Who wants to build a Bike Park?
- Thread starter pooriggy
- Start date
knobbyhead
Next off the Island.
Seriously I give it another 2years. It's so in debt and I believe half of it is still empty.
Maybe turn the Ski area into a DH and jump park?
1TrackMind
Well-Known Member
I like the idea of abandoned mall. When I worked in Paterson I always dreamed of converting one of the old abandoned mills into an indoor bike park. I know many are turned off by the area, but I think it’s ideal.
This would play to the more trails for kids, And kids who don’t typically have access to trails, would help with the sports diversity, and be in a more central location, expanding easy access for more people. A lot of riders on here are from Franklin lakes and ridge wood, just a stones throw away. The land would be cheap(er) and there would likely be a lot of grant funding available.
I know some of the people currently in influential positions are respectable people interested in helping kids who would be helpful with the red tape. Paterson could lead to a great Nica team, so many kids who aren’t consumed with another organized sport, and high mountain is nearby for training. Fuji donated a lot of bikes to Ramapo high school For their gym class (I think ramapo, some NNJ Highschool), I’m sure another bike company would support something like this with some bikes so locals could access and enjoy. Downside is it would be a lot more planning/coordination than building on a small outside parcel
This would play to the more trails for kids, And kids who don’t typically have access to trails, would help with the sports diversity, and be in a more central location, expanding easy access for more people. A lot of riders on here are from Franklin lakes and ridge wood, just a stones throw away. The land would be cheap(er) and there would likely be a lot of grant funding available.
I know some of the people currently in influential positions are respectable people interested in helping kids who would be helpful with the red tape. Paterson could lead to a great Nica team, so many kids who aren’t consumed with another organized sport, and high mountain is nearby for training. Fuji donated a lot of bikes to Ramapo high school For their gym class (I think ramapo, some NNJ Highschool), I’m sure another bike company would support something like this with some bikes so locals could access and enjoy. Downside is it would be a lot more planning/coordination than building on a small outside parcel
mtbiker87
Well-Known Member
The ski area thing is run by Joe Hession, the dude currently managing Creek. But he seems happy to have year round sking there. More skiers than DH mtbers I think. And skiers typically have a little bit money to throw around.
Let’s be real. Nobody is opening a Ray’s style park in NJ. The real estate & insurance would make it cost prohibitive. I’m sure it’s a staggering investment. Then everyone in the area would be pissed they have to pay for it.
Every town in this state has unused park land, including my town of Warren. I was on the Rec committee for maybe a year and I gave up because none of these small towns wants this. High Bridge is a great example of what can happen when you don’t just say no to everything.
Every town in this state has unused park land, including my town of Warren. I was on the Rec committee for maybe a year and I gave up because none of these small towns wants this. High Bridge is a great example of what can happen when you don’t just say no to everything.
FastFreddy
Well-Known Member
I saw this a while ago in the paper about building some kind of indoor sports complex in Jackson near Six Flags. There's a Giant Bicycles logo on the roof but I couldn't find anymore info about it. 
Ian F
Well-Known Member
That course has been there for a few years. One problem with slalom courses (or any type of jump trail) is the work to keep it running well. And I haven't gotten the impression Blue has the staff to really do that well.
Ian F
Well-Known Member
They have a website: http://www.adventuresportsandentertainment.com/I saw this a while ago in the paper about building some kind of indoor sports complex in Jackson near Six Flags. There's a Giant Bicycles logo on the roof but I couldn't find anymore info about it.
View attachment 140678
No mention of anything bike related other than the big "Giant" logo on the roof. Sounds like there might be a bike shop as part of the retail area. Looking at the site map, it seems there is room for a bike area or at least a Velosolutions-style pump track.
don
Well-Known Member
I've had the same feeling after riding certain trails in Stowe, VT. I think the "flow trails with bike park inspiration" is exactly it. And just like you said we have great trails in NJ but having a few lines that can be sessioned is the way to go.
The trail I love in Stowe is called Florence and it is right in the middle of a long existing network in the middle of town. When I was up there this summer if I had some time I would ride Flo then some of the old school "roots, rocks, reggae" stuff and then finish with Flo and then over to Bear (another flowy) trail back to the lot. If I only had an hour I'd lap Flo and the pieces to get to it and back.
I tried out Highbridge this summer and while not blown away with the "flow" I was with the overall architecture. Where the 2 lines are and the pump track at the bottom is close to perfect. I think dialing those first 2 lines adding a 3 flow line with bigger jumps, a much better pump track and a DJ line or 2 at the bottom would be absolutely perfect.
And going back to the more TM comment. I think if you had the above setup and got a really good group of people maintaining it then other TM sessions for other parts of the park could and would develope. I feel that is what has happened in the Stowe, Vt network I talk about.
That web developer needs to find a different profession. Wow.
don
Well-Known Member
Like the Faction sang years ago "kids are the future". I grew up racing BMX in the 80's and it was an incredible experience. From what I've seen these days it's not save for some certain areas. I think USA BMX should look into help develop more pump track / dirt jump trail spots. If you have more local pump track/DJ places you could have more although smaller races/events which would actually get kids more into it. BMX racing was like that when I was racing in the 80's. Lots of local tracks. If you got good then state races were the next thing. National races were for the best of the best and meant it.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/pump-track-crankworx-innsbruck-2020.html - It's a long video but skip to 1:20 - the commentators talk about the age and level differences that can enjoy a pump track (although well made) I think a layout like that in Innsbruck would be the ticket for local race nights and be good for multiple people riding it and kids pickup races during a daily session.
Also I thing about the BMX track vs pump track is more girls and different wheel sized bikes both of which are really good for riding.
don
Well-Known Member
High Bridge is a great model and should be at a lot more parks. For me to hit High Bridge it is at least 1/2 day event as it was over an hour each way driving. If I had something like those High Bridge lines at say Hartshorne which is 10 minutes away I could do some lunch laps and get some fun runs in an hour. Additionally riding it frequently I would be able to help maintain and improve the line. A power hour dig session mid week and a couple hours during a Sunday session would go a long way especially if you had a good local crew of a half dozen people.
don
Well-Known Member
Exactly. For me the work dialing in a feature with some of my good friends is just as fun as the riding itself.
Going back to the kids like Norm mentioned if you can have kids help design, build and maintain section of trail it would teach them a lot. I've actually thought about ways you could teach a science/math class at the trails.
Captain Brainstorm
Well-Known Member
I spent more than half the summer riding those lines, there's a trail to jump into Cady Hill from our neighborhood, so I was dipping out for quick lunch rides almost every day. The thing with Stowe is that they hire professional trail builders to design and construct trails like Flo, and the amount of maintenance required to keep those lines up is very high. For example, if you hit Flo up after a busy holiday weekend, every berm is full of bomb-holes that they need to fix. Same with Bears. With the amount of traffic a trail like this would generate at a place like Ringwood, who is going to fix this every week? Also, in Stowe, VMBA has a chapter right there in town managing all of the trails, and access is such that its easy to get a machine back into the trails from multiple access points, even somewhere further out there like Adams Camp or Sterling Valley. Over the course of the summer, I almost always saw someone back there building/maintaining something.
don
Well-Known Member
Really good points.
Maybe because I come from a bmx trail background but I feel like everyone who rides should contribute to maintaining their local stuff. I think there is alot more eduaction there on the trails. I don't know the scene in Ringwood but I feel if there was something like that local to me we could get at least a half dozen people that would do weekly maintaining a line or 2 at Hartshorne (for a possible example). And the 2 flow lines at High Bridge NJ are about half the size of Flo and Bear (maybe smaller). If you model the trail size with the amount of people that would maintain it you could find the right balance. Stowe also has about 5 solid networks of trail in the size of one network (again comparing my local trail Hartshorne to it, not Ringwood).
Captain Brainstorm
Well-Known Member
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.
Ashcor
Well-Known Member
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...
JPark
Well-Known Member
Highbridge is the only one I can think of