Bicycle art captures spirit of Rick Klein Trails

A unique sculpture of bicycles forming a tree was unveiled Thursday at Rick Klein Trails on Grand Street. The artistic creation was a gift of Orville Ladehoff and others to the City of Amarillo Parks & Recreation Department.

The sculpture, around 12 feet tall and more than six feet wide and featuring 12 bicycles, greets those who go to the entrance of the hiking and bicycling trails of Rick Klein Sports Complex. Bicycles were donated by Matt Melvin and weigh approximately 600 pounds. A local sign company, Skyrite, donated the transportation of the massive sculpture.

City of Amarillo Beautification and Public Arts Coordinator Cindy Perez said Ladehoff was always creating unusual things in addition to his Bicycle Tree. “On his property, he has a 'Bicycle Carousel' that has old bicycles instead of horses. Even his first bicycle he received when he was 7 years old is there,” she said. “He always makes interesting artistic creations.”

The artist, who is over 80, also has a Tire Tree and other unusual art forms and loves to stay busy, Perez said. “We were thrilled to get the sculpture.”

Combines came before Bicycles

As Perez said, Ladehoff has other talents, it seems. He also been called a combine junkie for his creative treatment of old combines. Ladehoff buries them on his property rather than cutting them up and selling them for scrap.

But the artistic farmer prefers the term of “planting them.” Ladehoff cut off the rear tires, dug a hole with a backhoe and slid the first combine in with the header facing up from the ground. It was actually his late wife, Grace, that encouraged him to bury them when he was looking for a solution of where to put them. But, of course, he had a better term for their final resting place and that was ”planting them”.

Not to be outdone by Cadillac Ranch, the industrious farmer “planted” 14 more donated combines to his collection, donated by neighboring farmers. Residing next to a highway, 10 miles southeast of Amarillo, the site has garnered attention from Route 66 Magazine and other publications, which labeled it Combine City.

Ladehoff said he wasn’t trying to make a statement with the combines but that they brought back fond memories to his wife, Gracie, and him. The combines continue to attract visitors and can be seen on the website, according to an article in “Farm Show” magazine.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Bicycle art captures spirit of Rick Klein Trails