SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Iowa Media Wire) — After more than a year of work, Cone Park’s new mountain bike trail has gone from a dream to the real deal.
“The Chesterman Foundation came in with a million-dollar donation to this project, which is incredibly generous because he saw the vision and what this could be,” John Byrnes of Sioux City Park and Recreation said. “What quickly followed that we were blown away by was the local community support that saw the vision for this, and they wanted in, to the fullest extent. We don’t want to cut corners and cut pieces out.”
The $3,000,000 Cone Park Mountain Bike Park offers three distinctly different riding options: 10 and a half miles of trails, a paved pump track, and skills areas for beginners and experts. lt was all designed by some of the most respected biking experts in the world.
“There’s nothing like this anywhere close to this near to here, probably 200 miles,” Michal Sroka of Arkansas-based Rock Solid Trail Contracting said. “Definitely a destination and a place to come and visit and test your skills.”
Michal should know: he’s been riding and building bike parks for years.
“We had flag lines laid out for us by [the International Mountain Bicycling Association], and we followed the guidelines where they wanted the trails to go,” he said. “But we definitely put our own touch on some of the stuff to make it more exciting and make more sense and to have really good watershed as well.”
Michal and a crew of eight bring untouched areas to life, moving, molding and manicuring dirt – and a lot of it.
“It’s been a lot of native soil we’ve moved and a lot of top soil that we’ve moved,” Sroka said. “It’s been a significant amount for sure.”
Now it’s the riders themselves who can best share what makes this recreational opportunity so special and why other cities will model projects after what Sioux City has accomplished.
” I was so completely stoked,” rider Eric Fundermann said. “I never thought we’d have something of this magnitude here, so absolutely awesome. Lots of different sensations. It’s really cool.”
“If you think a little too much before you start to ride or whatever, maybe some fear,” he added. “But as soon as you drop in, all that stuff on your mind disappears and it’s just you and the bike.”
“So the asphalt is smooth and the way it’s kind of paved for you, but that’s whats really cool about the dirt trails in the woods,” Fundermann continued. “You kind of have to make up your way as you go and it makes it pretty exciting… up in the woods you really become one with the trees and the wildlife. It’s really cool just floating through the trees, the shade, and everything. It’s really cool.”
Random riders have been testing the trails for a few days now. After this weekend’s grand opening and Trail Fest, it’ll be time for Siouxland to saddle up.
“I think we’re going to be leading the way here as communities,” Brynes said. “This is unique, this is cool.”