Kelowna Bike Park - A Second Chance

The Kelowna Bike Park, I'll be honest it was mediocre since day one. It was a ton of gaps with no flow and no progression, and it was built with limited input from the guys who the park was built for. The park had no support from the local dirt jumpers who spent their efforts on dreamland, and without a budget from the MTBco or the City of Kelowna the park sat idle. It's hard to get support for a park that doesn't work, and it takes a community of people to run a successful bike park.

It wasn't for lack of trying, since I joined the club Eric Rosswell was our bike park director. He poured his heart and soul into the park, he spent countless days digging solo, and with his friend Sean Micheal Blake. I tried to help him generate interest but the most that we ever seemed to accomplish was running over my pug with a bike. (don't worry she's fine)



Eric left for Japan last fall and I offered to step up and focus on the bike park. Mostly because I felt a little lost focusing my efforts on several areas of the MTBco. Plus I'm a guy that likes to produce, I like to see something tangible come out as a result of effort. So I did the only logical thing I know how, I posted on facebook asking for help. I don't ride dirt jumps, so finding someone who was well versed in building and riding was a key. Luckily local shredder Jeremy Weiss offered to help out, he got some other locals to come help us design the park. Well some building got done before the club had submitted the paperwork to the city. (My fault) Here's the new pump track at the top...it's even irrigated!

The pump track!



April 13th 2013 marked the first time that the bike park has ever been a real success story. It was the first time that we had support from the city, the diggers, the kids, and the MTBco. The parks shaping up to be something remarkable, it's going to have some of the biggest doubles that will be found in any legitimate park, and the park will progress in such a way that the massive doubles will be something that can be achieved by riding the park all the time. In addition the large line is probably one of the coolest lines I've ever seen. The small and medium jumps still need to see some more variations but those will come with time I'm sure.


There's a lot of people responsible for the success of the park, but I think one guy has been a huge help. He's one of the most talkative guys I've ever known but he's amazing at working with people and getting things done. Anyone who's been out there recently knows who he is because he's a hard guy to miss. Kurt Roeske thanks a ton I don't think the park would be quite the same without you. There's other guys out there too that have been digging and designing and I think they are going to be the back bone of the bike park. They know who they are, and I'm happy to be involved with such a great crew of guys. Kelowna has always been home to some of the best riders around, Shifted even features riders from Kelowna. Hopefully the Kelowna Bike Park helps their riding, and helps keep our riding community strong.





Special thanks to Winn Rentals who have donated over 1000 dollars in rentals to the Park this year alone! Stay tuned for more from Kelowna, as the park develops I'll be sure to keep the blog posts coming.

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