July 2020 • Nebraskaland 53
existing manufacturers and startups in the 1980s.
Paul Sonksen of Lincoln has been riding the park's trails for
more than 25 years. When he started, he didn't know about the
trails across Decker Creek on the east side of the park.
"There were a bunch of guys I didn't even know that were
maintaining the trails and building more," he said. "I was
riding the old trails over by the cabins in the main park. Then
one of the guys in the shop said, 'Have you ridden east?' They
called it the race route. He took me out and there were all of
these trails in here."
About the time Sonksen started riding in the park, trails
advocacy group Trails Have Our Respect was formed – a local
chapter of IMBA. THOR members volunteer their time and
grab shovels, hoes, trimmers, chainsaws and any other tool
they might need to build and maintain trails in 11 locations in
and around Lincoln, Bellevue, Fremont, Lincoln and Omaha,
and Council Bluff s, Iowa. Sonksen is trail leader at Platte
River State Park for the group, which has helped create miles
of new trails and helps park staff with trail maintenance.
"They defi nitely take pride in helping maintain those
singletrack mountain bike trails," said Adam Johns, park
superintendent, adding that without the help of the group,
"We probably wouldn't have a park full of trails."
The trails are used heavily, with only mud and deep snow
keeping riders at bay. As the trails became more popular with
mountain bikers, however, confl icts arose, especially with
the horse trail rides conducted during the summer months.
To access the trails on the park's east side, riders needed to
use the same access road along Decker Creek, and the Owen
Bridge across it, as the horses did. "We'd meet the horses on
the trails and, for some reason, horses are scared of the bikes,"
Sonksen said. So from Memorial Day weekend through Labor
Day Weekend, trails were closed to bikers from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Eliminating those trail confl icts was one of the driving
forces behind the project and one of the reasons Lee Stuart,
who is also involved in the Game and Parks Foundation,
helped fund it through his family's foundation. Stuart grew
up in California in the same area where mountain bikes
Trisha Kramer of Lincoln rides around an old oak tree that some speculate may have been bent as a sapling by
Native Americans to mark a trail.
