Kitchener Bike Park - Under Construction

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Kitchener Bike Park - Under Construction
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Posted: Jul 7, 2009 at 15:30 Quote
The park grand opening is Friday July 10 at 10am... If some semi-skilled riders want to come out and put on a bit of a demo / session that would be cool.

Here is the City's info:

You are invited to attend the Grand Opening Ceremony on the opening day of the McLennan Bike Park on Friday July 10th. Grand Opening Ceremony at 10:00am. Information regarding the bike park can be found below and on the city's web page at http://www.kitchener.ca/parks/#mclennan_bike_park .

We are also encouraging bike groups and cycle shops to feel free to participate on July 10th opening in some appropriate manner such as displays, demonstrations, bike repair/safety clinics and other bike park related functions. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Special thanks goes out to the design team at IBI Group as well as the contractors at Moser Outdoor and TDC Excavating and of course the many participants at our public meetings last year and the early visionaries' of the Bike Park.

Please spread the word and we'll see you at the Bike Park!

Posted: Jul 10, 2009 at 15:31 Quote
So I decided to go for opening day, and this is what I have to say:

Dirtjumps:
Before I went, I had come to the conclusion that since I was last there a month ago, that some change would be made to the dirtjumps (as they were the only things that were there at the time)... maybe some filter, or maybe the lips would be dialed, at least something that would improve them in any way shape or form.
I must say I am disappointed with the dirtjumps. If anything, they were worse than the last time I was there. It may be because kids were riding through the jumps, instead of jumping, but regardless, it looked like they hadn't been worked on at all, except for the lips on the step ups at the end of the advanced lines.
Progression improved only very slightly; but only in the beginner section, there are now small rollers, with 2-3 foot high jumps beside them... but that's about it. The next size up is a rather long table, and then a 4 foot semi-double that i would say is no where near dialed enough to continuing on to the next jump.
So regardless of what any of you say about these dirtjumps, Chicopee will very likely always be my park of choice for dirtjumping.

4X:
I first saw this track in the very first stages of being built, and it looked promising. But now after looking at the finished product, I don't like it very much.
Don't get me wrong, it's fun for the experienced rider, that knows how to control their bike at all times. But nothing is dialed, the vast majority of the jumps here are too tall, with not enough of a gap, also the "rollers" at the end of the course almost made me, an experienced rider, almost flip over the bars. BRAKES ARE MANDATORY on this track, if you don't have good (above decent) brakes, you are in for a not so fun ride. I was braking right up into the first jump from the starting line (a good 60 feet at least), and right on into basically every stunt... several times I overshot some of the transitions, landing to flat from about 6 feet up (something my dirtjumper doesn't like very much), and that's still with me on the brakes so much that if I squeezed any harder, I would be skidding. And I have BB5's, so just imagine all the smaller kids on their low-end LBS bikes or "high-end" Wal-Mart bikes.

Freeride:
This is the part of the park I liked the most, because a freeride course is supposed to be fast and technical, with lots of ladder bridges and other wooden features, and of course, it is also sometimes random, meaning you must be on the brakes, and accelerating at certain times in the course.
That is exactly what this course delivers, just a tad too much speed, but I like it.

Berms:
I decided to give berms it's own category because of how brutal they look and feel.
Every berm in the park were built by machines only, not by shovels, or so it feels. They are not shaped at all, half the time I'm afraid I'm going to slide out because they are nowhere near steep enough for the speeds you're traveling at.
And then some of them just look so weird... I swear, the one berm looks like you could 180 it, because it looks like an unshaped 8 foot tall dirt quarter pipe. For one, quarter pipes are not good berms, and second, why would you make a berm 8 feet tall unless you're going to be ripping into it about 70 km/h.

And something else that my good friend, Blake, pointed out, is the trees with stakes keeping them up, that were planted behind the berms. I know this isn't the planning of Chris, but I really think the city pulled a moronic move putting those steel stakes beside those trees. I can easily see someone with too much speed flying over one of the berms (I saw it happen at Chicopee last year on the flow track, WITH shovel-groomed berms) and onto one of these stakes.


It's a good start to something that could be great, but it was not planned or built right. But I do applaud Claude on making all the rough shapes of everything in the park pretty much by himself; his Bobcat skills are amazing. It's the finer details of everything on the course that needs to be worked on. Some jumps kicked your back end up regardless of how you hit, while others are too big to be free.
I personally think it's too late to fix some of the much bigger stunts/problems in the park, because within the first 20 minutes of arriving at Trashmore, an ambulance showed up because someone got too much air and landed to flat on the 4X course. And that's just when I was there for 2 and a half hours, I don't know how many others showed up.
It's only a matter of time before some kid, with an overprotective mother, gets hurt and ends up getting the place destroyed. It's the fact that it's free that more unexperienced riders will show up, leading to serious injuries being more frequent.

Just my two cents... have fun.

Metalzors

Posted: Jul 10, 2009 at 15:40 Quote
metalzors wrote:
So I decided to go for opening day, and this is what I have to say:

Dirtjumps:
Before I went, I had come to the conclusion that since I was last there a month ago, that some change would be made to the dirtjumps (as they were the only things that were there at the time)... maybe some filter, or maybe the lips would be dialed, at least something that would improve them in any way shape or form.
I must say I am disappointed with the dirtjumps. If anything, they were worse than the last time I was there. It may be because kids were riding through the jumps, instead of jumping, but regardless, it looked like they hadn't been worked on at all, except for the lips on the step ups at the end of the advanced lines.
Progression improved only very slightly; but only in the beginner section, there are now small rollers, with 2-3 foot high jumps beside them... but that's about it. The next size up is a rather long table, and then a 4 foot semi-double that i would say is no where near dialed enough to continuing on to the next jump.
So regardless of what any of you say about these dirtjumps, Chicopee will very likely always be my park of choice for dirtjumping.


Metalzors

i was there the other day and the djs looked impressive, but imo they did not ride all that well, in some cases you have way too much speed for some jumps and the last ones are tough to get speed for, i actually nose cased the last jump, which is something ive never done, but with a little improvement they could be epic

Posted: Jul 10, 2009 at 15:55 Quote
Metalzors[/Quote]

i was there the other day and the djs looked impressive, but imo they did not ride all that well, in some cases you have way too much speed for some jumps and the last ones are tough to get speed for, i actually nose cased the last jump, which is something ive never done, but with a little improvement they could be epic[/Quote]

i went there like 3 weeks ago and tried the djs. not fun at all. im not the best djer but im good enough that theyre not hard. that place you get too much speed. i landed on the face of the next jump and flat spotted my rear wheel. i like the drops but that about it.

Posted: Jul 11, 2009 at 8:19 Quote
checked it out on opening day yesterday. for a city built park it was great. the dirt jump lines (did intermediate line)was actually not that bad as i thought it was going to be. sure you had to brake before some of the jumps and then really pump to get the last 2, but after a dozen or so runs you get the hang of the jumps and then it got more fun. by the end of the day i was able to through out some tables and whips with no problem.and enjoying my self more then when i started. Just got the jumps dialed i guess.
4x track
was a differant story jumps were made too short and too high the rollers at the end were too tall for any real speed and not spaced correctly. brakes are a must and not just brakes good brakes as you are going downhill the whole time.
free ride park
was really good the drops were right on and the ladder brides were really well built and done right. the teater was alot of fun.
this is the only park of this kind in ontario that is free
people just because thing are up to your standards don't dis the park it is a good thing that your city is trying something like this and hopefully more will start poping up in ontario.
Just my 3 cents

Posted: Jul 11, 2009 at 8:30 Quote
Cmon guys it isn't that bad!
The free ride stuff is very fun, the 4X is also fun, yes, you need to be on the brakes, but that is understandable considering the fact that less experienced people can still do it, but if you are more experienced, yes you need some brakes(But it's still fun is it not?). The dirt jumps just need some shovel work, and they will be pretty good --- They are fast which is pretty fun, and I'm sure if you ride them for a while you will get more used to them and they will be a blast!

My only concerns are: the metal steaks supporting the growing trees on the back side of the berms, the logs that are placed beside the course.. that are sharp in some areas, the lack of kids wearing helmets, and the fact that there STILL are no filters on ANY of the features! (Besides the Free ride) I'm sure with time the faults of the park will get better, and soon enough be dialed and another great place to ride.

Like anything, it needs time.

-Blake Reinhart

Posted: Jul 11, 2009 at 13:56 Quote
sounds good ill be there monday mourning hopefully its not to busy

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