. ;)
We crossed a little bridge.
We nearly hit a turtle wrapping up our ride!
Our big “figure 8” loop.
We climbed “Man High Hill” north of Portsmouth, and again, my boys would have hated that - they would have been off their bikes the entire time. We both laughed (through heavy breaths) when we saw a sign that said “sharp turn ahead” as we were climbing at what felt like 0.5 mph. But then we made SUCH a sharp turn where it QUICKLY got steep for a second, and we both were proud we didn’t have to put a foot down. So there WAS a need for a sign afterall. Here’s a close-up of my Garmin map of that area:
Climbing that straight section, the lots of sharp turns while finishing the climb!
Charlie’s hand after taking off his fingerless gloves.
Ice cream from Victual while we waited for our supper order.
A pickle brined fried chicken sandwich and waffle sweet potato fries from the Iron Range Eatery.
Chips and queso too!
Some Big Buck Hunter in the pizza place below our hotel before bed.
It’s not uncommon for me to be over 300 “intensity minutes” in a day, but this is the first time I’ve been over 400 since getting my Garmin. (Steps aren’t amazing, but that’s because I MTBed 22.5 miles.)
On our final morning, I considered getting up early and going out to ride hard on the paved trail for an hour, but I enjoyed laying in bed. So we all got up together, loaded the car, and then decided to take Ian and Dave out to see the Cuyuna Connector trail that only my boys and I did the day before:
Heading out.
On the pump track again.
Ian and Dave ready to hop back on the trail!
Me and the boys!
Riding through the state forest with Charlie.
Similar to the long ride the day before, but without all the loops around the lakes: 9.5 miles before lunch!
Here are 2 video clips of non-fancy riding through the state forest on the Cuyuna Connector from our full day there and our final morning:
Dave and Ian were staying an extra day, but my boys and I quick showered off before changing into non-biking clothes. Then we hit the North Country Cafe for breakfast at 11 a.m.:
Ian getting a photo of his cinnamon roll French toast! (Yes, it’s smushed cinnamon rolls fried as French toast!)
Charlie’s massive cake!
Henry with some cinnamon roll French toast!
A “food coma” car ride home an hour later.
So we hit 3 of the 5 main “units” on this trip: the main south Mahnomen unit that we rode a lot last year, the Portsmouth unit that we skirted south of last year (that Ian and I hit most of this year), and then a good chunk of 2 days in the Yawkey unit to the NE:
Still need to hit the north Mahnomen unit and the kinda disconnected Sagamore unit sometime!
Overall, my Garmin showed me covering nearly 15 miles on Sunday, over 22.5 miles on Monday, and then 9.5 miles on Tuesday for a total of 47 miles of mountain biking within 48 hours!
Hi folks. I'm Steve. I became Ironman in WI in 2007. Now I'm stuck somewhere between teaching, making photos, raising my sons, training for triathlons, and everything else.
All content and original images copyright 2006 - 2024 by Steve Stenzel, AKA "Steve in a Speedo." All Rights Reserved. Want to use something seen here? Just ask - I don't bite.
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