Kosciusko Velo Marks 20 Years
Text and Photos
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews
WARSAW — The Kosciusko County Velo Cycling Club has marked 20 years in existence.
The club celebrated the milestone at one of its regular meetings on Tuesday, April 25, at Mad Anthony’s in Warsaw.
Club President Mike Cusick had founding members Greg Demopoulos, Nancy Gast and Alan Alderfer share about the club’s start.
Gast, along with her husband Rob Gast, formerly owned Trailhouse Village Bicycles in The Village at Winona, having started it in 2002.
Alderfer, who’d raced bicycles while in college at Ball State University, said he had been trying to get a road race group started in the area.
“Then, I just happened upon Greg (who also had raced), and then I knew Nancy and Rob from growing up in Warsaw,” he said. “I bought my first BMX bike … from their shop.”
Alderfer also shared how he knew the Gasts’ late son, Robbie Gast, also a founding member of the club.
The group was started simply due to its founders having a passion for cycling. One of the first activities was conceiving what is now known as the Fat & Skinny Tire Fest.
“We didn’t want it to just be road races. We didn’t want it to just be mountain bike races,” said Alderfer. “So we married the fat, the skinny, and then the county tour that we had because we wanted this to be not just a racing event: we wanted it to be a fun community event.”
Demopoulos, who serves as KCV Cycling Club’s vice president, noted around the same time the group created Fat & Skinny, it had its first event, hosting former pro racer Frankie Andreu.
The club put on the first Fat & Skinny in 2004.
Attendees at Tuesday’s meeting also shared memories over the years while looking through a slideshow of pictures.
Near the end of the meeting, Cusick presented the founding members with glass pieces to commemorate the 20th year anniversary.
He reflected after the meeting with InkFreeNews about the continued importance of the club.
“So KCV is proud to be part of the community for the past 20 years. We started as a passionate cycling group that was focused on retaining the Winona Lake trails and creating the very first Fat & Skinny Tire Fest, and now we’re proud to have grown over the last 20 years to continue the festival, to continue maintaining the (Winona Lake) trails, but also advocate for bicycling, safe infrastructure and education with our Tracy’s Trailer program (through which club members teach kids about cycling),” said Cusick. “We’re excited … about building the Winona Lake bike park in the future, which is going to be a great facility for our residents in our community to enjoy cycling as well as encourage visitors to the region for cycling.”
The bike park will be located at the Hauth Trailhead around 900 E. Pierceton Road in Winona Lake.
Cusick noted around $110,000 had been raised for the group’s initial $315,000 goal, with that total “to cover (our) planning cost as well as the purchase of the land.”
“And once we have that complete, our second (fundraising) phase (with an amount to be decided) is going to start building the pieces of the bike park, which are a pump track, skills’ lines (and) a kids’ playground,” he said.
Donations for the bike park may be made by clicking the Donate tab at KCV Cycling Club’s website kcvcycling.org.
People are welcome to join the club as well. There’s no fee to join, and people may learn about the club’s meetings via its Facebook page or reaching out through its website.