Vergas / Detroit Lakes MN - cycling and rental advice

[rab]

I’ll be in Vergas, MN for the next week, wondering if anyone has recommendations on a good local source for renting a bike. Thinking an all purpose (cx/gravel) or road. Also interested to know if there are any recommendations or lookouts for riding in the area?

Thanks!

[JAGI410]

Your options in Vergas will be very limited, it's a pretty small town. Detroit Lakes has one bike shop, and they rent Trek bikes. Not sure what models (https://www.dlbikeshop.com/). There is however fantastic gravel and road rides all over, that area is pretty scenic since it's in "lakes country" and you can do a 40 mile route and pass by 100 lakes pretty easy. If you like mountain biking, Detroit Mountain has ~10 miles of fun XC and downhill trails. There are mtb rentals on-site there.

If you head southwest to Fergus Falls, there's another bike shop and that's the trailhead for the Central Lakes Trail. It's an amazing rail-to-trail corridor that will take you 50+ miles all on a nice paved scenic path without car traffic.

The leaves are just now changing, you should be in for some beautiful scenery too. Enjoy!

[rpm]

You can also head over to Park Rapids to ride the Heartland Trail and ride to Itasca State Park, which is like a roller coaster ride for bikes. If you can ride on Saturday you can ride the Headwaters 100, which is a great organized ride through all that beautiful lake scenery. I’ll be on it!

[rab]

Thanks for the advice/information! Discovered DL Bikes does rent but only cruisers etc through the local holiday inn. Detroit Mountain looks like a good option!
Central Lakes in Fergus Falls rents mountain bikes, 20$/day, so that might be an an alternative, and haven’t checked the Fargo options.

Itasca/Headwaters sounds great but probably won’t have the setup or time...but definitely sitting in back of mind now.

Again, appreciate the help!