COMMUNITY BIKE PARKS

WHAT IS A BIKE PARK?

A bike park is a piece of land specifically designed for off-road or mountain biking. Bike parks can be built in small urban areas, public lands or integrated with trail systems. A bike park may include skills courses, pump tracks, jumps, trails and features. With many design and budget options available, a bike park is an achievable project for all communities.

WHY A BIKE PARK?

Bike parks provide family-friendly recreation. The need for safe, sustainable, progressive riding areas is growing with bikings popularity there is a great need for every community to have a space to enjoy riding opportunities.

The health benefits of riding bicycles is wide spread and well documented. From combating obesity and nature deficit disorder to strengthening the bonds of friends and family, biking has the power to transform communities.

Bike parks and bike trails can be integrated into existing park systems, trail systems, planned communities, placed adjacent to skate sparks or used to re-purpose vacant land.

Urban bike parks are a great way to introduce biking into the community, the parks consist of pump tracks, dirt jumps, learn to ride areas they can even include cafes, retail/ rental and a community space including picnic benches and gathering areas. The parks will also include kid specific zones where parents can relax and watch their children in a safe controlled environment.

A Bicycle Playground is exactly what is sounds like, a playground designed with features for kids to ride. Bicycle Playgrounds include features like ladder bridges, rollers, tunnels, and even teeter-totters specifically designed to offer a variety of fun obstacles that safely build cycling confidence.

Many people live in neighborhoods where kids don’t have a safe place to learn to ride, so they end up trying to learn on the sidewalk or in the street. In a neighborhood with a Bicycle Playground, parents can teach kids to ride in an area that is created just for that.

There is added motivation for kids to learn to ride since they are witnessing other kids riding and having fun. Bicycle Playgrounds have benefits that kids never think about that are at the top of the list for recreation professionals, such as getting kids outside, learning balance, gaining strength, focusing on and completing tasks, and interacting with other kids. Bicycle Playgrounds also teach kids to practice taking turns as they complete laps around the track.

Like traditional parks and playgrounds, a bike park or Bicycle Playground creates a place for neighborhoods to gather, families to bond and new friendships to form. Unlike traditional playgrounds that children eventually outgrow, everybody can use and enjoy a Bicycle Playground regardless of age. Even if your community has a world-class cycling infrastructure with access to paved and natural trails, a Bicycle Playground can complement what already exists by providing a place purposefully built for young riders.