July 2020 • Nebraskaland 55
where needed. "The features are great," he said. "It will be
interesting. We're riding it, and when you ride a trail for a
while, you fi nd the line, so it's going to need some altering."
Word is getting out on the addition: The new parking lot
is sometimes full. "Hopefully it will put us on the national
mountain bike map," said Johns. "We hope it becomes a
mountain bike destination, where somebody from Texas is
going to stop on their mountain bike trail tour and want to
spend the night and ride the trails and visit our stores and
help with our local economy."
"It's getting there," said Sonksen, noting that IMBA
standards require 20 miles of trails to be a true destination.
The park now sits at 17.5 miles. "For Nebraska, it's a lot of
miles, and a lot of elevation. It's actually pretty good."
Good enough that his friends from Colorado following his
rides on a fi tness app are impressed to see he can get 1,500 to
2,000 feet of elevation change on a 12-mile ride. "You get a
workout here, that's for sure."
Stuart enjoys showing off the trails as well. "I take pictures
and videos and send them to my friends that I grew up with
in California and say: 'Hey, this is what you think of when
you think of Nebraska, you think of cornfi elds. But look what
we've got!'"
N
Scott Bigelow of Lincoln takes a corner on the new trails.
