On Colorado’s inaugural Prairie Day, Shrikes and Bikes brought together 75 cyclists to celebrate eastern Colorado’s shortgrass prairie, working lands, and rural communities. Along the scenic gravel cycling route, riders learned from local agricultural producers, connected with community members, observed prairie wildlife, and experienced historic preservation sites.
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…