- VELOMARAIS
- SUPERIOR NORTH OUTDOOR CENTER
- GRAND MARAIS, MN
- 218.387.2186
- EARLY WINTER NORTH SHORE 2011
-
-
Velomarais / Superior North Outdoor Center is owned and operated by Mark and Melinda Spinler. The shop used to be in a tiny purplish-pink building with blue trim and a big lawn of soft grass and birch trees. Now they're in a larger space that came with modern drop ceilings and stain-resistant carpet. The Spinlers started Superior North Outdoor Center in 1985 because they wanted to share their love of the outdoors, and especially bicycling, with the residents and visitors to this great place. In addition to promoting human-powered biking, they also gather, boil, and bottle choice maple syrup, run a big CSA garden, use solar power, as well as play old-timey music, mainly out in forested locations. Please come to the shop and meet them and their friends, talk bikes, talk environment, talk sustainability, activism . . . or just come in and look around.
-
FALL SHOP HOURS:
Monday - Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Sunday: closed
@ 13 Broadway, Grand Marais, MN 
- UP NORTH BIKE CULTURE
-
The late bicycle advocate Ken Kifer once said, “there are important characteristics that cyclists (bike people, if you prefer) most always share: a love of adventure, a strong whiff of self-sufficiency (self-reliance), a strong desire for good, healthy exercise, a love of Nature and the outdoors, and tendencies to 1) waste less, 2) pay less attention to money, 3) not worry about impressing others, and 4) seek the humble pleasures of life.”
Here at SNOC/Velomarais we couldn’t agree more. Cycling is more than just a sport, its a way of life. Whether we’re out on a casual ride or ripping down some teeth chattering single track, we live, eat, and breathe bicyling. And why shouldn’t we? Northern Minnesota is the perfect cycling venue. Living on the edge of Lake Superior with the vastness of the Superior National Forest as our back yard, we're compelled to take advantage of the wonders all around us. 
- COOK COUNTY SINGLETRACK
- The first crews have come and gone and Cook County's two new singletrack trails are "roughed in." Read about the brand-new Sugarbush and the Pincushion trails in this original report here and in our latest blog entry here.
- MAPLE HILL SUGARBUSH 2011
- It all boils down to the best maple syrup there can be! Find out more here.
- CLIMBIN' AROUND...
- The North Shore has unique rock climbing opportunities too. See this page.
- NORTH SHORE 101...
- Read what Mark said recently to an inquiry about our beluv'd North Shore here.
- IS THERE ANYTHING DUMBER THAN. . .
- . . . water sold in "disposable" plastic bottles?
- Did you know that bottled water can cost as much as 10,000 gallons of tap water? Do your part to reduce the landfill fodder generated by "disposable" water bottles. Get one of our thalate- and pba-free water bottles and fill it with artesian spring water from our farm! (See our water dispenser at the entrance to our shop.) Our selection includes standard Specialized water bottles, their new Purist bottles (Go here), which feature a micro-coating of glass on the inside - as pure as drinking from a glass, with all the advantages of a flexible bottle. We also carry Kleen Kanteen stainless steel bottles, and sport bottles from CamelBak and Nalgene.
