Share Your Opinion: Worldwide Bike Park Survey

 Me too ... so Aston Hill then .. which, considering the elevation is friggin brilliant!

 We should never put aston hill on any list of greatness. The downs are significantly better for DH.
4-6 hours drive for us has some of the best natural trails in existence. I miss it.

 Aston Hill is awesome considering the location, elevation and all other difficulties the guys up there have to deal with in order to even get permission to build trails. Just imagine if they could one day, somehow get an uplift... the dream continues

 If you haven't been check out Hindhead, i used to be an Aston regular until i first went to Hindhead and haven't been to Aston since. they just don't compare.

 Doing this survey makes me SO MAD at Australia right now.
Does anyone else feel this way about;

Thier Govt not supporting and building infastructure to encourage growth and economic boost in their OWN country for MTB Parks.

More than 70% of Australian riders go to Canada because they have lift access bike parks with oodles of trails. Think of how much of that money could be spent in your OWN country Australia.... Especially considering you could ride year round too.

Shame on you government. Sending people abroad to spend their money, and then complaining when we do. It's a real shame

 I'm an hours drive from Blackrock so I must have it pretty good then?

 Waldon, you gotta realise that the parks in Whistler and Northstar were started in order to sell more condos. The condos were funding the parks (and still may be). It was all about year-round use for buyers/time sharers. Ours are user-driven.

The other thing is that our mountains are in National Parks and the restrictions are ridiculous.

Anyway, Stromlo in Canberra was govt funded, so the govt. is supporting MTB and building infrastructure.

 Wollongong just needs some funding and could turn it into a mini whistler for christ sake. Most people are now too scared to make any big changes in fear of the trail being knocked down.

 Wollongong - yes. A chair would take a bee-line up that escarpment that a road can only dream of. And there's mines and factories all over the place so the greenies couldn't be too upset, and the council is used to big infrastructure. Plus you have the Sydney population nearby to make it commercially viable.

 rogate is ok too! exept for the ever changing tracks and deep fluffy sand, good challenge though! portsdown hill is prime for making some good trails on too. exept its hard chalk and no one like digging chalk. the guys at stoughton know what thats like.

 oh and we do have cwmcarn!!! thats just a 2 hour drive! im going on friday! tis awesome there!

 Nothing in the north west at all

 For me it's all about flow, nothing worse than having to nearly stop dead for a poorly built bit of trail or dragging your brakes 'cos it's too steep. Not a bike park but Golspie up in the north of Scotland is the best trail I've ridden by a long way.

 I love flow, but i also love super steep tracks because they really make you push your riding.

 Steep tracks are fun, but I meant in respect to bike parks, braking bumps everywhere!

 i much prefer a good flowy track. cwmcarn is pushing my limits. but as long as i take it easy i love it

 What village in the lake district is the planning for ?

 I am jealous, I live in cornwall, we have one expensive dirt jump spot (the track, Portreath) other than that it is illegal trails built on private land which get torn down regularly and almost nothing in the way of DH.

 Yes. The data will be shared here on Pinkbike (to some extent) and more comprehensively in IMBA's forthcoming book -- Bike Parks: IMBA's Guide to Creating New School Riding Facilities (due out spring 2013).

We're currently soliciting the best designers, builders, riders, artisans, city planners and land managers in the business to contribute to this book. We appreciate any and all perspectives, hence the survey, and are grateful to all those who take it.

As you can imagine, riders who enjoy bike parks make up a very wide and diverse audience, and the culture is very much still underground in a lot of places, which is why this is a challenge and will be a long process to get it as right as possible. But hey, this is a start.

 @IMBA-USA: You should use Black Rock in Oregon as an example. I wouldn't really call it a park, but it is pretty astonishing what those guys have managed to do with just dedicated hard work and a small budget. If the Black Rock guys can accomplish what they have then a group with financial backing and a trail crew on should be able to build some awesome trails pretty easily.

 IMBA... what a joke. Didn't take long for it to become the Steward of Mediocrity and Champion of Bland Trails Because Good Technical Features Belong on Ski Hills.

Reminds me a lot of the Sierra Club -- once, an entity that was in favor of wilderness accessible to those who respect wilderness -- but now, merely the voice of Yuppie Lifestylers who seek to ban anything that offends their bizarre sense of remote aesthetic appreciation.

IMBA, champion of the 4-foot-wide dirt sidewalk which goes under the Hipster term, "fast & flowy".

IMBA, always dumbing down the sport so that rank beginners can feel like experts.

Hooray for IMBA. Idiotic Morons Being Assertive.

When I was president of a local IMBA chapter 10 years ago, IMBA was pretending to find out what riders want. It then turned around and convinced the US Forest Service to determine it should put technical features on ski hills, so that the USFS wouldn't have to deal with "liability" (which doesn't exist) arising from technical trails used by multiple user groups and skill levels. Gee thanks for that one, IMBA.

Where has IMBA been on the boondoggle of "mechanized" meaning bicycles but not other mechanical devices, resulting in bicycles being banished not just from wilderness, but also managed-as-wilderness (study areas)? It's been sitting back, pretending it can't possibly change things. Mainly because IMBA = mediocrity, lowered standards, and idiocy.

Go pound sand, IMBA. Now that you've F'ed up trails, you want to F up bike parks too? Piss off.

 Thrasher2 has a point. Any studies will need to also look into the incident of injury due to built features, and the supposed liability that is incurred by public land owners who allow such features. We wouldn't need as many bike parks if more public lands on mountains allowed for technical features. IMBA does need to have better proof that land owners will not be at fault if cyclists are injured by built features, and really should be lending legal support to those governments that allow it.

 nice idea! a world map with loads of pins to show all the decent bike parks. people may discover something close by that they may have never found.

 its better than nothing. i think it's pretty cool

 i have whistler 2.5 hours away and shore 45min... im set

 im jelly. i got bromont

 need to make the american bike parks more like the bc bike parks. bigger jumps, gnarlier trails and crazier features

 I agree with Cpark. Winter Park's jumps are tiny ...

 I agree Cpark. There seems to be a trend right now to build everything beginner friendly. I understand the reason behind that but it is equally as important that more parks promote bigger, faster, larger trails for more experienced riders to progress on as well. A lot of it is a liability thing I think.

 But if it's a bike park, wouldn't it be "Ride at your own risk" anyway? There are plenty of huge jumps and rails at resorts in the winter and people get hurt all the time. So why not the same for bikes?

 "ride at your own risk" and waivers really don't hold up in court.

 Ride at your own risk or not, not every person that goes to a "bike park" is going to have the skills or balls to hit huge lines and obstacles. They have to provide an opportunity for growth, or they'll lose out on future riders. Winter Park is a great example. They have some tough lines, but at the same time, they have lines that I can my wife on to begin teaching her more advanced skills.

 I think MTBers are a group that aren't a litigious lot. For example, many years ago some buddies and I built some jumps in the forest - yes, illegally. The land was owned and managed by the state government. The jumps only existed for a few months but in that time there was (that I know of) one broken pelvis, one broken arm, broken/cracked ribs, crushed vertabrae, broken clavicle, broken femur, broken ankle (don't know which bones), broken nose and maxilla. These jumps were very popular.

Numbers of injured that sued the land owners = zero.

The only MTB-related suit I've heard of was when I lived in California over the jumps as Calabazas. The injured rider was horrified as his estranged step-father was, in the rider's opinion, going for a cash grab.

 where i was from before moving near northstar. we built our own jumps and some were pretty good sized senders. but there has to be a progression at a bike park. the beginner friendly stuff should be on the blues and greens but once u hit the blacks and double blacks you should know ur getting urself into am area where getting hurt is a possibility. its part of the sport and i think bike parks should allow riders to progress more by giving trails that progress as well. other than just letting riders get a bunch of vertical feet

 iamamodel, the reason you don't hear of all the suits is because you live in Australia were everyone is nice and awesome. Here in America people will try to sue over anything they can. 1 suit can make a whole company go bankrupt.

 If youre trying to do lift assisted riding yes Northstar is the best thing. I still think its not that great. Yes it has some fun trails but the dirt there really isnt meant for building a bike park on, so in turn it becomes very difficult to maintain and keep trails in proper condition. Comparing Northstar to other trails in the tahoe area that you can shuttle with ease, have awesome features and are in good condition, they beat Northstar in my book.

 Lee mill quarry is the beez kneez in the UK, so glad I'm a 5 min ride from it

 do you mean the lee mill near plymouth?

 In rossendale it is, don't have a clue where Plymouth is haha

 The only thing holding Angel Fire back is the only thing you can't change: location. It's in the middle of f*cking nowhere. The trails are amazing, though. I love my bike being dusted with that red dirt at the end of the day. I love the way you guys build berms most of all. Lower Boogie is on my all-time favorites list.

 lol

 wow still not open eh. makes me wonder what's really going on behind closed doors there.

 Agreed with the fact that Valmont has a tasty brew of a park. Something for everyone, with room for progression on every line. I have been to Valmont a few times and what really blows me away is the cleanliness, the positive vibes from people of ALL ages and the drive to have people ride there. I never once got a dirty look, or felt an awkward moment of "maybe I'm not welcome" that dirt jumps tend to be associated with. (if you aren't a regular digger)

My home park is the Frisco Bike Park. Its awesome, however its not nearly as popular as the Valmont bike park. Although it doesnt have the traffic that Valmont has, it is growing amongst the local community. This is the second season that it is open, and with the addition of a super fun, fast and flowy dual slalom course the park now has a 3 race series that is gaining more attention as the summer moves forward. Like COFreeride said, there is a path/line for every level of rider, they all start in the same place and end in the same place, and can be watched from anywhere in the park, so when you say to your friend, "Did you see me almost eat Sh*t after that 3rd roller on the second straight?" He can respond with "Yea! HAHA" because you CAN see the whole course, and you can talk about it on the walk to the top again.

The key for me is PUBLIC SATURATION... let people know about the park, have races, have contests. Bring the community together once a week for an event regardless of how big the event is, it will get people riding, ideas brewing, new lines built and support from outside sources, which this sport needs.

 the uk sucks

 ginge090, the problem is when someone else rides the trail you've poorly built without permission and hurts themselves and tries to sue the forestry commission, when you would really be liable. Sure you're willing to take the risk but if it's on forestry commission land it's usually for use of the public, not your playground. Go find some private land and ask the owners permission to build, it's the only way you will get away with building big jumps and northshore. The forestry commission up in Scotland (depends on locality) will let us build and maintain trails if you ask nice and tell them what you're doing, as long as there isn't a 30ft gap jump in the middle for obvious reasons. They actively encourage use of there land and we should be working more with them, not giving them reasons to say no and tear down trails. Oh and the right to roam act up here helps too.

 Yesss!!! If you guys need help I would definately volunteer in the SD area.

 A bike park in phoenix would be so awesome but where would it be ??

 Wish I was you!!!

 Year round access with a lift would be awesome. Pretty hard to find because skiing/boarding is the big money maker and lifts are expensive.

 I have to hope mtn bike lifts could be viable. Solar, bio-diesel, maybe a new form of bike/rider transport or billion willing hamsters. Never rode Black Rock but it looks awesome. Seems liability issues (real or imagined) and what ever weird bias forestry depart has against mtn bikes are a bigger problem. I believe and as cheesy as it sounds, if you build it they will come.

 To add to this..Innerleithen, in the Scottish Borders, is classed as a DH haven by most but it has bike-park graded trails. A recent application has went into the powers that be for the installation of a mechanical chair lift and a visitor centre. Its the best of its kind in Scotland and loved by everyone who visits. The nearby Glentress, is one of the best (if not the best) trail centres in the UK and has a small Freeride Park. What makes them so good? The variety of riding. When you add in Fort William, we're doing not bad in Scotland. But, given the nature of scotland and the appetite for the sport... theres always plenty room for more.

 "But, given the nature of scotland and the appetite for the sport... theres always plenty room for more." yeah most defo agree with this statement there could be so much more but the powers at be are dicks and wont invest in trails or other things like mechanical uplift. the realization that if they invest the money will come back, in one some way. i believe that it will be a long time before they take a proper interest in our sport and what it offers, i wish the wasn't the fact but....

 just wait lads the sport is growing and more parks and features will start to appear

 pic... my computer wants to auto-spell for me all the time.

 i cant say no.