The Copper Harbor Trails Fest is a mountain bike festival and race weekend held every August at the tip of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. The trail system up there is genuinely world class — technical, rooty, rocky, with elevation changes that don’t mess around. The race has a 30-mile long course and a shorter option, and it runs on the actual Copper Harbor trail network which is the same stuff people travel from all over to ride. The town is tiny and the whole thing has a real grass roots feel to it. It’s a long haul to get there from Minnesota but it’s worth it — the trails alone are worth the trip without the race. Kyle and Reid have been doing this one. copperharbortrails.org
Reid forgot his bike bag with shoes, helmet, glasses, gloves, etc. They found some double sided pedals in the car — flat on one side, clip on the other — but only had an 8mm pedal wrench vs the 15mm needed to pull the Garmin pedals. Kyle had standard XT pedals on his bike that took the 8mm Allen though, so the boys swapped bikes so Reid could pull Kyle’s pedals and run the double-sided flats in his street shoes. Funny thing is Reid was wearing crocs, so he ended up in Kyle’s tennis shoes. They got it sorted and both raced.
