Making Strides in Decatur, Illinois

Stacy Stinson and Jason Kassis of CIMBA ink their signatures on a lease to the trails in Garman Park. With the paperwork signed, the bike club is officially allowed to begin construction on five miles of new trail.
There's a first for everything! The IMBA Trailbuilding Schools in Decatur took place in the lounge of bowling alley. A big thanks to Spare Time Bowl for donating space for the event!
More than 40 people showed up to the public IMBA Trailbuilding School on Saturday. With so many people, we were able to cut almost half a mile of textbook-quality bench cut trail.
Stacy shows everyone at the workday how to construct a full-bench tread.
A beautiful example of how to remove a stump from the trail. It's important to dig the entire root ball out of the tread. Otherwise you'll be left with a dangerous, tire-piercing nub.
Working hard but not too hard. This chain gang finds the soil in Decatur cuts like butter.

Mark Schmidt and Lora Woolner of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew stopped in Decatur, Illinois in early November to rub shoulders with several local mountain bike clubs. Decatur is better known for production of soy products than for mountain biking. This may change soon. Currently it has only have a few miles of singletrack, but there are plans for at least 10 more miles at Camp Camfield. In addition, if all goes well, close to 100 more miles may be added around the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's Lake Shelbyville to complement the 140-mile paved path that is planned around the lake.

While it may be a few years until Decatur becomes the Midwest's ultimate mountain bike destination, the Central Illinois Mountain Bike Association (CIMBA) has already taken great strides in making these dreams come true. CIMBA recently secured permission to build five miles of singletrack in Garman Park, an urban recreation area in the center of the city. The club also plans to begin construction on phase two of the Camp Camfield trails in the near future.

The weekend's festivities with the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew started on Halloween night with a "Ride Around the World with IMBA" show at Blu Phoenix. After fighting off ghouls and goblins and filling up on tasty treats, it was time for the hard work to begin. Mark and Lora taught two Trailbuilding Schools over the weekend, one for land managers and the other for the general public. In addition to mountain bikers, the second school also attracted hikers and trail runners. Among the bikers, there was solid representation from the committed folks of CIMBA, as well as the Peoria Area Mountain Bike Association (PAMBA), Kickapoo Mountain Bike Club (KMBC), Southern Illinois Mountain Bike Association (SAMBA), and Comlara Off Road Biking Association (CORBA). It was exciting to see so many mountain bike clubs working together on this trail project!