A couple of weeks ago, Faribault native and Northfield resident Cody Larson got a snow bike, a Surly Pugsley to be exact. Complete with four-inch wide tires, it’s designed to coast over snow.
All he needed was somewhere to showcase it.
A 65-mile snow race on Jan. 16 in Dubuque, Iowa — titled the Triple D Winter Race as it meanders from Dubuque to Dyersville to Durango — was the perfect opportunity.
Perfect in that not only did the 23-year-old win, clocking in at 5 hours, 40 minutes, but he also set the course record.
“I didn’t really think I was going to win it,” Larson said. “Lance Andre is really competitive and he does all these snow races. He trains for this specifically.”
Growing up with BMX bike racing in Faribault, Larson was never into the mainstream sports. He spent his free time snowboarding or skateboarding.
After graduating from Faribault High School in 2005, he moved to Northfield, picked up a job at Mike’s Bikes and got hooked on two wheels.
Now a senior majoring in creative writing at Minnesota State University, Mankato, he’s become a professional, as not only does Milltown Cycles sponsor him, but so does Trek.
“I don’t talk with other students about the bike races I do on the weekends,” he said. “They wouldn’t know they’re sitting next to a pro cyclist.”
Pro indeed. He’s won multiple races, but one of the most impressive was last summer’s 24-hour mountain bike ride on the Afton Alps in Hastings.
For a full day, Larson biked up the hill.
Then he biked back down.
And then he did it again and again.
After 170-plus miles, he won handily against a field of almost 100 competitors.
He also enjoys cyclocross, a form of racing where cyclists must dismount from their mountain bikes and trek across portions of the course on foot.
“I own about a dozen bikes,” he said. “I don’t really count the miles I bike a week but it’s around 200 to 300.”
One of Larson’s biggest fans is Jerry Bilek, owner of Monkey See Monkey Read in Northfield. The 44-year-old didn’t have quite the easy time with the Triple D course as Larson did. He got lost for a bit and finished in about 10 hours.
After biking casually for decades, Bilek started to pick up the racing portion just a few years ago. It’s also a family thing for his wife, Julie Neiworth, and their daughter, Isabel.
“We’ll hit up the Cannon Valley Trail often,” he said. “And Julie and I even did a century together last summer, biking 100 miles in a day.”
He prides himself on being probably the only bookstore owner who also sells bikes.
The black bike outside his Division Street store is part of a program where for every two sold in the states, one is sent to Africa. So far, eight bikes have made the trek across the ocean.
As for his first experience racing on snow, he couldn’t hide the fun he had in Iowa.
“Riding on snow was amazing,” Bilek said. “Most winters bikers get on a trainer, but it was great getting out and biking in 15 degree weather on Sunday.”
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