The good life

Biking grew from a hobby to a career for Lasar

BY SARAH COLBURN | STAFF WRITER

In the beginning, Jan and Jen Lasar ventured on seven- to 10-day biking trips with just what they could carry on their backs. It was a time when hauling a paperback book was considered a splurge.

“We could make life happen with about 30 pounds of gear which we split between the two of us,” Jan Lasar said. “You have more endurance than you think, and you need less stuff than you think you do.

Lasar is now the owner and publisher of Minnesota Trails and spends his days telling adventurists about interesting treks throughout Minnesota. His readers include outdoor enthusiasts who walk, run, hike, bike, snowshoe and ski. The magazine provides in-depth highlights of parks and trails throughout the state.

Lasar’s goal with the magazine is to carry on its legacy that began with the magazine’s founder.

“My hope from day one is that somebody will pick up the magazine and read some of the stories in there and be inspired to do the same thing,” he said.

In the early days, Lasar and his wife packed up their gear and donned their comfiest clothes, sweatpants and baseball caps. They packed their bikes, rigged up a rack system and attached bike bags made by Lasar’s sister-in-law.

“We looked pretty thrown together,” he said.

Though they have never splurged for the latest and greatest gear, there was a time the couple invested in lightweight gear and specialized clothing. But now, Lasar said when they get off their bikes to eat, they look more like regular people.

They ventured on bikes for the first time in 2007 and headed from their home in Bowlus on a three-day, 130mile bike ride to Nevis where they stayed with relatives who drove them home the next day. The day before they left, they scoped out the trail in their car and brought bikes with just to see if they would be able to make it up the largest hill.

“I was so worried about just making it 50 miles on a bike with packs,” Lasar said. “After that trip, we both felt like we had accomplished something. The first one was a revelation.”

Lasarsaid they learned a lot along the way and have learned on every single trip since. They graduated from staying with friends to spending one night in a hotel and then, eventually, decided they could camp for as much as 10 days at a time.

They carried a reserve of rice and noodles in their packs in case they could not replenish groceries on their stop. They biked up to 75 miles a day before setting up a two-person lightweight tent and cooking equipment before sleeping for the night.

“You’re pretty vulnerable on a bike,” Lasar said. “You have to make it to your site, but you adapt and deal with adversity.”

Whether that adversity was a rain storm or a few flat tires, Lasar said they grew as a couple.

“What seems like a catastrophe at the time, you work out and find out everything is going to be OK, and that has been a good lesson for life in general,” he said.

The couple ventured with only a trail map outlined in marker; they had no internet on their phones to guide them.

They used vacation days to take two trips like that a year. The trips were planned around Memorial Day or Labor Day. While they outlined most of their trips, sometimes they did not know exactly where they were going to stay for the night.

“Usually, there was still a spot here or there to squeeze in,” Lasar said.

Lasar said he remembers the awe of one of his early trips, enjoying nature and getting some pavement under his wheels.

“When we reached 100 miles, we stopped and I said, ‘Jen, we just biked 100 miles in two days. I never knew I could do this,’” he said.

On a chance encounter, Lasar biked with the former owner of Minnesota Trails, Dave Simpkins. By the end of that first ride, Lasar had his first writing assignment. The two spent two years working on the publication together, and Lasar took the magazine over in 2016.

Lasar’s trips look a little different now. He packs his camera and a notebook; he and Jen get on their gravel bikes and focus on taking great images and meeting people along the trails.

They have graduated to a travel trailer to set up a base camp, taking day treks from there to travel roughly 50 miles a day.

They camp 10 to 15 times a year, and Lasar always has a story brewing in the back of his mind.

“There’s more planning that goes into it now,” he said. “It’s more work now to go somewhere, but it’s also kind of interesting to revisit a place and look at what I experienced the last time we were there. It’s funny to see how we remember things differently.”