Copper Harbor Fat Tire Festival offers diverse and challenging race course

September 8, 6:45 PMMichigan Mountain Biking ExaminerDiane Ursu

The Fat Tire Festival offers a truly unique setting for a Midwestern race.  It contains a variety of trails and terrain along with spectacular views.  It is also a grueling task for willing participants.  

The race begins with a long, steep climb up Manganese and East Vein Roads.  Many racers refer to this grueling climb as the worst part of the race, especially since it is not preceded by an adequate warm-up.  The climb is over paved and dirt sections of road, and eventually levels out to rolling hills on the Clark Mine Trail, which is a doubletrack leading to the first singletrack section called Black Bear.

Black Bear is often met with the dismount of many riders who unsuccessfully attempt to climb two steep, uphill sections of trail.  This year’s staggered start greatly alleviated the bottleneck that has often been the trademark at this point in this race.

The course continues over a longer section of gravel road leading to Rock ‘n Roll, a fast, flowy trail offering moderately technical sections with alternate lines for those less willing to launch off of rocks.  It leads to gravel roads where racers sprint for the lead only to find themselves eventually struggling on steep, gravelly uphills leading to Dancing Bear, an excruciating climb to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge golf course.  

Riders make their way across the Mountain Lodge property to one of the entrances of the Mountain Lodge trails.  Racers enjoy a prolonged break from climbing as they ride through the Mountain Lodge trails to the first long descent down Here We Go, a fast, flowy trail marked by banked switchbacks.  One section of this trail offers a spectacular view of the city of Copper Harbor and Lake Superior.  

Racers make their way along the Ma Maki Trail to Say Hello, the second, and final, grueling climb of the race to the entrance of the Red Trail, a trail built by the Civilian Conservation Corps under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  The Red Trail ends near the beginning of Paul’s Plunge, a technical piece of singletrack that ultimately leads to “the plunge,” the section of trail where spectators gather to observe the grace and defeat of racers.