Cyclocross at Valmont Bike Park

The 35+ Men at Last year's VBP opening day cyclocross race.

VBP TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION MONDAY!!!

Valmont Bike Park Construction to Begin Monday!

News Flash!

   The City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Department will commence construction of Valmont City Park Phase One and the Valmont Bike Park on Monday, May 10^th. The construction contract has been awarded to J-2 Construction of Greeley, CO, and Alpine Bike Parks of Vancouver, BC. J-2 will handle the utilities, concrete, drainage and park infrastructure, and Alpine Bike Parks will build out the trails and all bike features.

   Alpine Bike Parks is led by Judd DeVall, and he is bringing the A List of trail builders with him into town. DeVall and his team have built some of the finest facilities in the country, and we are truly grateful to have them working for us. Depending on the weather and other factors, we should have the foundation of the facility built in 90 days for a fall opening, with other park amenities and more landscaping added in 2011.

   We want to thank you for your patience and help along the way, between picking up trash, dropping 20's in our donation buckets, and helping build enthusiasm for the project, this could not have happened without your support.

   We are working with Alpine and J-2 to schedule volunteer days on site, please stay tuned to the BMA newsletters for details. We hope you ride by the site and watch the park materialize over the next few months. Please, DO NOT ENTER THE PARK UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. J-2 Construction legally owns the site over the next 90 days, and will be vigilant in protecting their equipment and enforcing the no trespassing rule. If there are riders caught on site, it will delay the project. J-2 will have to hire security and erect more fencing, and this will come out of the money for the bike features and trails. Please, do not trespass.

   The design team, lead by DeVall, is brining years of experience to the table. They will be creating facilities that will cater to riders of all ability levels and ages. Our vision of a world class facility is within reach, just a few more months!

We did it!! | On to the construction!!

$500,000 Fundraising Goal Met

We Did It!
When we started this project back in 2008, we set a lofty fundraising goal of a half million dollars. It seemed like an enormous stretch, but we took aim and went to work. In less than two years, we've reached this milestone with cash donations, grants, and other gifts. To everyone who played a role: THANK YOU.
The community support has been simply awesome. Our biggest thanks go to the Great Outdoors Colorado grant program, which awarded a $200,000 chunk to our effort. But all donors big and small deserve a slap on the back. The funds will be used to supplement the City's budget for bike trails and terrain. The partnership between BMA and the Parks Department is stronger than ever and everyone is extremely proud of what we've accomplished together.

Construction Update

Many of you are asking, "When is the park going to open?" As with any large construction project, it is difficult to pinpoint a completion date. Our goal remains to open the park as soon as possible. At this stage, we are realistically aiming at late this summer or early fall for the first phase to be ready to ride. Rest assured, City staff and BMA volunteers are working diligently to keep this project moving.
The City is now preparing the final construction bid documents and we hope to select a group of contractors quickly and commence building later this spring.
The Parks Department originally hoped to build the park in one push. However, due to budget constraints and the complexity of the project, the strategy now is to build the park in phases as City funds become available. The good news is that a large portion of the bike park is scheduled to be built this year in 2010 - about two miles of cross country and cyclocross trails, the downhill slopestyle trails for all abilities, the race start/finish lane, and the kid's learning loop.  The Parks Department is working hard to secure as much funding for the 2010 construction season as they can, and we'll add more trails and technical terrain as soon as possible.
When the park planning process began, our goal was to begin construction in 2009. We met that goal with a ceremonial groundbreaking and by completing the major earthmoving. But the sheer complexity of the project required many more steps navigating the City of Boulder's Land Use Review process than anticipated, and the primary construction got pushed into 2010.
On the plus side, in 2009 we held two awesome volunteer workdays, a super fun groundbreaking and 'cross race, and a huge amount of earth-moving was completed. We also raised a truck load of money thanks to you!
Stay tuned to the BMA newsletter for construction updates over the spring. We will ride there one day soon!

Final Donor Report

Now that our fundraising campaign is winding down and construction will soon start, this will be the last Valmont Donor email report.  We are merging future Valmont Park communications into the regular BMA newsletter. All donors were awarded a BMA annual membership at the time of their donation. Many of these memberships are now up for renewal. We urge you to renew your membership and stay part of the team to help make Boulder County a great place for bicycling. If you have questions about your BMA membership, send us a message at http://bma-mtb.org/contact/
Your ongoing BMA membership is important!
In addition to working with the Parks Department on the fundraising and construction phase of Valmont, BMA will also be an active partner for trail maintenance, programming and events after the Park is complete.  Your support of BMA is critical to our long-term participation and stewardship of Valmont Bike Park.

Last Donor Report? How to Stay informed

In our effort to streamline our communications with you, future Valmont Bike Park news will be folded into the newsletter of our partner organization Boulder Mountainbike Alliance (BMA).  Through the BMA Newsletter, you'll learn about other off-road cycling trails, advocacy efforts, and partnerships just like what we're doing for Valmont Bike Park.  We're confident that you'll love the information you receive in this newsletter.
However, if you do not wish to receive the combined newsletter, follow unsubscribe link at the bottom of the this email... but please continue to check the Valmont Bike Park Website and blog for updates! If you don't opt out now, we'll simply add you to the usual BMA list before the next newsletter.  You can always opt out of the BMA Newsletter later with a single click, so you've got nothing to lose and everything about mountain bikes in Boulder County to gain.

Happy trails in 2010!

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.