San Angelo Needs A Bike Park

San Angelo needs a bike park, and the first step toward meeting that need is to identify possible locations.

Our community has over 375 acres of developed park space that includes a municipal golf course, a skate park, an international water lily collection, 25 playgrounds, 25 sports practice fields, 27 picnic areas, a multimillion dollar baseball park, lake parks, and there’s talk of building a dog park in the near future.

Unfortunately, none of these areas realistically meet the requirements for a bike park area (more on those requirements later).

Some people will argue that we have a state park with miles of multi use trails and also the Twin Buttes open space with both trails and 4WD roads, but we still need an in-town bike park and here’s why.

The most successful cycling event in San Angelo in recent years has been the weekly cyclocross series that took place on a small tract of vacant Angelo State University property adjacent to Johnson Street and the ASU softball fields.

For the past several years, cyclists of all ages and abilities have turned out for each cyclocross series race with family and friends coming out to watch and cheer on competitors.

More importantly, these trails through the vacant ASU-owned land have become a go-to location for many area cyclists as they participate in off-road bike workouts, beginner rides, and “how to” clinics.

Although the state park and Twin Buttes areas offer miles and miles of trails, the in-town “bike park” area on the university campus has proved to be a safer and more convenient location for cycling activities where individuals feel comfortable riding alone and where kids could be turned loose to “pedal away.”

The ASU trails (and associated cyclocross series) were developed by former staff of Angelo State’s fitness and wellness program with the intent being to provide a safe and fun location for on-campus cycling, walking, and trail running activities.

However, the bike trails on campus have some serious limitations such as extensive mesquite thorn infestation, minimal trail maintenance, very little up-down elevation change, lack of public restrooms and awkward restrictions regarding public use for organized cycling activities and events.

As noted earlier, we need an in-town bike park where individuals and families can ride safely and where cycling-related events take place.

The city of Boulder, Colo., faced this same issue a few years ago. Even though the region surrounding Boulder has some of the best mountain biking and hiking trails in the nation, a group of forward-thinking cyclists led by mountain bike hall of fame member Pete Webber worked with Boulder’s Parks Department to develop a vision plan for a municipal bike park that would provide a safe, accessible riding experience for Boulder residents.

The outcome of this vision plan was the development of Boulder’s Valmont Bike park (http://bouldermountainbike.org/valmontbikepark), a 40 acre multi use facility completed in 2010 that includes a terrain area for mountain and BMX bikes, a cyclocross course, a network of single track trails, a learning loop, and a Tot Track for tricycles and strider bikes.

Since opening in 2010, ValmontPark has become a favorite cycling location for Boulder-area residents with an average of 250 users per day on weekdays and over 500 on weekends (or more when an organized event takes place).

As one Valmont Park user noted, “Bike parks are what skate parks were 15 years ago. Now, the big thing is creating dirt spaces for much larger tires.”

Boulder’s bike park is used for cycling clinics, workout groups, family rides, races, and — in January of this year — was the host venue for the Cyclocross National Championships that brought almost 2,000 racers, thousands of spectators, and $1.5 million in direct tourist spending to Boulder for the five-day championship event.

So, what would be the requirements be for a San Angelo bike park location?

Ideally, the park would be located on 25 to 35 acres of open land, be on rolling terrain that has at least 75-100 feet of elevation gain and be easily accessible both by motor vehicle and by bicycle.

Grass, landscaping, the associated water usage, and hard-surface paths would not be needed. Construction costs would be minimal — just bulldoze all but a few mesquite trees, clear a winding loop of 8-10 foot wide dirt trails, grade a dirt parking area, and add a few contoured features such as berms and dirt jumps.

Restroom facilities could be initially be portable toilets, and park users would have to bring their own water until funding allowed a drinking water fountain to be installed.

Trail design and ongoing maintenance would done by volunteers from the cycling community, and a portion of the revenues from organized events would go into a bike park maintenance fund.

All that’s needed is a good location for the park and the support of the city and local cycling groups to develop a bike park plan and then implement it.

Some promising areas that might fit the requirements include 25 acres of city-owned property located east of College Hills and north of Valleyview Blvd, some vacant airport land adjacent to Stewart Lane across from the airport baseball fields and an area of undeveloped city property east of the Texas Bank sports complex.

The “Blooming Weeds” open space and adjacent hillside on Gun Club Road across from the KOA also has potential, and it might be possible to include a bike park in the area of the eventually-to-be-built Red Arroyo trail.

There are obviously other in-town locations that might work, so if you have any ideas please let me know.  Remember - San Angelo needs a municipal bike park.


Upcoming Events

May 15: Mountain bike time trial, angelobike.org
May 16: Relay for Life, relayforlife.org
May 16: Relay for Life 5K, roadlizards.org
June 7: Run in the Sun 8K, roadlizards.org
June 21: Stop, Drop, and Roll, roadlizards.org