Bikers, runners and hikers of all ages and skill levels are reaping the rewards of a summer of hard work by an army of volunteers organized by Bike Cochrane.
The first of two projects, a new bike park recently opened at Riverfront Park to address a need for the youngest riders to have a course designed specially for them. Dubbed the ‘Micro’ Bike Skills Park, the course is the brainchild of Bike Cochrane’s mountain bike ambassador Colin Yates.
The idea was hatched after Yates watched his son Lenny one day, riding over dirt bumps left over from reconstructive work after a flood in 2013.
“I thought, ‘Why couldn’t Lenny ride a bit farther here? Why couldn’t he develop his skills in a safe environment? Why can’t there be a little bike skills park here?’” Yates said.
After ironing out the challenge of maintenance and insurance with a formal agreement with the Town of Cochrane, the idea eventually became a reality.
Bike skills parks are free, fun, and safe places for kids to learn, according to Bike Cochrane, and they offer kids a place to practice and hone their cycling skills. They contain a variety of natural and man-made features such as jumps, rocks, logs, pump tracks, ladder bridges, teeter totters, and flow trails.
Like a skateboard park is designed for skateboards, a bike skills park is designed for bikes.
The new micro bike park is aimed specifically at what are called “strider riders,” and three to seven-year-old bike riders. (Striders are bikes without pedals, designed for toddlers who are just learning to manouvre on two wheels).
“We wanted kids to have a place where they can work on their balance and progress their bike skills, and smile and have fun,” said Paul Perrault, director of operations at Bike Cochrane.
The new space provides a natural progression between learning to ride without falling down and developing the more advanced skills needed for challenging courses designed for bigger kids.
“The focus is on keeping the rubber side down. It makes a space for them to build confidence,” Perrault said.
The new amenity was a community effort. Colin Ryan from Wildcat Coffee Company built the park’s wood features, while Bike Cochrane’s trail crew volunteered with manual labour in shaping and digging the berms, along with remediating soil and planting new grass seed.
Bike Cochrane is looking at other public and private spaces to see where else progressive, kid-friendly bike parks could be built in the near future.
The Town’s Parks and Recreation Committee has already planned a large bike skills park, multi-use trails, and other amenities at the coming Horse Creek Sports Park, which will be built in the northwest corner of Cochrane. But due to the large scope of that project (servicing for the park won’t start until 2024), smaller ‘micro’ bike parks like the new one at Riverfront Park can be built and used within a year or less, at virtually no cost to the Town.
The other main project in the works will see an expansion of the mountain biking trails system by around seven kilometres on privately-owned land in Rocky View County adjacent to Cochrane.
Perrault said they’re not quite ready to announce the location of the two new trails, as they still need to complete the work required to ensure they meet safety and responsible use guidelines – always a concern when getting agreements with private landowners for public access, he added.
When announced this fall, the two new trails will be open for trail running as well as mountain biking – two uses that Perrault said can be easily combined.
Town council has also supported Bike Cochrane to pilot a Trail Stewardship Agreement this summer, which is bringing up the standard of the multi-use trails in parks using Bike Cochrane’s volunteer trails crew.
Taking advantage of the skills of the trail-builders on the trails crew has allowed the Town’s many trails to be upgraded, managed, and maintained to a higher standard than what has been possible in the past.
Perrault added a reminder that all trail-users in and around Cochrane should practice bear smart behaviour, especially this time of year.
“Be cautious, be careful,” he said. “Don’t let your five-year-olds out riding or walking without parental supervision.”
To see other projects and activities underway or to volunteer go to www.bikecochrane.com.
