As he stopped for a break from his many trips riding his mountain bike around Big Butte, the cyclist looked around and nodded his head in approval.

He is a retired Butte native who usually visits his old stomping grounds for several weeks each summer. The area behind the “Big M,” as we call it, is much different from the days when he lived in the Mining City.

It is much different than it was a decade ago.

Not long ago, you were as likely to find an abandoned couch as you were someone riding a mountain bike. You saw more old tires than people.

Today, though, the area is alive and well. It is full of people walking their dogs, running or riding their bikes.

As I took a break from walking my dogs last summer, the cyclist and I stopped and talked on a trail that is part of a huge high school cycling race each fall.

“This,” he said, “is Mountain Bike Heaven.”

It was almost if he was asking me a question, like when “Shoeless” Joe Jackson asked Ray Kinsella if Iowa was heaven.

I had never thought of it that way, but the rider was right. If you like to ride mountain bikes on trails, there are not many places that beat Butte and Southwestern Montana. It is also “Running Heaven,” “Hiking Heaven,” and “Dog Walking Heaven.”

Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher is a big reason for this. He was the director of the Butte-Silver Bow Parks and Recreation Department before he ran for the top job, and he helped lead an effort to clean up the area behind the M.

He was also part of the great effort to build miles of trail behind the M. Some of those trails followed the skinny paths people made by walking through the area. Others were new trails cut through places that were almost impassable by foot in years past.

The M is not the only place with great trails. We also have the Maud S. Canyon Trail and miles and miles of trails for riders at Thompson Park, thanks, in large part, to the work of Jocelyn Dodge, a retired recreation forester with the Butte Ranger District.

The biggest reason that we now live in “Mountain Bike Heaven,” though, is because of the Butte 100 Mountain Bike Race. That race sparked a cycling explosion in Southwestern Montana, and trails had to be made to accommodate the many riders.

That race will ride for the 18th time this Saturday, starting and finishing near Homestake Lake. Riders can compete in the 100-mile race, a 50-mile race or the 25-mile race, which is named in honor of the late, great Dr. Pete Sorini.

The race started in 2007 and has taken place every year but the COVID summer of 2020.

Bob Waggoner, who used to own and operate Bob’s Bike Repair, founded the race, and he turned to Gina Evans to build, plan and coordinate the event.

He could not have made a better choice.

The first race got 41 riders to compete, and it started at Montana Tech. Really, 41 was kind of a big deal then, too, since most people around here figured someone would have to be mentally ill to race a mountain bike 100 miles through the mountains.

Now we have a 100-mile running race.

By the fourth year, the race found its permanent home, starting and finishing near Homestake Lake.

It did not take long for the number of racers to grow. It soon swelled to 350 riders before the capacity was raised to accommodate up to 500 riders.

It really is a spectacle to see the army of volunteers and the many, many riders at the finish line. The cowbells ring to sound the alert that a rider is approaching the finish line. The best way to describe it is to say it is “organized chaos,” and it really is a thing of beauty.

Gina served as the race director — a mostly volunteer position — for the first 11 years of the race. She would take one month off after each race, and then get back to work for the next year.

She did not put in all those long hours so she could ride in the race. She would have loved to race, but she loved spreading the joy of cycling even more. For Gina, this was her passion project. It was never for honor or prestige.

Of course, she got a ton of help because it takes an incredible amount of people to pull off such a big event. There are just too many to name them all.

When I asked her for a list of instrumental helpers running the race, Gina sent me so many names that it would have almost been easier to publish the phone book. It would have at least doubled the size of this column.

Gina called them the “Neon Army” because of the sea of neon shirts that fills the course and the start/finish area each year.

The amazing thing is that Gina continued to direct the race even after she was nearly killed in a hit-and-run incident in June of 2010. While riding her bike down Continental Drive, Gina was hit by a large truck.

The driver of that vehicle was never found, and Gina has undergone nine surgeries because of it. She likely faces even more.

Her comeback from the hit-and-run also included countless hours of physical therapy, post traumatic stress disorder, sleepless nights, and aggravating battles with insurance companies.

After Dr. Sorini passed in early 2016, Waggoner sold the race to the legendary neurosurgeon’s family. That includes his wife, Stephanie, and daughters, Gia, Marietta and Bella. With help from many of the same army, the Sorini family has kept the race thriving.

Gina decided to step down as director in 2017, and Stephanie Sorini is now the race director. Gina had just done too much, and the surgeries were still mounting.

But she continues to direct Pete Sorini Trail Day, a cleanup event of the Continental Divide Trail that Gina helped start. The event marked its 10th year this June.

Not only does that day help the Butte 100, it makes it possible for everyday people to enjoy the trail during the summer.

Until her medical problems prevented it the last couple of years, Gina owned and operated Linked Adventures, a service that shuttles bicyclists, runners and hikers into the mountains and trails of Southwestern Montana. Someday soon, she will re-open that business.

Even though she is unable to rider her bike, she devoted her career to making it possible for others to enjoy “Mountain Bike Heaven.” Here entire existence, it seems, has been to serve others.

She has worked on bike safety for our youth, and helped land grants for safe routes to school. And she helped start the Copper Sprockets youth cycling team.

She’s done so much that they should at least name a trail after her.

Since that first Butte 100 in 2007, cycling has exploded in Butte as more and more people realize what we have in our back yard.

So many people have been instrumental in this growth. The cycling community is full of good-hearted people willing to lend a hand and offer encouragement.

In my book, though, nobody has ever done more for cyclists in Butte than Gina.

Nobody has done more for runners, either. Or hikers. Or dog walkers.

So, the next time you see Gina when you are enjoying these trails, stop and tell her thank you.

 — Bill Foley, who still thinks you have to be a little messed up in the head to race a mountain bike 100 miles in the mountains, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.