By most reasonable accounts, New Jersey is not the first state that comes to mind when considering the places you'd want to build one of the country's most popular bike parks. It's the most densely populated state in America, which means that even when you're 'out there,' you're never really very, well, out there. Its highest point doesn't quite reach 2,000 feet above sea level, and quite frankly it's The Shore that garners much of the state's notoriety during the warmer months. Still, despite the stacked odds, New Jersey is in fact, home to one of the country's most popular and highly regarded bike parks; a modestly sized, but creatively designed and feature laden hillside in the northwestern corner of the Garden State known as Mountain Creek Bike Park.
Mountain Creek is home to 50 downhill trails, and an additional 10 miles of cross country trails the line the property. Within resort boundaries, you'll find over 60 jumps and features, a 1040' vertical drop, a high-speed open air gondola, a 50' airbag jump, a trailside bar and grill, numerous lodging opportunities, and even a water park. But this isn't a story about the bike park, at least not directly. In addition to the top-notch facilities and trails available to riders of all skill sets, Mountain Creek possesses one of the nation's most palpable and surprising bike park cultures around. Despite being the go-to, lift served riding spot for some of the world's best including Aaron Chase, Richie Rude, Neko Mulally, and Jeff Lenosky, there's a genuinely fun and inviting sensibility shared by the vast majority of the riders who call this place home, or at least their home mountain. We wanted to share some anecdotes from some of Creek's most loyal and friendly faces; people you'll find riding and working here throughout the season, almost always with a smile on their face and who bring a unique perspective to the Creek community.
I’ve been riding here since it started. It went from being called Mountain Creek, to Diablo, and back to Mountain Creek. I raced all through the 90’s and got out of it because my store took over my time. I closed my store, and started working for my competitors so I could race again. It’s in my blood. A mechanic that can race means I can converse with both sides. I have so much passion for riding and for Creek, which is where Team Jersey Homegrown comes from. The Wednesday before each year’s Pro GRT here, I come up and help out with the trails. I don’t have to, I just want to. This place is home for me, and you take care of your home. I tend to pick people with a positive attitude because that can get you further than skill. We can work on the skills. All of my riders are good at talking to people. We have an open pit policy as well. I don’t care if you’re my closest competitor, I want you to be racing at 100%. I’ve fixed my competitor’s bikes, and they’ve beaten me, and I’ve beaten them. But they were running at 100%. Everything here is upbeat. It takes too much energy to be negative.
I know a decent amount of people here, so even when I’m not riding, I’m having fun. I can come and just do 4 laps and hang out, and be happy with my day. It’s a fun environment. I remember the last day of the season last year, and the last run down. I dragged my friend to the cabin and told her I was going to no-hand it. I’ve hit it before, but never tried a no-hander. I had nothing to lose since it was the end of the season. We stopped above it, and I just had to sit there for a while. I’m pretty good about pressuring myself into those kinds of things. I told my friend to get below with a camera, and said, “You better get this, because I’m only doing it once.” You gotta go slow enough so you can pop a little. So I hit it and was freaking out afterward, I was just so excited. I stopped afterward and was just shouting. There’s a video of it somewhere. That day was awesome. Everyone was there.
To this day, I’ve gone through all of these instructor certification courses, and taught hundreds of people, and I still find things to learn and work on every day. That, plus the good people, keep me going on a daily basis. We really do have such an awesome environment. You always hear from east coasters, “Dude, this is cool, but you have to go to Colorado, or you have to go to Cali”, or just out west in general, but I’m pretty happy with the variety of trails and people you find here. Yes, we definitely have awesome dirt jumps and gnar lines, and a giant cabin drop, but there’s way more here than that. We’re so close to the biggest melting pot on the planet, and so many folks come here with rental gear, or who don’t speak English, but everyone is out here having fun and ripping together. There’s always a good vibe here, even if you only have a half hour after work to do it. I never really came into this wanting a career in bike park management. I didn’t come here to be an instructor, this was just the place I wanted to be. I moved here once I realized I couldn’t afford to live somewhere else and work here. Once I was in town, I rarely left. Everything that makes me happy, or calm, or excited pretty much exists within the boundaries of this place. Even when I clock out, I’m here, with these people. I just ride the trails instead of build them. It’s the same feeling either way.
In the beginning, we just had fun on the trails, and celebrated every 5 minutes he would complete. 15-minute rides turned into 30-minute rides, and then 40-minute rides, and then it maxed out at about an hour for a while. Then something just clicked. He began to ask me for what was essentially coaching advice, and my own skill set was somewhat limited. So, I began to pay attention to what the World Cup guys were doing, so that I could better understand for myself what was going on with his riding, and my own really. It didn’t take long for him to start doing better than me. He started becoming a stronger rider than me. I remember smiling and yelling at him to wait for his father. That’s when I knew that he was beginning to push beyond what I am able to do. I don’t care if he becomes a pro or not. I want to help him become a good citizen, a good friend, a good son, eventually a good father. I want him to respect nature. He needs to understand that if he wants something, he needs to work hard for it. - Nelson
To me, I love racing, but I love riding with my dad even more. We both love to ride with each other, we laugh a lot, and we talk a lot in the car on the way to a ride or to the races. We go through our moments sometimes. There might be a drop I know I can do, but I have a mental block. Like the “Chainsaw Gap” at Platty. But my dad is there to help me through a lot of those. He’ll lead me into that stuff, and it’s a lot more fun because of him. - Michael
I had a downhill bike before I ever had a hardtail. I dropped my BMX bike when I bought my first hardtail, but I still rode a bunch of downhill. My career took off for dirt jumping, and being a ratty BMX kid at heart who rides a mountain bike, I just had to pursue a career as a professional dirt jumper. It was too much for me to try and get downhill parts. My DH bike went to shit, and I just left it in my mom’s basement. I eventually got hooked up with Hayes, so I could get some proper suspension parts, and dusted off my old Iron Horse and dialed it in with a new suspension setup from Hayes. I always rode downhill, but it was on someone else’s bike, and I never felt great. So once I got my own bike built up again, it was so sweet. I don’t take it too seriously, but I obviously love to go fast and hit jumps. I like to push it, but I look at it as a way to sort of free my mind a bit. It’s funny, because you go so fast here all day, and when I get back to my dirt jumps, whatever I thought was fast on my hardtail is nothing to what you can do on a big bike. It's cool to let the bike dance too. Everything I do is so technical and trick oriented, but here you can just let it go.Mountain Creek Bike Park mountain biking trails
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Mountain Creek is rocky, fast, mean, and tons of fun. Sent me to the hospital a few times and I come back for more. If you can't handle it, stay in Windham.
I've been going there for 15+ years and it's where I learned what a big bike is for. All the broken bike parts, dented frames, and injures from such an unforgiving park......Great memories. There was a dark period several years ago but man have they stepped it up in the last few. Thank you to all the dedicated folks. I appreciate you.