Brad Scales, Trailheads Southwest Indiana executive director, is putting the finishing touches on the new Campus Flow Trail at the University of Southern Indiana (USI) by installing the sign at the trail entrance.
It took some painting, some bolting, some post-hole digging to adjust for fit and wrestling the sign panel into its posts.
But now, where there was just a patch of woods situated between campus roads and a parking lot, there are now trails, punctuated by reddish mounds of sculpted clay. With the finishing of the sign, the trail is open.
“The feedback already has been really good,” Scales said. “ We've had some some test drive traffic, and I think it's going to be huge success.”
If you have a mountain bike and want to give the campus flow trails a shot, it is a public trail. You can find them near the ceramics building off University Boulevard. There are three trails — beginner, expert and intermediate, with berm turns and jumps and a return loop to the beginning. Each trail is about 400 feet, for a total of about 1,200 feet.
The trails are a collaboration with USI. Steve Bridges is Vice President for Finance and Administration at USI. At the time of the groundbreaking, he said there have been several student inquiries on the project. “I think that student interests will pique once they get a chance to see the actual trail itself,” he said.
Announced in December, it cost $25,000 funded by the CenterPoint Energy Foundation.
But it wasn’t the simple three-to-four week build Scales was hoping for when the ground was broken in early March.
“We had some employee issues,” he said. “And you know, just some trouble getting help out here. We did have some weather delays too.”
There was a delay getting this signage from the university. And the small matter of his bicycling accident, which left him with a fractured elbow, a broken rib and a concussion. “I was able to keep working,” he said.
Scales said while he was physically recuperating his “finisher” Willis Sparks, 18 of Boonville, took the mounds of loose clay and made them into obstacles you can ride on.
Sparks worked throughout the spring with various hand tools, such as a hoe to correct the angle of the trail. He said his job is to finish the jumps by smoothing the surface and adding finishing touches. Of course it needs to ride nicely.
To save money, Scales hauled the dirt in himself, placing it in piles along the trail to create the obstacles.
Sparks was out many days working on the trail with Scales, whose crew of five has a few projects going on at once — like a new trail in Boonville at Scales Lake Park, and opening another smaller 'Flow Zone' trail in Lynnville.
As a non-profit organization, TrailHeads has also been busy fundraising.
They recently had a successful fundraiser through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, where they matched a $50,000 fundraiser.
This is for the 3.25 mile trail system, also on USI, including a half-mile trail to connect to the Broadway trail system. Scales is also crossing his fingers over a possible DNR grant to build a six-mile system at Lynnville Park.
If they do get the DNR grant, they can start the USI campus loop right away. If not they’ll have to delay to finish up smaller projects first.
When asked how it feels to finally be reaching the finish line after all the delays, Scales said it feels great, but was definitely frustrating.
“We're a new company and so we're learning,” he said. “All of our work up until last year has been volunteer work, and we're now breaking into a different pace of work and you know, with employees and a lot of moving parts and a lot of projects too, we were opening up several other bike parks in the last month and this month as well. And so you know, it's been a balancing act basically.”
TrailHeads Southwest Indiana started as a program to get children mountain biking. Willis Sparks started with this program. Since, they’ve grown into building trails with Scales' business arm TrelCru Inc, which technically does the building for trails.
About Trail Heads Southwest Indiana
This non-profit is responsible for several scholastic bike groups and trails throughout the tri-state area.
“Trail Heads is a volunteer-based organization with a mission to develop infrastructure and support programs for quality trails throughout southwest Indiana.”
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