Trail Ramblings: More Proof Cycling Is Good For Lincoln.

As if we needed proof, but all the more reason to support it. Many of you by now have seen the excellent article in Sunday’s Lincoln Journal Star about donations from Gravel Worlds riders funding first, the Randy Gibson trailside shelter, and now the Van Dorn Park drinking fountain, filtering down to the reseeding and restoration of native plantings along the new mountain bike trail in Van Dorn Park. We knew the race brought business to Lincoln along with it’s 700+ racers. Now we know it brings more.

How gravel grinders around world are paying for two Lincoln parks projects:
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fjournalstar.com%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fhow-gravel-grinders-around-world-are-paying-for-two-lincoln-park-projects%2Farticle_962a52ff-fe43-5054-ac95-7008ac65dca0.html%3Futm_campaign%3Dsnd-autopilot%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook_Lincoln_Journal_Star%26fbclid%3DIwAR1GO-vtgJfQ_QLfFoRUI-eQMZKMSG_6RVO-wseV1UifMIG3GAnM0IjZ0jM&h=AT2a6zROm-c8oSfDp5ItSk4DcRMUI9KLi1TAAgLH7Y1Z76S6eL-EthpKYZtvc8E7yMpiIjrrAypzXQ0Wnr8lUxS0GCrkGknOGjeL4XOm3jJEwnKS7VKOpnGc6aBEVdwH6Q&tn=H-y-R&c[0]=AT3RATXYP6NeBDsr52Z2QR263ceb1ZBcL1-xtQw-RmHEvozi717KD7b01J0lUnngLCBI1BgPzwK_msOMfcN-a-aUtpbAgoaVfsTImKzE8MRA6dThh1jrN45q2BcnvXQ3K53lSYT_Ta9Dm_sMaWhRHBTfnm0Ha9iuqyobVzVlfMjKMa_M2LHSnVPsTpVmSFsC109pu0BA

Funding for these projects was provided by the registration donations for this year’s Gravel Worlds Virtual.

If you’re thinking about competing in next year’s race, or just want to know more, check it out here: https://gravel-worlds.com/.

Last Saturday was Global Fat Bike Day, and a casual user of Wilderness Park would have wondered what was going on. I was a little late getting out due to a round of flat tires, but by the time I did, I had to little worry about with social distancing. The party had moved on. It was a fine day to be out on the trails, though, and I found a couple of previously unknown (to me) bits. Every time I’m there I notice that the new connector bridge is bringing new visitors to the park.

In a month or so, Wilderness Park may look like this. If you want to bike in it, a fat bike is the way to go. The 2021 Frozen Ididaride is January 30 this year. https://www.facebook.com/events/807775716672465/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22search_results%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22search%22%7D]%7D

I have posted this information about the old Epworth Park, at 1st and Calvert in Wilderness Park before, but in case you haven’t seen it and want to go exploring on one of these fine late fall days we’ve been having, here are a couple of links.

Epworth Park article:
https://journalstar.com/online/newspaper-services/epworth-park-a-century-later/article_024d2ad6-86a7-5326-a1d8-1104b747c905.amp.html

Epworth Park videos, oldish, but little has changed since they were made.:
https://youtu.be/OHpWddgOTzU (Jim McKee walking tour)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bosSm0GlVUk (Preservation Association of Lincoln talk)
(Jim McKee starts talking about the Wilderness Park area at 16 minutes, Epworth Park around 33 minutes, he shows stuff you can find today around 50 minutes, and around 64 minutes he explains the arch)

Coming up on the 19th is a tour of holiday lights https://fb.me/e/1YKRoPWlD Dress up you and your bike if you like, but make sure you have lights, even ropes of lights if you’ve got ’em.