The mountains first come to mind when people think of bicycling in Colorado, but in Crowley and Kiowa counties, some residents hope to add the prairie to that picture.
“We’re just small towns, and the bicyclers who come through here constitute one of our main industries, basically,” says Ordway retiree Nancy Moore.
The stretch of Colorado 96 between Boone and Towner became part of the TransAmerica bicycle route in 1976. The route’s eastern Colorado leg earned the nickname “Incredible Flatness of Being” — hot, dull and buffeted by winds. But on the cycling grapevine, those disadvantages pale against the towns’ reputation for embracing visitors on two wheels.
It was Moore’s idea to create The Prairie Horizons Trail group, an alliance of business owners and residents of the Kiowa and Crowley county towns.
They designed a brochure listing lodging, food, water, shelter and other facilities en route, and included a section on tornadoes and severe weather. “Share the Road” bicycle signs sprouted along the highway, and signs in shop windows alert visitors to bicycle-friendly options.
Today, cyclists taking shelter in Haswell’s Quonset Hut find the television tuned to The Weather Channel, crucial news for bicyclists. An Olney Springs restaurant’s menu lists a “bicyclist’s special,” and in Sugar City, a water station waives the cost for visiting cyclists.
“It’s little things, but it means a lot to the bicyclists,” says Joy Lujan, a planner with the National Park Service’s Rivers Trails and Conservation Assistance Program. — Claire Martin
