Organizers of the “Rooster Tail Ride” are hoping their event next weekend will encourage bicyclists to venture farther on the Wabash Trace Nature Trail.
There’s a 20-mile ride on the trail from Council Bluffs to Mineola on Tuesday nights in the late spring through late October when the weather cooperates. Rebecca Castle, who’s on the Southwest Iowa Nature Trails board, says the 35 mile “Rooster Tail Ride” extends to Shenandoah and combines bicycling and live music in each of the towns riders pass through.
“We’ve also added a couple of stops, so now we have live music on the Silver Creek bridge, which is a nice, about halfway point between Silver City and Malvern,” Castle says, “and then we also have music in Strahan, which is a ghost town about halfway between Malvern and Imogene.”
Castle says the towns and musical acts along the route break up the ride into nine mile segments.
“For those people that maybe aren’t experienced riders, don’t have a lot of long distances under their belt, this is still a good ride for them,” Castle says.
There is a pre-party in Mineola on Friday, August 12, but the ride starts Saturday morning, August 13 in Mineola.
“You’ll bring your luggage there to Mineola and then that morning we will haul from Mineola down to Shenandoah, to Sportsmen’s Park. That’s where the camping is,” Castle says. “And then there’ll be showers not only at the pool, whilc they’re open, but at Pork Belly Events. They will be bringing their shower trailers that they use for RAGBRAI and other events for later showers also.”
There’s a $45 registration fee, plus Castle says the Rooster Tail Ride has local sponsors and a state grant to help pay the musical acts and cover other expenses. A band called Silver Bullet that plays Bob Seger tunes and a Tom Petty tribute band from Kansas City are booked to perform in Shenandoah for the riders.
The Wabash Nature Trail for biking and hiking is on the former Wabash rail line. It starts in Council Bluffs and ends 63 miles later in the tiny town of Blanchard in Page County.
(By Mike Peterson, KMA, Shenandoah)