Who wants to build a Bike Park?

Captain Brainstorm said:
Its difficult to compare Stowe to here. There's tighter control over the trails because they are a revenue driver. Summer time has become so much busier over the last 10yrs due to the growth of Mountain Biking, all the businesses benefit. They will routinely shut-down trails after rain to prevent trail damage, shut individual trails down for maintenance, and it seems easier for them to get permission from the state and individual land owners. Using Ringwood as an example, its a state park and much more difficult to get permission to cut a new trail (I'm sure the Jorba guys here can elaborate on this). Ringwood may be in Jersey, but its vast. You could fit all of Cady Hill and Adams Camp comfortably inside of Ringwood. Its a long haul to some of the trails. Ringwood is also multi-use. Unfortunately if you were to pull-off a flow trail back there, some clown will tear it up on their ATV. There's also simple logistics. It must be difficult to organize regular maintenance there because its a drive for most people. In Stowe, everything is local, its easy to mobilize a bunch of folks after work then go to Yoshi or Piecasso (both local trail advocates) for a drink. This underscores another issue, there are is no local business advocacy here, most people see us as a nuisance.
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Yup. Absolutely all of this is spot on.
 
Captain Brainstorm said:
This is literally in my backyard. I spent my yoot in those woods hunting, shooting, and tearing around on ATV's. Most of the trails on Pyramid Mountain that are now owned by county are trails that me and my rag-tag group of friends built with our ATC's and dirt bikes. I always thought that section would be good to build trails on, so many places to make natural features and interesting lines. When do we start digging?
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The Waughaw Mountain Greenway borders on the area where Mountain Ave Park is in Pompton Plains... It's really on the other side of Brookvalley from Pyramid. Remember when those dudes were up there and opened a water valve that flooded the whole mountainside (early 80's). We used to ride that all the time before they built the Cedar Crest adult community.

But that area on the WMG would require a ton of work for "flow" trails. It's typical gnar with a lot of glacial erratic.

 
Ashcor said:
and there is the crux of the issue. It's all about $$$. There aren't any little town center's surrounded by trail area here in NJ that would have small businesses advocating for the increased traffic the biking would bring. Name a town center where you can ride to the trails?

Wildcat? no
Ringwood? no
Alamuchy? no
Waywayanda? no
Stevens? no
Kittatiny? no
Sterling? no


Best bet would be a commercial place like Mountain Creek...
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Not to get everyone (in Essex county) all riled up but damn if you're not describing eagle rock and South mountain... if only........
 
Ashcor said:
and there is the crux of the issue. It's all about $$$. There aren't any little town center's surrounded by trail area here in NJ that would have small businesses advocating for the increased traffic the biking would bring. Name a town center where you can ride to the trails?

Wildcat? no
Ringwood? no
Alamuchy? no
Waywayanda? no
Stevens? no
Kittatiny? no
Sterling? no


Best bet would be a commercial place like Mountain Creek...
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South Mountain but that place is already too crowded and illegal
 
RIDEr said:
How about a Rays in NJ? With the unfortunate closures of many stores I think converting a KMart 🙂cough) on eagle rock and prospect in west Orange is a great place.

raysmtb.com

Ray's Indoor Bike Park | Cleveland, OH

raysmtb.com raysmtb.com
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I have always thought something like that would work great here. Just think. . . when the american dream goes out of buisness, how aweosme would it be to repurpose it as and epic indoor Mountain Bike Park.
 
goodvibe said:
I have always thought something like that would work great here. Just think. . . when the american dream goes out of buisness, how aweosme would it be to repurpose it as and epic indoor Mountain Bike Park.
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The cost to do it would be insane and probably unsustainable but imagine doing something like a Ray's here in an empty multi level shopping mall. Somewhere like the Monmouth/Eatontown mall with three levels would be awesome climbing up and bombing back down. Skate area in one store, jumps in another, trails all through the whole mall. Keep the food court throw in a bike shop and a gym and maybe a few other sports like indoor rock climbing, maybe some indoor go karting and perfect!
 
FastFreddy said:
The cost to do it would be insane and probably unsustainable but imagine doing something like a Ray's here in an empty multi level shopping mall. Somewhere like the Monmouth/Eatontown mall with three levels would be awesome climbing up and bombing back down. Skate area in one store, jumps in another, trails all through the whole mall. Keep the food court throw in a bike shop and a gym and maybe a few other sports like indoor rock climbing, maybe some indoor go karting and perfect!
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We have forgotten Rex Plex in Elizabeth. Place was amazing growing up.
 
Ashcor said:
and there is the crux of the issue. It's all about $$$. There aren't any little town center's surrounded by trail area here in NJ that would have small businesses advocating for the increased traffic the biking would bring. Name a town center where you can ride to the trails?

Wildcat? no
Ringwood? no
Alamuchy? no
Waywayanda? no
Stevens? no
Kittatiny? no
Sterling? no


Best bet would be a commercial place like Mountain Creek...
Click to expand...

tourne?
 
B55C4574-1703-4D25-ABB5-0F973B188636.jpeg
I just rode the little bike park in Tannersville (near hunter mtn) last week. It’s a really good example of a small, self-shuttled park. It’s small, but super fun. Moderate jump line and enough to keep you entertained for over an hr. I was headed up to elm ridge which we rode the next day.

This seems like a reasonable formate that could easily exist in NJ. It’s a bit more extensive than high bridge and it seems to be holding up well.
 
Is belle mountain still around, I know it’s a not a ski park anymore but are the lifts still there?... probably too small, but decent location
 
1TrackMind said:
Is belle mountain still around, I know it’s a not a ski park anymore but are the lifts still there?... probably too small, but decent location
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lifts are gone - it is very small. Can ride up without a problem tho.
 
jdog said:
View attachment 140904I just rode the little bike park in Tannersville (near hunter mtn) last week. It’s a really good example of a small, self-shuttled park. It’s small, but super fun. Moderate jump line and enough to keep you entertained for over an hr. I was headed up to elm ridge which we rode the next day.

This seems like a reasonable formate that could easily exist in NJ. It’s a bit more extensive than high bridge and it seems to be holding up well.
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I raced an enduro up there a few weeks ago and was blown away. The whole vibe up there was just so refreshing.
 
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Captain Brainstorm said:
Its difficult to compare Stowe to here. There's tighter control over the trails because they are a revenue driver. Summer time has become so much busier over the last 10yrs due to the growth of Mountain Biking, all the businesses benefit. They will routinely shut-down trails after rain to prevent trail damage, shut individual trails down for maintenance, and it seems easier for them to get permission from the state and individual land owners. Using Ringwood as an example, its a state park and much more difficult to get permission to cut a new trail (I'm sure the Jorba guys here can elaborate on this). Ringwood may be in Jersey, but its vast. You could fit all of Cady Hill and Adams Camp comfortably inside of Ringwood. Its a long haul to some of the trails. Ringwood is also multi-use. Unfortunately if you were to pull-off a flow trail back there, some clown will tear it up on their ATV. There's also simple logistics. It must be difficult to organize regular maintenance there because its a drive for most people. In Stowe, everything is local, its easy to mobilize a bunch of folks after work then go to Yoshi or Piecasso (both local trail advocates) for a drink. This underscores another issue, there are is no local business advocacy here, most people see us as a nuisance.
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Again great points on Stowe and how they do things which seem to be doing it the right way. Although as good as the mtn bike scene is there it seems to have lost that "Sniggle Unrest" flavor that made it really special to me years ago (but that is a seperate topic).

One thing about Ringwood and a flow trail is maybe it is just easier to grab some laps at Creek? I know it's not next door but for the amount of work and all the roadblocks that are there like you mentioned it sounds easier to load the car drive the 40 minutes and grab some laps at Creek. If Creek was 40 minutes away from me that is what I would do.

But for me in the mid-Monmouth area having a High Bridge setup at Hartshorne (or one of the local Monmouth county parks with a little elevation and a spare 3-5 acres) would be ideal. Something that isn't the size and work of Flo/Bear. Something that would be fun as hell to ride and keep the bike skills there for trips to Creek, Killington, Stowe, etc. Something really good could be made by hand - have you ever been to Catty or Posh?
 
Soundguy said:
Yeah but I spent all summer shredding creek and they close in three weeks so what am I supposed to do with my life now? Spend time with my wife? Fuck.
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Glen Park in PA? I can't really think of any other trail systems around here that are set up for downhill/enduro riding as well as Glen Park is.
 
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