Bike Parks Offer Kids a Refuge from Unsafe Drivers

With more and more distracted drivers on the road and very few beginner mountain biking trails, it's getting difficult for Tri-City youth to develop bike skills reasonably safely.

Bike parks in urban neighborhoods offer Tri-City youth an opportunity to learn bike skills in a safe place. Dirt-jumping and pump-tracking are great activities for ALL, especially families!

Dirt-jump pump-track biking is a free, dawn-to-dusk mainstream activity enjoyed by men and women of all ages, including families, adults, and kids as young as age 2.

A dirt-jump pump-track is not a race track, and there are no time trials. Speeds are slow. No motorized vehicles allowed! Riders wait in a queue for his/her turn on a given section of a track. More than one rider can be on the same stretch at a time, but there are rules and courtesies around spacing; it is customary for parents to follow close behind their young children so as to guide them through the track and provide assistance as needed.

• On a pump track, the rider traverses this looping trail system of smooth dirt mounds and maintains speed throughout the track’s course by using his/her upper and lower body to generate a pumping motion. No pedaling necessary. A pump track is the most common track feature used by young riders, especially those with striders.

• A track can include dirt jumps—mounds of dirt that enable the rider to become momentarily airborne. These mounds are of varying levels of steepness to meet the needs of different skill levels.

Won't you help us build the necessary partnerships to get an East Bay Bike Park in the Tri-Cities? Donate now. We just met with the City of Fremont's recreation commission, and "boy" did we capture their interest. We've got the momentum—help us deliver on it.

Angela Akridge
Friends of Tri-City Bike Park (Facebook)