Mountain Biking and Cultural Reawakening with Laura Blythe, Eastern Band Cherokee Indians & 7 Moons MTB

Embark on a journey of empowerment and cultural revival with Laura Blythe, a citizen of eastern band of Cherokee Indians, as she shares her transformative experience through mountain biking. In this episode, we delve into the Seven Moons mountain biking program, where Laura intertwines her vibrant Cherokee heritage into every pedal stroke on the Fire Mountain Trail system, and we 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 deep 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. Tune in for an enlightening conversation about the interplay of outdoors, culture and community. Against the breathtaking backdrop of the Fire Mountain Trails, we'll celebrate the magic of mountain biking as a vehicle for personal transformation and cultural resurgence. I can't wait to see you on the other side. You're listening to Exploration Local, a podcast designed to explore and celebrate the people in places that make the Blue Ridge and Southern Appalachian Mountains special and unique. My name is Mike Andrus, the host of Exploration Local. Join us on our journey to explore these mountains and discover how they fuel a spirit of adventure. We encourage you to wander far, but explore local. Let's go. Laura, I cannot thank you enough for having me here today. Welcome to the show.

Thanks, Mike. I'm glad to be here. It's good to have you in Cherokee with us.

I'm glad to be here with you because I'm with an ultra-dynamic person and personality. This is Laura and I's second time to meet, but it's going to be our first time to have an in-depth conversation face-to-face. We've been talking on the phone and packing forth with emails. What I can tell you from what I know right now is that you're dealing with a very positive force in the outdoor world and you're dealing with somebody who loves and is passionate about mountain biking, or you're a native of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. Hopefully I said that right.

Yeah, I'm a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

I'm an enrolled member. An enrolled member.

There you go, but you were born bred. This is your home. This is where you're from. You've lived here your entire life. You're very invested into this community.

Absolutely. This is where my ancestors come from. This is our homeland. It's beyond even me.

Well, it's a great way to say it the things that are also beyond you, which we're really going to unpack today in this episode, is this newfound love of mountain biking that you've come into. We've talked a little bit before we started recording about the reasons for that, the reasons you got excited, the things that's done for you personally, and then also thinking about how you know this sport can affect so many other people in such positive ways as we set that up Fire Mountain Trails. Our listeners here, especially anybody who's local to Western North Carolina, the people that travel in and they've been to Cherokee, they're going to have heard about Fire Mountain Trails, but obviously we've got people all over that haven't. Let's start out with how that trail system impacted you first and got you into the sport of mountain biking, laura.

Fire Mountain came in to Cherokee in 2017. That's when they launched the grand opening. I work at the Cherokee Historical Association, but the main part of my job is running the Elkhon and Lefty Indian Village. That's located just below the trailhead my office up there. I could look outside. It's an open-air museum. I would see these people rolling 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 these people disappear for a while and then come back out. A lot of times I'd see them either crack open a little croix or crack open a beer. Honestly, I was like that looks like something I'd be into. What is this mountain biking thing? That's ultimately what piqued my interest and my curiosity. We had a bike shop actually come to town, set up, and they would offer rentals In 2019,. Late summer I decided to start renting a bike from the bike shop. I did this trail that's open to bikes but it's in the Gray Smoky Mountains Park. It was flat river trail. I just wanted to roll around to see if I remembered how to ride a bike, because it had been probably 30 years since I had been on a bike. I enjoyed it. It was peaceful, I got a little bit of exercise in. So I decided that I was going to go ahead and make the investment. I went in and I put on Layaway a $500 specialized rock hopper. I thought that was outrageous. I was nervous. I was like I better start riding. If I purchase this thing, it cannot sit in my garage. I have to get it out on the trails. That's where it started. I remember going up to Fire Mountain. Me and one of my other buddies would try to go up and ride. We were both new to the sport. We went on the trails and it was miserable. It was hard. It was so hard but it was so gratifying and empowering. To make it a little ways the next time, make it a little further. Make it a little further, just sticking with it. I'd get up there and I'd cuss and be all angry. My buddy, he was like it's all good, laura, we'll get there, we'll get there. Good. Having him suffer with me actually helped, but that's it. Fire Mountain came in in 2017. I got on my bike in 2019 and I haven't stopped since.

Oh, that's so cool. Here in a little bit we're going to talk about just some of the benefits that come from being physically active number one, but number two specifically really, with mountain biking, what that's kind of has done for you and that you think it can do for other people too. But I'm wondering if, before we get there, if you can kind of set that up for you a little bit. So the piece about going just another step further and being able to accomplish some things out on the trail, what was it for you that really kind of stuck and made this a sport that you could not walk away from? Because, as we're going to hear today and our listeners are going to hear, it's not just not walking away from it and doing it. It's like taking this to a whole nother level and inviting people in. What was it about some of those first experiences for you that made you say, yeah, I'm going to keep doing this, I'm going to keep going on?

with it. So at the time I'd just go to work every day, go home every day. I had two kids, and so it kind of just gave me an outlet of something to help me in my personal life, kind of defeat those things that brought stress, anxiety, depression at times, and there are. There's something to be said for the cultural aspects as well. I'm really big into archeric culture and learning about it. Fire Mountain has a lot of cultural aspects to it. Some of the trail names are named after some of our archeric legends, and so I think that that's all the pieces that kept me wanting to go back. It helped me overcome certain things. I've had a lot of stuff take place throughout my entire life that I didn't know I needed some kind of therapy with or some kind of outlet for, and mountain biking actually provided that and I could feel it every single time that I went out there. And over the years I had participated in a couple of programs that are offered here in Cherokee about culture and how to be the best Cherokee person and give back to your community. So overcoming those little aspects on the trail every single time until you get to a place where you're just doing it. That developed the passion for mountain biking. I have a lot of passion for Cherokee culture as well, and so that's when it started kind of evolving into how do I combine the two, how can I utilize this passion. That's helped me with my mental health, my physical health, and I love the Gaduggy community. That's what Gaduggy means community in Cherokee. I love the mountain bike Gaduggy and I love my Cherokee Gaduggy, and so the combination of the two and combining those were my driving force and okay, I'm gonna stick with this and then I'm gonna infuse it with these components and these pieces and make it make it uniquely ours, you know.

One of the things we've talked about earlier is that you wanted to bring people along to experience some of those very same things that you've been experiencing, and I'm wondering if we can kind of segue into that a little bit and just kind of talking about, like, what was going through your brain. You know, I'm experiencing these benefits, I'm seeing these benefits, but you are somebody who wants people to understand the Cherokee culture here, and then you've come up with some ways to sort of pull all of that together. Let's talk a little bit more about 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 your concept. Thinking about Seven Moons, mountain biking that we'll talk about here in a little bit but where does all that piece kind of fit in, laura?

Well, I have grown up here my entire life Born, raised, lived on the res in Cherokee, north Carolina, and I grew up in a household that wasn't very cultural and there's. I've worked with the Cherokee Historical Association since I was 15 years old in some capacity. I started as a tour guide at the O'Connell of the Indian Village and I at that time did know how important it was to learn your culture and help these things survive and perpetuate and preserve those pieces, whatever that may be language, crafts, arts, dances. But being back at the Cherokee Historical Association after a break as the program director, I do create programming revolving around authentic Cherokee educational pieces I learned in a program called the Right Path the Ray Kinsland Leadership Institute offers to adult Cherokee members.

Okay.

And you learn so much more. You get to see Cherokee historical sites, you get to learn new things, you get to learn what it means and how you should act and participate as a Cherokee person to give back to your people. And just going through that program and being back at the Cherokee Historical Association it made me start thinking about how I can be better for one myself, my children, my husband but also what can I do to offer that to the community? You know, in native nations all over they have a lot of historical trauma, a lot of things in the background that you just don't understand until your eyes are open to it. And that program opened my eyes to that, and so I can recognize that I needed some kind of help or some kind of outlet to be able to overcome what might have been holding me back or some past trauma that I didn't really even think of. It was just part of my life. I think that that's the biggest reason that I started molding these things, because if it can help me, I know that it can help at least one to two other people, and if you can help those two other people you might spark something and they'll help somebody else. But one of the things is, as a Cherokee person, you should help your community, whatever that might be, whatever that might look like. So, all of these things rolling around and this has been since 2018, somewhere in there to now 2024, I've just been thinking about these things. How can I do this? How can I get back to my community, be passionate about it? But I had to make sure I was educated myself in the craft that I'm trying to teach others to 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, I started taking clinics, I started meeting phenomenal people in the bike industry, and that's trail builders, clinic instructors, race holders, and so all of these people that I've come across throughout this short journey has just inspired me even more, and I keep seeing the Dine Nation out in Arizona. They've started their own races. They have their little community where they're getting their kids on bikes. They're getting their native people on bikes, and to me, that's exactly what we should be doing. We need to introduce our community members to something, some kind of outlet that they can help themselves with and also have fun while doing it. It's hard for me to pinpoint one exact moment. It's a conglomeration of all of these little things that just come together in the pieces of laid out. I had rolled it around in my brain for probably two years about the bike community or how am I gonna help build that? I host Fire Mountain Thursday rides during the summers just to get people to come up to our trails. I wanted a lot more local people to come out. I wanted to see them on bikes. I wanted to see them utilize what we have right in our backyard Cause it truly is a gym once you get up there and start using it, but it's so intimidating. It is a scary sport to watch, to look at, to think about, but it's also very intriguing. Like that is something we just don't see around here very often, and I know the curiosity is there. But how do you get people out there? How can you get them started? How can you help them overcome the intimidating factors that sometimes just keeps you from participating in anything? And so I noticed over the past few 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 our trails, but I also remember what it's like to be a starter. I remember going up there by myself or with my buddy, joe, who he was a starter as well, so we didn't know anything. We just started to try to ride and hope that people would help us along the way. But I wanted to bring that to our community and even our surrounding counties. We're here, we want to help you, but how can we do that About 2022,? I came back from a very long road ride because I've done a lot of road cycling and I was still really passionate about there's got to be something here that we can start our Cherokee citizens with. Kicked it around in my brain, I started talking to other people, of course, just through some of the clinic instructors and some of the people that I've met. They tell me that there's this one to six ratio. You can have kind of one instructor or one teacher to six students, pupils, and so that's kind of where I started. I just started gathering all of these little tidbits of info and help. I was getting along the way and I come across Made by Mountains Outdoor Equity Fund and it was specifically for kind of underserved communities doing any kind of outdoor recreation. I needed the startup because getting into something is pretty costly and also being able to offer something for six other people is very costly. I tried to get donated bikes at one point. That didn't work out and so a friend and I talked about it applied. She had turned it into an application for the Outdoor Equity Fund to help support this program. And of course, in Cherokee Historical, being a non-profit, they are our fiscal agent and so through them we were able to get this grant to purchase six new bikes. The helmets we were also be able to do like bike maintenance, if we need to. Marketing logo creation. What does that look like? And initially that started under what was called the unspoken bond and a play on words. Spoke is written in big capital letters, but unspoken bond it was a cool name. It was kind of goofy, but I had read a story in our Cherokee legends about stone cloud or the stone man, and how he used to wreak havoc on villages and the only way that the warriors could defeat him was by utilizing seven women that were on their moon. And For us, the week we call being on our menstrual cycle, the moon, our moon. And so, in this story, seven women had to stand along the pathway as he was trying to venture from one village to the next, and as he passed each one of those women, he started getting weaker and weaker and weaker, and by the time he passed the seven, seventh woman, he was weak enough and deflated enough for the warriors to be able 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 are working together to help you conquer that stone man, and for our purposes, we consider that the mountain. We're helping you conquer the mountain. We will do whatever we can within our power to help you defeat the stone man. And and Once I thought about that story and thought about oh man, that's, that's pretty badass name. I like that, I like that, and it ties into the chicky culture that I love. I was able to recruit the other six women that are still, they're, very passionate about the mountain biking world, their mechanics. They've been riding for some of them have been riding for decades. Some of them are like me and I've only been riding for two to three years, maybe eight years, but something has captured each one of us in the sport and they're all local. They're all Probably 20 miles from me here in Cherokee at the most. Wow and we notice that there's something within all of our communities that is missing. I can drive over to Asheville, pizda, brevard, and I can find a group ride or some kind of beginner something, but that's an hour and a half away. Not very many people who are new to the sport are going to want to do that. And so, through seven moons mountain biking, all seven of us has come together For one purpose, not as to get our community members on bikes. You know I focus primarily for Cherokee people. I have two other citizens of the Eastern Band on in the group with us and then we have Women from Silva, colouie, bryson City and they're all recruiting new riders, not just women riders, but new riders, anybody who is curious about the power of two wheels. They're recruiting them to come out for this group, and that's how seven moons got started.

That's very cool. What a great story. And obviously you just gave me the first peek at your little logo that you're having drafted up, which looks amazing for that. But so that's great and the really cool thing for me is that what a fast trajectory from getting into the mountain biking piece, really getting into advancing, going through these progressions and Then opening it up to the community at large and then just trying to bring as many people into the fold as you possibly can it like in such a very short time. That's amazing to me. Just recently you had your first rider, your first progression. You were you're explaining. Then we're wondering if you can kind of talk a little bit about what that looks like, because for somebody that might Want to 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 want to feel like they don't know what to do and so if they don't know what to do and there's nobody there to help them, they just don't do it right. But you all have been able to kind of bridge that gap and pull people into the fold. I love to hear a little bit more about that progression, going from you know, never done this before, to where you ultimately hope to bring those riders coming through seven moons.

You know, one thing that I'd mentioned is I remember Kind of the barriers whenever I got started, and so we've taken that and we've broken it down. A lot of people Don't know some of the areas that are that are for entry-level riders, that are right in our backyards, and so this idea, the recruitment started in November 23 of the seven moons who the crew was going to be, and we Opened up registrations for the seven moons MTB program on January 2nd. We accepted registrations for approximately six weeks and February 18th, which was last Sunday, was our very first wheels down day. We had around 40 people sign up. There's approximately 30 that are in this first progression program and what we have done is that we've turned it into a six-week program. They start on a three-mile flat gravel, learning how to change gears, learning the components to a bike, what the phrases mean. We went over everything from you don't have to wear a $200 pair of mountain bike shoes to get started, but once you progress you might want to look into getting some of those, because they do serve their purpose as well. And so this next week is at a totally different trail. It'll be a progressive step up of a three to five mile flat trail and the next one will be a little bit of climbing. It'll you're gonna you're gonna see what a, what a incline makes your legs feel like. So you can kind of progress to that level and get used to how your body is going to be feeling in certain areas. And so from week one to week six, we start a three mile flat, gravel, wide, open space, very calm, very Easy and chill, and so it kind of captures your interest. I can do this, I can do this. Well, by week six they're gonna have that confidence level built up, they're gonna know how to use their brakes, they're gonna know what their bike balance feels like and we're going to actually go up to fire mountain and complete a loop up there. So, they're gonna know Climbing. They're gonna know descending, they're gonna. You know we're not gonna race by 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 you there and then after that, join us again or Call us. We'll go ride with you somewhere. You know we don't. We we're hoping to run this program throughout the entire year and it'll be. It's a six session program. It might be Mondays and Tuesdays For three weeks. We don't know what that's gonna look like after this first round, cuz summer's gonna hit. We're gonna get busy, but I really want to keep it going year round for Everybody to participate, and fall time riding there ain't nothing like it in Western North Carolina.

I'm looking forward to that one of the things that you mentioned to me that I thought was really, really interesting was your love for your culture, your love for sharing that culture not only with people outside of the tribe, but also be or the citizens, but also people who are citizens of the eastern band of the Cherokee Indians. These cultural rides and I wonder if you can talk a little bit more about these cultural rides, because that seems like the perfect mix between Some ecotourism, I would imagine at some level you have to have some proficiency with mountain biking. I don't know me You'll. You'll kind of share that with us, but this is a really cool piece. I'd love for listeners to hear a little bit more about this.

I guess again combining passion for mountain biking and passion for chair key culture. I was at the outdoor economy conference this year Are in twenty twenty three, and I was talking to Amy Allison and I told her I said, hey, you know, I have this idea because I really love to talk to people and educate people that are not necessarily from chair key about our culture, and there's a way to infuse the love for mountain biking and a love for culture that we can capture On the excursions that are offered. And so I was able to offer an excursion, and what I call it a fire mountain is a is a beginner loop. It is you don't go all the way to the top, you do about three miles on it and there's a trail that cuts halfway across the mountain and bring you back down and 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 this group 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 the trails, and I speak a little bit in our language, just kind of a basic introduction, because I am not fluent in chair key language at all. But then we'll go up to one of the landing zones that's called judica junction and judica that is in our stories it crosses octana and why, and spear finger. So we hit all of these trails and people don't. They might go up there and mispronounce the names and whatnot, because check, your language is a little different. Octana, you know, and just tell them what these beings are in our culture, are myths and legends, and where these names come from. But also I tied in a lot of history. You know the eastern band, have lived around here since the beginning of time and you know our, our lifestyles, pre contact, the clanship system that we followed. So I've kind of throw all of these elements in that a lot of people that are coming in to visit chair key they just don't know, but they're always intrigued. Of course you want to learn about the community that you're coming into, especially Indigenous Native American community. A lot of people just they want to learn. And so that's part of my job, not only at the chair key historical association but as a chair key person, to help educate and teach, and so we had a great ride. Some people have told me that's probably one of their favorite rides they've ever had on a mountain bike cool it's very I mean it's I wouldn't say it's a basic ride. it's very slow speed. We do a lot of stopping and talking and lecturing at certain points on the trail and so once I, once I was able to do that one, I was able to offer another one for the, and then a halo outdoor center when they did their petal fest here in November, and so just incorporating those and so in this progression program. You know it's going to be a tough climb to certain spots whenever we get up there. But I've also told our ladies and gents that have joined us for the seven moons program that we're going to break it down. We're going to make it Comparable pieces for each section of the trail so you don't have to go up, sprint to the top, destroy your legs and not have fun the rest of the time. And I will be able to throw some of those aspects in whenever we do our seven moons six week ride.

Do you have to start at the beginning? Can you insert yourself like if somebody is just now finding out about it, or is it best for them to kind of wait until you do the next round of six?

It's open for just completely new people that haven't that haven't been on a bike or they know how to ride, or they rode once before as a kid, or they rode two years ago with their husband and just kind of fell out of it, got kind of frustrated with the process. It's open for everybody but I do recommend them starting from from from session one within the six sessions that we offer. We only do this right now on Sundays, because 99.9% of the people said they have Sundays free, so we start kind of after that church time hour and we go kind of into the early evening hour and I would recommend that if you're coming back out, start start here at step one. Let us introduce ourselves. It's really hard, if we did have did have somebody who is completely new and just found out about it to try to jump into week three, because that's not necessarily going to be a fun week because you're not going to know the gearing. You're not going to know the gear, what keep your level pedals so you don't strike one on a rock. You know that they may not know these things. If it's somebody who does have some experience, if they reach out to me and say, hey, I have been on a bike I was about a year ago and I was riding okay and I just want a group to ride with. I'm open to that. I am open to that. But what I do want the people who sign up for this program to understand that it is very it's geared for beginners and new people, just to help us eliminate those intimidating factors that have prevented you from getting into the sport altogether. We do have some experienced riders that has joined us just because they're looking for a good group to start relearning the process and get back into it and just use it for those physical and mental health benefits. We do have people like that. Let's stay there a little bit longer with the physical and health benefits.

The physical probably are the more obvious, but the health benefits, the mental health benefits that come from this. We've talked about this a little bit and we mentioned it a couple times in this episode, but I'm just really curious to know, especially as it relates to bringing in other tribal citizens into this mix and fold. You've said a couple times you feel like it's really important for the sport, for people that are here, the citizens, to not only recreate in the land the tubing, hiking, you know, riding, all these sorts of things, but specifically when it comes to the mountain biking piece and trying to bring more of the tribal citizens into the sport, and especially as it relates to the mental health side, I wonder if you can talk about that a little bit more and why that means so much to you.

Well, growing up here, we get to grow up in the thick of these sticks, like the beautiful mountains. I remember as a kid running up and down these hills swinging on vines, and it was freedom, it was fun, and Whenever you can get back out and do those types of things, it brings that same sense of freedom and fun and childhood back from your core memories. Well, we also, as adults, get into this process of just raising our kids. It's no longer about you, it's about your children, or it's no longer about you, it's about your job and paying your bills and just having to deal with sometimes just the mundane Wake up, go to work, eat, sleep, repeat. What we don't understand is there's so much spiritual nature, especially in Cherokee culture. Our connection to nature is big, our connection and being balanced, that's really big, and so you have to create that balance to be, you know, to help. You have to create that balance to stay centered, to make sure that you don't get overwhelmed one way or the other, whether it be in a good way or a bad way, but you just maintain that balance and the mental health benefits of being outside on a bike, especially for me. I've learned enough about the spirituality of our culture, to let that soak in. While I'm out in nature, you know, I leave an offering, I say thank, I give thanks for allowing us to be here and utilize these parts of the land and make sure that I don't leave any trash behind. You know, because you have to be respectful of everything around you, because everything helps you maintain that balance, and so mental health, that's one that you know in society that's something that is a little kind of taboo or you don't talk about it. You know we all have hard things in life, so just shut up and move on about your day. That's kind of how it's delivered and it's like no, it's time to start reflecting on who we are as people and do what it takes for us to get that balance back, because once you're balanced then you can help start providing for community members, you can provide for your parents, you're better providers for your children, and so that's the big piece for me. I understand how it was able to help balance me back out, overcome anger issues that I've had all my life, and I feel like that is another reason this program is very important and I'm proud to say that the people who have registered for the first round of our Seven Moons mountain biking program. Over 50% of them were enrolled members of the EBCI Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and they're going to feel it too, because we grow up in this community, we grow up in this culture and we do know what spirituality means for us as Cherokee people, and so they're going to start recognizing that and they're going to start feeling that and that's going to ultimately help all of us get back to that good balance and a better person.

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 doing some of these activities. Do you have any stories of people that you know so far, early in the infancy of this, that have realized some of those things and they've maybe come to you and said you know, I wish I would have started this a long time ago. Or this is the impact this is making on me and one of the some cool stories you might be able to share. And I know I'm putting on this box we didn't even talk about that, but no, it's fine.

And you know, you just said I wish I would have done this a long time ago. That's one thing that I tell people 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 make the money to start, but no, I've actually gotten some some really good feedback from the participants. You know, the day we were out there, we started out with, of course, introductions. Let's get to know one another, let's know who you're dealing with and call us by our first names, that way we can help you. And so all of the moons went through their introductions and then we started going around the crowd like what's brought you out here, what has gotten you started, or why do you want to try this program? And there were in the in the first round, I tell you, like it almost pulled some tears out, because we had a lady who her father had just passed away a few days before and she was coming up on on the day that they were going to have his funeral. And she was like you know, I drove down here, halfway from my house in big Cove. I turned around. I didn't want to come. No, then I turned back around. She was like I need this. I know that being out here is going to make me feel better. I know being surrounded by people is going to make me feel better, so I'm absolutely looking forward to starting this program and I'm very thankful that it's been offered. Well, that was heavy. I had to go give her a hug. 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 first ones from the big Cove community, which is in Cherokee, the next one's in from the Wolftown community, which is in Cherokee, on the other side of town. And she's like I work and I have four kids. She said every moment of my day is for my kids. I want to see them succeed. I want to help them, I want to be there for them. She says I don't remember the last time I've been able to work out, I don't remember the last time I've had any time kind of just for me. And so when this program was offered I knew this is my chance. I've tried mountain biking by myself before. It did not go well, but I've always wanted to get into it, just because it looks fun, it looks tough and I want to be able to do something like that. And she had talked about I'm just, 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 this evening. You know, and I mean that was a heavy one right off the back, but we're parents, we're busy, we're workers, we and so just that feedback. And then we kept going around at every, every group. It was something, you know. I started trying to ride and I rode with a group of guys and it was just hard. I just I couldn't stay with it or I just think it's fun to be outside and I'd love to be out here and I want I'm looking forward to meeting people to ride with. And so just hearing all of these things, that was just amazing feedback and we knew in those moments of listening to them that this is exactly what was needed in our area, and I am I am so thankful that I was able to find six other women who were just as passionate about helping people. Don't don't start riding and think that you're great and you're better than everybody. You got to break it down and you got to be a member for your community and get other people involved. And so that all of the women on the crew have that same mentality, we have an almost professional mountain bike rider on our on our seven moons crew. She's. She's a college student, she rides for Western Carolina University cycling team and she's she's been riding hard for two years and has gotten to that level. Wow. Yes, and so these people just have that dedication and that love that they put into it, and so it's. It's just an amazing program all around. I have great people who work with me, work with me, getting bikes set up, getting these, getting the snacks set up, all of it. And then we have an amazing group of people who have signed up, and every single one of their reasons are valid, and it's exactly why this is needed in here for our people.

I love that. Yeah, wow, that's so profound. I'd be remiss if I didn't at least ask you to kind of explain a little bit about the Fire Mountain trails. We've never hosted or, excuse me we've never had a focus on the Fire Mountain trails, and so there'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 of view of what those trails are like. And then also there's a big event, the Fire Mountain Inferno, and I'd love to hear more about that as well.

June 2017, fire Mountain trails opened in Cherokee and it has a trail system of approximately 11 miles. Punchy climbs you. If you go up octana, which is one of the trails, it's the more like kind of a little more narrow, little more techie, nothing, nothing super, nor at all but you climb around 800 feet and two and a half miles to get to the top. Once you get to the top, it's called the roost, it's a little shed that sits up there, and then it branches off into three different trails that you can take back down. You can take octana back down. You can do the downhill only Kessel Kessel run, which is approximately a four mile downhill, and then we also have one of our longest, flowiest, which is spearfinger, and spearfinger is the one that kind of cuts out on the outer edge of the mountain. You get to see some really cool berm overlooks and it drops down to the shelter located at the bottom, which is on tinker's dream. That's our green trail, that's the one that's at the bottom. It cuts out approximately a mile 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 trail system, a lot of flow. If you're looking for hard tech chunk, you won't find it here. Maybe not yet. Hopefully, if we can continue to grow the community and get people involved, we can request more trails that's cool and then we have our black diamond, shkeely, which is a Cherokee name as well, and it has a lot of the drops and jumps and tabletops. So it's a fun little quick run down the mountain and then not so great climb back up to do it all again.

That's awesome. So what about the inferno?

this is a big event they launched that in 2018 and, of course, this was before I even started riding, so I did not participate. I first started getting involved with fire mountain in 2021. They used to have an Enduro race on Saturdays and then they would have a cross country race on Sundays, so, being the two-day event, you kind of captured both. Audiences had no clue what Enduro was in 21. I was road cycling a lot and so I 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 cross country beginner level so that was pretty cool. And then in 22 entered my first Enduro race up there and then wrecked immediately. I wrecked off the side of the mountain as soon as the green flag dropped and so I came in fourth on that one and I was like, alright, so maybe Enduro is not for me. You know, in 22 and 23 and 23 I was just kind of a volunteer, kind of helped gloryhound events, set up certain things. Just a volunteer, just the overall helper, and I was able to see a lot of the people that I had met over the past couple years just in the mountain bike community. They came in, they transitioned it from a two-day one Enduro day one cross country day. 2023 was a two-day Enduro event. So it was all the downhill not downhill racing but the Enduro racing and it was like a huge block party. We got to see all of our friends from the area, all of our friends from out of the area. We held it right down here in Cherokee by our welcome center and it was an absolute blast. You know, I've gone to festivals in Sedona, I've gone to women events in other locations and I will tell you, fire Mountain Inferno has grown to the point where it is a race that you do not want to miss. The tribe will be running it again this year on May 3rd through the 5th and I know Glory Hound Events has the registrations open now. But it is. It's an absolute blast. You know, it's not because it's in my hometown or if I've been to a lot of events, and this past year the two-day Enduro.

I mean truly it's the best around and so where can people find out more information about that?

Fire Mountain has a page on Facebook and Instagram Fire Mountain trails and then Glory Hound Events. You can find that online and Visit Cherokee, nc. They have a lot of stuff online about Fire Mountain trails and also the Visit Cherokee.

On Facebook or Instagram they have links and information posted about the race and where you can sign up and then, how can people find out more information about getting involved with Seven Moons mountain biking if they're finding themselves in that category of somebody who fits the bill for the perfect participant?

so right now, because it's, I mean, fresh we only have our Facebook page, seven Moons MTB, and then we have our Instagram page, seven Moons MTB post a lot of stuff on my personal pages, but to be able to get all that information, I always make sure that it's on on both of those sites and then I have to ask for selfish reasons the next upcoming outdoor economy conference, do you think that you'll be having some of those excursions as well, because I definitely don't want to miss out on the mountain biking and the cultural ride if you're doing that again absolutely. I talked to Amy just the other day and we've already got that in the works, so I'm looking forward to it and I really enjoy helping the Made by Mountains.

They're good people they are good people, they're really good people, and it just kind 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 absolutely amazing people. What are the things that I haven't asked you, that you would love for people to know? About the Cherokee Nation?

about Fire Mountain, seven Moons, you, the Sport of Mountain Biking one thing is one thing I always tell people with the cultural side or the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, we are the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. We live here in our homelands, we were a powerhouse in the southeast throughout history, and now there are three separate federally recognized Cherokee tribes the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians here in West North Carolina, the Cherokee Nation which is in Oklahoma, and then the United Gadua Band, which is out there in the Oklahoma area as well, and so not a lot of people understand that difference, and so we are three individual tribes. But we do stem and come from the roots here that our ancestors have in Western North Carolina. Our mother town, gadua, is 10 minutes away from Cherokee and that is where the creator created our people. Another thing about seven moons we hope to actually help it branch out and create a youth program cool that way we can provide that outlet for, for youth who might not be into your organized sports or your team sports, but they're just looking for something to get into and an outlet in their own way. And you know, we've even thought about possibly starting a race team for the youth and and that's down the road though that's down the road. I got a lot. I got a full-time job to worry about. These are on my side gigs and other than that, you know me personally. I've got I would I just love to brag about my kids and how amazing they are. You know my daughter and my son. They're smart, they're beautiful, they're Cherokee and they, they are starting to learn what it means to be Cherokee as well oh, that's so good.

So that must feel really good as a parent, especially seeing them Just get more involved in the culture or want to know more of the culture. I'm sure you have a lot to do with planting that seed with them.

Yeah, we try to keep them as involved as possible with learning, the cultural aspects, and a lot of amazing groups are doing things now and it's okay to be proud to be cheeky now, you know, for a long time at Hattenbin and we're reclaiming our culture, we're reclaiming our voice and we are putting it out there that we're still here and we're still practicing, we still do our traditions and we are working collectively as community members to keep them alive.

Good stuff, Laura. Thanks so much. I really thoroughly enjoyed talking with you this afternoon.

That's good talking to you. Thank you for asking me.

I hope you've been inspired by Laura's story of cultural revival and personal empowerment in mountain biking. It really is a truly powerful story and as we wrap up this episode, I invite you to reflect on the deeper meanings woven into the fabric of the Fire Mountain trails. Beyond the exhilarating descents and challenging climbs lies a landscape rich with cultural significance and historical resonance. Let Laura's story serve as a beacon, guiding us to appreciate not only the natural beauty of the trails, but also the cultural tapestry that they represent. I'd like to give a special thanks to Made by Mountains for making this special collaboration episode possible. To find out more about all of the amazing things and projects that Made by Mountains is involved with, check out MadeByMountainscom or visit the link in our show notes. As you heard in the episode, seven Moons NTV was made possible through the vision of Laura and her team and funding through the Outdoor Equity Fund Made Possible by Made by Mountains. For more information on the Outdoor Equity Fund, be sure to check out the link in our show notes or visit MadeByMountainscom for more information. Well, that's going to do it for this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. Please consider leaving a review on whatever platform you tuned in from. It truly does help us reach more people. Join me on Instagram and Facebook and feel free to drop me a note at mike at explorationlocalcom, if you ever have a suggestion for an episode or if you just want to say hi, well, as I always remind you, until we meet again, I encourage you to wander far, but explore local.