by Terry Spradley

In the Midwest fads, fashion and fun, like the settling of the land itself tend to follow an east to west expansion. The sport of mountain biking has taken a similar track. Established organizations like Kansas City’s Earthriders, the Lawrence Mountain Bike Club, and the Kansas Trails Council have provided many miles of biking, hiking, equestrian and multiuse trails throughout the eastern part of our state for many years. Biking events, both on and off road, are fairly common place. Meanwhile, west of the Flinthills, team tumbleweed was more the norm. Small bands of renegade bikers blazed a few local loops and enjoyed the fruits of saddle clubs’ efforts, sharing horse trails, and cow paths.

Fortunately, like paved roads, McDonald’s, and really big Wal-Mart stores, fat tire riding is coming to town. With a little encouragement and support from a few members of LMBC, some of the renegade groups are merging into a newly formed club presently calling itself the Central Kansas Mountain Bike Coalition. (It is going to take a whole team of Clydesdales to get that on a race jersey!) CKMBC is striving to promote mountain biking in the state’s mid-section through trail creation and improvement, community service, and event sponsorship.

Golden Belt Bicycle Company of Great Bend Kansas has been instrumental in the CKMBC movement. Golden Belt owner, Doug Chambers sponsors Wilson Lake’s Kansas Fat Tire Festival. Held the first weekend in May, the Festival is two days of races and rides starting with a night ride on Friday. Saturday hosts a short track, a hill climb competition and a road tour. Sunday’s XC race is the weekend’s main event. Wilson’s 6 mile loop is known locally as the Rollercoaster for its grinding climbs and swooping descents. Few trees, rolling terrain, and a gorgeous lake make the coaster a good stop for Fat Tire enthusiasts. For more information call Golden Belt at 1-800-561-2453 or visit their website for Festival events and times. You will not find the Rollercoaster on the official State Park map, the official name is the Switchgrass Bike Trail, located on the lake’s south shore. Wilson Lake also has the Dakota Nature Trail for hikers and a handicap access trail in the Otoe Park area. Hiking trails on the lake’s north shore pass by unique rock formations and below the dam another informative nature trail guides hikers through native settings.

Another strong force in CKMBC is Team LATR. As a doggedly determined group of riders from the Lindsborg/Salina/McPherson area, we adopted the team LATR moniker because we all try to finish what we start, sooner or LATR! My job as acting club president has been made easier with ambitious founding fathers like Mark Flynn and Brian Holdsworth. Our small but growing club is responsible for expanding and improving a small section of vertical biking/hiking trails on Coronado Heights, 3 miles north of Lindsborg. Although it is slightly more than a tall hill among the flatlands, climbing the hill was enough to send Spanish conqueror Francisco Vasquez Coronado packing it back home in the mid 1500’s. With two distinctly different downhill runs known as Kamikaze and Traditional, this bike killer has also sent a few more modern-day would-be conquerors packing it home with broken bikes.

The trails are similar to a couple of miniature ski runs minus the soft snow and chair lifts. The vehicle road to the top, some uphill trail sections, and a loop around the crest make up a sort of vertical figure 8, good for about three miles of leg and lung burning gut check. If you want a little more of a workout, try carrying your bike up the long stone stairway on your last lap. For some interval training, try the dirt road heading west from the hill’s base with seven miles of climbs that I refer to as the Wailing Wall of hills. However, to the best of my knowledge no one has died there. I have heard rumors of a possible Kansas Downhill Challenge slated for Coronado Heights in the summer of 2003.

Team LATR is presently starting a new trail endeavor at Kanopolis Lake 20 miles west of Lindsborg. K-Lake has an extensive multiuse trail system totaling some 24 miles. Established by SCKTRA, Kansas Wildlife & Parks, and others these trails offer scenic views and a terrific workout. Team LATR along with the Wildlife and Parks department are presently developing a separate biking/hiking trail system that promises a few thrills as well as some tamer bypasses for the more recreational at heart.

Visit Tracks Online at http://spradtracks.tripod.com or contact team LATR by e-mail at tslegend@mpks.net for more information regarding "the hill", or trail developments at Kanopolis Lake.

Solomon Valley Crankers make up the third corner of CKMBC’s trail triangle. Based in Osborne Kansas, this group of cyclist gets to play in terrain very similar to the Flinthills on the club’s eastern border. Club leaders, John McClure and his protégé Josh Davison keep the pedals turning out west with fun and informative historical rides, while working with local land owners and managers to gain more access for fat tire riding. During the hot summer months, John McClure sponsors an approximately 65 mile trail/dirt road mix version of Madison’s Death Ride through Osborne County. Contact John McClure by email at jmcclure@ruraltel.net. Josh Davison can be hailed at phoenix1@ruraltel.net.

Dodge City’s Ford County Lake has a nice trail system the guys at Golden Belt can tell you more about. Scott Lake north of Scott City has a singletrack winding around its western shoreline with some interesting rock formations close by. In the north central part of the state near Waconda Lake, a land owner/biker from Glenn Elder has 20 acres of trails through his property. More threads of dirt track are cropping up daily. This summer if you find yourself traveling west into the setting sun, look back and make sure you have your bike with you!

See you on the trail.