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New Castle event to benefit new bike trails

Alex Zorn
  

New Castle Trails volunteers have helped put in more than 20 miles of trail around New Castle in the past year and a half, according to New Castle Mayor Art Riddile.
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Next Friday New Castle Trails will host Winter Conference Movie Night, an event that last year maxed out the New Castle Community Center. The group invites anybody who has ever enjoyed Garfield County’s trails to attend. The night will feature two mountain biking-themed movies, “Rider & the Wolf” and “Blood Road,” and includes dinner and three drink tickets.

“Rider & The Wolf” is a feature documentary about the life and disappearance of Mountain Bike Hall of Fame cyclist Mike Rust, who helped form the sport of mountain biking in Crested Butte and Salida. “Blood Road” follows Rebecca Rusch and her riding partner, Huyen Nguyuen, through the dense jungles of Vietnam as they reach the crash site of Rebecca’s and final resting place father, a U.S. Air Force pilot shot down over Laos 40 years earlier.

New Castle Trails asks $20 for adults to attend and $10 for children with beer donated by Brewpub in Glenwood Springs, volunteers cooking chili and mac and cheese for the younger folks. The New Castle Library will also provide off-site child care for parents.



“We try to provide a good deal while also raising money for New Castle Trails,” New Castle Trails Event Coordinator Adam Cornely said.

Proceeds from the Winter Conference Movie Night will be used to help complete new flow trails north of town, “Colorow Flow Trails”, which Cornely hopes to see completed by July.



“New Castle will be dedicating up to $5,000 from the town budget for the project,” New Castle Mayor Art Riddile said.

The project is expected to cost around $20,000 with construction to start as early as April.

Riddile said the town is happy to continue to partner with New Castle Trails, which has helped to put in more than 20 miles of trails in the New Castle area within a year and a half, as well as with the Bureau of Land Management.

“BLM has been a great partner with providing access and extra support,” he added.

BLM NW Colorado District Public Affairs Specialist David Boyd said the Colorow Flow Trail project was a great opportunity for BLM because this was an area that was recently designated as an Extensive Recreation Management Area, meaning it was an area identified for recreation.

“It’s really nice to have communities with areas near town like this that are very good to recreate on,” he said. “Recreation on public lands is huge in this area, but its a balance. Not everywhere is suitable for a trail system like this.”

“It will be a great economic factor to bring in people to the area and a nice amenity for residents that live here,” Riddile added. “Here residents can just open their garage door and be on a unique trail in minutes.”

Cornely said the trail will provide a unique riding experience and could help bring young riders to the sport.

The Colorow Flow Trails will include a series of mountain biking specific flow trails, which are trails designed specifically for mountain biking to include banked turns, rolling terrain, various jumps and more obstacles, and will have routes for beginners, intermediate and expert bikers.

“I have young kids and to get a similar experience I have to drive to Fruita,” Cornely said.


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