Valmont Bike Park

Saturday I finally went to Valmont Bike Park, over on the east side of Boulder. It was a great time and I quickly became mad at myself for taking so long to check it out.

 

Valmont from the spectator platform, with the Flatirons in the distance.

In May of 1996, the city hosted a public input meeting on what to do with the newly purchased 132 acres of park land on Valmont Road.  Two local cyclists saw the need for a dedicated space for cyclists to ride, and big biker turnout at public forums showed the city that cyclists were a large user group with unmet needs.

The planning process began in 1996, but the dot com bust really hurt the city's budget, so the park was put on hold. Then, in 2006, the development process was restarted. The original 1996 plan was updated to meet the current city needs and demographics, and the final decision was to develop 40 acres into the bike park. (The majority of the park remains undeveloped, I believe a dog park and disc golf course are coming next.) Total estimated cost of construction was $1.2 million. Sales tax revenue covered the majority of the cost, and nearly half a million dollars was raised through a partnership between Boulder Parks and Recreation, Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance, and IMBA. Ground was broken in October of 2009 and the park officially opened in June 2011.

The park was designed to be a world-class facility that can meet the needs of riders of all ages and abilities. In addition to hosting the day-to-day public recreation, it is also designed as a venue for special events and races. There are currently 4 miles of single track trails, with many man-made and natural obstacles including logs, bridges, and rocks. There is also a slopestyle course with four runs of varying difficulty, a dual slalom course, dirt jumps for all abilities, two pump tracks, several cyclo-cross features, and a "tot track" for young riders.

Accidental fire yields decent results.

I rode all the single track available to me, much of it multiple times. I did not try out the pump tracks, but definitely will next time. The green (easiest) trails were very tame but were still fun to zoom around on. The blue (more difficult) single track was either steep and twisty with nice berms and banked turns, or peppered with rideable elements. I only shied away from a few features, for fear of my bottom bracket and crank slamming into rock, and all I tried I cleaned either my first or second try. I wish there were more challenging features on the single track, but what's there is very fun. My favorite trail was "Corkscrew," a very fast and flowy series of switchbacks; after five runs down my cornering was already noticeably improving.

  

Corkscrew trail.

I only tried out the easiest of the four runs (dubbed S, M, L, & XL) on the slopestyle course. The "Small" path still has ample opportunity to get some good air. I doubt I'll ever have the right bike or mindset to go for the L or XL, but I'm looking forward to working my way up to the M lines.

The big starts on the slopestyle course.

  

Besides pushing it on the slopestyle and increasing speed on the singletrack, the only way for me to really stay challenged at Valmont is to learn to ride the pump tracks. This is supposed to be a great skill to learn so I'm looking forward to trying it out. But long-term, unless they start working on a Phase II, I'm not so sure I will stay challenged by the park. Again, that's not to say I wouldn't always be able to have a great time though. Need to find the best way to ride there for next time.

Fun stuff to roll!