Jay Arrowsmith-DeCoux recently purchased the Superior North Outdoor Center bike shop from Mark and Malinda Spinler. Jay is renaming the business Fireweed Bike Cooperative. The grand opening will take place April 21 and 22 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a sale, said Jay.
Junior high and high school boys and girls who want to learn how to ride and race mountain bikes will have a chance to do so.
Grand Marais Mayor Jay Arrowsmith- DeCoux, an active mountain bike rider, and owner of the new Fireweed Bike Cooperative, is starting a youth mountain biking club for Cook County.
To date eight kids, a mix of boys and girls, have expressed interest in joining, he said.
Practice and races will take place in the summer and throughout the fall. “We will practice twice a week,” said Jay. “I know kids are busy.”
Don’t own a mountain bike? No problem.
“If someone wants to join and they don’t have a bike we have an agreement through the YMCA to borrow mountain bikes from them. If a kid wants to try this, there is no reason for them not to join.”
Fireweed Bike Cooperative, the newly formed bike shop that Arrowsmith- DeCoux recently purchased, replacing Superior North Outdoor Center, has agreed to help sponsor the club, said Arrowsmith-DeCoux.
Practices will take place on Nature Boy, Pincushion Mountain, Britton Peak, and gravel roads in the area.
All team members will not only learn to race but will also assist at bike races and perform some types of community service through assistance with the Workers on Wheels program and the Bike Rodeo amongst other events.
Costs will be kept to a minimum.
“We have been working on an agreement with the Duluth club that we can ride share with them to races. We want to keep this as cheap as possible,” said Arrowsmith-DeCoux.
Ultimately, said Arrowsmith-DeCoux, “It would be fun to join the Minnesota High School Cycling League. We have some kids that I’m pretty sure would do well in those races.”
Last year there were 50 teams and over 1,000 kids competing in fall mountain bike races in Minnesota. The Minnesota High School Cycling League is a statewide independent league for kids in seventh to 12th grades.
Even if the local club never joins the high school league, Arrowsmith-DeCoux said, “It should be pretty exciting. We should have a lot of fun.”
If you are interested in learning more about the club, email Jay.a.decoux@gmail.com
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