For all that the bike lanes and bike culture do to make Eugene a great place to ride a bike, Duluth just has some really fun places to ride. Granted the roads are all in pretty tough shape and yesterday felt more like late September than June I still had a great time cruising out along Skyline Parkway stopping at Chester Bowl and Enger Park.
Chester Bowl is home to several classic if not somewhat rickety ski jumps that used to be the place to be in the Winter when ski jumping was more popular and folks would pay admission to watch folks jump. People still ski at Chester Bowl though I haven't heard of people jumping there in years. What makes the place so cool is that it's literally in the middle of the residential East End of Duluth and only a few minutes from my house and maybe 15 minutes from downtown. It also encapsulates the notion of the single two chair lift (not that it has a need for any second lift) that I always feel more drawn to than the mega resorts where huge quads are meant to attract obnoxious numbers of people. Chester bowl also links right up with a trail system that runs along Chester Creek. There are a great couple of trails that were always a hoot to bomb on my mountain bike back in the day.
Enger Park is great as well. Not as many great trails, but there is a nice open park area and a classic stone tower from which you get great views out toward the lake and down over the industrial harbor and port of Duluth. The industry at the heart of the town.
