this sounds like a fun ride I can't wait to check it out
more at bakersfield.com
Avid cyclists and dedicated visionaries have long dreamed of a Kern River Bike Trail that would one day stretch from Lake Ming in the east to the Buena Vista Aquatic Recreation Area to the west.
On Thursday, that dream became a reality.
"Today the Kern River Bike Trail is now 36.3 miles long," 2nd-district Kern County Supervisor Zack Scrivner said at a celebration held at the Buena Vista Aquatic Recreation Area about 23 miles southwest of downtown Bakersfield.
Scrivner said the celebration marked the culmination of years of work and perseverance, of vision and determination, of facing challenges and overcoming obstacles.
"This all started in 1976," Scrivner said of the bike trail's beginnings. "That's two years before I was born."
Indeed, longtime local activists Bill Cooper and Rich O'Neil were the original visionaries who were central in the development of the bike trail and the Kern River Parkway. They remain active to this day — and Cooper was present at Thursday's event along with dozens of cyclists who rode the trail out to the shores of Lake Webb to celebrate this latest success.
The Class 1 trail — for use by bicyclists and pedestrians — is paved and separated from lanes of motor vehicle traffic.
Big Rick on the Davis Bike Club Foxy's Fall Century