Decorah group participates in Iowa Bike summit

Members of a Decorah organization spoke at the second annual Iowa Bicycle Summit in Des Moines Friday and Saturday.

Rich "Deke" Gosen discussed Decorah's mountain bike history; the creation of Decorah Human Powered Trails and how other communities can create similar moutnain bike organizations.

Decorah Human Powered Trails formed in 2003. The group has built and maintained more than 17 miles of mountain bike and biking trails in the Palisades, Van Peenen, Ice Cave and Dunning's Parks. DHPT is a volunteer organization of over 50 members and has been accepted as an official division of the Decorah Park and Rec department.

The Iowa Bicycle Coalition and the International Mountain Bike Association invited DHPT to send a representative to the Iowa Bike Summit to discuss how Decorah's mountain bike trails have become known as some of the best in the Midwest.