February 29, 2024 • 52 mins
In this episode I sit down with Laura Blythe, a citizen of the Eastern Band Cherokee Indians, as she shares her transformative experience through mountain biking. We delve into the Seven Moons Mountain Biking program, where Laura intertwines her vibrant Cherokee heritage into every pedal stroke on the Fire Mountain Trails system. Discover how this program transcends fitness, serving as a bridge between past and present, while nurturing a community that rides together and grows together.
Laura paints a vivid picture of the Seven Moons program, where participants pedal through rides rich with Cherokee language, myths, and history, fostering a deeper connection to their roots and promoting physical and mental well-being. Through her narrative, we uncover the program's broader ambitions for youth outreach and cultural preservation, aiming to cultivate a new generation of bikers who carry the torch for their heritage with pride.
7 Moons MTB
Eastern Band Cherokee Indians
Fire Mountain Trails Cherokee, NC
MADE X MTNS
Outdoor Equity Fund
7 Moons MTB
Eastern Band Cherokee Indians
Fire Mountain Trails Cherokee, NC
MADE X MTNS
Outdoor Equity Fund
Mike Andress
Host, Exploration Local
828-551-9065
mike@explorationlocal.com
Podcast Website
Facebook
Instagram: explorationlocal
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Embark on a journey of empowerment and cultural
revival with Laura Blythe, acitizen of eastern band of
Cherokee Indians, as she sharesher transformative experience
through mountain biking.
In this episode, we delve intothe Seven Moons mountain biking
program, where Laura intertwinesher vibrant Cherokee heritage
into every pedal stroke on theFire Mountain Trail system, and
we discover how this programtranscends fitness, serving as a
(00:24):
bridge between past and presentwhile nurturing a community
that rides together and growstogether.
Laura paints a vivid picture ofthe Seven Moons program, where
participants pedal through ridesrich with Cherokee language
myths and history, fostering adeep connection to their roots
and promoting physical andmental well-being.
Through her narrative, weuncover the program's broader
(00:45):
ambitions for youth outreach andcultural preservation, aiming
to cultivate a new generation ofbikers who carry the torch for
their heritage with pride.
Tune in for an enlighteningconversation about the interplay
of outdoors, culture andcommunity.
Against the breathtakingbackdrop of the Fire Mountain
Trails, we'll celebrate themagic of mountain biking as a
vehicle for personaltransformation and cultural
(01:07):
resurgence.
I can't wait to see you on theother side.
You're listening to ExplorationLocal, a podcast designed to
explore and celebrate the peoplein places that make the Blue
Ridge and Southern AppalachianMountains special and unique.
My name is Mike Andrus, thehost of Exploration Local.
(01:30):
Join us on our journey toexplore these mountains and
discover how they fuel a spiritof adventure.
We encourage you to wander far,but explore local.
Let's go.
Laura, I cannot thank youenough for having me here today.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Thanks, Mike.
I'm glad to be here.
It's good to have you inCherokee with us.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I'm glad to be here with you because I'm with an
ultra-dynamic person andpersonality.
This is Laura and I's secondtime to meet, but it's going to
be our first time to have anin-depth conversation
face-to-face.
We've been talking on the phoneand packing forth with emails.
What I can tell you from what Iknow right now is that you're
dealing with a very positiveforce in the outdoor world and
(02:11):
you're dealing with somebody wholoves and is passionate about
mountain biking, or you're anative of the Eastern Band of
the Cherokee Indians.
Hopefully I said that right.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, I'm a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I'm an enrolled member.
An enrolled member.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
There you go, but you were born bred.
This is your home.
This is where you're from.
You've lived here your entirelife.
You're very invested into thiscommunity.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Absolutely.
This is where my ancestors comefrom.
This is our homeland.
It's beyond even me.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, it's a great way to say it the things that
are also beyond you, which we'rereally going to unpack today in
this episode, is this newfoundlove of mountain biking that
you've come into.
We've talked a little bitbefore we started recording
about the reasons for that, thereasons you got excited, the
things that's done for youpersonally, and then also
thinking about how you know thissport can affect so many other
(03:06):
people in such positive ways aswe set that up Fire Mountain
Trails.
Our listeners here, especiallyanybody who's local to Western
North Carolina, the people thattravel in and they've been to
Cherokee, they're going to haveheard about Fire Mountain Trails
, but obviously we've got peopleall over that haven't.
Let's start out with how thattrail system impacted you first
and got you into the sport ofmountain biking, laura.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Fire Mountain came in to Cherokee in 2017.
That's when they launched thegrand opening.
I work at the CherokeeHistorical Association, but the
main part of my job is runningthe Elkhon and Lefty Indian
Village.
That's located just below thetrailhead my office up there.
(03:48):
I could look outside.
It's an open-air museum.
I would see these peoplerolling in with these big bikes
that I wasn't accustomed to.
I would just watch them ride up, come out, sometimes dirty,
muddy, bloody, sweaty.
It intrigued me watching thesepeople disappear for a while and
(04:11):
then come back out.
A lot of times I'd see themeither crack open a little croix
or crack open a beer.
Honestly, I was like that lookslike something I'd be into.
What is this mountain bikingthing?
That's ultimately what piquedmy interest and my curiosity.
We had a bike shop actuallycome to town, set up, and they
(04:33):
would offer rentals In 2019,.
Late summer I decided to startrenting a bike from the bike
shop.
I did this trail that's open tobikes but it's in the Gray
Smoky Mountains Park.
It was flat river trail.
I just wanted to roll around tosee if I remembered how to ride
a bike, because it had beenprobably 30 years since I had
(04:58):
been on a bike.
I enjoyed it.
It was peaceful, I got a littlebit of exercise in.
So I decided that I was goingto go ahead and make the
investment.
I went in and I put on Layawaya $500 specialized rock hopper.
I thought that was outrageous.
(05:21):
I was nervous.
I was like I better startriding.
If I purchase this thing, itcannot sit in my garage.
I have to get it out on thetrails.
That's where it started.
I remember going up to FireMountain.
Me and one of my other buddieswould try to go up and ride.
We were both new to the sport.
We went on the trails and itwas miserable.
(05:46):
It was hard.
It was so hard but it was sogratifying and empowering.
To make it a little ways thenext time, make it a little
further.
Make it a little further, juststicking with it.
I'd get up there and I'd cussand be all angry.
My buddy, he was like it's allgood, laura, we'll get there,
(06:11):
we'll get there.
Good.
Having him suffer with meactually helped, but that's it.
Fire Mountain came in in 2017.
I got on my bike in 2019 and Ihaven't stopped since.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Oh, that's so cool.
Here in a little bit we'regoing to talk about just some of
the benefits that come frombeing physically active number
one, but number two specificallyreally, with mountain biking,
what that's kind of has done foryou and that you think it can
do for other people too.
But I'm wondering if, before weget there, if you can kind of
set that up for you a little bit.
So the piece about going justanother step further and being
(06:47):
able to accomplish some thingsout on the trail, what was it
for you that really kind ofstuck and made this a sport that
you could not walk away from?
Because, as we're going to heartoday and our listeners are
going to hear, it's not just notwalking away from it and doing
it.
It's like taking this to awhole nother level and inviting
people in.
What was it about some of thosefirst experiences for you that
made you say, yeah, I'm going tokeep doing this, I'm going to
(07:09):
keep going on?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
with it.
So at the time I'd just go towork every day, go home every
day.
I had two kids, and so it kindof just gave me an outlet of
something to help me in mypersonal life, kind of defeat
those things that brought stress, anxiety, depression at times,
(07:32):
and there are.
There's something to be saidfor the cultural aspects as well
.
I'm really big into archericculture and learning about it.
Fire Mountain has a lot ofcultural aspects to it.
Some of the trail names arenamed after some of our archeric
legends, and so I think thatthat's all the pieces that kept
(07:58):
me wanting to go back.
It helped me overcome certainthings.
I've had a lot of stuff takeplace throughout my entire life
that I didn't know I needed somekind of therapy with or some
kind of outlet for, and mountainbiking actually provided that
and I could feel it every singletime that I went out there.
(08:19):
And over the years I hadparticipated in a couple of
programs that are offered herein Cherokee about culture and
how to be the best Cherokeeperson and give back to your
community.
So overcoming those littleaspects on the trail every
single time until you get to aplace where you're just doing it
(08:40):
.
That developed the passion formountain biking.
I have a lot of passion forCherokee culture as well, and so
that's when it started kind ofevolving into how do I combine
the two, how can I utilize thispassion.
That's helped me with my mentalhealth, my physical health, and
I love the Gaduggy community.
(09:02):
That's what Gaduggy meanscommunity in Cherokee.
I love the mountain bikeGaduggy and I love my Cherokee
Gaduggy, and so the combinationof the two and combining those
were my driving force and okay,I'm gonna stick with this and
then I'm gonna infuse it withthese components and these
pieces and make it make ituniquely ours, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
One of the things we've talked about earlier is
that you wanted to bring peoplealong to experience some of
those very same things thatyou've been experiencing, and
I'm wondering if we can kind ofsegue into that a little bit and
just kind of talking about,like, what was going through
your brain.
You know, I'm experiencingthese benefits, I'm seeing these
benefits, but you are somebodywho wants people to understand
the Cherokee culture here, andthen you've come up with some
(09:46):
ways to sort of pull all of thattogether.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout the steps that you took to
start to create some of that,and I don't know if that was
really kind of the start of yourconcept.
Thinking about Seven Moons,mountain biking that we'll talk
about here in a little bit butwhere does all that piece kind
of fit in, laura?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Well, I have grown up here my entire life Born,
raised, lived on the res inCherokee, north Carolina, and I
grew up in a household thatwasn't very cultural and there's
.
I've worked with the CherokeeHistorical Association since I
was 15 years old in somecapacity.
I started as a tour guide atthe O'Connell of the Indian
(10:23):
Village and I at that time didknow how important it was to
learn your culture and helpthese things survive and
perpetuate and preserve thosepieces, whatever that may be
language, crafts, arts, dances.
But being back at the CherokeeHistorical Association after a
(10:45):
break as the program director, Ido create programming revolving
around authentic Cherokeeeducational pieces I learned in
a program called the Right Paththe Ray Kinsland Leadership
Institute offers to adultCherokee members.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
And you learn so much more.
You get to see Cherokeehistorical sites, you get to
learn new things, you get tolearn what it means and how you
should act and participate as aCherokee person to give back to
your people.
And just going through thatprogram and being back at the
Cherokee Historical Associationit made me start thinking about
(11:27):
how I can be better for onemyself, my children, my husband
but also what can I do to offerthat to the community?
You know, in native nations allover they have a lot of
historical trauma, a lot ofthings in the background that
you just don't understand untilyour eyes are open to it.
(11:47):
And that program opened my eyesto that, and so I can recognize
that I needed some kind of helpor some kind of outlet to be
able to overcome what might havebeen holding me back or some
past trauma that I didn't reallyeven think of.
It was just part of my life.
I think that that's the biggestreason that I started molding
(12:11):
these things, because if it canhelp me, I know that it can help
at least one to two otherpeople, and if you can help
those two other people you mightspark something and they'll
help somebody else.
But one of the things is, as aCherokee person, you should help
your community, whatever thatmight be, whatever that might
look like.
(12:31):
So, all of these things rollingaround and this has been since
2018, somewhere in there to now2024, I've just been thinking
about these things.
How can I do this?
How can I get back to mycommunity, be passionate about
it?
But I had to make sure I waseducated myself in the craft
(12:52):
that I'm trying to teach othersto start, and that's mountain
biking.
And so once I got on a bike,once I found the love for it,
then I started branching out.
I started going to festivals, Istarted taking clinics, I
started meeting phenomenalpeople in the bike industry, and
that's trail builders, clinicinstructors, race holders, and
(13:17):
so all of these people that I'vecome across throughout this
short journey has just inspiredme even more, and I keep seeing
the Dine Nation out in Arizona.
They've started their own races.
They have their littlecommunity where they're getting
their kids on bikes.
They're getting their nativepeople on bikes, and to me,
(13:39):
that's exactly what we should bedoing.
We need to introduce ourcommunity members to something,
some kind of outlet that theycan help themselves with and
also have fun while doing it.
It's hard for me to pinpointone exact moment.
It's a conglomeration of all ofthese little things that just
come together in the pieces oflaid out.
I had rolled it around in mybrain for probably two years
(14:04):
about the bike community or howam I gonna help build that?
I host Fire Mountain Thursdayrides during the summers just to
get people to come up to ourtrails.
I wanted a lot more localpeople to come out.
I wanted to see them on bikes.
I wanted to see them utilizewhat we have right in our
backyard Cause it truly is a gymonce you get up there and start
(14:25):
using it, but it's sointimidating.
It is a scary sport to watch,to look at, to think about, but
it's also very intriguing.
Like that is something we justdon't see around here very often
, and I know the curiosity isthere.
But how do you get people outthere?
How can you get them started?
(14:46):
How can you help them overcomethe intimidating factors that
sometimes just keeps you fromparticipating in anything?
And so I noticed over the pastfew years we weren't getting as
many locals out on our trails,which is fine, but it was one of
my goals Deep in my heart.
That was one of my goals.
I'd love to see them out on ourtrails, but I also remember
(15:08):
what it's like to be a starter.
I remember going up there bymyself or with my buddy, joe,
who he was a starter as well, sowe didn't know anything.
We just started to try to rideand hope that people would help
us along the way.
But I wanted to bring that toour community and even our
(15:30):
surrounding counties.
We're here, we want to help you, but how can we do that About
2022,?
I came back from a very longroad ride because I've done a
(15:51):
lot of road cycling and I wasstill really passionate about
there's got to be something herethat we can start our Cherokee
citizens with.
Kicked it around in my brain, Istarted talking to other people
, of course, just through someof the clinic instructors and
some of the people that I've met.
They tell me that there's thisone to six ratio.
(16:13):
You can have kind of oneinstructor or one teacher to six
students, pupils, and so that'skind of where I started.
I just started gathering all ofthese little tidbits of info
and help.
I was getting along the way andI come across Made by Mountains
(16:33):
Outdoor Equity Fund and it wasspecifically for kind of
underserved communities doingany kind of outdoor recreation.
I needed the startup becausegetting into something is pretty
costly and also being able tooffer something for six other
people is very costly.
I tried to get donated bikes atone point.
(16:55):
That didn't work out and so afriend and I talked about it
applied.
She had turned it into anapplication for the Outdoor
Equity Fund to help support thisprogram.
And of course, in CherokeeHistorical, being a non-profit,
they are our fiscal agent and sothrough them we were able to
(17:15):
get this grant to purchase sixnew bikes.
The helmets we were also beable to do like bike maintenance
, if we need to.
Marketing logo creation.
What does that look like?
And initially that startedunder what was called the
unspoken bond and a play onwords.
Spoke is written in big capitalletters, but unspoken bond it
(17:37):
was a cool name.
It was kind of goofy, but I hadread a story in our Cherokee
legends about stone cloud or thestone man, and how he used to
wreak havoc on villages and theonly way that the warriors could
defeat him was by utilizingseven women that were on their
(18:00):
moon.
And For us, the week we callbeing on our menstrual cycle,
the moon, our moon.
And so, in this story, sevenwomen had to stand along the
pathway as he was trying toventure from one village to the
next, and as he passed each oneof those women, he started
getting weaker and weaker andweaker, and by the time he
(18:21):
passed the seven, seventh woman,he was weak enough and deflated
enough for the warriors to beable to kill him.
And so that's how, in my mind,I create, I was able to create
the name seven moons, mtv.
We are Seven women who areworking together to help you
(18:42):
conquer that stone man, and forour purposes, we consider that
the mountain.
We're helping you conquer themountain.
We will do whatever we canwithin our power to help you
defeat the stone man.
And and Once I thought aboutthat story and thought about oh
man, that's, that's prettybadass name.
(19:03):
I like that, I like that, andit ties into the chicky culture
that I love.
I was able to recruit the othersix women that are still,
they're, very passionate aboutthe mountain biking world, their
mechanics.
They've been riding for some ofthem have been riding for
decades.
Some of them are like me andI've only been riding for two to
three years, maybe eight years,but something has captured each
(19:28):
one of us in the sport andthey're all local.
They're all Probably 20 milesfrom me here in Cherokee at the
most.
Wow and we notice that there'ssomething within all of our
communities that is missing.
I can drive over to Asheville,pizda, brevard, and I can find a
(19:48):
group ride or some kind ofbeginner something, but that's
an hour and a half away.
Not very many people who arenew to the sport are going to
want to do that.
And so, through seven moonsmountain biking, all seven of us
has come together For onepurpose, not as to get our
community members on bikes.
You know I focus primarily forCherokee people.
(20:09):
I have two other citizens ofthe Eastern Band on in the group
with us and then we have Womenfrom Silva, colouie, bryson City
and they're all recruiting newriders, not just women riders,
but new riders, anybody who iscurious about the power of two
wheels.
They're recruiting them to comeout for this group, and that's
(20:32):
how seven moons got started.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That's very cool.
What a great story.
And obviously you just gave methe first peek at your little
logo that you're having draftedup, which looks amazing for that
.
But so that's great and thereally cool thing for me is that
what a fast trajectory fromgetting into the mountain biking
piece, really getting intoadvancing, going through these
(20:55):
progressions and Then opening itup to the community at large
and then just trying to bring asmany people into the fold as
you possibly can it like in sucha very short time.
That's amazing to me.
Just recently you had your firstrider, your first progression.
You were you're explaining.
Then we're wondering if you cankind of talk a little bit about
what that looks like, becausefor somebody that might Want to
(21:16):
get into the sport, as you say,there are barriers to entry,
there's a cost, there's the bike, but it's really the kind of
the know-how and a lot of people.
You know Most people don't wantto feel like they don't know
what to do and so if they don'tknow what to do and there's
nobody there to help them, theyjust don't do it right.
But you all have been able tokind of bridge that gap and pull
people into the fold.
I love to hear a little bitmore about that progression,
(21:37):
going from you know, never donethis before, to where you
ultimately hope to bring thoseriders coming through seven
moons.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You know, one thing that I'd mentioned is I remember
Kind of the barriers whenever Igot started, and so we've taken
that and we've broken it down.
A lot of people Don't know someof the areas that are that are
for entry-level riders, that areright in our backyards, and so
(22:04):
this idea, the recruitmentstarted in November 23 of the
seven moons who the crew wasgoing to be, and we Opened up
registrations for the sevenmoons MTB program on January 2nd
.
We accepted registrations forapproximately six weeks and
February 18th, which was lastSunday, was our very first
(22:25):
wheels down day.
We had around 40 people sign up.
There's approximately 30 thatare in this first progression
program and what we have done isthat we've turned it into a
six-week program.
They start on a three-mile flatgravel, learning how to change
gears, learning the componentsto a bike, what the phrases mean
(22:46):
.
We went over everything from youdon't have to wear a $200 pair
of mountain bike shoes to getstarted, but once you progress
you might want to look intogetting some of those, because
they do serve their purpose aswell.
And so this next week is at atotally different trail.
It'll be a progressive step upof a three to five mile flat
(23:07):
trail and the next one will be alittle bit of climbing.
It'll you're gonna you're gonnasee what a, what a incline
makes your legs feel like.
So you can kind of progress tothat level and get used to how
your body is going to be feelingin certain areas.
And so from week one to weeksix, we start a three mile flat,
gravel, wide, open space, verycalm, very Easy and chill, and
(23:34):
so it kind of captures yourinterest.
I can do this, I can do this.
Well, by week six they're gonnahave that confidence level
built up, they're gonna know howto use their brakes, they're
gonna know what their bikebalance feels like and we're
going to actually go up to firemountain and complete a loop up
there.
So, they're gonna know Climbing.
They're gonna know descending,they're gonna.
(23:55):
You know we're not gonna raceby any means, but it's just
gonna be some way to show them,through this program, all the
steps that I'll take to get youthere and then after that, join
us again or Call us.
We'll go ride with yousomewhere.
You know we don't.
We we're hoping to run thisprogram throughout the entire
year and it'll be.
(24:15):
It's a six session program.
It might be Mondays andTuesdays For three weeks.
We don't know what that's gonnalook like after this first
round, cuz summer's gonna hit.
We're gonna get busy, but Ireally want to keep it going
year round for Everybody toparticipate, and fall time
riding there ain't nothing likeit in Western North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I'm looking forward to that one of the things that
you mentioned to me that Ithought was really, really
interesting was your love foryour culture, your love for
sharing that culture not onlywith people outside of the tribe
, but also be or the citizens,but also people who are citizens
of the eastern band of theCherokee Indians.
These cultural rides and Iwonder if you can talk a little
bit more about these culturalrides, because that seems like
(24:58):
the perfect mix between Someecotourism, I would imagine at
some level you have to have someproficiency with mountain
biking.
I don't know me You'll.
You'll kind of share that withus, but this is a really cool
piece.
I'd love for listeners to heara little bit more about this.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I guess again combining passion for mountain
biking and passion for chair keyculture.
I was at the outdoor economyconference this year Are in
twenty twenty three, and I wastalking to Amy Allison and I
told her I said, hey, you know,I have this idea because I
really love to talk to peopleand educate people that are not
necessarily from chair key aboutour culture, and there's a way
(25:35):
to infuse the love for mountainbiking and a love for culture
that we can capture On theexcursions that are offered.
And so I was able to offer anexcursion, and what I call it a
fire mountain is a is a beginnerloop.
It is you don't go all the wayto the top, you do about three
miles on it and there's a trailthat cuts halfway across the
(25:58):
mountain and bring you back downand out, and so that's kind of
what I call the beginner loop,because you don't kill yourself
climbing the whole way.
And so she said, yeah,absolutely, and so we were able
to break it down and I had thisgroup of about I want to say
twelve people.
Join me for that cultural ride,and we start in the parking lot,
kind of introduce them to thetrails, and I speak a little bit
(26:20):
in our language, just kind of abasic introduction, because I
am not fluent in chair keylanguage at all.
But then we'll go up to one ofthe landing zones that's called
judica junction and judica thatis in our stories it crosses
octana and why, and spear finger.
So we hit all of these trailsand people don't.
(26:42):
They might go up there andmispronounce the names and
whatnot, because check, yourlanguage is a little different.
Octana, you know, and just tellthem what these beings are in
our culture, are myths andlegends, and where these names
come from.
But also I tied in a lot ofhistory.
You know the eastern band, havelived around here since the
beginning of time and you knowour, our lifestyles, pre contact
(27:08):
, the clanship system that wefollowed.
So I've kind of throw all ofthese elements in that a lot of
people that are coming in tovisit chair key they just don't
know, but they're alwaysintrigued.
Of course you want to learnabout the community that you're
coming into, especiallyIndigenous Native American
community.
A lot of people just they wantto learn.
And so that's part of my job,not only at the chair key
(27:30):
historical association but as achair key person, to help
educate and teach, and so we hada great ride.
Some people have told me that'sprobably one of their favorite
rides they've ever had on amountain bike cool it's very I
mean it's I wouldn't say it's abasic ride.
it's very slow speed.
We do a lot of stopping andtalking and lecturing at certain
(27:51):
points on the trail and so onceI, once I was able to do that
one, I was able to offer anotherone for the, and then a halo
outdoor center when they didtheir petal fest here in
November, and so justincorporating those and so in
this progression program.
You know it's going to be atough climb to certain spots
(28:15):
whenever we get up there.
But I've also told our ladiesand gents that have joined us
for the seven moons program thatwe're going to break it down.
We're going to make itComparable pieces for each
section of the trail so youdon't have to go up, sprint to
the top, destroy your legs andnot have fun the rest of the
time.
(28:35):
And I will be able to throwsome of those aspects in
whenever we do our seven moonssix week ride.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Do you have to start at the beginning?
Can you insert yourself like ifsomebody is just now finding
out about it, or is it best forthem to kind of wait until you
do the next round of six?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It's open for just completely new people that
haven't that haven't been on abike or they know how to ride,
or they rode once before as akid, or they rode two years ago
with their husband and just kindof fell out of it, got kind of
frustrated with the process.
It's open for everybody but Ido recommend them starting from
(29:18):
from from session one within thesix sessions that we offer.
We only do this right now onSundays, because 99.9% of the
people said they have Sundaysfree, so we start kind of after
that church time hour and we gokind of into the early evening
hour and I would recommend thatif you're coming back out, start
(29:41):
start here at step one.
Let us introduce ourselves.
It's really hard, if we didhave did have somebody who is
completely new and just foundout about it to try to jump into
week three, because that's notnecessarily going to be a fun
week because you're not going toknow the gearing.
You're not going to know thegear, what keep your level
pedals so you don't strike oneon a rock.
You know that they may not knowthese things.
(30:07):
If it's somebody who does havesome experience, if they reach
out to me and say, hey, I havebeen on a bike I was about a
year ago and I was riding okayand I just want a group to ride
with.
I'm open to that.
I am open to that.
But what I do want the peoplewho sign up for this program to
understand that it is very it'sgeared for beginners and new
(30:27):
people, just to help useliminate those intimidating
factors that have prevented youfrom getting into the sport
altogether.
We do have some experiencedriders that has joined us just
because they're looking for agood group to start relearning
the process and get back into itand just use it for those
physical and mental healthbenefits.
(30:48):
We do have people like that.
Let's stay there a little bitlonger with the physical and
health benefits.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
The physical probably are the more obvious, but the
health benefits, the mentalhealth benefits that come from
this.
We've talked about this alittle bit and we mentioned it a
couple times in this episode,but I'm just really curious to
know, especially as it relatesto bringing in other tribal
citizens into this mix and fold.
You've said a couple times youfeel like it's really important
(31:16):
for the sport, for people thatare here, the citizens, to not
only recreate in the land thetubing, hiking, you know, riding
, all these sorts of things, butspecifically when it comes to
the mountain biking piece andtrying to bring more of the
tribal citizens into the sport,and especially as it relates to
(31:37):
the mental health side, I wonderif you can talk about that a
little bit more and why thatmeans so much to you.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Well, growing up here , we get to grow up in the thick
of these sticks, like thebeautiful mountains.
I remember as a kid running upand down these hills swinging on
vines, and it was freedom, itwas fun, and Whenever you can
(32:08):
get back out and do those typesof things, it brings that same
sense of freedom and fun andchildhood back from your core
memories.
Well, we also, as adults, getinto this process of just
raising our kids.
It's no longer about you, it'sabout your children, or it's no
(32:30):
longer about you, it's aboutyour job and paying your bills
and just having to deal withsometimes just the mundane Wake
up, go to work, eat, sleep,repeat.
What we don't understand isthere's so much spiritual nature
(32:52):
, especially in Cherokee culture.
Our connection to nature is big, our connection and being
balanced, that's really big, andso you have to create that
balance to be, you know, to help.
You have to create that balanceto stay centered, to make sure
(33:15):
that you don't get overwhelmedone way or the other, whether it
be in a good way or a bad way,but you just maintain that
balance and the mental healthbenefits of being outside on a
bike, especially for me.
I've learned enough about thespirituality of our culture, to
let that soak in.
(33:36):
While I'm out in nature, youknow, I leave an offering, I say
thank, I give thanks forallowing us to be here and
utilize these parts of the landand make sure that I don't leave
any trash behind.
You know, because you have to berespectful of everything around
you, because everything helpsyou maintain that balance, and
(33:59):
so mental health, that's onethat you know in society that's
something that is a little kindof taboo or you don't talk about
it.
You know we all have hard thingsin life, so just shut up and
move on about your day.
That's kind of how it'sdelivered and it's like no, it's
time to start reflecting on whowe are as people and do what it
(34:21):
takes for us to get thatbalance back, because once
you're balanced then you canhelp start providing for
community members, you canprovide for your parents, you're
better providers for yourchildren, and so that's the big
piece for me.
I understand how it was able tohelp balance me back out,
(34:41):
overcome anger issues that I'vehad all my life, and I feel like
that is another reason thisprogram is very important and
I'm proud to say that the peoplewho have registered for the
first round of our Seven Moonsmountain biking program.
Over 50% of them were enrolledmembers of the EBCI Eastern Band
(35:02):
of Cherokee Indians, andthey're going to feel it too,
because we grow up in thiscommunity, we grow up in this
culture and we do know whatspirituality means for us as
Cherokee people, and so they'regoing to start recognizing that
and they're going to startfeeling that and that's going to
ultimately help all of us getback to that good balance and a
(35:23):
better person.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
And I know the longer you do this, the more of those
stories are going to come out,just because it's just a natural
outflow and outcome of doingsome of these activities.
Do you have any stories ofpeople that you know so far,
early in the infancy of this,that have realized some of those
things and they've maybe cometo you and said you know, I wish
I would have started this along time ago.
(35:44):
Or this is the impact this ismaking on me and one of the some
cool stories you might be ableto share.
And I know I'm putting on thisbox we didn't even talk about
that, but no, it's fine.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
And you know, you just said I wish I would have
done this a long time ago.
That's one thing that I tellpeople I wish I would have
started this when I was a kid,or I wish I would have started
this in my twenties.
Granted, I probably didn't makethe money to start, but no,
I've actually gotten some somereally good feedback from the
participants.
You know, the day we were outthere, we started out with, of
(36:15):
course, introductions.
Let's get to know one another,let's know who you're dealing
with and call us by our firstnames, that way we can help you.
And so all of the moons wentthrough their introductions and
then we started going around thecrowd like what's brought you
out here, what has gotten youstarted, or why do you want to
try this program?
And there were in the in thefirst round, I tell you, like it
(36:40):
almost pulled some tears out,because we had a lady who her
father had just passed away afew days before and she was
coming up on on the day thatthey were going to have his
funeral.
And she was like you know, Idrove down here, halfway from my
house in big Cove.
I turned around.
I didn't want to come.
(37:02):
No, then I turned back around.
She was like I need this.
I know that being out here isgoing to make me feel better.
I know being surrounded bypeople is going to make me feel
better, so I'm absolutelylooking forward to starting this
program and I'm very thankfulthat it's been offered.
Well, that was heavy.
I had to go give her a hug.
(37:22):
She was the very first intro,you know.
And then it gets to another one, another enrolled member,
standing there she was.
She's from the big, the firstones from the big Cove community
, which is in Cherokee, the nextone's in from the Wolftown
community, which is in Cherokee,on the other side of town.
And she's like I work and Ihave four kids.
She said every moment of my dayis for my kids.
(37:47):
I want to see them succeed.
I want to help them, I want tobe there for them.
She says I don't remember thelast time I've been able to work
out, I don't remember the lasttime I've had any time kind of
just for me.
And so when this program wasoffered I knew this is my chance
.
I've tried mountain biking bymyself before.
It did not go well, but I'vealways wanted to get into it,
just because it looks fun, itlooks tough and I want to be
(38:09):
able to do something like that.
And she had talked about I'mjust, I'm really looking forward
to this.
My kids are at home.
I get to come here, do my thing, have my time, and then I'll go
back and be with them thisevening.
You know, and I mean that was aheavy one right off the back,
but we're parents, we're busy,we're workers, we and so just
(38:35):
that feedback.
And then we kept going around atevery, every group.
It was something, you know.
I started trying to ride and Irode with a group of guys and it
was just hard.
I just I couldn't stay with itor I just think it's fun to be
outside and I'd love to be outhere and I want I'm looking
forward to meeting people toride with.
And so just hearing all of thesethings, that was just amazing
(38:57):
feedback and we knew in thosemoments of listening to them
that this is exactly what wasneeded in our area, and I am I
am so thankful that I was ableto find six other women who were
just as passionate abouthelping people.
Don't don't start riding andthink that you're great and
(39:17):
you're better than everybody.
You got to break it down andyou got to be a member for your
community and get other peopleinvolved.
And so that all of the women onthe crew have that same
mentality, we have an almostprofessional mountain bike rider
on our on our seven moons crew.
She's.
She's a college student, sherides for Western Carolina
(39:38):
University cycling team andshe's she's been riding hard for
two years and has gotten tothat level.
Wow.
Yes, and so these people justhave that dedication and that
love that they put into it, andso it's.
It's just an amazing programall around.
I have great people who workwith me, work with me, getting
(40:02):
bikes set up, getting these,getting the snacks set up, all
of it.
And then we have an amazinggroup of people who have signed
up, and every single one oftheir reasons are valid, and
it's exactly why this is neededin here for our people.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
I love that.
Yeah, wow, that's so profound.
I'd be remiss if I didn't atleast ask you to kind of explain
a little bit about the FireMountain trails.
We've never hosted or, excuseme we've never had a focus on
the Fire Mountain trails, and sothere's two things you've got
the Fire Mountain trail system,and I'm hoping you can kind of
just give a high level kind ofview of what those trails are
(40:39):
like.
And then also there's a bigevent, the Fire Mountain Inferno
, and I'd love to hear moreabout that as well.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
June 2017, fire Mountain trails opened in
Cherokee and it has a trailsystem of approximately 11 miles
.
Punchy climbs you.
If you go up octana, which isone of the trails, it's the more
like kind of a little morenarrow, little more techie,
(41:07):
nothing, nothing super, nor atall but you climb around 800
feet and two and a half miles toget to the top.
Once you get to the top, it'scalled the roost, it's a little
shed that sits up there, andthen it branches off into three
different trails that you cantake back down.
You can take octana back down.
(41:27):
You can do the downhill onlyKessel Kessel run, which is
approximately a four miledownhill, and then we also have
one of our longest, flowiest,which is spearfinger, and
spearfinger is the one that kindof cuts out on the outer edge
of the mountain.
You get to see some really coolberm overlooks and it drops
(41:50):
down to the shelter located atthe bottom, which is on tinker's
dream.
That's our green trail, that'sthe one that's at the bottom.
It cuts out approximately amile to the overlook and you can
overlook downtown Cherokee cool, see all the the strip with all
the shops and everything.
Yeah, it's a really good trailsystem, a lot of flow.
(42:10):
If you're looking for hard techchunk, you won't find it here.
Maybe not yet.
Hopefully, if we can continue togrow the community and get
people involved, we can requestmore trails that's cool and then
we have our black diamond,shkeely, which is a Cherokee
name as well, and it has a lotof the drops and jumps and
(42:34):
tabletops.
So it's a fun little quick rundown the mountain and then not
so great climb back up to do itall again.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
That's awesome.
So what about the inferno?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
this is a big event they launched that in 2018 and,
of course, this was before Ieven started riding, so I did
not participate.
I first started gettinginvolved with fire mountain in
2021.
They used to have an Endurorace on Saturdays and then they
would have a cross country raceon Sundays, so, being the
(43:07):
two-day event, you kind ofcaptured both.
Audiences had no clue whatEnduro was in 21.
I was road cycling a lot and soI was like, okay, I'll do the
cross country, see how that goes.
I wound up winning my division.
I won first place in the crosscountry beginner level so that
(43:28):
was pretty cool.
And then in 22 entered my firstEnduro race up there and then
wrecked immediately.
I wrecked off the side of themountain as soon as the green
flag dropped and so I came infourth on that one and I was
like, alright, so maybe Endurois not for me.
(43:49):
You know, in 22 and 23 and 23 Iwas just kind of a volunteer,
kind of helped gloryhound events, set up certain things.
Just a volunteer, just theoverall helper, and I was able
to see a lot of the people thatI had met over the past couple
(44:09):
years just in the mountain bikecommunity.
They came in, they transitionedit from a two-day one Enduro
day one cross country day.
2023 was a two-day Enduro event.
So it was all the downhill notdownhill racing but the Enduro
racing and it was like a hugeblock party.
(44:30):
We got to see all of ourfriends from the area, all of
our friends from out of the area.
We held it right down here inCherokee by our welcome center
and it was an absolute blast.
You know, I've gone tofestivals in Sedona, I've gone
to women events in otherlocations and I will tell you,
(44:50):
fire Mountain Inferno has grownto the point where it is a race
that you do not want to miss.
The tribe will be running itagain this year on May 3rd
through the 5th and I know GloryHound Events has the
registrations open now.
But it is.
It's an absolute blast.
You know, it's not because it'sin my hometown or if I've been
(45:11):
to a lot of events, and thispast year the two-day Enduro.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
I mean truly it's the best around and so where can
people find out more informationabout that?
Speaker 2 (45:22):
Fire Mountain has a page on Facebook and Instagram
Fire Mountain trails and thenGlory Hound Events.
You can find that online andVisit Cherokee, nc.
They have a lot of stuff onlineabout Fire Mountain trails and
also the Visit Cherokee.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
On Facebook or Instagram they have links and
information posted about therace and where you can sign up
and then, how can people findout more information about
getting involved with SevenMoons mountain biking if they're
finding themselves in thatcategory of somebody who fits
the bill for the perfectparticipant?
Speaker 2 (45:59):
so right now, because it's, I mean, fresh we only
have our Facebook page, sevenMoons MTB, and then we have our
Instagram page, seven Moons MTBpost a lot of stuff on my
personal pages, but to be ableto get all that information, I
always make sure that it's on onboth of those sites and then I
have to ask for selfish reasonsthe next upcoming outdoor
(46:22):
economy conference, do you thinkthat you'll be having some of
those excursions as well,because I definitely don't want
to miss out on the mountainbiking and the cultural ride if
you're doing that againabsolutely.
I talked to Amy just the otherday and we've already got that
in the works, so I'm lookingforward to it and I really enjoy
helping the Made by Mountains.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
They're good people they are good people, they're
really good people, and it justkind of fits within the ethos of
what you're talking about too,which is just building community
, making community, you know,bringing other people along,
protecting our resources,promoting our resources, but
doing that responsibly.
Yeah it's.
I cannot say enough good things, not just because this is a
collaboration series episode,but just because those are
(47:02):
absolutely amazing people.
What are the things that Ihaven't asked you, that you
would love for people to know?
About the Cherokee Nation?
Speaker 2 (47:09):
about Fire Mountain, seven Moons, you, the Sport of
Mountain Biking one thing is onething I always tell people with
the cultural side or theEastern Band of Cherokee Indians
, we are the Eastern Band ofCherokee Indians.
We live here in our homelands,we were a powerhouse in the
(47:30):
southeast throughout history,and now there are three separate
federally recognized Cherokeetribes the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians here in WestNorth Carolina, the Cherokee
Nation which is in Oklahoma, andthen the United Gadua Band,
which is out there in theOklahoma area as well, and so
not a lot of people understandthat difference, and so we are
(47:55):
three individual tribes.
But we do stem and come fromthe roots here that our
ancestors have in Western NorthCarolina.
Our mother town, gadua, is 10minutes away from Cherokee and
that is where the creatorcreated our people.
Another thing about seven moonswe hope to actually help it
branch out and create a youthprogram cool that way we can
(48:18):
provide that outlet for, foryouth who might not be into your
organized sports or your teamsports, but they're just looking
for something to get into andan outlet in their own way.
And you know, we've eventhought about possibly starting
a race team for the youth andand that's down the road though
that's down the road.
I got a lot.
I got a full-time job to worryabout.
(48:39):
These are on my side gigs andother than that, you know me
personally.
I've got I would I just love tobrag about my kids and how
amazing they are.
You know my daughter and my son.
They're smart, they'rebeautiful, they're Cherokee and
they, they are starting to learnwhat it means to be Cherokee as
well oh, that's so good.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
So that must feel really good as a parent,
especially seeing them Just getmore involved in the culture or
want to know more of the culture.
I'm sure you have a lot to dowith planting that seed with
them.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
Yeah, we try to keep them as involved as possible
with learning, the culturalaspects, and a lot of amazing
groups are doing things now andit's okay to be proud to be
cheeky now, you know, for a longtime at Hattenbin and we're
reclaiming our culture, we'rereclaiming our voice and we are
(49:33):
putting it out there that we'restill here and we're still
practicing, we still do ourtraditions and we are working
collectively as communitymembers to keep them alive.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Good stuff, Laura.
Thanks so much.
I really thoroughly enjoyedtalking with you this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
That's good talking to you.
Thank you for asking me.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
I hope you've been inspired by Laura's story of
cultural revival and personalempowerment in mountain biking.
It really is a truly powerfulstory and as we wrap up this
episode, I invite you to reflecton the deeper meanings woven
into the fabric of the FireMountain trails.
Beyond the exhilaratingdescents and challenging climbs
lies a landscape rich withcultural significance and
(50:14):
historical resonance.
Let Laura's story serve as abeacon, guiding us to appreciate
not only the natural beauty ofthe trails, but also the
cultural tapestry that theyrepresent.
I'd like to give a specialthanks to Made by Mountains for
making this specialcollaboration episode possible.
To find out more about all ofthe amazing things and projects
that Made by Mountains isinvolved with, check out
(50:37):
MadeByMountainscom or visit thelink in our show notes.
As you heard in the episode,seven Moons NTV was made
possible through the vision ofLaura and her team and funding
through the Outdoor Equity FundMade Possible by Made by
Mountains.
For more information on theOutdoor Equity Fund, be sure to
check out the link in our shownotes or visit
MadeByMountainscom for moreinformation.
(50:58):
Well, that's going to do it forthis episode.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Please consider leaving areview on whatever platform you
tuned in from.
It truly does help us reachmore people.
Join me on Instagram andFacebook and feel free to drop
me a note at mike atexplorationlocalcom, if you ever
have a suggestion for anepisode or if you just want to
say hi, well, as I always remindyou, until we meet again, I
(51:23):
encourage you to wander far, butexplore local.
Embark on a journey of empowerment and cultural
revival with Laura Blythe, acitizen of eastern band of
Cherokee Indians, as she sharesher transformative experience
through mountain biking.
In this episode, we delve intothe Seven Moons mountain biking
program, where Laura intertwinesher vibrant Cherokee heritage
into every pedal stroke on theFire Mountain Trail system, and
we discover how this programtranscends fitness, serving as a
(00:24):
bridge between past and presentwhile nurturing a community
that rides together and growstogether.
Laura paints a vivid picture ofthe Seven Moons program, where
participants pedal through ridesrich with Cherokee language
myths and history, fostering adeep connection to their roots
and promoting physical andmental well-being.
Through her narrative, weuncover the program's broader
(00:45):
ambitions for youth outreach andcultural preservation, aiming
to cultivate a new generation ofbikers who carry the torch for
their heritage with pride.
Tune in for an enlighteningconversation about the interplay
of outdoors, culture andcommunity.
Against the breathtakingbackdrop of the Fire Mountain
Trails, we'll celebrate themagic of mountain biking as a
vehicle for personaltransformation and cultural
(01:07):
resurgence.
I can't wait to see you on theother side.
You're listening to ExplorationLocal, a podcast designed to
explore and celebrate the peoplein places that make the Blue
Ridge and Southern AppalachianMountains special and unique.
My name is Mike Andrus, thehost of Exploration Local.
(01:30):
Join us on our journey toexplore these mountains and
discover how they fuel a spiritof adventure.
We encourage you to wander far,but explore local.
Let's go.
Laura, I cannot thank youenough for having me here today.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Thanks, Mike.
I'm glad to be here.
It's good to have you inCherokee with us.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
I'm glad to be here with you because I'm with an
ultra-dynamic person andpersonality.
This is Laura and I's secondtime to meet, but it's going to
be our first time to have anin-depth conversation
face-to-face.
We've been talking on the phoneand packing forth with emails.
What I can tell you from what Iknow right now is that you're
dealing with a very positiveforce in the outdoor world and
(02:11):
you're dealing with somebody wholoves and is passionate about
mountain biking, or you're anative of the Eastern Band of
the Cherokee Indians.
Hopefully I said that right.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, I'm a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I'm an enrolled member.
An enrolled member.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
There you go, but you were born bred.
This is your home.
This is where you're from.
You've lived here your entirelife.
You're very invested into thiscommunity.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Absolutely.
This is where my ancestors comefrom.
This is our homeland.
It's beyond even me.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Well, it's a great way to say it the things that
are also beyond you, which we'rereally going to unpack today in
this episode, is this newfoundlove of mountain biking that
you've come into.
We've talked a little bitbefore we started recording
about the reasons for that, thereasons you got excited, the
things that's done for youpersonally, and then also
thinking about how you know thissport can affect so many other
(03:06):
people in such positive ways aswe set that up Fire Mountain
Trails.
Our listeners here, especiallyanybody who's local to Western
North Carolina, the people thattravel in and they've been to
Cherokee, they're going to haveheard about Fire Mountain Trails
, but obviously we've got peopleall over that haven't.
Let's start out with how thattrail system impacted you first
and got you into the sport ofmountain biking, laura.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Fire Mountain came in to Cherokee in 2017.
That's when they launched thegrand opening.
I work at the CherokeeHistorical Association, but the
main part of my job is runningthe Elkhon and Lefty Indian
Village.
That's located just below thetrailhead my office up there.
(03:48):
I could look outside.
It's an open-air museum.
I would see these peoplerolling in with these big bikes
that I wasn't accustomed to.
I would just watch them ride up, come out, sometimes dirty,
muddy, bloody, sweaty.
It intrigued me watching thesepeople disappear for a while and
(04:11):
then come back out.
A lot of times I'd see themeither crack open a little croix
or crack open a beer.
Honestly, I was like that lookslike something I'd be into.
What is this mountain bikingthing?
That's ultimately what piquedmy interest and my curiosity.
We had a bike shop actuallycome to town, set up, and they
(04:33):
would offer rentals In 2019,.
Late summer I decided to startrenting a bike from the bike
shop.
I did this trail that's open tobikes but it's in the Gray
Smoky Mountains Park.
It was flat river trail.
I just wanted to roll around tosee if I remembered how to ride
a bike, because it had beenprobably 30 years since I had
(04:58):
been on a bike.
I enjoyed it.
It was peaceful, I got a littlebit of exercise in.
So I decided that I was goingto go ahead and make the
investment.
I went in and I put on Layawaya $500 specialized rock hopper.
I thought that was outrageous.
(05:21):
I was nervous.
I was like I better startriding.
If I purchase this thing, itcannot sit in my garage.
I have to get it out on thetrails.
That's where it started.
I remember going up to FireMountain.
Me and one of my other buddieswould try to go up and ride.
We were both new to the sport.
We went on the trails and itwas miserable.
(05:46):
It was hard.
It was so hard but it was sogratifying and empowering.
To make it a little ways thenext time, make it a little
further.
Make it a little further, juststicking with it.
I'd get up there and I'd cussand be all angry.
My buddy, he was like it's allgood, laura, we'll get there,
(06:11):
we'll get there.
Good.
Having him suffer with meactually helped, but that's it.
Fire Mountain came in in 2017.
I got on my bike in 2019 and Ihaven't stopped since.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Oh, that's so cool.
Here in a little bit we'regoing to talk about just some of
the benefits that come frombeing physically active number
one, but number two specificallyreally, with mountain biking,
what that's kind of has done foryou and that you think it can
do for other people too.
But I'm wondering if, before weget there, if you can kind of
set that up for you a little bit.
So the piece about going justanother step further and being
(06:47):
able to accomplish some thingsout on the trail, what was it
for you that really kind ofstuck and made this a sport that
you could not walk away from?
Because, as we're going to heartoday and our listeners are
going to hear, it's not just notwalking away from it and doing
it.
It's like taking this to awhole nother level and inviting
people in.
What was it about some of thosefirst experiences for you that
made you say, yeah, I'm going tokeep doing this, I'm going to
(07:09):
keep going on?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
with it.
So at the time I'd just go towork every day, go home every
day.
I had two kids, and so it kindof just gave me an outlet of
something to help me in mypersonal life, kind of defeat
those things that brought stress, anxiety, depression at times,
(07:32):
and there are.
There's something to be saidfor the cultural aspects as well
.
I'm really big into archericculture and learning about it.
Fire Mountain has a lot ofcultural aspects to it.
Some of the trail names arenamed after some of our archeric
legends, and so I think thatthat's all the pieces that kept
(07:58):
me wanting to go back.
It helped me overcome certainthings.
I've had a lot of stuff takeplace throughout my entire life
that I didn't know I needed somekind of therapy with or some
kind of outlet for, and mountainbiking actually provided that
and I could feel it every singletime that I went out there.
(08:19):
And over the years I hadparticipated in a couple of
programs that are offered herein Cherokee about culture and
how to be the best Cherokeeperson and give back to your
community.
So overcoming those littleaspects on the trail every
single time until you get to aplace where you're just doing it
(08:40):
.
That developed the passion formountain biking.
I have a lot of passion forCherokee culture as well, and so
that's when it started kind ofevolving into how do I combine
the two, how can I utilize thispassion.
That's helped me with my mentalhealth, my physical health, and
I love the Gaduggy community.
(09:02):
That's what Gaduggy meanscommunity in Cherokee.
I love the mountain bikeGaduggy and I love my Cherokee
Gaduggy, and so the combinationof the two and combining those
were my driving force and okay,I'm gonna stick with this and
then I'm gonna infuse it withthese components and these
pieces and make it make ituniquely ours, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
One of the things we've talked about earlier is
that you wanted to bring peoplealong to experience some of
those very same things thatyou've been experiencing, and
I'm wondering if we can kind ofsegue into that a little bit and
just kind of talking about,like, what was going through
your brain.
You know, I'm experiencingthese benefits, I'm seeing these
benefits, but you are somebodywho wants people to understand
the Cherokee culture here, andthen you've come up with some
(09:46):
ways to sort of pull all of thattogether.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout the steps that you took to
start to create some of that,and I don't know if that was
really kind of the start of yourconcept.
Thinking about Seven Moons,mountain biking that we'll talk
about here in a little bit butwhere does all that piece kind
of fit in, laura?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Well, I have grown up here my entire life Born,
raised, lived on the res inCherokee, north Carolina, and I
grew up in a household thatwasn't very cultural and there's
.
I've worked with the CherokeeHistorical Association since I
was 15 years old in somecapacity.
I started as a tour guide atthe O'Connell of the Indian
(10:23):
Village and I at that time didknow how important it was to
learn your culture and helpthese things survive and
perpetuate and preserve thosepieces, whatever that may be
language, crafts, arts, dances.
But being back at the CherokeeHistorical Association after a
(10:45):
break as the program director, Ido create programming revolving
around authentic Cherokeeeducational pieces I learned in
a program called the Right Paththe Ray Kinsland Leadership
Institute offers to adultCherokee members.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
And you learn so much more.
You get to see Cherokeehistorical sites, you get to
learn new things, you get tolearn what it means and how you
should act and participate as aCherokee person to give back to
your people.
And just going through thatprogram and being back at the
Cherokee Historical Associationit made me start thinking about
(11:27):
how I can be better for onemyself, my children, my husband
but also what can I do to offerthat to the community?
You know, in native nations allover they have a lot of
historical trauma, a lot ofthings in the background that
you just don't understand untilyour eyes are open to it.
(11:47):
And that program opened my eyesto that, and so I can recognize
that I needed some kind of helpor some kind of outlet to be
able to overcome what might havebeen holding me back or some
past trauma that I didn't reallyeven think of.
It was just part of my life.
I think that that's the biggestreason that I started molding
(12:11):
these things, because if it canhelp me, I know that it can help
at least one to two otherpeople, and if you can help
those two other people you mightspark something and they'll
help somebody else.
But one of the things is, as aCherokee person, you should help
your community, whatever thatmight be, whatever that might
look like.
(12:31):
So, all of these things rollingaround and this has been since
2018, somewhere in there to now2024, I've just been thinking
about these things.
How can I do this?
How can I get back to mycommunity, be passionate about
it?
But I had to make sure I waseducated myself in the craft
(12:52):
that I'm trying to teach othersto start, and that's mountain
biking.
And so once I got on a bike,once I found the love for it,
then I started branching out.
I started going to festivals, Istarted taking clinics, I
started meeting phenomenalpeople in the bike industry, and
that's trail builders, clinicinstructors, race holders, and
(13:17):
so all of these people that I'vecome across throughout this
short journey has just inspiredme even more, and I keep seeing
the Dine Nation out in Arizona.
They've started their own races.
They have their littlecommunity where they're getting
their kids on bikes.
They're getting their nativepeople on bikes, and to me,
(13:39):
that's exactly what we should bedoing.
We need to introduce ourcommunity members to something,
some kind of outlet that theycan help themselves with and
also have fun while doing it.
It's hard for me to pinpointone exact moment.
It's a conglomeration of all ofthese little things that just
come together in the pieces oflaid out.
I had rolled it around in mybrain for probably two years
(14:04):
about the bike community or howam I gonna help build that?
I host Fire Mountain Thursdayrides during the summers just to
get people to come up to ourtrails.
I wanted a lot more localpeople to come out.
I wanted to see them on bikes.
I wanted to see them utilizewhat we have right in our
backyard Cause it truly is a gymonce you get up there and start
(14:25):
using it, but it's sointimidating.
It is a scary sport to watch,to look at, to think about, but
it's also very intriguing.
Like that is something we justdon't see around here very often
, and I know the curiosity isthere.
But how do you get people outthere?
How can you get them started?
(14:46):
How can you help them overcomethe intimidating factors that
sometimes just keeps you fromparticipating in anything?
And so I noticed over the pastfew years we weren't getting as
many locals out on our trails,which is fine, but it was one of
my goals Deep in my heart.
That was one of my goals.
I'd love to see them out on ourtrails, but I also remember
(15:08):
what it's like to be a starter.
I remember going up there bymyself or with my buddy, joe,
who he was a starter as well, sowe didn't know anything.
We just started to try to rideand hope that people would help
us along the way.
But I wanted to bring that toour community and even our
(15:30):
surrounding counties.
We're here, we want to help you, but how can we do that About
2022,?
I came back from a very longroad ride because I've done a
(15:51):
lot of road cycling and I wasstill really passionate about
there's got to be something herethat we can start our Cherokee
citizens with.
Kicked it around in my brain, Istarted talking to other people
, of course, just through someof the clinic instructors and
some of the people that I've met.
They tell me that there's thisone to six ratio.
(16:13):
You can have kind of oneinstructor or one teacher to six
students, pupils, and so that'skind of where I started.
I just started gathering all ofthese little tidbits of info
and help.
I was getting along the way andI come across Made by Mountains
(16:33):
Outdoor Equity Fund and it wasspecifically for kind of
underserved communities doingany kind of outdoor recreation.
I needed the startup becausegetting into something is pretty
costly and also being able tooffer something for six other
people is very costly.
I tried to get donated bikes atone point.
(16:55):
That didn't work out and so afriend and I talked about it
applied.
She had turned it into anapplication for the Outdoor
Equity Fund to help support thisprogram.
And of course, in CherokeeHistorical, being a non-profit,
they are our fiscal agent and sothrough them we were able to
(17:15):
get this grant to purchase sixnew bikes.
The helmets we were also beable to do like bike maintenance
, if we need to.
Marketing logo creation.
What does that look like?
And initially that startedunder what was called the
unspoken bond and a play onwords.
Spoke is written in big capitalletters, but unspoken bond it
(17:37):
was a cool name.
It was kind of goofy, but I hadread a story in our Cherokee
legends about stone cloud or thestone man, and how he used to
wreak havoc on villages and theonly way that the warriors could
defeat him was by utilizingseven women that were on their
(18:00):
moon.
And For us, the week we callbeing on our menstrual cycle,
the moon, our moon.
And so, in this story, sevenwomen had to stand along the
pathway as he was trying toventure from one village to the
next, and as he passed each oneof those women, he started
getting weaker and weaker andweaker, and by the time he
(18:21):
passed the seven, seventh woman,he was weak enough and deflated
enough for the warriors to beable to kill him.
And so that's how, in my mind,I create, I was able to create
the name seven moons, mtv.
We are Seven women who areworking together to help you
(18:42):
conquer that stone man, and forour purposes, we consider that
the mountain.
We're helping you conquer themountain.
We will do whatever we canwithin our power to help you
defeat the stone man.
And and Once I thought aboutthat story and thought about oh
man, that's, that's prettybadass name.
(19:03):
I like that, I like that, andit ties into the chicky culture
that I love.
I was able to recruit the othersix women that are still,
they're, very passionate aboutthe mountain biking world, their
mechanics.
They've been riding for some ofthem have been riding for
decades.
Some of them are like me andI've only been riding for two to
three years, maybe eight years,but something has captured each
(19:28):
one of us in the sport andthey're all local.
They're all Probably 20 milesfrom me here in Cherokee at the
most.
Wow and we notice that there'ssomething within all of our
communities that is missing.
I can drive over to Asheville,pizda, brevard, and I can find a
(19:48):
group ride or some kind ofbeginner something, but that's
an hour and a half away.
Not very many people who arenew to the sport are going to
want to do that.
And so, through seven moonsmountain biking, all seven of us
has come together For onepurpose, not as to get our
community members on bikes.
You know I focus primarily forCherokee people.
(20:09):
I have two other citizens ofthe Eastern Band on in the group
with us and then we have Womenfrom Silva, colouie, bryson City
and they're all recruiting newriders, not just women riders,
but new riders, anybody who iscurious about the power of two
wheels.
They're recruiting them to comeout for this group, and that's
(20:32):
how seven moons got started.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That's very cool.
What a great story.
And obviously you just gave methe first peek at your little
logo that you're having draftedup, which looks amazing for that
.
But so that's great and thereally cool thing for me is that
what a fast trajectory fromgetting into the mountain biking
piece, really getting intoadvancing, going through these
(20:55):
progressions and Then opening itup to the community at large
and then just trying to bring asmany people into the fold as
you possibly can it like in sucha very short time.
That's amazing to me.
Just recently you had your firstrider, your first progression.
You were you're explaining.
Then we're wondering if you cankind of talk a little bit about
what that looks like, becausefor somebody that might Want to
(21:16):
get into the sport, as you say,there are barriers to entry,
there's a cost, there's the bike, but it's really the kind of
the know-how and a lot of people.
You know Most people don't wantto feel like they don't know
what to do and so if they don'tknow what to do and there's
nobody there to help them, theyjust don't do it right.
But you all have been able tokind of bridge that gap and pull
people into the fold.
I love to hear a little bitmore about that progression,
(21:37):
going from you know, never donethis before, to where you
ultimately hope to bring thoseriders coming through seven
moons.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
You know, one thing that I'd mentioned is I remember
Kind of the barriers whenever Igot started, and so we've taken
that and we've broken it down.
A lot of people Don't know someof the areas that are that are
for entry-level riders, that areright in our backyards, and so
(22:04):
this idea, the recruitmentstarted in November 23 of the
seven moons who the crew wasgoing to be, and we Opened up
registrations for the sevenmoons MTB program on January 2nd
.
We accepted registrations forapproximately six weeks and
February 18th, which was lastSunday, was our very first
(22:25):
wheels down day.
We had around 40 people sign up.
There's approximately 30 thatare in this first progression
program and what we have done isthat we've turned it into a
six-week program.
They start on a three-mile flatgravel, learning how to change
gears, learning the componentsto a bike, what the phrases mean
(22:46):
.
We went over everything from youdon't have to wear a $200 pair
of mountain bike shoes to getstarted, but once you progress
you might want to look intogetting some of those, because
they do serve their purpose aswell.
And so this next week is at atotally different trail.
It'll be a progressive step upof a three to five mile flat
(23:07):
trail and the next one will be alittle bit of climbing.
It'll you're gonna you're gonnasee what a, what a incline
makes your legs feel like.
So you can kind of progress tothat level and get used to how
your body is going to be feelingin certain areas.
And so from week one to weeksix, we start a three mile flat,
gravel, wide, open space, verycalm, very Easy and chill, and
(23:34):
so it kind of captures yourinterest.
I can do this, I can do this.
Well, by week six they're gonnahave that confidence level
built up, they're gonna know howto use their brakes, they're
gonna know what their bikebalance feels like and we're
going to actually go up to firemountain and complete a loop up
there.
So, they're gonna know Climbing.
They're gonna know descending,they're gonna.
(23:55):
You know we're not gonna raceby any means, but it's just
gonna be some way to show them,through this program, all the
steps that I'll take to get youthere and then after that, join
us again or Call us.
We'll go ride with yousomewhere.
You know we don't.
We we're hoping to run thisprogram throughout the entire
year and it'll be.
(24:15):
It's a six session program.
It might be Mondays andTuesdays For three weeks.
We don't know what that's gonnalook like after this first
round, cuz summer's gonna hit.
We're gonna get busy, but Ireally want to keep it going
year round for Everybody toparticipate, and fall time
riding there ain't nothing likeit in Western North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
I'm looking forward to that one of the things that
you mentioned to me that Ithought was really, really
interesting was your love foryour culture, your love for
sharing that culture not onlywith people outside of the tribe
, but also be or the citizens,but also people who are citizens
of the eastern band of theCherokee Indians.
These cultural rides and Iwonder if you can talk a little
bit more about these culturalrides, because that seems like
(24:58):
the perfect mix between Someecotourism, I would imagine at
some level you have to have someproficiency with mountain
biking.
I don't know me You'll.
You'll kind of share that withus, but this is a really cool
piece.
I'd love for listeners to heara little bit more about this.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I guess again combining passion for mountain
biking and passion for chair keyculture.
I was at the outdoor economyconference this year Are in
twenty twenty three, and I wastalking to Amy Allison and I
told her I said, hey, you know,I have this idea because I
really love to talk to peopleand educate people that are not
necessarily from chair key aboutour culture, and there's a way
(25:35):
to infuse the love for mountainbiking and a love for culture
that we can capture On theexcursions that are offered.
And so I was able to offer anexcursion, and what I call it a
fire mountain is a is a beginnerloop.
It is you don't go all the wayto the top, you do about three
miles on it and there's a trailthat cuts halfway across the
(25:58):
mountain and bring you back downand out, and so that's kind of
what I call the beginner loop,because you don't kill yourself
climbing the whole way.
And so she said, yeah,absolutely, and so we were able
to break it down and I had thisgroup of about I want to say
twelve people.
Join me for that cultural ride,and we start in the parking lot,
kind of introduce them to thetrails, and I speak a little bit
(26:20):
in our language, just kind of abasic introduction, because I
am not fluent in chair keylanguage at all.
But then we'll go up to one ofthe landing zones that's called
judica junction and judica thatis in our stories it crosses
octana and why, and spear finger.
So we hit all of these trailsand people don't.
(26:42):
They might go up there andmispronounce the names and
whatnot, because check, yourlanguage is a little different.
Octana, you know, and just tellthem what these beings are in
our culture, are myths andlegends, and where these names
come from.
But also I tied in a lot ofhistory.
You know the eastern band, havelived around here since the
beginning of time and you knowour, our lifestyles, pre contact
(27:08):
, the clanship system that wefollowed.
So I've kind of throw all ofthese elements in that a lot of
people that are coming in tovisit chair key they just don't
know, but they're alwaysintrigued.
Of course you want to learnabout the community that you're
coming into, especiallyIndigenous Native American
community.
A lot of people just they wantto learn.
And so that's part of my job,not only at the chair key
(27:30):
historical association but as achair key person, to help
educate and teach, and so we hada great ride.
Some people have told me that'sprobably one of their favorite
rides they've ever had on amountain bike cool it's very I
mean it's I wouldn't say it's abasic ride.
it's very slow speed.
We do a lot of stopping andtalking and lecturing at certain
(27:51):
points on the trail and so onceI, once I was able to do that
one, I was able to offer anotherone for the, and then a halo
outdoor center when they didtheir petal fest here in
November, and so justincorporating those and so in
this progression program.
You know it's going to be atough climb to certain spots
(28:15):
whenever we get up there.
But I've also told our ladiesand gents that have joined us
for the seven moons program thatwe're going to break it down.
We're going to make itComparable pieces for each
section of the trail so youdon't have to go up, sprint to
the top, destroy your legs andnot have fun the rest of the
time.
(28:35):
And I will be able to throwsome of those aspects in
whenever we do our seven moonssix week ride.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Do you have to start at the beginning?
Can you insert yourself like ifsomebody is just now finding
out about it, or is it best forthem to kind of wait until you
do the next round of six?
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It's open for just completely new people that
haven't that haven't been on abike or they know how to ride,
or they rode once before as akid, or they rode two years ago
with their husband and just kindof fell out of it, got kind of
frustrated with the process.
It's open for everybody but Ido recommend them starting from
(29:18):
from from session one within thesix sessions that we offer.
We only do this right now onSundays, because 99.9% of the
people said they have Sundaysfree, so we start kind of after
that church time hour and we gokind of into the early evening
hour and I would recommend thatif you're coming back out, start
(29:41):
start here at step one.
Let us introduce ourselves.
It's really hard, if we didhave did have somebody who is
completely new and just foundout about it to try to jump into
week three, because that's notnecessarily going to be a fun
week because you're not going toknow the gearing.
You're not going to know thegear, what keep your level
pedals so you don't strike oneon a rock.
You know that they may not knowthese things.
(30:07):
If it's somebody who does havesome experience, if they reach
out to me and say, hey, I havebeen on a bike I was about a
year ago and I was riding okayand I just want a group to ride
with.
I'm open to that.
I am open to that.
But what I do want the peoplewho sign up for this program to
understand that it is very it'sgeared for beginners and new
(30:27):
people, just to help useliminate those intimidating
factors that have prevented youfrom getting into the sport
altogether.
We do have some experiencedriders that has joined us just
because they're looking for agood group to start relearning
the process and get back into itand just use it for those
physical and mental healthbenefits.
(30:48):
We do have people like that.
Let's stay there a little bitlonger with the physical and
health benefits.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
The physical probably are the more obvious, but the
health benefits, the mentalhealth benefits that come from
this.
We've talked about this alittle bit and we mentioned it a
couple times in this episode,but I'm just really curious to
know, especially as it relatesto bringing in other tribal
citizens into this mix and fold.
You've said a couple times youfeel like it's really important
(31:16):
for the sport, for people thatare here, the citizens, to not
only recreate in the land thetubing, hiking, you know, riding
, all these sorts of things, butspecifically when it comes to
the mountain biking piece andtrying to bring more of the
tribal citizens into the sport,and especially as it relates to
(31:37):
the mental health side, I wonderif you can talk about that a
little bit more and why thatmeans so much to you.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Well, growing up here , we get to grow up in the thick
of these sticks, like thebeautiful mountains.
I remember as a kid running upand down these hills swinging on
vines, and it was freedom, itwas fun, and Whenever you can
(32:08):
get back out and do those typesof things, it brings that same
sense of freedom and fun andchildhood back from your core
memories.
Well, we also, as adults, getinto this process of just
raising our kids.
It's no longer about you, it'sabout your children, or it's no
(32:30):
longer about you, it's aboutyour job and paying your bills
and just having to deal withsometimes just the mundane Wake
up, go to work, eat, sleep,repeat.
What we don't understand isthere's so much spiritual nature
(32:52):
, especially in Cherokee culture.
Our connection to nature is big, our connection and being
balanced, that's really big, andso you have to create that
balance to be, you know, to help.
You have to create that balanceto stay centered, to make sure
(33:15):
that you don't get overwhelmedone way or the other, whether it
be in a good way or a bad way,but you just maintain that
balance and the mental healthbenefits of being outside on a
bike, especially for me.
I've learned enough about thespirituality of our culture, to
let that soak in.
(33:36):
While I'm out in nature, youknow, I leave an offering, I say
thank, I give thanks forallowing us to be here and
utilize these parts of the landand make sure that I don't leave
any trash behind.
You know, because you have to berespectful of everything around
you, because everything helpsyou maintain that balance, and
(33:59):
so mental health, that's onethat you know in society that's
something that is a little kindof taboo or you don't talk about
it.
You know we all have hard thingsin life, so just shut up and
move on about your day.
That's kind of how it'sdelivered and it's like no, it's
time to start reflecting on whowe are as people and do what it
(34:21):
takes for us to get thatbalance back, because once
you're balanced then you canhelp start providing for
community members, you canprovide for your parents, you're
better providers for yourchildren, and so that's the big
piece for me.
I understand how it was able tohelp balance me back out,
(34:41):
overcome anger issues that I'vehad all my life, and I feel like
that is another reason thisprogram is very important and
I'm proud to say that the peoplewho have registered for the
first round of our Seven Moonsmountain biking program.
Over 50% of them were enrolledmembers of the EBCI Eastern Band
(35:02):
of Cherokee Indians, andthey're going to feel it too,
because we grow up in thiscommunity, we grow up in this
culture and we do know whatspirituality means for us as
Cherokee people, and so they'regoing to start recognizing that
and they're going to startfeeling that and that's going to
ultimately help all of us getback to that good balance and a
(35:23):
better person.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
And I know the longer you do this, the more of those
stories are going to come out,just because it's just a natural
outflow and outcome of doingsome of these activities.
Do you have any stories ofpeople that you know so far,
early in the infancy of this,that have realized some of those
things and they've maybe cometo you and said you know, I wish
I would have started this along time ago.
(35:44):
Or this is the impact this ismaking on me and one of the some
cool stories you might be ableto share.
And I know I'm putting on thisbox we didn't even talk about
that, but no, it's fine.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
And you know, you just said I wish I would have
done this a long time ago.
That's one thing that I tellpeople I wish I would have
started this when I was a kid,or I wish I would have started
this in my twenties.
Granted, I probably didn't makethe money to start, but no,
I've actually gotten some somereally good feedback from the
participants.
You know, the day we were outthere, we started out with, of
(36:15):
course, introductions.
Let's get to know one another,let's know who you're dealing
with and call us by our firstnames, that way we can help you.
And so all of the moons wentthrough their introductions and
then we started going around thecrowd like what's brought you
out here, what has gotten youstarted, or why do you want to
try this program?
And there were in the in thefirst round, I tell you, like it
(36:40):
almost pulled some tears out,because we had a lady who her
father had just passed away afew days before and she was
coming up on on the day thatthey were going to have his
funeral.
And she was like you know, Idrove down here, halfway from my
house in big Cove.
I turned around.
I didn't want to come.
(37:02):
No, then I turned back around.
She was like I need this.
I know that being out here isgoing to make me feel better.
I know being surrounded bypeople is going to make me feel
better, so I'm absolutelylooking forward to starting this
program and I'm very thankfulthat it's been offered.
Well, that was heavy.
I had to go give her a hug.
(37:22):
She was the very first intro,you know.
And then it gets to another one, another enrolled member,
standing there she was.
She's from the big, the firstones from the big Cove community
, which is in Cherokee, the nextone's in from the Wolftown
community, which is in Cherokee,on the other side of town.
And she's like I work and Ihave four kids.
She said every moment of my dayis for my kids.
(37:47):
I want to see them succeed.
I want to help them, I want tobe there for them.
She says I don't remember thelast time I've been able to work
out, I don't remember the lasttime I've had any time kind of
just for me.
And so when this program wasoffered I knew this is my chance
.
I've tried mountain biking bymyself before.
It did not go well, but I'vealways wanted to get into it,
just because it looks fun, itlooks tough and I want to be
(38:09):
able to do something like that.
And she had talked about I'mjust, I'm really looking forward
to this.
My kids are at home.
I get to come here, do my thing, have my time, and then I'll go
back and be with them thisevening.
You know, and I mean that was aheavy one right off the back,
but we're parents, we're busy,we're workers, we and so just
(38:35):
that feedback.
And then we kept going around atevery, every group.
It was something, you know.
I started trying to ride and Irode with a group of guys and it
was just hard.
I just I couldn't stay with itor I just think it's fun to be
outside and I'd love to be outhere and I want I'm looking
forward to meeting people toride with.
And so just hearing all of thesethings, that was just amazing
(38:57):
feedback and we knew in thosemoments of listening to them
that this is exactly what wasneeded in our area, and I am I
am so thankful that I was ableto find six other women who were
just as passionate abouthelping people.
Don't don't start riding andthink that you're great and
(39:17):
you're better than everybody.
You got to break it down andyou got to be a member for your
community and get other peopleinvolved.
And so that all of the women onthe crew have that same
mentality, we have an almostprofessional mountain bike rider
on our on our seven moons crew.
She's.
She's a college student, sherides for Western Carolina
(39:38):
University cycling team andshe's she's been riding hard for
two years and has gotten tothat level.
Wow.
Yes, and so these people justhave that dedication and that
love that they put into it, andso it's.
It's just an amazing programall around.
I have great people who workwith me, work with me, getting
(40:02):
bikes set up, getting these,getting the snacks set up, all
of it.
And then we have an amazinggroup of people who have signed
up, and every single one oftheir reasons are valid, and
it's exactly why this is neededin here for our people.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
I love that.
Yeah, wow, that's so profound.
I'd be remiss if I didn't atleast ask you to kind of explain
a little bit about the FireMountain trails.
We've never hosted or, excuseme we've never had a focus on
the Fire Mountain trails, and sothere's two things you've got
the Fire Mountain trail system,and I'm hoping you can kind of
just give a high level kind ofview of what those trails are
(40:39):
like.
And then also there's a bigevent, the Fire Mountain Inferno
, and I'd love to hear moreabout that as well.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
June 2017, fire Mountain trails opened in
Cherokee and it has a trailsystem of approximately 11 miles
.
Punchy climbs you.
If you go up octana, which isone of the trails, it's the more
like kind of a little morenarrow, little more techie,
(41:07):
nothing, nothing super, nor atall but you climb around 800
feet and two and a half miles toget to the top.
Once you get to the top, it'scalled the roost, it's a little
shed that sits up there, andthen it branches off into three
different trails that you cantake back down.
You can take octana back down.
(41:27):
You can do the downhill onlyKessel Kessel run, which is
approximately a four miledownhill, and then we also have
one of our longest, flowiest,which is spearfinger, and
spearfinger is the one that kindof cuts out on the outer edge
of the mountain.
You get to see some really coolberm overlooks and it drops
(41:50):
down to the shelter located atthe bottom, which is on tinker's
dream.
That's our green trail, that'sthe one that's at the bottom.
It cuts out approximately amile to the overlook and you can
overlook downtown Cherokee cool, see all the the strip with all
the shops and everything.
Yeah, it's a really good trailsystem, a lot of flow.
(42:10):
If you're looking for hard techchunk, you won't find it here.
Maybe not yet.
Hopefully, if we can continue togrow the community and get
people involved, we can requestmore trails that's cool and then
we have our black diamond,shkeely, which is a Cherokee
name as well, and it has a lotof the drops and jumps and
(42:34):
tabletops.
So it's a fun little quick rundown the mountain and then not
so great climb back up to do itall again.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
That's awesome.
So what about the inferno?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
this is a big event they launched that in 2018 and,
of course, this was before Ieven started riding, so I did
not participate.
I first started gettinginvolved with fire mountain in
2021.
They used to have an Endurorace on Saturdays and then they
would have a cross country raceon Sundays, so, being the
(43:07):
two-day event, you kind ofcaptured both.
Audiences had no clue whatEnduro was in 21.
I was road cycling a lot and soI was like, okay, I'll do the
cross country, see how that goes.
I wound up winning my division.
I won first place in the crosscountry beginner level so that
(43:28):
was pretty cool.
And then in 22 entered my firstEnduro race up there and then
wrecked immediately.
I wrecked off the side of themountain as soon as the green
flag dropped and so I came infourth on that one and I was
like, alright, so maybe Endurois not for me.
(43:49):
You know, in 22 and 23 and 23 Iwas just kind of a volunteer,
kind of helped gloryhound events, set up certain things.
Just a volunteer, just theoverall helper, and I was able
to see a lot of the people thatI had met over the past couple
(44:09):
years just in the mountain bikecommunity.
They came in, they transitionedit from a two-day one Enduro
day one cross country day.
2023 was a two-day Enduro event.
So it was all the downhill notdownhill racing but the Enduro
racing and it was like a hugeblock party.
(44:30):
We got to see all of ourfriends from the area, all of
our friends from out of the area.
We held it right down here inCherokee by our welcome center
and it was an absolute blast.
You know, I've gone tofestivals in Sedona, I've gone
to women events in otherlocations and I will tell you,
(44:50):
fire Mountain Inferno has grownto the point where it is a race
that you do not want to miss.
The tribe will be running itagain this year on May 3rd
through the 5th and I know GloryHound Events has the
registrations open now.
But it is.
It's an absolute blast.
You know, it's not because it'sin my hometown or if I've been
(45:11):
to a lot of events, and thispast year the two-day Enduro.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
I mean truly it's the best around and so where can
people find out more informationabout that?
Speaker 2 (45:22):
Fire Mountain has a page on Facebook and Instagram
Fire Mountain trails and thenGlory Hound Events.
You can find that online andVisit Cherokee, nc.
They have a lot of stuff onlineabout Fire Mountain trails and
also the Visit Cherokee.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
On Facebook or Instagram they have links and
information posted about therace and where you can sign up
and then, how can people findout more information about
getting involved with SevenMoons mountain biking if they're
finding themselves in thatcategory of somebody who fits
the bill for the perfectparticipant?
Speaker 2 (45:59):
so right now, because it's, I mean, fresh we only
have our Facebook page, sevenMoons MTB, and then we have our
Instagram page, seven Moons MTBpost a lot of stuff on my
personal pages, but to be ableto get all that information, I
always make sure that it's on onboth of those sites and then I
have to ask for selfish reasonsthe next upcoming outdoor
(46:22):
economy conference, do you thinkthat you'll be having some of
those excursions as well,because I definitely don't want
to miss out on the mountainbiking and the cultural ride if
you're doing that againabsolutely.
I talked to Amy just the otherday and we've already got that
in the works, so I'm lookingforward to it and I really enjoy
helping the Made by Mountains.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
They're good people they are good people, they're
really good people, and it justkind of fits within the ethos of
what you're talking about too,which is just building community
, making community, you know,bringing other people along,
protecting our resources,promoting our resources, but
doing that responsibly.
Yeah it's.
I cannot say enough good things, not just because this is a
collaboration series episode,but just because those are
(47:02):
absolutely amazing people.
What are the things that Ihaven't asked you, that you
would love for people to know?
About the Cherokee Nation?
Speaker 2 (47:09):
about Fire Mountain, seven Moons, you, the Sport of
Mountain Biking one thing is onething I always tell people with
the cultural side or theEastern Band of Cherokee Indians
, we are the Eastern Band ofCherokee Indians.
We live here in our homelands,we were a powerhouse in the
(47:30):
southeast throughout history,and now there are three separate
federally recognized Cherokeetribes the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians here in WestNorth Carolina, the Cherokee
Nation which is in Oklahoma, andthen the United Gadua Band,
which is out there in theOklahoma area as well, and so
not a lot of people understandthat difference, and so we are
(47:55):
three individual tribes.
But we do stem and come fromthe roots here that our
ancestors have in Western NorthCarolina.
Our mother town, gadua, is 10minutes away from Cherokee and
that is where the creatorcreated our people.
Another thing about seven moonswe hope to actually help it
branch out and create a youthprogram cool that way we can
(48:18):
provide that outlet for, foryouth who might not be into your
organized sports or your teamsports, but they're just looking
for something to get into andan outlet in their own way.
And you know, we've eventhought about possibly starting
a race team for the youth andand that's down the road though
that's down the road.
I got a lot.
I got a full-time job to worryabout.
(48:39):
These are on my side gigs andother than that, you know me
personally.
I've got I would I just love tobrag about my kids and how
amazing they are.
You know my daughter and my son.
They're smart, they'rebeautiful, they're Cherokee and
they, they are starting to learnwhat it means to be Cherokee as
well oh, that's so good.
Speaker 1 (49:01):
So that must feel really good as a parent,
especially seeing them Just getmore involved in the culture or
want to know more of the culture.
I'm sure you have a lot to dowith planting that seed with
them.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
Yeah, we try to keep them as involved as possible
with learning, the culturalaspects, and a lot of amazing
groups are doing things now andit's okay to be proud to be
cheeky now, you know, for a longtime at Hattenbin and we're
reclaiming our culture, we'rereclaiming our voice and we are
(49:33):
putting it out there that we'restill here and we're still
practicing, we still do ourtraditions and we are working
collectively as communitymembers to keep them alive.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Good stuff, Laura.
Thanks so much.
I really thoroughly enjoyedtalking with you this afternoon.
Speaker 2 (49:49):
That's good talking to you.
Thank you for asking me.
Speaker 1 (49:54):
I hope you've been inspired by Laura's story of
cultural revival and personalempowerment in mountain biking.
It really is a truly powerfulstory and as we wrap up this
episode, I invite you to reflecton the deeper meanings woven
into the fabric of the FireMountain trails.
Beyond the exhilaratingdescents and challenging climbs
lies a landscape rich withcultural significance and
(50:14):
historical resonance.
Let Laura's story serve as abeacon, guiding us to appreciate
not only the natural beauty ofthe trails, but also the
cultural tapestry that theyrepresent.
I'd like to give a specialthanks to Made by Mountains for
making this specialcollaboration episode possible.
To find out more about all ofthe amazing things and projects
that Made by Mountains isinvolved with, check out
(50:37):
MadeByMountainscom or visit thelink in our show notes.
As you heard in the episode,seven Moons NTV was made
possible through the vision ofLaura and her team and funding
through the Outdoor Equity FundMade Possible by Made by
Mountains.
For more information on theOutdoor Equity Fund, be sure to
check out the link in our shownotes or visit
MadeByMountainscom for moreinformation.
(50:58):
Well, that's going to do it forthis episode.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Please consider leaving areview on whatever platform you
tuned in from.
It truly does help us reachmore people.
Join me on Instagram andFacebook and feel free to drop
me a note at mike atexplorationlocalcom, if you ever
have a suggestion for anepisode or if you just want to
say hi, well, as I always remindyou, until we meet again, I
(51:23):
encourage you to wander far, butexplore local.
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