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PITTSBURG —
Pittsburg trail riding enthusiasts have a new place to catch some major air.
Volunteers finished work on a new jump ring at the 23rd Street Bike Park Monday afternoon and riders were already practicing the jumps. The project started several months ago and was guided by Tailwind Cyclists owner Roger Lomshek and volunteer Bob Dicken. Lomshek said a $1,000 grant from LiveWell Crawford County and money from anonymous donors helped pay for most of the equipment rental, and volunteers and city crews helped construct the course.
“Volvo Rents gave us some incredible, smokin’ deals,” Lomshek said, adding that the rental company had let his volunteers use the skid loader a lot longer than they had originally planned. “If we paid their normal rates, we couldn’t have done a fraction of this. Crossland Construction also lent us a bulldozer and an operator.”
The volunteers have been working on the new jumps since Friday, often arriving at 5 a.m. and leaving at dusk.
The park officially became a city park several years ago, though residents have been riding back in the woods for years, Lomshek said.
“This area’s been a wild playground since the 1930s,” Lomshek said. “My grandma told me stories about how she used to ride her bike out here and fish in the woods.”
The jump ring includes spine jumps, which send the riders straight into the air, and tabletops jumps for beginners.
“They can get air, but it’s more controlled,” Lomshek said. “They can go fast without going out of control.”
The course has high turn walls to allow bikers to arc away toward the second set of jumps without flying over the other side. He said he got the idea for the course’s design from a similar course called Slaughter Pen Hollow in Bentonville, Ark.
“I’ve wanted to do something like this for 20 years, but never had the wherewithal to do it,” he said, adding that Pittsburg Parks and Recreation Director Kim Vogel deserves a lot of credit for giving them the go ahead. “We made it really safe and easy for the kids to ride. We wanted to make it as zero maintenance as possible.”
Frontenac resident Tristan Cramer, 14, was out practicing the course with several of his friends. He said he was impressed with the jumps.
“It’s awesome how big it is,” he said.
Lomshek said riders meet at Tailwind every Thursday at 6:30 to ride out to the trails for an hour or so and that anyone who wants to can join the group.
Pittsburg trail riding enthusiasts have a new place to catch some major air.
Volunteers finished work on a new jump ring at the 23rd Street Bike Park Monday afternoon and riders were already practicing the jumps. The project started several months ago and was guided by Tailwind Cyclists owner Roger Lomshek and volunteer Bob Dicken. Lomshek said a $1,000 grant from LiveWell Crawford County and money from anonymous donors helped pay for most of the equipment rental, and volunteers and city crews helped construct the course.
“Volvo Rents gave us some incredible, smokin’ deals,” Lomshek said, adding that the rental company had let his volunteers use the skid loader a lot longer than they had originally planned. “If we paid their normal rates, we couldn’t have done a fraction of this. Crossland Construction also lent us a bulldozer and an operator.”
The volunteers have been working on the new jumps since Friday, often arriving at 5 a.m. and leaving at dusk.
The park officially became a city park several years ago, though residents have been riding back in the woods for years, Lomshek said.
“This area’s been a wild playground since the 1930s,” Lomshek said. “My grandma told me stories about how she used to ride her bike out here and fish in the woods.”
The jump ring includes spine jumps, which send the riders straight into the air, and tabletops jumps for beginners.
“They can get air, but it’s more controlled,” Lomshek said. “They can go fast without going out of control.”
The course has high turn walls to allow bikers to arc away toward the second set of jumps without flying over the other side. He said he got the idea for the course’s design from a similar course called Slaughter Pen Hollow in Bentonville, Ark.
“I’ve wanted to do something like this for 20 years, but never had the wherewithal to do it,” he said, adding that Pittsburg Parks and Recreation Director Kim Vogel deserves a lot of credit for giving them the go ahead. “We made it really safe and easy for the kids to ride. We wanted to make it as zero maintenance as possible.”
Frontenac resident Tristan Cramer, 14, was out practicing the course with several of his friends. He said he was impressed with the jumps.
“It’s awesome how big it is,” he said.
Lomshek said riders meet at Tailwind every Thursday at 6:30 to ride out to the trails for an hour or so and that anyone who wants to can join the group.
