By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – On a temperate summer day with a light breeze blowing, Laura Blythe embarks on a ride on the Fire Mountain Trail solidifying one thing she’s been seeking – balance. Blythe, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has been mountain biking for five years and said the sport has provided her with balance, therapy, and peace.
“It’s brought a sense of peace to my world where I’m able to kind of reset from hard days, get my endorphins flowing, my sweat going. So, that’s truly what it’s brought to my life, a kind of peace, balance, and it’s given me a way to give back in another passionate way. This is a passion for me. That’s truly what it has brought me is that outlet for mental health.”
Laura Blythe, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and founder of 7 Moons MTB, is shown riding her mountain bike on the Fire Mountain Trail in Cherokee, N.C. on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 10. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photos)
She purchased her first mountain bike in August 2019. “What drew me to the sport was that Fire Mountain Trail was built here in Cherokee. I had no idea that there was a mountain biking world. I never knew that you could ride a bike in the woods, which is weird because it’s been a sport forever.”
In her day job, Blythe is the program director and a member of the executive management team for the Cherokee Historical Association. Her office at the Oconaluftee Indian Village is adjacent to the Fire Mountain Trail system.
“It was these trails being built that exposed me to the sport. I work in my office at the Village, and I would see people come up here, grab bikes, roll of into the woods, and then come back out sweaty, smiling, having a good time and I was thinking, ‘man, that looks like they’re having fun, looks scary, looks intimidating’. I came up here and walked them and thought, ‘how does anybody ride a bike on this. That is insane!’”
Mountain biking has been a journey for Blythe who said she wrecked – nothing serious – 12 times her first year. “I just tried to teach myself how to ride and it just snowballed from there. I’ve been an athlete since I was four, playing community ball and stuff like that. This was just a different outlet – something for exercise, something for getting anger out.”
It just makes you feel stronger. It makes you release daily things that you don’t know are nagging at your brain or eating at your heart. So, it’s just a personal form of therapy, in a way.”
As she began to really take to mountain biking, Blythe wanted to share the sport with others so she helped create the 7 Moons MTB group. “We actually start people in a progression program which teaches from being on flat gravel to flat trail. Then it slowly progresses and, eventually, by the end of the progression program, we’re up here on Fire Mountain just through all the tips and guidance they’ve learned.”
Of the group’s name, Blythe said she had read the Cherokee story of Stone Man and the seven women who were on their moon and placed themselves along a trail from one location to another. “They were able to deplete his power and make it to where the warriors could defeat him. So, that story had stuck out in my mind, and I was thinking we could be the 7 Moons. I was able to pull together six other women and we are the 7 Moons and our purpose is to help you conquer the Stone Man along the pathway, whether that be trail or whether that be gravel road, whatever path you’re on. If it’s on a mountain bike, we’re going to help you break down the Stone Man and by the time you pass the seventh one, you’re going to be able to conquer the mountain.”
She went on to say, “There’s an intimidation factor around mountain biking in general. The biggest things that I hear from people who we help get on bikes is, ‘I’m scared of downhill. I’m scared of crashing.’ And, those are all things that are going to be there. But, if you can learn the right way and the right steps, you don’t wreck 12 times in a year. I’m just hard-headed and even though I was wrecking and thinking that I was really bad at this, I just loved it – the grit, the dirt, the feeling of coming out, plus the friendships and the people that I’ve met in the mountain biking world. It’s just a huge community it its own. Everybody just loves one another and wants to be supportive because we know what it’s like to start.”
Launched in January, the group is open to everyone and held its first program in February – March and another in April – May. “If you’re curious about being on two wheels, come join us and we’ll help you conquer the mountain. It’s been really good to see a new program that we can offer.”
She added, “It’s helped support all the local bike shops because a couple of the people who have been in the program went and purchased their bike because they fell in love with it. That’s truly the goal. We talk about Ga-Du-Gi around here. This is just another batch of community. If you can start building it up from the base, you do support the local shops and you do support the local restaurants.”
Blythe, who has ridden all over North Carolina and in other states including Tennessee, West Virginia, and Arizona, summed up her thoughts on the sport, “For me, it’s about personal empowerment.”
You can connect with 7 Moons MTB on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/7moonsmtb?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
Participants in the 7 Moons MTB Program are shown, left to right, in this photo taken at Kituwah – LeeAnn Rattin, Teresa Pindur, Tami Chamberlain, Janette Franich, Keyonna Hornbuckle, Ahli-sha Stephens, Venita Wolfe, Laura Blythe, Shannon Bark, Emra Arkansas, Corlee Thomas-Hill, Hannah Owen, Jane Dell, Sara Jarrell, Annette Cu, and Genevieve Cu. (Photo by Moe Hernandez)
