Shrikes and Bikes: Turning Gears in Colorado’s Grasslands

The melodic songs of western meadowlarks filled the air as a group of cyclists prepared to ride off beneath the boundless blue of the prairie sky. On June 6, the Eastern Colorado Grasslands Coalition hosted a unique gravel cycling experience called Shrikes and Bikes, named after the predatory songbird that stalks prairie ecosystems. In celebration of Colorado’s inaugural Prairie Day, Shrikes and Bikes brought 75 riders on a scenic route through the Eastern Plains’ shortgrass prairie and the working lands it sustains. Cyclists were introduced to an often overlooked landscape and immersed in the community, history and stewardship at its heart.

Stretching from the Front Range edge of the Rocky Mountains towards the state’s border with Kansas and Nebraska, most of Colorado’s Eastern Plains are covered by shortgrass prairie. As a semi-arid environment receiving sparse rainfall, typically measuring only 10-20 inches per year, the shortgrass prairie is home to remarkably adaptable wildlife. The loggerhead shrike, for instance, takes advantage of the plains’ few vertical features through a rather gruesome strategy of skewering its dispatched prey on thorns and barbed wire for later consumption. Periodic disturbance like sustainable grazing keeps this landscape diverse and dynamic, but more transformative land conversion has contributed to a roughly 50% loss of Colorado’s historic prairie cover. With grassland birds being among the fastest-declining birds in North America, and 47% of Americans reporting little to no knowledge about grasslands in a 2026 nationwide survey, Colorado’s shortgrass prairie represents an underappreciated but critical habitat.

The Eastern Plains are a stronghold for the shortgrass prairie’s far-reaching ecosystem services. Native grasses’ extensive root systems help purify water, capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and maintain soil’s ability to hold moisture on these dry landscapes. Shortgrass prairies are also foundational for the people who act as their stewards, serving as working lands for rural communities and sacred places for Indigenous cultures. The United Nations declared 2026 as both the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and the International Year of the Woman Farmer. This is meant to recognize the roles people play in keeping these places healthy through sustainable agriculture as much as these working landscapes nourish people. Being largely private land, the conservation of eastern Colorado’s grasslands relies heavily on voluntary stewardship by farmers and ranchers, a commitment to rural leadership highlighted at the center of Shrikes and Bikes’ gravel ride.

Shrikes and Bikes showcased the rich history and living legacy of Colorado’s Lincoln County, specifically the towns of Hugo and Genoa. The evening kickoff event was held at the Hugo Union Pacific Roundhouse, a building with striking architecture that once serviced engines on the Kansas-Pacific Railroad. This is one of three brick Union Pacific roundhouses left in the nation, and for this significance it is recognized on Colorado Preservation, Inc.’s Endangered Places list. An authentic chuckwagon served an excellent dinner, while attendees came together to paint a mural commemorating the event. The evening bird walk was cut short by a developing thunderstorm, but we still witnessed a spectacular display of the prairie sky’s power. A common nighthawk, sounding off with its distinctive peent call commonly heard above Colorado’s grasslands at dusk, made its rounds across the roiling horizon.

The next morning, Shrikes and Bikes attendees gathered at Genoa’s World’s Wonder View Tower, a century-old historic landmark that once claimed to offer views of six surrounding states from its top. Just before riders took off, Maggie Hanna, Director of the Central Grasslands Roadmap, read aloud a proclamation by Governor Jared Polis recognizing June 6 as Colorado Prairie Day. The Governor’s Prairie Day proclamation recognized that “land stewards – including farmers and ranchers – are essential partners in conserving, restoring, and reclaiming prairie habitat using management practices such as adaptive grazing, native grassland seeding, and conservation easements.” As cyclists embarked on the route, they would have the opportunity to learn about these working lands relationships firsthand.

Along the route, cyclists could stop at aid stations featuring different aspects of the region’s prairie heritage, such as information on grassland birds provided by Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. At the final aid station of the ride, cyclists stopped at the fourth generation, family-run Homestead Farms. Steve and Gary Beedy, the owners of this centennial farm, hosted travel-worn riders inside their gorgeous barn and shared its family history while cyclists replenished electrolytes. The Beedy’s great grandparents established a homestead on the site in 1893, and the barn was built in 1915 from a kit transported by train then wagon. Their barn was a marvel of historic preservation, but the most unique aspect of this stop was the opportunity for cyclists to have open conversations with Steve and Gary about their experience and expertise as agricultural producers.

The Beedys primarily produce winter wheat, sunflower, corn, millet and milo, and run a cow-calf operation. What struck attendees was that the Beedys are dryland farmers, relying entirely on rain and snow for soil moisture rather than using irrigation. While speaking on the extent to which their operations rely on adapting to environmental conditions, trial and error, and past experience, Steve remarked that “we live off what Mother Nature gives us.” Soil conservation practices, like temporarily leaving fields fallow (uncultivated) to retain moisture, are integral to this enduring legacy of dryland farming and its remarkable balancing act with the shortgrass prairie. These discussions offered cyclists a new sense of appreciation for and connection to Eastern Plains livelihoods.

Peyton Burt, a Habitat Biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, shared, “I was incredibly impressed with Steve sharing his experiences with farming and ranching and making it easy to understand for folks. He was excited to answer their questions. He got to showcase the importance of farming and ranching along with supporting wildlife on his operation. It is important to show this lifestyle to folks who normally wouldn’t be able to ask these questions to a farmer or rancher. It is incredibly special for private landowners to show their property to strangers. In a landscape that is primarily private land, if we didn’t have landowners who care about conservation we wouldn’t have the wildlife habitat and the abundance of wildlife that is supported on that landscape.”

Hailey Tresch, the Eastern Colorado Regional Partnership Coordinator at Colorado Parks and Wildlife, remarked on the importance of building these connections and mutual understanding. Hailey likened Shrikes and Bikes to the concept of the “magical overlap” shared by Ed Roberson, host of Mountain and Prairie podcast, at Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s 2026 Regional Partnerships Initiative Summit. This magical overlap speaks to the moments when people from seemingly disparate backgrounds meet through a shared connection to and care for the land. Several cyclists also remarked on the surprising nature of the route’s topography, where a seemingly flat landscape is revealed to consist of challenging, rolling hills. As Hailey joked, attendees would never generalize the Eastern Plains as flat again. One rider commented on how they were astonished by the scale of the plains, and voiced appreciation for the unique opportunity to slow down and see an often overlooked side of Colorado’s beauty.

The magical overlap achieved at Shrikes and Bikes reflects the collaborative work of the Eastern Colorado Grasslands Coalition (ECGC), a regional partnership dedicated to conserving and restoring grassland ecosystems while supporting sustainable agriculture, responsible recreation, and thriving rural communities. ECGC is part of a statewide, regionally driven network known as the Regional Partnerships Initiative (RPI). The RPI is a Colorado Parks and Wildlife program dedicated to implementing Colorado’s Outdoors Strategy and its vision for a future where our outdoors, people, community character and ways of life endure for generations to come. Grounded in the strong relationships ECGC built across Lincoln County, Shrikes and Bikes offered a concrete example of these connections in action, showing how stewardship is championed by the communities who call the prairie home.

Reflecting on the event, Maggie Hanna, Director of the Central Grasslands Roadmap with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, shared, “Our hope for Shrikes & Bikes was to create an event that celebrated the landscapes and people of eastern Colorado while inviting others to discover the grasslands in a new way. The weekend exceeded our expectations. From the community kickoff to the miles of gravel roads, every aid station along the route highlighted the history, stewardship and hospitality that define Lincoln County. We are incredibly grateful to our partners, volunteers, sponsors and participants for helping create an event that showcased why Colorado’s grasslands are worth exploring and conserving for generations to come.”

Multiple local partners and community supporters helped make the event a success, including the citizens of Genoa and Hugo; Lincoln County Commissioners; Hugo Roundhouse Preservation Inc.,; Eastern Plains Cowbelles; Walks Camp Park board; Homestead Farms; Some Girls and a Mural; Rust Cycling; the Arriba EMS crew; Lincoln County Cattlewomen; and Friends of the Genoa Tower. 

Shrikes and Bikes was also made possible by the generous support of event sponsors, including Stockmen’s Bank; Colorado State Land Board; Colorado Lottery; Great Outdoors Colorado; Keller Law; Colorado Parks and Wildlife; The Bluffs; NextEra Energy; Working Lands Alliance; Lincoln County Tourism Board; Colorado Department of Agriculture; Colorado Farm Bureau; and Bird Conservancy of the Rockies.

Written by Jay Cooney, CPW Regional Partnerships Program Associate.