For the last ten years, Dick Leinenkugel has led people on a bike ride through the Land o’Lakes area.
The annual event raised money for the Wilderness Lake Trails to support trail maintenance.
But last summer, the group announced it had met all its funding goals for the trails.
It was the perfect opportunity for Great Headwaters Trails to step in, says Executive Director Jeff Currie. He says Leinenkugel reached out to a GHT board member about taking over the event.
“After they ran the event this last summer, they came to the conclusion that they had met the goals for which they had been running the ride as far as funding goes and were ready to not be running it anymore, which kind of left open the questions of whether it would continue or not,” said Currie.
Next year’s Ride with Leinie will take place on the recently completed Conover-Phelps trail.
Leinenkugel will lead the 10.5 mile family-friendly trail ride option. Participants can also choose a 20-mile trail ride from Conover to Phelps and back, or a 40-mile road ride.
“Part of the reason why we were very pleased to be able to take on Ride with Leinie is because we did have this new trail between Conover and Phelps,” said Currie. “We thought that would be a great venue for the kind of ride that Ride with Leinie had been up in Land o’Lakes. Celebrating that trail and highlighting that trail is actually one of the goals of Ride with Leinie.”
The goal will also be to raise money for Great Headwaters Trails next project.
Right now, the group is working on building a bike trail between Eagle River and St. Germain, connecting eastern Vilas County to the Heart of Vilas County Trail system.
“It’s going to be a pretty expensive trail. It’s wonderful to have an event like Ride with Leinie to help bring public awareness to that project also,” said Currie.
The Ride with Leinie is set for July 30th.
GHT will also be holding its annual SeptTimber Ride in the fall. Last year, more than 400 riders participated.
