I’m a big fan of dead space being used for alternative activities. Be it markets, skating, music or any other public events. Mountain biking is traditionally a nature activity, which generally goes without saying. Apart from the guys riding trials and skate parks, there’s not a huge amount of attraction to riding your knobbly tyred suspension rig in the city. You usually have to ride a bit of a distance or jump in the car to get to trail heads, and it’s made worse the bigger your city. Which makes the i-5 Colonade MTB Park in Seattle all the more awesome. In a similar style to Burnside in Portland, C0lonade is a park built under the i-5 freeway. The obvious difference being that this particular park is build with dirt and wood, and designed for mountain bikes. Utilising a space that would otherwise be empty, the Backcountry Bicycle Trails Club (who built that crazy rotating northshore section you saw in NWD) has built a brilliant skills park for local riders. It winds through the concrete pylons under the freeway and is filled with wall rides, drops, switchback sections, rock gardens and everything else mountain bikers love.
Naturally a space like this isn’t going to be a haven for flowing singletrack or epic downhill descents, but skill building parks like this can be invaluable to riders, especially when you’re stuck in the middle of a city.
Unfortunately it’s a long way from Hobart, but it’s inspiring to see that people can make such positive things from what was previously an empty area. Luckily we live at the foot of a brilliant mountain, criss-crossed with awesome singletrack and fire trails, and being improved with the likes of the new North-South Track.
Check out the following links for more info about i-5 Colonade.
“section you saw in NWD”
wtf does that even mean?
New World Disorder. I think it was #7.
ah.. what about the old school art of ‘TOWN-HILLING’?? Hucking off urban features and screaming down streets on a hardtail with 7′ fork upfront? A truely mystic art forgotten by the youth of today.
Looks like a great facility!
We’ve got plenty of singletrack, country trails reasonably close by in Edinburgh but they all require getting in the car for at least 45 mins. Something like this in the town would be awesome, I’d get a lot more practise!
Colin.
Damn, I’m impressed we’ve got Edinburgh crew reading this stupid website!
And Ben, if you want to try and pretend to be someone else, you’re going to have to steer away from fixed cyclocross, hardtails with DH forks, and singlespeed 29ers. Otherwise it’s just too damn obvious, alternate nom de plume or no!
singlespeed 29ers could well be any one of the both of us punk!
“singlespeed 29ers could well be any one of the both of us punk!”
Not if there’s only one who actually rides his mountain bike, ya slacker.
well my mountain bike is no fucking fun to ride. so i’ve gotta wait till i get onto a full rigid 29″….
ew.
Oh yes Nic.. DO IT! Buy a sub $700 full rigid 29er! and THEN smash us toffs on our expensive bikes! thats punk in action!