With rain forecast we may have to stay off the single-rack and minimum maintenance roads this coming week. But with temperatures like these this late in the year, we have to make the most of being out on the trails while we can. Not that there’s anything wrong with riding in the cold, but it’s just so great to be out this time of year in a t-shirt, even if sometimes it feels like a guilty pleasure.
Last Sunday Bicyclincoln and Friends of Wilderness Park co-hosted a leisurely ride around the southern end of the park. It was a cross between a bike ride and a walk with naturalists. Thank you Andrea Faas and Bryan Mack who gave us insights as we occasionally stopped to investigate something, like a bird or a tree, or a fungus. By bike you can cover a lot more of the park and enjoy a ride, yet stop to explore various features you may or may not have noticed before. We’re hoping it will develop into a regular event.
In terms of Wilderness Park, we’ll never have too much of the good thing that is the park. There is currently an opportunity to expand Wilderness Park with a land purchase. That would allow for more park area close to the city to be re-wilded and become home to more trails and natural habitat for Lincolnites to enjoy. If you’d like to help this opportunity become reality, you can donate to the cause by following this link.
Now back to trail conditions; remember, “Think! Don’t Sink!” applies to the single-track and limestone trails. If you’re leaving ruts, stay off until it dries out some. We’ve probably all seen what happens to trails that have been ridden when too wet. That is unless you’re riding a fat tired bike with a width of around 4-5 inches. These tires can flatten out tracks made by other bikes.
You may wonder who maintains these trails? It depends on the trail. In some places like Wilderness Park, Lincoln Parks and Recreation is in charge of major projects like bridges and basic maintenance, and the eventual repair of the large washout of a major trail just north of Warlick on the west side. They work in tandem with Friends of Wilderness Park to manage projects like the monthly cedar cuts where volunteers go in with loppers and hand saws to clear away enough so that park workers can get in more easily with chain saws. The eastern red cedar used to be naturally managed by fire, but anyone who has ridden or driven around the region can see that that that’s no longer the case and that their spread has been explosive. The cedars invade prairie and pasture, ditch and forest, choking out other native species. If you’d like to help with this, you can go to the volunteer page on their website I linked above. The single track in Wilderness is kept in shape by a core group of dedicated volunteers who take time to do some trail repair and trimming, when they’re not riding them.
Other trails like the MoPac and Homestead are managed by our Lower Platte South Natural Resources District. Mountain bike trails in the state parks may be managed by Nebraska Game and Parks. Branched Oak area 7 is always in need of extra hands. Those trails often depend on local volunteers to improve them and keep them rideable, and they are always looking for more help to keep the trails in good shape. If you’re interested in helping maintain these trails, contact Craig Schmidt on FaceBook. In some larger cities or areas with more heavily used trail systems, paid trail workers exist. Here, riders of these trails should understand that maintenance is a group effort and that if you ride these trails, a hand maintaining them would be appreciated. Help take care of what you love.
NICA does have a “teen trail corps” program where students and coaches can log their trail work hours. One of the local families does a lot of work out at Wagon Train State Recreation Area, so that they and others can ride there.