SAM asked J Sheets, an observed motorcycle trials fan and a longtime groomer from Keystone, Colorado, to get the answers. He interviewed Spirit’s GM and executive director, Rick Certano, and Denny Monson, the area’s director of services, to find out how this unlikely event came to Spirit—and what it means to the resort’s bottom line.
Like many resorts, Spirit is constantly on the lookout for new sources of revenue after the skiers and riders are gone. As the following interview shows, Spirit is a busy place throughout the year—testimony to its success in managing events and venues. The motorcycle trials is only one of many off-season events at Spirit, but it typifies the area’s willingness to pioneer an event that the area believes has potential. The area’s snocross snowmobile event is another, older example; it is now the third-largest event on the annual Duluth event calendar.
As a community-owned facility, Spirit’s managers operate the resort for the benefit of the city. As such, the economic impact of its operations is not measured simply by the revenues generated at the resort. While summer events account for only about 10 percent of the resort’s $3.6 million annual gross revenues, they bring several million dollars to the city itself. Monson estimates that the World Round USA trials brought in approximately $1 million. Impressive as that figure is, the snocross event brings $5 million to $6 million in business, Monson said. Spirit is quite successful in its mission.
Sheets interviewed Certano and Monson on the eve of the World Round. Here’s their story.—Ed.
SAM: What first got you involved in the sport of trials? Who approached you? How long ago? Was it for the nationals?
MONSON: We have a local trials club, The Northland Motorcycle Riders [continued — not in PDF]
Observed Motorcycle Trials Explained
Observed Motorcycle Trials is the ballet of motor sports—an extreme ballet at that. “Observed” motorcycle trials entails riding a prescribed obstacle course and trying to get through it without accumulating points for touching a foot to the ground or losing control. The obstacles consist of boulders, logs, bogs, and steep man-made structures in a great variety of forms and combinations. The difficulty of the course often makes Frodo Baggins’ journey in Lord of the Rings look like a walk in the park.
Trials is not a race. It is simply a competition of man and machine against the various, often treacherous, obstacles. The “observed” designation stems from the one or two persons who observe and keep score on entrants in each part of the course.
Trials is spectacular to watch, with entrants competing first against the course and then against one another in their respective classes. Usually there are ten to fifteen sections located along a trail about one to three miles long. The trail is known as “the loop.” Riders navigate the loop three times, completing sections one by one. Each section is ten to twenty yards in length. Ribbons on each side designate the section boundaries. Often, several different lines are marked in each section to guide the riders. It takes about three hours to complete the whole course.
At Spirit, the course spread across the entire ski terrain—from side to side and top to bottom on the hill’s 700-foot vertical. But none of the trials sections were on the trails; all the action took place on the terrain between the runs. The course took advantage of the more appropriate terrain for trials—the granite hillside’s rocky streambeds and outcroppings.
Trials could be suited to many other resorts. The Sipapu ski area in New Mexico has had very good reviews for its involvement in trials. The Donner Ski Ranch in California is another prime example. —JS
