NYCMTB.com

[rpet]

This got posted on Ridemonkey. A crazy big, professionally-designed DJ park in fresno, ca. 40 tabletops in a row, bmx track etc.

something to work towards:
http://www.woodwardmtbpark.com/Map_.html
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[gumby]

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2010/2011 - epic fail for the riding of bicycles.

[rossp]

how many hand carried buckets is that?

I initially thought the cable cam line was a chairlift!!!!
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Mojo is back

[Ahab]

[Bastard4Life]

[trailking26]

How can we secure a grant to cover the cost of having a master plan drawn up by these folks for HB?
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Build what you ride

[jbogner]

[gumby]

[rpet]

so what's the next steps for opening the jumps into that area?

There is room for continuing the S formation of the current line with a 3rd berm, 6 pack of tables, 4th berm and final 4th pack.

[on an slightly-related note, I think long term we should tear down our nice big lovely jump #3, bring it closer to jump #2 (where the roller is now), push our nice berm back 8 feet and build a new 4th table about where the 3rd one is now. Bringing the "big line" to 4 total jumps before cutting back.]
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[jbogner]

That area would be great for jumps, but it's going to be a fight to get into that area since Natural Resources Group has their own manifest destiny for it. We are working on it, though. Chris and I were planning on pitching it at a meeting earlier this year, but scuttled that idea mid-meeting after getting slammed and threatened early on. Those problems have been fixed and this year has been pretty good, so we're in a better position to ask now. We'll work on the logistics over the winter so that we can hopefully get a green-light by spring.
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"Ugly or pretty, it's still my city.
Make up your mind and get in or get out!"

[trailking26]

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of a progressive trail system that spans the entirety of HB park.
I hear this idea a lot from most everyone I talk to about the park.

With a well devised master plan the layout could be put down first, and the park's various "Zones" could be built in phases over a period of time.

First, the whole trail system (Master Plan)could be cut over the course of a year or two, with emphasis on where the future "Zones" will be.This part costs little money and is relatively easy.

XC/AM riders who travel from afar to frequent the parks new and more abundant trails would probably be willing to help diversify the trails as well as their skills and make the progression park well,... progress into a mecca of MTB glory.

Second the "zones" (features) can be added over the existing grid of trails as time, labor, and of course funds permit.

A park of this caliber in NYC will most definately promote itself. This type of place [Woodward] is the Highbridge we need to be building and working towards.

I am going to contact Rachel and Nat from HilRide at some point but will need to learn a bit more about our organization, and our established goals as far as trail mileage and development.
This could be one of the most technically challenging (think infrastructure integration) and high-profile projects they could get into. Who wouldn't want that in their portfolio?
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Build what you ride

[jbogner]

Lets come back down to reality- this is NYC, Highbridge Park has other users and demands, and NYC Parks is absolutely not ever going to give us run of the park.

Believe me- we have asked, we have pitched, and what we have currently is the result of many years of lobbying, planning, mapping, negotiating and meeting. I have mapped out a plan for trails that span the park and would integrate with the paved pedestrian and bike paths, and when Skolnick and I presented it was told in no uncertain terms that they do not want to expand the scope of the mountain bike trails beyond the current area they're in. It has been a fight just to get them to say "yes, you can explore cutting two new XC trails, but only in the area north of the bridges". We continue to push and lobby for more trails and expanded jumps, and are not going to ever give up the fight, but it's nothing that a pie-in-the-sky master plan would help with. The issue is not ideas for how to progressively develop the park for mountain biking- we have those. The issue is that NYC Parks is happy with the scope of mountain biking in the park as it currently exists, and does not want to expand that.

Having said that, I am going to draw out the proposed jump line extension and add it to our current jump park map layout. And I'll show you (Trombley) all the master-planning maps that we have developed and presented to Parks. And it's not all bad- Parks has proposed things like allowing us to demolish the stairway in the current jump area, and they're open to potential expansion in the area around the skatepark that will be built under the Hamilton Bridge by the DOT in a few years. But since all that area will be used by the DOT during the construction work on the bridge, nothing can be built for at least 3 years.

Nat and Rachel are great folks- before they launched Hilride they were IMBA trail care crewers and came to NYC in 2006 to lead all our trail building classes. They're familiar with the parks and I know them well.
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"Ugly or pretty, it's still my city.
Make up your mind and get in or get out!"

[jbogner]

One more thing- the best thing any of us can do for mountain biking at Highbridge is not trail building, it's organizing programs to get more youth from the neighborhood using the trails. The primary goal of the Parks staff is serving their neighborhood. Increasing neighborhood buy-in to the trails would do more than any master plan. If any of you are interested in organizing an after-school program at the dirt jumps, then by all means let me know!
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"Ugly or pretty, it's still my city.
Make up your mind and get in or get out!"

[trailking26]

Sorry, I get excited easily.
Frankly, I am so stoked on what has been accomplished so far I figure anything is possible.
I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea, I am not crazy about building a huge jump park. We already have a perfectly comfortable size of jump area, and it will fill in and become much more progressive in the next year.
It is really the XC/AM progression I would be excited to see happen in the back. Even if it is in the space we already have.

However my needs are second to the countless people who have expressed to me that the fun they get out of riding the trails at HB is too short-winded.
What is the possibility that we can squeeze more flowy (up and down) mileage out of what we have now? If they'll consider letting us go to the bridge, what can we do to make it happen?

Ideally, this would make the back trails become more useful to the expirienced crowd, people who inevitably do most of the trail maintenance/development.
It feels like there is less and less interest in this park from people who were more active in the past. It seems like most of the folks who built those trails never even ride there on a regular basis, and go somewhere else to get their fitness.

Additionally I agree with you Jamie. Getting "XC riders who travel from afar" into the park is probably not the best method of getting what this park needs. I have contacted you before with interest in starting a youth program and am still very interested in this. Shoot me your E-mail, maybe we can get together sometime and talk about it.
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[rpet]

updated pics of it here:

http://ridemonkey.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3164814&postcount=2
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'09 DR650
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