I Only Ride Trail

As park season is coming to a close I’ve been finding myself pondering the question, is it actually worth going to a bike park?

Do bike parks make you faster, or can they scare you out of riding? For those who are newer to mountain biking, a bark park can be a lot to take in. Even just to get on the lifts, there can be crazy upload lines, especially in peak summer. The prices for the bike parks can also be pretty steep. There are still deals to be had, but with more and more mom-and-pop operations being bought out by larger companies, the future may look a little different. The easiest trails you can ride would be rated as “green” in a bike park, but can sometimes be harder than the green trails on your local networks. If you decide to progress and tackle more challenging terrain, there’s blue, black, or double black trails in most spots, but you may be more likely to have someone ride up on your butt. Even on a green trail someone may catch up to you and pass with no warning. Unfortunately there seems to be more people with no biking etiquette in parks than on the local pedal access trails. Not to mention in the busy season you are more likely to see people get injured, than you would ever see in a whole year of trail riding. Seeing some of that stuff can definitely mess with your confidence, depending on how you handle it! And don't even get me started on the breaking bumps and wear and tear they cause on your bike.

*Blue Velvet Trail in Whistler Bike Park*

Despite all that you get to experience some incredibly well-built, and thought out trails. If it’s your first time learning to ride a mountain bike (or even if it isn't), you’re learning on trails that are going to progress you faster than you could ever imagine. Everything is designed to get you to move to the next level, especially if you work with the bike schools at some parks, or a local coach. You have the opportunity to meet many cool people on the lifts, and sometimes they’ll even be willing to tow you into a trail you’re unsure of. You’ll even get more hours of descending in a couple of days then you’ll be able to ride in a couple of months of trail riding.

Overall I’d say it’s worth spending the time and money to check out your local bike parks if you can. Yes, you might struggle with the learning curve a bit in the beginning, but nothing will set you up better for progress than a bike park. Think about it this way, on a trail if there’s a feature you’re struggling with, you can’t easily go back up the trail several times, going up to the feature each time until you feel confident enough to actually try it. You would have to pedal back up that hill, which is great for your fitness, but it isn’t necessarily so great if you’re trying to work on a new feature/section. Most of the time you want to be as fresh as possible, giving you that extra bit of confidence to push your comfort level. Knowing you have the strength to hold on through a compression, keep the bars steady, and be as composed as possible. Seeing that you don’t climb up the trails at a bike park, as long as you follow the “pre-ride,re-ride, and free-ride” motto you should be good to go!

*Massive rock roll on Detroit Rock City.*

I do feel it’s important to have a balance of trail and park riding if you’re planning on pedaling year round. You don’t want your cardio and climbing skills to go out the door once the bike park opens. Then, when winter does eventually come around, most parks are closed and you might feel out of your element on trails.

There’s also so many trail networks right outside of many bike parks, and it would be sad to limit yourself to just a select few trails, even if they are extraordinary. But if you’re still learning, which lets be honest most of us are, riding all those extra laps down the hill will give you a lifetime of knowledge and comfortability on a bike. It only takes ten thousand hours right?!

Winter is Coming

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