maklinbikes 
Steve was the original owner of this 2018 Trek Émonda SL6. It sold, came back as a trade, and now it’s a good excuse to talk about the bike — what it rides like, how Ultegra 2×11 holds up, and how it compares to what’s come since.
A custom Moots Routt RSL gravel build — double-butted titanium, Chris King throughout, hand-built HED Belgium+ wheels, and Shimano GRX 12-speed.
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Pine Valley Trails Ride Notes Nice little trail system with some fun sections of trail that we would probably never had checked out if the kids’ didn’t have a High School race here. We’ve been up for a couple of day trips and of course the MCA race … Read more
On This Page Bikes Ridden At Hixon Forest HPT Trails Ride Notes It’s been awhile and I believe there are plenty new trails since we were there. It’s a bit of a drive for us, but the trails were fun and likely worth us planning another visit back. Ride Videos Parking Map Trailforks Map Hixon … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Shakopee Trails Ride Notes We’ve been down to Shakopee a few times. The kid’s have raced there for the MCA High School race series and then we’ve been down there to ride and check out the trails before their race. It’s a small trail system, but fun and … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes Ridden here at least a handful of times on both fat bikes and mountain bikes. Both for fun and also the races such as Polar Roll and Marji Gesick 100. They are fun trails. If I remember correctly, the outer loop is fairly tame and then when you cut into … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Marquette North NTN Trails Ride Notes We’ve ridden through these trails a handful of times, but I think it’s always been during a race versus general riding. The Marji Gesick uses these trails and the Ore To Shore finishes thru part of these trails. They’re good trails with … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes We’ve ridden these trails both for races and general riding. The Marji Gesick passes through these trails as well. There is some great riding here and with a few really nice loops that can be pieced together. These are really fun trails. Everything from fairly tame to really technical and … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes Ride Videos Parking Map Trailforks Map MTB Project Map Strava Activity
On This Page Ride Notes Rode here a couple times years ago. It was likely late 90s when I first got into mountain biking. I think there used to be a race here and I first went over there to check out the trails before the race, but I don’t think I ever made it … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been quite a few years, but have ridden here a couple times. First was back in the late 90s and then rode here again 2012 when we were living back in Michigan and went camping at the State Park for a weekend. I enjoyed the trails. Ride Videos No … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes Believe I’ve only ridden the Proud Lake Trails one time while we were camping there. It was quite a while ago. Ride Videos No ride videos from Proud Lake, but you can check out the rest of our videos on our YouTube channel. Parking Map I would check out the … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes I’ve only ridden here once and it was a quick ride while I was passing thru town. I can’t remember a lot of the trail, but seemed like nice trails to ride. I was going to go to Highland, but I had ridden that in years past and had never … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been a long time since riding here, so I just don’t have a lot of detailed memory of the trails. Rode here a few times when living in Michigan. Ride Videos No ride videos of Bald Mountain, but check our other ride videos out here… Parking Map It’s been … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been a long time since riding here, but I road here a few times for fun and for a couple of mountain bike races back in the late 90s or early 2000s. I’m pretty sure this was one of the races where I crashed into some poison ivy. I … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes These were good trails and I remember them being really tight and twisty in some sections. It’s been years though. I think we rode them a couple times when we moved back to Michigan for a short time almost 15 years ago and then I rode them a few times … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes We lived in the neighborhood surrounding these trails with only about a half mile ride to the trailhead. It was during a time of our life that biking and really anything fitness was on the back burner, but we would occasionally go for a ride. It’s trails like this though … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Clinton Lake State Park Trails Ride Notes We camped here for a few days and had a chance to enjoy the trails. This is also where Steve did his first Criterium Road Race. We didn’t know it was going, but they were using one of the old campground … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Slaughter Pen Trails Ride Notes 2025 – We spent a couple weeks here in October for the Lifetime Fitness Little and Big Sugar races, which lead to a lot of riding in the area, including the Slaughter Pen trails on both race day, course recon and just fun … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden On These Trails Ride Notes We were camping in the KOA right off of these trails for a few days. We didn’t do a lot of riding, but I (Steve) did take off one day and ride my way up to the top of Mount Elden and worked through … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Jail Trail Mountain Bike Trails Ride Notes We’ve ridden here for fun to check out the trails once before a race and also raced here a few times between the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series and MCA (Minnesota Cycling Association) High School races. It’s a lot of switchback packed … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been years, but this used to be one of the local go to trails years ago when I lived in Michigan and was first getting into this. There was a nice fairly easy riding loop and then I remember a more technical loop with lots of log pile crossing … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes Only rode here 1 time and it was for a Hi-Tec Adventure Triathlon years ago (early 2000s). The mountain bike trails were fun. Ride Videos No ride videos from Stony Creek, but we have lots of other videos on our YouTube channel. Parking Map I would check out the trail … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been a long time, maybe late 90s, so I don’t have much to say other than I know I’ve ridden here once or twice and quite possibly as a bit of a side ride when riding the nearby Bald Mountain Rec area trails. Some of the rides, I just … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes I believe I’ve only ridden here one time and it was years ago. It’s one I’d like to go back and ride again. If I remember correctly, our ride was cut a little short after my buddy took a spill or wrecked something and I can’t even remember the details … Read more
On This Page Bikes Ridden At Levis Trow Mounds Ride Notes Only been here one time and it was to help film a mountain biking commercial for “Travel Wisconsin”. Was a fun experience and also got to check out some of the trails. We need to get back there for a ride again. Great trails! … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes This is one of the places we used to ride when we lived in the Peoria, Illinois area. We didn’t ride a lot then, but would get out occasionally. This is back during a time when biking and fitness was on the back burner. That said, it is also where … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Brighton Rec Trails Ride Notes It’s been a bit, but have ridden here a few times. It’s a good ride and I think new trails were in processed or just getting finished the last time I was there, almost 10 years ago, when I was visiting Michigan. Ride … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes We went out to St. George for the True Grit Epic Mountain Bike Race and that is most of the riding other than a short ride the afternoon before to shake out the the legs from the drive. I’d love to go back out there and ride. Awesome trails and … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes There is a lot more trail here than what we rode. We did a small family ride and Reid was still on a 16″ cheap BMX coaster brake bike at the time. We also did some hiking around as there is an area with some Dinosaur tracks, which the kids … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes We didn’t get to ride a lot of it, but enjoyed the bit of trail that we did ride. Reid was still on his 16″ cheap coaster brake bike and Kyle on his first 20″ mountain bike. Fun trails and it looks like there are a lot more great trails … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes We camped here for a couple days when visiting Moab and of course did some riding on the trails. There are some great views from these trails. The kids were really little and just getting on mountain bikes at this time. There is obviously some great mountain biking all around … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes This was an awesome ride and would love to do this again on our modern bikes. Also, would love to get out there at a time of year that you can do the “Whole Enchilada”. Regardless, this was such a fun ride with some awesome views. Ride Videos We do … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes The Michigan Tech Trails is where it all started… I (Steve) put a lot of miles on mountain bikes at the Michigan Tech Trails during my college years when I was getting into riding. I’ve only been back on the trails a couple times since then as most of the … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been a long time, but I think I’ve ridden here a couple of times. I know I did a race here once, maybe summer of 99. I really can’t remember much of the trail other than a couple spots stick out in my head from the race. Ride Videos … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes I’ve ridden here quite a few times, but it’s been years since the last ride. It was one of the first places I rode in lower Michigan in the late 90s when I got into mountain biking. I also revisited in laters years when visiting Michigan. It’s a really fast … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been awhile and was one of my favorite trails to ride one summer back in the late 90s. I remember really liking these trails. I think I liked that you could go on this one big loop or at least connect a big loop and get a nice ride … Read more
On This Page Bikes Ridden At Rock Lake IMBA Epic Loop Ride Notes It’s been a long time, but a great ride. Need to go back and do that loop again. Ride Videos Parking Map Trailforks Map CAMBA Namakagon Cluster on Trailforks.com MTB Project Map Strava Activity
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Springvale County Park Trails Ride Notes We’ve been over here a few times and our shop actually paid for a couple of the bike racks at the park. According to the maps, it looks like there might have been some new trail added in 2024 that we haven’t … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Tioga Trails Ride Notes We’ve done some general riding here and also went up for the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series races as well. It’s a fun trail system with a mix of all types of trail. There is some old style general singletrack, nice and flow stuff, some … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden On The Duluth Traverse Ride Notes Steve has ridden the Duluth Traverse once from south to north. It’s a good ride. We keep saying we’re going to do an out and back on it one of these days. It’s a cool ride because you get this little sampling of … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Mission Creek Trails Ride Notes We’ve ridden Mission Creek Specifically once and then passed through while riding the Duluth Traverse trail that passes through. They are fun trails to ride and you will do some climbing as well. There are lots of flow and berms and some jump … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Mount Kato Trails Ride Notes We’ve mostly ridden Mt Kato for the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series Races, but we’ve also been down there a few times just to ride. It’s a love hate kind of trail as it’s a ski hill and you have to climb a lot. … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Willow River Ride Notes This trail is only about 40 minutes from our shop, but still have only ridden here a couple times. We pass by it often on our way to River Falls and think about it, but always seem to be headed to a race or … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Lebanon Hills and we should get back down there for a ride. It’s a fun place to ride and there is a great trailhead. Ride Videos We’ll grab some GoPro POV the next time we get there. Parking Map Trailforks Map … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Lake Rebecca Trails Ride Notes We’ve been here a couple times between a fun joy ride to check out the trails and then for the kid’s MCA races. It’s a fast singletrack ride, kind of similar to Elm Creek, but maybe not as many switchbacks. I enjoyed the … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been awhile since riding these trails as well. Been there for a Minnesota Mountain Bike Series 4 hour race and also 1 other time to check out the trails. I suppose we need to stop back in again and ride. I remember the trails being kind of fun to … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Theo Wirth Trails Ride Notes We’ve been here a few times for both Cyclocross racing and Mountain Bike racing. Lynn and the boys have also been to Theo for some general riding to get tuned up for a their MCA race. Our experience is on the trails surrounding … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been awhile, but we used to head down to Carver on occasion. I always remember it being the trail that felt like you were going downhill most of the time, even though it was a loop that finished where you started. It just seemed like the trail flowed so … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Hillside Trails Ride Notes We’ve only been over to Hillside Park in Elk River 1 time. It’s a short, but fun loop at about 6ish miles with the trail being packed into a fairly small area of land. They’ve done a nice job of packing as much trail … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Elm Creek Trails Ride Notes We’ve ridden here many times over the years. It’s a nice continuous loop of around 11 miles with a lot of switchbacks and very few hills. The elevation changes are short enough that momentum carries you up most of them with a few … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Maplelag Resort Trails Ride Notes We’ve only been up to Maplelag for the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series Races. I (Steve) haven’t actually ridden the trails myself, but Lynn, Kyle and Reid have all raced once or twice there. They say the trails are good with a mix of … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Detroit Mountain Trails Ride Notes We usually get up to Detroit Mountain every year for the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series race. We enjoy the trails. They remind us of old school hand built mountain bike trails… Likely they are. The race course doesn’t seem to have much machine … Read more
On This Page Ride Notes It’s been a long time since riding here and think it’s only been a couple times. I remember the trails being a lot of fun to ride and seemed like mostly classic singletrack. I enjoyed the trails, but they’re a bit of a drive with all the other options we … Read more
I really like these trails and try to get a ride in if I’m in town for a few days. It has been a little bit since riding them though. It seems like the last few time I was in the area, I ended up just riding from the house up to Churning Rapids. Sometimes … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Bethal Mountain Bike Trails Ride Notes We ride here every once in awhile as it’s probably the closest trail to our house, although the opposite direction of the shop. It started off with only about 4 miles of trail and has grown over the last couple years and … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Woolly Bike Club Trails Ride Notes The Woolly Bike Club Trails in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin are about 10 minutes from our shop in Shafer. We’ve put quite a few miles in at Woolly over the years and have a variety of GoPro footage that we can share. … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Cuyuna Mountain Bike Trails Ride Notes We’ve ridden up here multiple times. Plenty of day trips and a few camping trips. We’ve seen the Cuyuna trails grow since first riding them. We haven’t made it up there for joy riding the last couple years and only for the … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Whitetail Ridge Trails Ride Notes We ride here often. It’s probably our go to place to ride, even though it’s almost an hour drive from the shop. The kids usually have a High School MCA race here and we usually have a Minnesota MTB Series race here as … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Sunfish Lake Trails Ride Notes Sunfish Lake is about 40 minutes from our shop and we’ve been down there a handful of times. It’s a fun trail that has a mix of fast flow trail, berms, various features and general singletrack. It’s a short loop, but a fun … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Copper Harbor Trails Ride Notes We’ve ridden up here multiple times, along with Kyle and Reid doing the Copper Harbor Trailsfest Long XC Race. That’s a bit of a story in itself as Reid forgot his gear bag and some shuffling of bikes, pedals and gear had to … Read more
I (Steve) often refer to the Trail System as my happy place or most favorite place to ride. I can take off in these trails and just wonder all afternoon. Lynn’s family doesn’t live far from the Churning Rapids Christensen Rd. Trailhead and I’ll just ride my bike up to the trails from their house. … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At Slickrock Trail Ride Notes 2023This was the last stop of Reid and I’s (Steve) road trip for some bike fitting classes in Arizona. I’ve ridden slickrock in the past, but this was Reid’s first time on it. It’s a different kind of ride for us Midwesterners, but a … Read more
On This Page Bikes We Ridden On These Trails Ride Notes There was a storm brewing for the afternoon and we had to start making our way north, but wanted to check out these trails. We ended up getting in close to 20 miles and had a really nice ride. The trails were mostly tame … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden On These Trails Ride Notes We camped here for 1 night and arrived in time for me to get a lap around the main loop of the trails. First, the campground is a phenomenal organized campground with nicely spaced out campsites. Clean restrooms and just a very nice place. … Read more
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden On These Trails Ride Notes This is a shared use trail system and we encountered a lot of hikers the first mile and then it thinned out after that. We had to hike our bikes up through some of the rocky single track, but it was well worth the … Read more
This was a single overnighter stop on our way toward Arizona with just enough time to get a short mountain bike ride in before sunset and settle in for the night. Parking This is directions to the State Park itself and then within it is multiple trailheads. We rode to the trail from our campsite, … Read more
On This Page Results 2024 Results Lynn (46 mile) – 27thReid (106 mile) – 28thKyle (106 mile) – 20thSteve (106 mile) – 9th Race Notes 2024 Ride Notes Bike Setups 2024 Bike Setups ReidBike: Niner RLT 9 RDOWheels: HED Emporia GA ProsTires: 43mm Panaracer Gravel King SKDrivetrain: Shimano GRX 810 Fuel/Hydration 2024 Steve-72 oz USWE … Read more
Bikes and Wheels We’ve Ridden With These Tires Bike Quick Bullet Notes (Good or Bad) Our General Thoughts On These Tires – Bottom Line – Pictures of The Tires
On This Page Bikes We’ve Ridden At _____ Trails Ride Notes Ride Videos Parking Map Trailforks Map MTB Project Map Strava Activity
On This Page Results 2025 Results Reid (40 mile) – 82nd in 2hr 43minKyle (40 mile) – 80th in 2hr 43min 2023 Results Lynn (16 mile) – 123rd in 1hrs 51minReid (16 mile) – 22nd in 1hr 6minKyle (40 mile) – 174th in 2hr 58min 2022 Results Lynn (16 mile) – 97th in 1hr 53minReid … Read more
Our Cuyuna Race Reports, Media and Results By Year 2024 Cuyuna Mountain Bike Race Report It was a bit eventful for the boys and I… Kyle was on the wheels of the lead 3 in the first lap and then slid out. He ended up in last place after straightening some stuff out on his … Read more
Our Tioga Race Reports, Media and Results 2024 Tioga Race Repot Kyle is in the zone! He lost his shifting 4 minutes into the race (dead battery) and was stuck in his 16 tooth cog with a 34t chainring and still put over 2 minutes into me. I don’t know how he cranked through some … Read more
IN PROCESS This was an epic race! It was a full Iron Man distance triathlon, but off-road. The swim was off course the standard 2.4 mile swim, but then the bike was a 112 miles of mixed soft and chunky North Dakota gravel and ATV trails. The run was an around 28 miles of hard … Read more
This race doesn’t exist anymore, but it was a fun event. Glad we had a chance to participate in it a couple times. Results 2018Steve – 1st Place Bike – 56:46 Kayak – 18:55 Run – 1:03:11 Total Time – 2:18:50 2017Steve – 4th Place Bike – 57:48 Kayak – 18:31 Run – 1:03:05 Total … Read more
IN PROCESS This race no longer exists, but it was a good one. I only had the chance to do it one time. I believe Penn Cycle used to run it and then Mountain Bike Radio took it over.
On This Page Results 2017 Results This was on the Woolly Bike Club TrailsSteve (106 mile) – 37th in 1hr 37min 2015 Results This was at Big Rock Creek and Steve’s first fat bike raceSteve (25 mile) – 51st in 2hr 17min Race Notes 2017 Ride Notes Add notes from old race report 2015 Ride … Read more
On This Page Results 2020 Results Steve (18 mile) – 16th in 1hr 16min Race Notes 2020 Race Notes Add notes from old race report Bike Setups 2020 Bike Setups ReidBike: Trek FarleyWheels: Bontrager WampaTires: Bontrager BarbagaziDrivetrain: SRAM Eagle Fuel/Hydration Videos Strava Activities 2020 Strava
On This Page Results 2016 Results Steve (104 miles) – It was a ride with no results, but we sure went out like it was a race. Race Notes 2016 Ride Notes This was a good ride. I’ll circle back with some ride notes on it. I believe I must have some ride notes on … Read more
On This Page Results 2021 Results Steve (480 mile) – DNF at 200 miles Race Notes 2021 Race Notes SteveA few shoulda, woulda couldas…-Poor hydration/nutrition planning and practice. Ran out of water around mile 180 and was in a deep dehydration hole when I met my crew at mile 200. Took 2 hours to cover … Read more
On This Page Results 2015 Results This was my 2nd 100 mile raceSteve (100 mile) – 10th in 12hr 5min Race Notes 2015 Ride Notes I’ve got a big race report on another site and will get a recap here at some point. Bike Setups 2024 Bike Setups ReidBike: Felt Edict NINE 3Wheels: Sun Ringle … Read more
On This Page Results 2016 Results New type of riding for me at this point. Would love to do this again.Steve (100 mile) – 41st in 9hr 56mi Race Notes Update with notes from old race report. Bike Setups 2016 Bike Setups SteveBike: Felt Edict NINE 3Wheels: Sun Ringle Black Flag Pro SLTires: Conti X-KingDrivetrain: … Read more
IN PROCESS 2021/22 4th Male – 5th overall. Race was 80 miles, but Garmin dropped out and missed the last 8 miles. It was showing -20 temps and would not stay on… Don’t believe it was actually -20 though and more like -5 to -10 actual temps at the time and Garmin was just freezing … Read more
