Just about a year ago, the Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association (SORCA) and the District of Squamish officially opened the community’s mountain bike skills park beside Brennan Park Recreation Centre.
The gravel track, meant to help young riders gain confidence before hitting the mountain trails, has proven to be a huge hit, according to Jeff Cooke of the association.
“It has really exceeded our expectations in terms of how many kids are out there enjoying it all the time,” said Cooke. On an average weather day after school, there is often about 50 or 60 kids out riding on the track, he said.
“It is really fun to see the younger kids pushing themselves and going over all the stunts we thought would only be for the more advanced riders, but the little ones are just ripping it up, so it is really great to see.”
It took Cooke and Squamish trail builder Chris Hamilton about two years to pull the park together before it opened, April 12, 2014.
The district granted SORCA a lease agreement and chipped in $20,000 towards building the park, and sponsors stepped up as well. SORCA maintains the skills park, something Cooke said has required less work than he expected.
“We did it with high quality and a goal to making it sustainable and we really haven’t had to put too much maintenance into it, so it has been a great addition to the recreation assets of our community.”
Cooke said other than raking the track, the association hasn’t had to do much to the park over the year.
Next SORCA is looking at creating a bicycle trials area that will hopefully be completed by this summer, Cooke said.
“We want to take one corner and put features and stunts in there that will be an introductory level bicycles trials area, which keeps building on our bike culture here in Squamish,” he said. For more on SORCA, check out www.sorca.ca.
