Bike park, trails designer talks about benefits of Mason City’s Destination Iowa trails project

MASON CITY — The planner and designer of the Prairie Rock Trails Bike Park and several of the trails being constructed as part of Mason City’s Destination Iowa trails project says he’s happy to see the community embrace such a project.

Josh Blum of Rock Solid Trail Contracting of Bentonville Arkansas says many communities around the nation are doing projects such as this. “The ability to get outside and not have to use a vehicle to access trails is super important, and there’s a lot of communities that are now coming online and realizing that having that urban access to trails, so people can go out and enjoy trails before work, after work, on their lunch hour, during the school day like these kids are going to be able to do, is a super important thing. Then if they decide they want to go somewhere else and go mountain biking in what we call mountains or even some other destinations around the Midwest. Everybody thinks of mountain biking as being out in the mountains, but the reality is the Midwest has a ton of mountain biking opportunities in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. We have an abundance of trails which is incredible.”

Blum says it’s incredible to see the forward-thinking nature of Mason City in doing the trail system and the bike park.  “That’s an experience that will be repeatable for all trail users and multi-generational. You’ll see parents and kids, and sometimes even grandparents and grandchildren, at that bike park and using these trails. So to have an experience that doesn’t necessarily need to be super long but provides a really good quality experience, it’s going to be a repeatable experience that people are going to go to over and over again.”

The closest example of a bike park facility like the one being constructed here is in Arkansas, which Blum says means Mason City will be attracting numerous mountain bikers from around the Midwest.  “There are no other bike parks like that in the Upper Midwest. The “Rail Yard” that you are referring to in Rogers, Arkansas, has a theme of a rail yard, but me being from Wisconsin, I think it’s a little more special that you chose the theme of Frank Lloyd Wright. I know Frank Lloyd Wright has had an impact on Mason City, and to really marry that culture with recreation and that historic aspect  of what Frank Lloyd Wright has done for architecture is super unique.”

Blum says the bike park and trails will be a destination location for many to visit north-central Iowa.  “Your providing a destination location that isn’t so far away as what some might think of as a destination location.”)

The Prairie Rock Trails Bike Park will be located on the southern edge of Lime Creek Nature Center and will link the 450-acre conservation area to Mason City’s new High Line Trail, the Riverwalk near Southbridge Mall and 20 miles of existing trails. Funding for the project includes a $4.5 million grant from the Destination Iowa program.

Blum made his comments after the groundbreaking this week for the Riverhawk Trail on the campus of Mason City High School and John Adams Middle School.