Phil Schweizer
Minnesota trail designer,
athlete – and bike seat pioneer
By Michelle Steiner
Hutchinson, Minnesota
60 miles Southwest of Minneapolis
Population 12,000
A town that stopped building sidewalks twenty years ago.
 Meet Phil Schweizer, President of Koobi, infamous race promoter, and the driving force behind numerous miles of trails in this part of rural Minnesota. In the past 10 years, Schweizer has spearheaded four projects that have brought
trails and races to this rural region for both mountain bikers and cross country skiers. His efforts have spawned the trails at the Crow Nordic Center, the Minnesota Mountain Bike Blast Series, the Stahl's Lake Ski Trails System, and local bike trails for Hutchinson kids. Ironically, a couple of his successes have been funded by money generated from a failed project.
A fortuitous set of circumstances propelled Schweizer into designing trails. As an owner of the Spruce Ridge Resource
Management Facility from 1987-1992, Schweizer oversaw the acquisition of hundreds of acres of "buffer-zone" land for the landfill. For a cyclist and cross country skier, the combination of 700 acres and the typical arsenal of a landfill, made trail-blazing irresistible.
Schweizer seized the opportunity, and taught himself the art of trail-making. For five years as commander-in-chief of an
army of dozers, diggers, and tractors, Schweizer cultivated trails on his "playground." After a lot of trials, errors and mishaps, Schweizer became an expert at trail building.
His efforts in those early years culminated in his first successful project: the development of trails at the Crow Nordic Center. Schweizer made his best trails on a 120-acre parcel of land located about one mile
away from the landfill. Amongst woods, rolling hills and a creek, he developed 6.5 km of cross country ski trails, and 7.5 km of mountain bike track and trails. To complete his sanctuary and attract the community, he salvaged an old barn on the property. By adding a new roof, new siding, new windows, new door, new foundation, electricity and heat, the shack was transformed into the Crow Nordic Center: a cozy "chalet" in
the countryside with surrounding trails. And people came. Schweizer continues to manage the area for public use.
Almost thwarted by the sale of the landfill, Schweizer's next stride was to organize a new race series, the Minnesota Mountain Bike Blast Series, and hold races at the Crow Nordic Center. When he sold the landfill in 1992, Schweizer fought to keep 120 acres of land in order to preserve the trails, and he won that
battle. He proceeded to team up with other race promoters, and that was the beginning of the Minnesota Mountain Bike Blast Series.
The Series is an alternative to the Subaru State Championships for mountain bike racers in the area. Whereas the Subaru Series (formerly the NORBA Series) offers several technical races at ski areas located several hours away from the Twin Cities, the Blast Series offers more rolling courses, with races at areas
within 1 1/2 hours drive to the Twin Cities, and some right in the Metro area. The Crow Nordic Center hosts two races, and three races are held at other county parks. The Series strives to appeal to families by offering kids' races, and to mid-level difficulty riders.
Schweizer wasn't quite satisfied with his accomplishments. The Crow Nordic Center offered great riding and skiing, but it truly was a unique area. It was safe to say that the miles of cow paths outnumbered the
miles of bike paths in the area, so Schweizer and Ed Doring, another civically-minded community member, resolved to change that.
They teamed up to co-found the McLeod Trail Development Foundation in 1995 on a crusade to create trails in a town where kids cannot safely walk to their neighborhood school. The Spruce Ridge Resource Management, for which Schweizer continued to work as a manager, agreed to donate 35 cents for every
ton of garbage that entered the landfill. It was through his efforts with the foundation that Schweizer continued to blaze trails.
Their first undertaking failed. They envisioned a 12-mile bike path that would connect Hutchinson and neighboring Glencoe. Only one road, amidst farmers' fields on both sides and the landfill in between, connected them. Anticipating a ground swell of local supporters, and the cooperation of farmers, the
organization set about trying to buy only the land next to the road needed for the path. Unbeknownst to them, this was to be an insurmountable hurdle that they would try and overcome for three years.
The farmers rejected the plans. Most refused to talk with the foundation. Of the ones that did, they were either adamant about not selling, or offered to sell at a prohibitively expensive price.
"Asking farmers to give up farmland was like asking them to give up their children," says Schweizer.
By January 1, 1999, exasperation and discontinued funding led the foundation to abandon the project, but their efforts were not all in vain. Although they didn't develop trails, they acquired something as important to their ultimate goal: funds. The foundation saved enough money to support their actions for years to come.
On the rebound that following spring, they converted a proposal into more community trails at Stahl's Lake Park. Located six miles north of Hutchinson, the park had great potential for cross country ski trails. At the time, McLeod county had five county parks where there was skiing, albeit lousy skiing, and Stahl's Lake was one of them. The public rarely used the existing trail, which attested to its condition. The 150-acre
property was prime for trails, however, with a lake and a fantastic forest.
The foundation offered to develop a trail system and outfit county maintenance crews with new equipment for upkeep. The county accepted the proposal, and the foundation invested approximately $15,000 to complete the project. A bulldozer, fancy seed mix, signs, a new snowmobile, new grooming equipment, and
many man-hours later, Stahl's Lake Ski Trails System was born. It offers three trails, beginner to advanced, each of which is 1/2 mile in length. Winter-goers can enjoy skiing, hiking and snowshoeing, while summer-goers can enjoy hiking and biking. In the future, the foundation may propose further development of the trail system.
Presently, they are carving out bike paths for the local kids in Hutchinson. The foundation bought a 17-acre
parcel of natural land and donated it to the city under the strict provision that the primary use will be for cycling. While it may not be premium property for trails, it is located very close to town so that kids can ride there after school and ride on a track and trails. This summer the foundation will start cutting trails through the area, and plans to complete them over the course of a year.
Schweizer's ambitiousness has brought trails and races to his small hometown. This same quality has also brought a small amount of fame. Hutchinson is the headquarters for Koobi, a bike saddle company which Schweizer manages in the pursuit of creating the world's most comfortable bike saddle.
An avid cyclist, and three time participant in the Leadville 100, Schweizer loves the sport. He has been
training and racing competitively for 15 years, and knows everything there is to know about mountain biking and road biking.
The sheer number of miles on his bike inspired him to tackle the issue of saddle soreness. The sport has traditionally expected its participants to endure a variety of ailments. Saddle soreness was just one of those "unavoidable" discomforts associated with biking. Schweizer and Tom Tollefson, a colleague from school,
thought the problem had been overlooked, too easily dismissed as an "occupational hazard." They resolved to find a solution. Through trial and error over countless miles of riding, they came up with the Splitfit design.
After receiving an overwhelmingly positive response to the radical new saddle shape from men and women alike, Tom contacted a Minneapolis-based design firm for further development. Kablooe, who has worked
on product development with many companies in the outdoor and sporting goods industry, orchestrated the development of the two new Koobi saddles. Working with the partners, Kablooe developed the first round of Koobi saddle prototypes.
After three years of research, development, and multiple prototypes, Koobi first introduced their revolutionary design to the American market in 1999. Judging by consumer response and industry-wide
praise, the Koobi bike saddle with the patented "Splitfit technology," has proved to be a giant leap in cycling comfort.
Whether forging trails for the small communities of Minnesota, or designing the best ergonomic saddle for cyclists worldwide, Schweizer dives in head first. He has changed the face of a rural community, and raised the bar on standards for a comfortable bike saddle. A worthy mission just adds fuel to his fire. And there
are many who will be thankful, for sure.
For more information about the Blast Series, visit bikeblast.com, and for more information about Koobi, visit www.koobi.com.
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