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Could the Community Center hockey rink double as a modular pumptrack/skills park in the summer?
Turns out it could.
Two members of the Superior Cycling Association (SCA), Paul Nordlund and Tim Kennedy, came before the county board on Tuesday, July 12, to request using the hockey rink as a bike park. They also asked the board to approve a motion to apply for the Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails Legacy Grant and act as the fiscal agent if the grant is awarded. Part of the grant money would help fund rehabilitation of the heavily used five miles of single-track High Climber Trail between the Onion River Road and Lutsen Mountains.
Nordlund, President of the SCA, explained the concept of a bike skill park and pumpark, something he said the SCA has been working on “pushing six years.”
“The Hockey Association, Community Center Board, and Cook County Parks and Trails Commission all support the project,” added Nordlund.
A bicycle skill park allows bicyclists to improve their balance and timing while riding on a non-intimidating course. The course uses narrow balance beamlike features, adding several configurations to improve new riders’ skills, said Paul.
“We have seen significant growth in bike-related activity in the county,” stated Norlund, with the majority of that growth in mountain biking.
Estimated cost to purchase equipment and get training to assemble the components for the bike skills/pumpark is $225,000 to $250,000. Throw in the funding request for the High Climber rehabilitation, and Kennedy said the money needed would be around $390,000.
Kennedy said the bike skills course would take up about half of the space in the hockey arena with the rest of the space used by the pumpark.
Nordlund said the bike park would be modular in design and built within the hockey rink probably in one day. However, the long-term plan would be to move the park to a larger county-owned parcel at the Community Center, which is located adjacent to the Sawtooth Bluff area with direct access to Pincushion Mountain bike Trails.
The bike skills portion, said Nordlund, would be used to teach beginning riders—both kids and adults—to develop confident, safe mountain bike riding skills in a controlled setting.
What is a Pumptrack?
Nordlund told commissioners that a pumptrack is built using banked corners, rollers, and berms set up in different rotations. The course is designed so that once riders gain speed, they can go up and down using a “pumping motion” to create the energy needed to go through the course. It is also built so that, according to Nordland, roller skaters, scooters, in-line skaters, etc., can use the pumptrack.
The pumptrack, added Norlund, “tests and hones the balance skills of bike riders.”
Because both the pumptrack and a skills course are modular, they can be easily built and bolted on metal platforms and then disassembled and stored during winter
Commissioners unanimously approved the use of the hockey rink to house the new pumpark/skills course and the grant request.
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