MTB park in Denver?
Lee,
Ft.Collins has two mountain bike parks, Boulder has a few, and now I think c-springs has something, not to mention leadville and durango and all the other mountain towns. Ever hear of anyone getting the ball rolling in Denver? I’m wondering if there’s a wagon I can jump on, or if I should try to start something for next spring or summer. If so, any suggestions you have on getting it going would be great, I think I might have some lines on it, but any input would be great. Thanks alot for your time, Mike Winston
Hi Mike,
I’m not aware of any mountain bike terrain/jump/pump/play parks in the Denver area.
In 2005 the Colorado Downhill Cycling Collective was lobbying Jefferson County for one-way downhill trails and possibly some specialty terrain. Kent Sesma and Dave Cohen jumped through a whole lot of hoops, but they were having trouble convincing the county that DH/freeride is a viable user group. I was one of 289 people who signed the online petition, but I haven’t heard anything in a while, and www.cdcc.org is no longer on the Web.
A short story from December 2005: Petition: One-way bike trails in Jefferson County, CO
There’s a hopeful plan in the works to build a small bike park at Valmont Park in Boulder. I hope to design the dirt jumps and pump track.
 The big, sweet pump track at Lory State Park in Fort Collins, CO. |
To start your own bandwagon:
– You gotta find a park administrator who’s open to the idea. We got lucky with Kathy Seiple at Lory State Park, and with Tim Taagen at SolVista Ski Basin. These things are all about relationships.
– You gotta build an organized, no-BS team. A whole lot of people say they want things, but not many are willing to work for them.
– IMBA has tons of knowledge on this stuff. Their new book — Managing Mountain Biking — is all about the formation and management of great riding spots. As a matter of fact, I wrote a section in there about Lory State Park.
Good luck, and tell me what you do. I’ll definitely spread the word here.
— Lee