Sioux City to break ground on mountain bike trails

Cone Park employees Tyler Schlotman, Seth Hodgins, and Tyler Wagner show how to get the most out of the summer version of Cone Park.

SIOUX CITY -- Jay Chesterman is confident Sioux City will become a destination for mountain biking, when 10.5 miles of sustainably constructed single-track shared use and bike-only trails are completed at Cone Park next spring.

The Sioux City Parks and Recreation Department is slated to formally break ground on the nearly $3 million project Tuesday at the all-seasons park, 3800 Line Drive.

"For our community, this is going to be something huge. We don't have anything in this region even close," said Chesterman, co-owner of Chesterman Company. "To have a bike park of this magnitude, it's going to be something great for this community and this region."

In celebration of Chesterman Co.'s 150th anniversary, the Chesterman Foundation donated $1 million to the project. Chesterman Company is an independently-owned and operated Sioux City-based Coca-Cola bottling company.

In early 2021, the Parks and Recreation Department began working with Jay Chesterman and members of the mountain bike community to develop a plan for trails between Cone and Sertoma parks. The Chesterman Foundation funded a study, and the group worked with the International Mountain Bicycling Association to develop a master plan for mountain bike trails and other bicycle-friendly amenities.

Salvatore

"We have a really nice mountain bike park at Bacon Creek Park right now, but that's for such an advanced skill level. It's not meant for everybody," Sioux City Parks and Recreation Director Matt Salvatore said. "The thing that we liked most about this project is anybody can use it. It's almost a ski hill where there's the different colors for each level of steepness for a hill, and the same thing relates to the trails."

Building the trails with all skill levels in mind will "get people in the sport and keep them in the sport," according to Chesterman, who has been mountain biking for roughly 30 years.

Chesterman found mountain biking after injuring his knee while skiing.

"I had to rehab my knee, so I bought a bike to build it back up. It just became something that was really fun to do. It was an exercise, and it was like a workout, but riding the trails doesn't feel like a workout. That's what I like about it."

All-seasons park

In May, the Sioux City Council awarded a contract to a Michigan mountain bike trail contractor for the project at Cone Park.

Rock Solid Trail Contracting, LLC, of Copper Harbor, Michigan, was the lone bidder with a total bid of $1,200,441.76.

Then, two months later in July, the council authorized the Parks and Recreation Department to submit a grant application to the Iowa Department of Transportation for $150,000 in Iowa State Recreational Trails Program funding for the project. The project has an anticipated completion date of May 15, 2024 and is being funded with a combination of funding, including private contributions, general obligation bonds and grant funds.

The concept plan for the Cone Park mountain bike and trails project is shown above.

The mountain bike trails will further cement Cone Park as a summer destination, according to Salvatore.

Winter tubing on a 700-foot main hill first opened at the park in December 2017. Two years later, Cone Park was awarded the "outstanding attraction" honor from the Iowa Tourism Bureau and the Travel Federation of Iowa.

During the winter, the park also offers Blue Bunny Hill, a shorter hill designed for people of all ages and 5,400-square-foot refrigerated ice skating rink.

Summer tubing made its debut at the park in June 2022. Two lanes of plastic-type track on the main hill, which act like snow, are installed on the hill at the beginning of the summer season and removed before snowmaking begins.

"The City Council really prioritized making this a summer destination as well. They asked the Parks and Recreation Department to figure out what we could do there in the summer that would be a big draw. That's when Jay and I got hooked up and started talking about the possibility of a mountain bike park project," Salvatore said. "Based on the terrain and the elevations, it's an ideal place to have such a park."

Jay Chesterman stands with his mountain bike trail at Cone Park. The Sioux City Parks and Recreation Department will hold a ceremonial groundbreaking at the park next week to mark construction of 10.5 miles of single-track shared use and bike-only trails.

The trails will be located adjacent to the Cone Park Lodge and provide trailhead access to new, sustainably constructed single-track shared use and bike-only trails, including an intermediate skills trail with prefabricated and natural skill features. There will be pump and tot tracks, as well as a progressive jump line.

"They're dirt trails that are built in the woods, kind of like a hiking trail," Chesterman said. "But these are purpose-built by like a mini excavator. They're built by a contractor, so the contractor goes into the woods and they lay them out specifically for mountain bikes."

A destination

Chesterman said Bentonville, a northwest Arkansas city pegged as the mountain biking capital of the world, has been "exploding in population."

Bentonville is the headquarters of Oz Trails, a network of shared-use trails with more than 300 miles of soft-surface trails.

"A lot of these communities have put in similar projects. They realize that it's a growing sport and growing in popularity," Chesterman said. "The employers down there (in Bentonville) figured out that they need these types of amenities to keep young, healthy workers and attract young, healthy workers."

Chesterman believes the mountain bike trails at Cone Park will regularly draw visitors from Sioux Falls and Omaha. He said the asphalt pump track and slopestyle jump park will be attractions in their own right.

"You can go around it without pedaling, just like pushing and pulling on your handlebars to get around it," he said of the pump track. "It's something for the kids to really enjoy, and it will build your skills for the mountain bike trails."

Jay Chesterman stands by a stack of landscaping rocks, which will be used as part of a mountain bike trail at Cone Park. The Sioux City Parks and Recreation Department will hold a ceremonial groundbreaking at the park next week to mark the start of construction of 10.5 miles of single-track shared use and bike-only trails that will wind through Cone and Sertoma parks.

Salvatore said mountain bike competitions will also be able to be held at the park once the project is complete.

"We're lucky to be having such an extensive park right here in Siouxland. We're excited about being able to provide this service not only to our local folks, but to the community in the region," said Salvatore, who noted the park will be free and open to the public. "The competitions can be a different story, but it'll be open for anyone to use just like our existing trail system."

The trails, however, won't be solely reserved for mountain bike enthusiasts. Salvatore said the trails can be used for walking, hiking and running. He said signage and safety measures will be in place so those recreational activities can be going on at the same time.

"There may be some trails that are prevented from having walkers and runners, but for the most part, people will be able to use it for that," he said.

A section of trail on the south side of Singing Hills Boulevard could be completed as early as this fall and opened up to the public, according to Salvatore.

"We want to open that to the public as soon as they are complete. Compaction is an important part of the mountain bike trails. So, as soon as they're complete, we want people to start using them," he said.

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Cone Park employees Tyler Schlotman, Seth Hodgins, and Tyler Wagner show how to get the most out of the summer version of Cone Park.

The new trails project will be located adjacent to the Cone Park Lodge.

Monday, the Sioux City Council approved a grant application for Cone Park and Sertoma Park mountain bike trails. The work will provide trailhe…

Overall, the project is projected to cost $2 million and will incorporate jumps and berms, as well as a pump track. Walkers, hikers and runner…