Volunteer work party is ON! Monday October 12th 4-7PM

Spread the word, tomorrow, Monday October 12th from 4-7pm, Volunteer Workday is on! We could really use your help tomorrow in preparation for the Groundbreaking Ceremony and Cyclocross race NEXT SATURDAY, Oct 17th.

A few details about the volunteer night tomorrow:

• Come whenever you are free, and stay only as long as you want.
• Park your cars in the paved lot on the south side of Valmont Park, south of Valmont Rd. Don't park near the Platt Farmhouse, and don't park at the chicken barn/dog park (it is too muddy.)
• Meet at the pond, next to the "pump-house" in Valmont Park. This is right next to the intersection of Valmont and Airport Rd.
• Tools: All tools will be provided.
• Construction of the dirt jumps is cancelled due to weather.
  

It should only take a few hours, and will consist of cutting weeds, raking debris, smoothing bumps, pruning branches, digging out cactus, and pounding stakes.

If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Pete Webber and John:
pete at imba dot com
mtbcolorado at yahoo dot com

If you can't attend, no worries! If you can, THANK YOU!!!

Valmont Bike Park | How it gets built!

You ever wonder how a bike park gets built? Well, in the case of Valmont Bike Park, this is a MAJOR undertaking as nearly 45 acres of land will be meticulously groomed and shaped by earth movers to literally make the elevation gains and losses we want to have the most fun on as off road cyclists. Your donations and the substantial money invested by the city of Boulder make this happen and the VBP committee is dedicated to ensuring this becomes world class. To our knowledge, no bike park in the United States is at the scale or caliber of this multi-million dollar investment. So to demonstrate, here’s what a typical day in the life of a bike park’s development looks like in a brief 45 second snapshot:

Over and over…all day…a parade of monster earth movers and groomers literally take land from one place and deposit it elsewhere to create the contours, hills and valleys we’ve designed into the Park. Once groomed and shaped, the park will have it's courses laid in and natural vegetation carefully replanted to give the park a great taste of Colorado’s finest singletrack.

As previously mentioned, October 17th will be the park’s groundbreaking day and a Cyclocross Race! To give you a bit of a teaser, here’s a preview of the course to whet appetites. HUP HUP!

Valmont Bike Park Cyclocross Course Map

View more documents from Greg Keller.

Valmont Bike Park Groundbreaking!

Valmont Bike Park Fest

Official Groundbreaking with an ACA Cyclocross Race & Fun Cycling Activities!!

Saturday, October 17th
CX Race and Bike Activities: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
Groundbreaking: 11:00 am
Valmont City Park
Valmont Road and Airport Road, NE corner
Boulder, Colorado

The time has come to break ground at the site of our future Valmont Bike Park! Construction officially begins in 2010, but big changes are already happening at VBP - come see for yourself. The Park will be dirty, bumpy, and very far from finished, with a temporary one-time trail built just for the Cyclocross Race... but we are excited to see construction changes underway and, hey, it's never too early to start having fun at your new favorite Boulder City Park!
The Groundbreaking is only one part of VBP Fest, a full day of activities and fun, including:

• Valmont Bike Park Ground Breaking Cross races, 8 am to 4 pm
• Kids fun: jumpy castle and mini skills park
• Beer Garden sponsored by Boulder Beer, right on the CX course
• Jump Jam
• Food vendors
• Site tours to check out the bike park site and plans

Bring your friends and family! Forward this message to share the fun, and stay tuned for more details!
Contact info@valmontbikepark.com with any questions.
We will see you on October 17th!

Sponsored by

Call for Volunteers

Want to help make the VBP Fest a success? Ready to throw in some volunteer sweat? We need you! Email Andria at boulderfuzz@gmail.com if you can help out on October 17th - we'll need people to pour beer, help direct people to parking, distribute cowbells, you name it.

Valmont Bike Park News Updates!

Next Generation of Bike Park Plans Now Online

Time to get excited!

Detailed plans for Valmont Bike Park are now online, and you really have to see them to believe it - the Park designers have pulled out all the stops to dream up an amazing park, and you can clearly see their vision in these next generation site plans.  The current plans including site maps marking feature locations and detailed drawings for individual features, but expect changes as additional design details are still being developed for the final package to guide the construction effort.  Current plans include cyclocross sandpits and staircases, wall rides, banked turns, rollers and tabletops, log rides... everything you need to visualize Valmont Bike Park in your dreams.
Kudos go out to the team of designers from Alpine Bike Parks, IMBA, and Alta Planning & Design for their dedication to VBP.  As far as we know, no trail builders in the nation have ever had to adhere to this level of detail.  It is a big learning curve, but this is a big civil engineering project.  The level of detail is necessary for proper bid and build without tons of change orders to the project.  We can't thank Alpine Bike Parks enough for making their vision available to the rest of us.

Site Grading in September and October

First steps toward building Valmont Bike Park

Expect to see dirt moving around at Valmont Bike Park!  The first step in making VBP a biking heaven is to move a lot of dirt, shaping it into hills and features which will then hold the trails and landscaping. The City has taken a very proactive step by creating a separate permit for the grading work at the park, so that this important first step can happen as soon as possible.

Valmont Bike Park Fundraising Hits $366K

That's right, to date we have raised $366,000 towards construction of bike features and trails at Valmont Bike Park!  Thanks to a combination of individual donations from the community and generous grants from GOCO, Bikes Belong, The Dalbey Foundation and REI, we have increased the budget for bike park features by 50%.

One more time, thank you donors!

REI Grant Helps Fund VBP
$10,000 grant due to REI employees

REI employees work, play and volunteer in their communities. Because of this close relationship with the community, REI asks their employees to nominate non-profit organizations for REI grants.  The Valmont Bike Park was nominated by the REI Boulder Store and we applied for funding this spring.  
We are pleased to report that our grant request was approved and recently funded.  Valmont Bike Park received $10,000 from REI to support trail construction and also ongoing maintenance.  Some of these funds will be used for the purchase of hand tools and equipment that will be stored on-site and used by volunteers.
REI has been a long-time supporter of outdoor recreation and BMA.  In fact, the 'REI Gives' Program has even provided a major grant for BMA's Volunteer Trail Work Program. Thanks REI for your support!

Groundbreaking Party and CX Race

October 17th at Valmont Bike Park!

Cyclocross Super Cup, 1998 - the last time a CX race was held at Valmont!

On October 17th, the VBP Committee and Boulder Parks and Recreation will host a groundbreaking event and party at the Park in conjunction with a cyclocross race.  Details are pending, but hundreds of racers and spectators will be there to help us inaugurate the Park.  The race will take place on temporary trails and under very unfinished conditions - the park and trail will not be indicative of the final product.  However, this is a great opportunity to get VBP started, so that you, our donors, can see what the Park is like now and get ready for its transformation in 2010.
Mark your calendars, and stay tuned for details.

Idea of urban bike parks gains traction along Front Range

By Jason Blevins
The Denver Post

Posted: 08/04/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT

Updated: 08/04/2009 06:13:02 AM MDT

Logan Watson, 13, jumps a bump at Bohn Park in Lyons. As urban mountain-biking parks become more numerous on the Front Range, their rugged terrain can also attract BMX riders. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

BOULDER — Skateboarders have their own concrete courtyards. Kayakers enjoy whitewater playparks in dozens of riverside towns. Now mountain bikers are getting their own in-town places to play.

A $4.1 million bike park under construction in Boulder, a half- dozen others already open, and circuits proposed for Golden and Denver mark yet another step in the park-and-play progression that has brought high-country sports to Colorado's downtown landscapes.

The concept is simple: Bring the playground to the people, where skills can develop without a drive deep into the hills.

"It's bringing the backcountry or action sports experience to the front country," said Ryan Schutz, Rocky Mountain regional director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association, which promotes the urban bike park as a gateway to mountain biking.

Colorado has been quick to embrace the concept of a one-stop spot to learn and compete. There are 26 whitewater playparks in the state, about a quarter of the nation's total.

Schutz expects something similar to happen with bike parks.

"The active lifestyle is so important here, and I see the bike park taking off in Colorado before anywhere else," he said.

A decade ago, Colorado's ski resorts began sculpting mountainside trails into bike-ready singletracks, with many resorts, including SolVista, Keystone and Winter Park, adding downhill-specific trails with ramps, elevated paths and obstacles that cater to the new-school "freeride" cyclists.

Cities along the Front Range co-opted the concept. Lyons, Castle Rock and Lakewood have set aside areas for trails training and freeriding, and the Colorado Mountain Bike Association is asking Golden to approve a bike park in the city's Tony Grampsas Park.

Fort Collins a freeriding first

Fort Collins went first, dedicating a portion of its 100-acre Spring Canyon park for freeride bicyclists in 2007.

Spring Canyon riders pilot their bikes over logs, rocks, ramps and berms. The area is connected to Fort Collins' web of regional trails.

Craig Foreman, Fort Collins' park development director, said Spring Canyon is heavily used and local riders have become its stewards, volunteering to maintain trails and features.

A $200,000 grant from Great Outdoors Colorado jump-started construction of the $4.1 million Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, a 45-acre complex that will include a clubhouse, singletrack trails, a terrain park, a cyclocross race course and viewing plazas for competition spectators. The park will include terrain for riders of all abilities.

Plans for the park began in 1996, when the city of Boulder acquired a former chicken farm near its eastern boundary.

Boulder's biking community shifted planning into high gear nearly three years ago, lobbying local leaders with their never-been-done-before idea.

"No one had ever built a cycling facility like this," said Bobby Noyes , a Boulder cyclist who helped sculpt the Valmont park plan.

Pedaling big dreams

Through the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, local pedalers have raised $158,000 to fund the park's construction and maintenance.

Already, cyclists are dreaming big.

They think the Boulder park could anchor a national mountain bike racing league. It could regularly host school kids and provide a venue for teaching bike safety, delivering lessons that could ultimately dilute the growing animosity between cyclists and drivers. It could be the home to national cyclocross championships, which appeals to the Front Range's 2,500 licensed cyclocross racers.

"The potential is huge for what we are about to create here," said Chris Grealish, a Boulder bike racer who promotes and stages international cyclocross races, which feature off-road racing on short, muddy, obstacle-riddled tracks.

It's not just for cyclists, though. Planners hope that as the state's whitewater playparks evolve into spectator-friendly riverside hangouts, the Boulder park's appeal will reach beyond pedalers.

(And for the record, the park's plans include a dog park and traditional playground equipment.)

"We are hoping this becomes a community amenity that will be used by more than just cyclists," said city parks planner Perry Brooks.

In the past couple of years, the urban bike park concept has gained traction nationwide. One is under construction in Grand Rapids, Mich. Bike groups in Portland, Ore., San Francisco and Orlando, Fla., are jockeying for city approval and funding to develop urban bike playgrounds. A park in Chicago and Seattle's new Interstate 5 Colonnade Mountain Bike Park — tucked beneath an interstate overpass — have become international models for what cities can do for local off-road cyclists.

Ski operator eyes Denver

In Denver, Winter Park ski area operator Intrawest is developing plans to build a 4-acre downhill bike course at North Barnum Park, a sort of summer equivalent of the ski resort's winter activities at Denver's Ruby Hill park.

Intrawest's idea is to groom the next generation of riders who might someday visit Winter Park's expanding network of downhill and freeride trails, while a dilapidated Denver park gets an upgrade.

"This could be a well-structured spot for riders to develop their skills," said Bob Holme, manager of Winter Park's bike park, "and it's a chance to reach out to kids in the city and get them involved in the sport of cycling."

Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374or jblevins@denverpost.com

Valmont Bike Park Awarded GOCO Grant!

Valmont Bike Park Awarded Great Outdoors Colorado Grant!
Additional funding of $200,000 from GOCO

We are thrilled to announce that Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) has awarded $200,000 to Boulder Parks & Recreation for construction at the Valmont Bike Park (VBP). Forty-five applications were submitted requesting more than $7 million - so VBP was among some pretty tough competition!

Boulder Mountainbike Alliance (BMA) played an integral role in the grant application, and our partnership with City of Boulder Parks & Recreation Department helped strengthen the proposal immensely. The community support for a bike park at Valmont, as well as more than $150,000 in individual donations from over 500 people and businesses also made our application competitive in GOCO's process.

This generous grant from GOCO will bring us much closer to the vision of a world-class bike park at Valmont City Park.  This grant will be used to supplement the City's construction budget to help build a cutting-edge bike park, and also help us seek additional funding from local foundations that hold GOCO's decisions in high regard.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the Valmont Bike Park - your volunteer time and generous donations have truly paid off!

The PRO-ness of Valmont Bike Park

I just wanted to share with you a little sampling of what’s coming. What people need to understand is that this project is literally at the tip of the spear in many aspects…from the way we organized to push the concept in 2007 with the City of Boulder to the aggregation of the most professional resources possible to ensure this park is world class.

One such example is Tarras Landscape Innovation. This is the team which was selected by the Valmont Park Committee after they submitted their designs  held during an open competition and clearly blew the team away. Their contributions will be to look conceptually at the space we have allotted to us (45 acres) and look specifically at the ‘details’ of the Park itself to balance aesthetics with usability/sustainability all the while keeping the theme of cycling and cyclists at the core of their usable designs.

It’s worth a look at this brief snapshot they’ve provided.

Get excited!

Valmont Bike Park is a GO!!!!!!!!!!

Board OKs first phase of Valmont park construction

45-acre parcel to include bike park and disc-golf course

By Zak Brown (Contact)
Thursday, June 4, 2009

Photo by Marty Caivano

Jasmine Wong plays with her dog, Bella, on the south side of Valmont City Park on Thursday.

Photo by Marty Caivano

Trucks dump dirt at Valmont City Park on Thursday. The dirt will be used to shape the bike park planned for the spot just south of the Boulder County Jail.

 

BOULDER, Colo. — After more than a decade, a plot of land Boulder voters envisioned as a park with community-wide appeal took a major step toward reality Thursday night.

The site review for the first, $4.5 million phase of the Valmont City Park was approved unanimously by the Boulder Planning Board, clearing the way for a 45-acre section of the park that will include a bike park, trails, a dog park, a “tot lot” and a disc-golf course.

“When the idea for this park first started, it was meant to be an active park that could be a place for several different activities,” said Alice Guthrie, a superintendent with Boulder Parks and Recreation. “And we really think we’ve accomplished that with this plan.”

Voters approved a tax to pay for the park in 1998.

Construction is expected to start this summer or fall on the first of three phases of Valmont City Park, which in all covers a 132-acre parcel in northeast Boulder. The first phase is expected to be finished in about a year.

The bike park — which includes several different levels and types of terrain, such as dirt tracks and a cyclocross course — is already being designed with help from the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, which has donated $70,000 to the project.

The bike park is “the first built anywhere, that we know of,” Guthrie said.

The development of Valmont City Park has been a long and sometimes-complicated process.

Between 1999 and 2003, the parks department tried to find private or nonprofit partners to help develop the park. But after those attempts fell through, staffers went back to the drawing board.

The Valmont City Park Advisory Group was formed in 2007, and it restarted the process of trying to formulate the park.

After the group submitted a concept plan, the Planning Board made some suggestions, such as trying to reduce auto congestion and increase vegetation, and the City Council approved the concept last summer.

The parks department found much of the money to pay for the first phase of construction from the sale of two parks properties, which netted a little more than $3 million.

Teva and The Outdoor Foundation Support Valmont Bike Park!

(Note the generous donation Teva and the Outdoor Federation will be making to the VBP!)

Teva Partners With Outdoor Foundation and IMBA, Introduces B1-G Air Contest

Teva, a division of Deckers Outdoor Corporation, and the Outdoor Foundation have announced a new partnership effort aimed at broadening the outdoor community by engaging new audiences and industries in nature-based activities. Teva has launched the Teva B1-G Air Contest, which will invite contestants to create a short video of their biggest-air trick and try to win a trip to the 2010 Teva Mountain Games.

The effort also includes a cause-related component where a donation from Teva and The Outdoor Foundation will be made in the winner's name to IMBA to help build the Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, CO.

Valmont Clean Up a Success!

Valmont Clean Up a Success!

A Post Volunteer Work Day Report by Pete Webber

The future home of the Valmont Bike Park got a spring cleaning this weekend thanks to 60 volunteers who spent their Saturday afternoon working to clear trash, junk, and old fences from the site.

The plan was to clean up the 40-acres in anticipation of official construction to begin later this year. By the end of the day, piles of trash included car tires, lumber, innumerable plastic bags, and unexpected discoveries like a shopping cart, golf bag, rusted bed frame, lawn furniture, and 11 different shoes.

The crews also dismantled 700 feet of barbed wire fences that were hold-overs from when portions of the property were a farm. Along with the barbed wire came nearly 100 fence-posts that had to be pried out of the ground.

The vibe was super positive as young and old got dirty and pitched in to do their part for the project. Everyone also got a close look at the park plans and toured the site with some of the team involved in the planning and design.

The event was organized by the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance and the City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Department, with help from the International Mountain Biking Association.

Since day one, the public support for this park has been unbelievable, and this weekend's event was no different. Stay tuned for future events later this year and come join the fun!

See the full set of images here, or enjoy them in the slide show below!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Valmont Bike Park Work Day!

Valmont Clean-Up Day, May 9th

We are getting closer to construction for the Valmont Bike Park,
and we need your help!

When: Saturday May 9th, 2-6pm
Why: Site prep    
Time to begin site prep for the Valmont Bike Park!  We hope to begin construction over the summer, but first work needs to be done this spring. We will meet at the site at 2pm, Saturday May 9th, to get the ball rolling on construction.  The site has been neglected for years - there are downed fences, windblown debris, and invasive weeds that need to be removed. We are partnering with BMA for this Valmont Bike Park work day, but we also need your help. BMA work days are rewarding and a good chance to meet other like minded members of the community, so pitch in, it is cool to help out. 
We scheduled the clean up so you could ride in the morning, and help out in the afternoon.  After breaking into groups of ten, we will learn about the park while prepping the site for construction.  This is your first opportunity to see the plans on site, ask questions and help out.  We will provide the materials, just bring work gloves.   
We have to limit the number of volunteers to 60, and there has been a tremendous outpouring of offers to help.  Please click here to register; register early because once we reach 60 volunteers, we will respond that the event is full.    
The Valmont Bike Park will be a model civic bike project for years to come.  Come out, watch it unfold, be a part of it.

Valmont Bike Park at Sea Otter!

This is a re-cast of Rob Love’s post, owner of Blue Sky Velo in Longmont and Mavic Neutral Support Personality Extraordinaire. They’re in Monterey for The Otter and had this to say…

VBP at Sea Otter

BAM, that number plate just got tagged, Valmont-style!

hey kids:
for those of you lucky enough to be reading this blog from Sea Otter, and for the rest of us that need to live vicariously through pictures showing a little VitaminD, check it out: Mike Eubank of the Valmont Bike Park crew is out at Sea Otter doing his thing along with IMBA getting the word out about the park. Mike is spending his own time and money out there, spreading the gospel! This will definitely get some national attention to the park, and help speed along fundraising and construction.

The IMBA booth is 20x20ft of bike-avocating madness!

The VBP trail map is about as Pro as it gets.

Alright, that's about it for right now--so if you or someone you know is out in Monterrey, give'em a text, tweet, e-mail, or smoke signal and tell 'em to get over to the booth and give Mike and the crew some props!
Rob Love, over&out.

Pedestrian Shops & Boulder Arts & Crafts Host Fundraiser for VBP!

'Old Friend' Businesses Celebrate Children's Day And Earth Day The Pedestrian Shops and Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery are teaming up for a kids' Crocs-decorating event to benefit the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance designated for the Kids' Learning Loop at the Valmont Bike Park. Parents and kids can purchase a pair of kids' Crocs at the Pedestrian Shops and take them next door to the Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery to decorate them, 1-3 p.m. April 24, 1400 block of Pearl Street, 303-443-3683 or 303-449-5260

VBP Crew at University Bicycles!

The VBP crew was representin' down at University Bicycles today, out in the brilliant sunshine that is Boulder in March. Tim Shea and Mike Eubank were out manning the beautiful new VBP tent that was generously, and personally, donated to us by Dean Gentile of OMNI Promotions. It looked PRO!! Moreover, the ENTIRE staff at U Bikes was in support of the park by all wearing their VBP Shirts with pride. I was able to take some shots today to give you a little peak at the day.

The day was all about promoting the park to passers by, showing interested people the features being built, discussing timelines and handing out stickers and other promotional items to advertise the goodness coming to Boulder. All in all, it was amazing to see.

Click on the image below to see my set.

Come see New World Disorder 9 and Support VBP!

Full Cycle will host the St. Patrick's Party and Film Night to benefit Valmont Bike Park

All Proceeds from the event will benefit Valmont Bike Park ,

a new dedicated off-road cycling facility in Boulder , Colorado planned for construction in 2009

Date/time: March 17th, Doors at 7, Movies at 8

Location: Boulder Theater

Price: $10 + service charge

Feature Movie: New World Disorder 9: Never Enough

http://www.nwdfilms.com/new/nwd_9_never_enough_teaser

Special Events: Mafia Racing is organizing Demos, Ripstoke will perform Trials Demo

Sponsored by: Full Cycle, Kona, Pabst Blue Ribbon

Drawings for cool gear from: Kona, Mavic, Oakley, Giro, Fox, Look, Bike Magazine, PBR

Wear green and get raffle tickets for $1; No Green and raffle tickets are $2

Boulder farmhouse to be moved for bike park : Get Out : Boulder Daily Camera

Boulder farmhouse to be moved for bike park : Get Out : Boulder Daily Camera

Posted using ShareThis

KGNU's Valmont Bike Park PodCast!

Clink the image below to access to the MP3 file and listen to the Valmont Bike Park Committee's interview with Boulder's KGNU public Radio.

Momentum in Portland!

It looks like this Bike Park thing isn't a fad. Here's a recast of a story of the momentum building behind Portland's new bike park on BikePortland.

Kicking the dirt at Gateway Green

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on February 10th, 2009 at 8:18 am

A show of momentum in and of itself, the invite-only group that showed up to the Gateway Green “Kick the Dirt” event included a wide range of stakeholders — from agencies like ODOT and PBOT to citizen activists and trail planning experts.
(Photos © J. Maus)

An effort to re-claim 35 acres of vacant land in East Portland and turn it into a bike recreation hub is building some serious momentum.

Standing at the southern end of the site.
This is the highest point on the site.

On Saturday, a select group of trail experts, bureaucrats, citizen advocates, neighborhood representatives, and agency stakeholders kicked off a focused planning effort for how bicycles might fit into the Gateway Green vision.

The “Kick the Dirt” event was funded by a grant from REI and was organized by trail advocate Tom Archer, parks advocate Linda Robinson, and the visionary developer behind the Gateway Green project, Ted Gilbert. The group spent the better half of a sunny Saturday getting to know the site firsthand and brainstorming ideas that will be organized into a forthcoming “concept plan”.

...Continue Reading the BikePortland Article here!

Lust the latest rev of the VBP trail map. Yummy.

Have a looky-loo at the latest version of the trail map and race course concept. Things may still change but this should give you a pretty good feeling of what's coming.

VBP Park Map 8.5x11

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Also, Zach Lee provided some awesome 'close ups' to demonstrate some of the detail of the Park's new design. Check it:

We're live

Yeah baby!

IT HAS BEGUN!!

Our main man Pete Webber was on the scene at the Park yesterday and behold...DIRT IS BEING DELIVERED!! His report:

Oh yes. Progress at the Valmont Bike Park in the shape of growing
stockpiles of fresh dirt. The dirt is being delivered free of charge
from various construction sites around town.

They've got dirt to get
rid of after digging basements, and we need hundreds of truck loads
to enhance the terrain at Valmont. The dirt shown in these photos
will be used to to pump up the bike terrain in the flat southeast
zone, as well as to shape the land around the dog park, steel 
building, and parking lot.

W e love dirt, and we love real tangible
progress!

BIKES BELONG DONATION MATCHING PROGRAM!!!

And don't forget: Bikes Belong has agreed to match up to $10,000 in
funds raised from individuals by this Friday Feb. 6 dollar for
dollar. If you haven't donated yet, now is an excellent time to do so
- you'll have twice the impact.

DONATE HERE!!!