The Detroit Lakes Mountain Bike Race is part of the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series and is held at Detroit Mountain Recreation Area near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. It’s a bit of a drive for us, but we enjoy the venue and the Detroit Mountain trails. I wish more people would make the trip up for it as it’s a great venue for the race. mnmtb.org
At a glance
| Location | Detroit Mountain Recreation Area, Detroit Lakes, MN |
| Discipline | XC mountain bike, multi-lap |
| Official site | mnmtb.org |
| Series | Minnesota Mountain Bike Series |
| Terrain | Hand-built singletrack — fast, flowy, technical |
Results and Race Recaps
2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2021 · 2017
2025
Results
| Lynn (Women’s Marathon) | 1st of 4 – 4:33:59 |
| Reid (Marathon) | 3rd of 17 – 4:33:49 |
| Kyle (Marathon) | 1st of 17 – 4:21:29 |
2024
Results
| Lynn (Comp) | 4th in age, 9th overall |
| Reid (Comp) | 2nd in age, 3rd overall |
| Kyle (Elite) | 1st in age, 3rd overall |
| Steve (Elite) | 1st in age, 2nd overall |
Bike setups
| Reid | Bike: Cervelo ZHT-5 · Tires: Maxxis Recon (f) / Icon (r) · Wheels: DT Swiss XRC 1200 · Drivetrain: SRAM AXS Eagle |
| Kyle | Bike: Niner AIR 9 RDO · Tires: Vittoria Barzo (f) / Mezcal (r) · Wheels: Bontrager XXX on DT 240 · Drivetrain: SRAM AXS Eagle |
| Lynn | Bike: Niner RKT 9 RDO · Tires: Vittoria Barzo (f) / Mezcal (r) · Wheels: Reserve 28 XC on DT 350 · Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle |
| Steve | Bike: Cervelo ZFS-5 120 · Tires: Schwalbe Racing Ray (f) / Racing Ralph (r) · Wheels: DT Swiss XMC 1200 · Drivetrain: SRAM AXS Transmission |
Fuel / hydration
Steve
USWE pack w/ 2L bladder and 2 servings of the heavy carb SIS powder. Underdiluted the mix and then topped off bladder with ice cubes. Had cold mix for at least the first half of race. Frozen bottle hand up on the 2nd and last lap (they were thawed enough this time!)
Detroit Lakes was a smaller field as usual, but great racing! I really like riding this trail and even though the course change for this year made for a longer course, I really liked the flow of it and enjoyed the ride more than the previous years. This trail is fast, fun and flows nicely, but makes you work to ride it fast and know the edge of your tire. If you are trying to race it fast, you will be at the edge of your tire most of the time as this trail rides fast! It’s still like old school hand built trail with minor amounts of random rocks, roots, some loose gravel and I enjoy it.
I redeemed myself with a good start this time after completely fumbling my start at Woolly, the previous race week. I hit the trails in 3rd with Keith Moors out front and setting a fast pace the 1st lap. I moved up to 2nd around Rick Ochs about a mile in. Shane Kullman came by me late in the first lap and eventually ended up passing Keith at some point. I passed Keith in the 2nd lap and kept thinking I could pull Shane in, but he stayed out front with a gap the whole rest of the race. Rick Ochs and Keith were then between Kyle and I with Rick close on my tail until sometime in the 3rd lap. Kyle came around them in the 3rd lap I think and that’s when I turned around going up the hill to finish the 3rd lap and saw Kyle coming in hot.
He laid down a really fast 3rd lap, almost a minute faster than anyone else’s 3rd lap. He was running me down, but I held him off to the finish. We’ve had a good time racing this year! Looking forward to Reid joining Kyle and I next year and getting to line up with both my boys!
Strava
2023
Results
| Reid (Sport) | 1st in age, 2nd overall |
| Kyle (Comp) | DNF (Crashed Out) |
| Lynn (Sport) | 2nd in age, 2nd overall |
| Steve (Elite) | 2nd in age, 6th overall |
Reid had a great race! He raced smart and patient and made a good move in the second lap to pull away from his chase pack to finish 2nd in the overall sport class. Lynn had a good and clean ride after taking a spill the night before pre-riding. Kyle was strong and came through the first lap in the lead train, but crashed taking his bottle hand up. It took him a minute to get rolling again and he probably got a bit too aggressive chasing back and ended up crashing again and pulling out of the race. He’s good, but that was enough for the day.
I really like the atmosphere of the Detroit Mountain trails, as they just seem like old school hand built trails and just enjoyable. That said, they are fast and you are on the edge of traction most of the time trying to race on them. I had a hard time getting comfortable and in a good flow. I had a strong start coming over the top of the climb in 4th, but then quickly felt out of place in the singletrack and was back to 7th just over a mile in. I felt bad as I think I was holding them up. I was a little flustered and when we hit the open area, I went right when one of them yelled out right to pass and think I cut them off as another was coming by on the left. I just let them by before we hit the woods again and tried to stay on their wheel, but couldn’t.
It was a small elite field with only 8 of us. I held my position and took me till my 4th lap to get in a groove and was having my best lap until I came up on another rider about a mile from the finish, that I couldn’t get around in tight singletrack. I wacked a tree with my handlebar trying to peak around for a place to pass. I went down and it kind of knocked me out of my groove, but still had a last lap time right in with the others. One of the riders in front of me must have dnf’d out as I ended up 6th.
Strava
2022
Results
| Reid (Sport) | 6th in age, 30th overall |
| Kyle (Comp) | 4th in age, 17th overall |
| Lynn (Sport) | 1st in age, 5th overall |
I put my running shoes on today for the back and forth race watching and support at Detroit Mountain. Lynn grabbed the top podium spot in her age group for sport class. Going into the second lap, Reid was on the chase, making up ground and reeling in the top 8 for the 18 and under and moving into 3rd spot for his age group 14 and under in sport class. He might have chased a little hard; crashed and started fading with a couple miles to go, giving up quite a few places in the final miles, but still finished mid field in overall sport.
Kyle had pulled in 3rd place in age group 18 and under comp class. Lost it with a crash, then pulled back up to 3rd, but ended up losing it in the final climb. So good watching them all push themselves after stepping up in race classes this year with Reid still only 12 and Kyle 14 yrs. I might get in trouble if I document Lynn’s age… 🙂
2021
Results
| Reid (Sport) | 2nd in age, 6th overall |
| Kyle (Comp) | 1st in age, 1st overall |
| Lynn (Sport) | 1st in age, 5th overall |
| Me (Elite) | 3rd in age, 4th overall |
2017
Results
| Steve (Elite) | 7th overall |
I knew the weather forcast was looking rough for the Detroit Mountain Shakedown race, but I still failed to plan accordingly for the cold temps and rain. I don’t really have the proper cold rain gear set up to begin with, but it has now moved up my priority list. Regardless, I hadn’t packed anything more than just my summer race gear and a base layer that was packed in our camper for the weekend.
This would be race #2 of the 2017 Minnesota Mountain Bike Series and my first time riding the trails at Detroit Mountain Rec Area. Actually, this was my first time to the Detroit Lakes area all together. Enjoy the report…
Detroit Mountain Course Layout
I enjoyed the course layout. There was of course the climb up the ski hill, which really wasn’t a bad climb other than a steep switchback or 2, soft ground near the top and a last steep section to get you over the top. The rest of the course was very smooth and flowy, with only 1 very short and minor rock garden area. It wasn’t even really a rock garden, but more some larger scattered rocks on a very short little up hill. It really was a course that would be great for a fully rigid bike. The first lap was a half lap and you can see where we headed to the right from the start line vs the rest of the laps where we took a u-turn to the left after crossing the start/finish line.
This is the elevation profile for 1 one full lap. Outside of the ski hill climb, the overall elevation was pretty mild. After doing the elevation correction, Training Peaks is showing me 1858 feet of elevation gain over the 41 miles that I rode. Keep in mind that I climbed the ski hill 5 times and not 6, since we skipped it on the first lap.
The Race Details
Lap 1
The start was fairly mild and our first section of trail was pretty messy. I was caught behind somebody getting pretty cautious about the slippery trail as a gap quickly started forming with a few guys off the front. I was able to pass and then started bridging the gap. This was the section of trail that was extremely slippery and I’m suprised that none of us went down, or nobody that I knew of anyways.
We eventually hit some trail that didn’t look like it had been ridden yet and was in amazingly good shape for the weather. I had caught up and passed 1 other rider to come through the first lap sitting in 3rd spot and about 20s back from the leader. I felt like my hands were starting to warm up a bit and legs were feeling ok. My heart rate monitor wasn’t working for most of the first lap, but the pace was pretty controlable and not out of hand.
Lap 2
The first half of this lap would be new trail as our first lap started with the second half of what would be a full lap. Down the back side of the ski hill was some nice flowy stuff with a few berms where I was a little cautious about hitting slippery spots, even though the trail was actually pretty dry. I dumped into the really slippery section of trail and then back out on some new stuff again.
Somewhere in here, I could sense another riding chomping at my heels. We rolled together for a little bit and then I slipped up on a really muddy short uphill where he was able to dig in and get by. He was on a mission after that and disappeared out in front of me and I ended up coming through the start/finish lap sitting in 4th position.
Lap 3
As I was headed up the ski hill, I could see a couple more guys a switchback or 2 down from me. I maintained pretty much the exact same pace on lap 3 as I did the previous laps. My hands were starting to get cold again and the cold dampness was now starting to settle into my feet. It wasn’t quite effecting me yet, but it was getting in my head a bit. I think it was somewhere mid lap that a couple guys caught and passed me. They were riding a strong pace and I let them go and stuck to the pace that I was on.
In hindsight, I probably should have picked up the pace and stayed on their wheel. My effort was not nearly what it was at the Woolly race 2 weeks prior and picking up the pace probably would have helped fight off the cold that was setting in.
Lap 4
I believe I got passed by a rider at the start of this lap with another rider nipping at my heels, who ended up passing me later in the lap. I was starting to feel the cold more on this lap also and my attitude started going to crap. My pace started to drop by the end of this lap, which ended up being about a minute off from the previous 2 laps.
Lap 5
I grabbed a Red Bull before heading up the ski hill switchbacks. I knew at this point that I was only going to get 6 laps in and quite honestly, I just wanted it to be over. My hands and toes were feeling pretty numb at this point and it crossed my mind that I might be tossing in the towel after lap 5. My pace dropped dramatically on this lap.
During the easier sections of trail, I was sticking my hand in my jersey and under my armpit to try and warm them up. I kept wiggling my toes to try and get some blood flowing as well. They were freezing, but I didn’t think enough to cause any damage and decided I would knock out another lap. My pace had dropped by 5 minutes on this lap.
Final Lap
As I passed by the ski challet, I saw a couple riders who passed me earlier that had decided to pull off and were at the bike wash. They gave me a shout out of encouragement for heading out on another lap as I went by, which I needed! I knew this was my last lap and picked up my pace. I just wanted to get it done. I still got caught and passed about a mile or 2 from the finish line by another rider even though I had picked my pace back up. The last lap was about 3 minutes faster than the previous, but still a couple minutes off of my first few laps. Regardless, I was happy to be finished and happy to see my wife and kids cheering me across the finish line.
I ended up finishing in 7th in a field of 17, about 20 minutes back from the winner with a total race time of 4 hrs and 24 minutes.
Race Summary
In general, this was a pretty miserable day of racing. My average heart rate was down and I didn’t feel like I was putting in the same effort that I did at the Woolly race 2 weeks ago as my head just wasn’t in it with the cold and rain. I assume this was likely the case for some of the other racers as well. I think in normal circumstances, this would have been a 7 lap race vs the 6 laps.
As a side note, the average speed on the first lap in he chart above is high, because we skipped the climb up the ski hill. It really wasn’t a faster pace.
As far as the trails go… I was quite amazed at how well the trails held up. There was some trail, that had barely looked like it rained and then much of it was in about the condition that you might say to give it a few hours to dry out before riding. However, there was a section that we shouldn’t have been riding at all, that was extremely slick and sloppy that I made mention of in the lap 1 section.
I think at the end of the day the sloppy singletrack section probably held up fairly well as we pulled off the top layer and by the end of the race it was down to the solid drier ground. I don’t know enough about trails to know if that fairs well for the trail in the long term or not though. There was of course the random spots that held water, where ruts started to form as well. Without a doubt it will require some clean up, but probably not nearly as much as you might think, given the conditions and what our bikes looked like when we came in.
Thanks to my wife as well for running out to the trail each lap to see if I needed anything. We had a cooler sitting out there with some extra water bottles and a Red Bull so that I could help myself, but she still ran out each lap to check on me. My kids stayed warm inside the challet, but came out at the end to cheer me across the finish line.
I’ve got some other non-series races planned in the coming month, so this will be the last of the 4hr Marathon reports until the July/August time frame. Next up is the Borah Epic in Cable/Hayward, Wisconsin…