in Trailbuilding and Advocacy

Hey everybody,
I love aggressive flowing single track trails and that is why I've joined CORP, but there is a need for some short green trail loops in Dane county.  Kids age 3 to 10 need a place to get excited about riding a bike, maybe this will be part of Dawley park.  I have limited time for meetings, but when it comes time to cut or design I'm all in.  How cool would it be to have a place to go after work where your kids could ride a do-able yet fun trail that is short enough for a strider, but fun enough to keep a 10 year old's attention.  Any body else have a problem finding a place for the kids?  Don't get me wrong we need big jumps and challenging trails, I've waited for a decade, but kids have to start somewhere too.  If they were at the same place, everybody wins!

Hey everybody,
I love aggressive flowing single track trails and that is why I've joined CORP, but there is a need for some short green trail loops in Dane county.  Kids age 3 to 10 need a place to get excited about riding a bike, maybe this will be part of Dawley park.  I have limited time for meetings, but when it comes time to cut or design I'm all in.  How cool would it be to have a place to go after work where your kids could ride a do-able yet fun trail that is short enough for a strider, but fun enough to keep a 10 year old's attention.  Any body else have a problem finding a place for the kids?  Don't get me wrong we need big jumps and challenging trails, I've waited for a decade, but kids have to start somewhere too.  If they were at the same place, everybody wins!

We have that officially or as a mission in two places. The bike park (Middleton), and Blackhawk. Blackhawk is private but a CORP/IMBA affiliate member with mission of developing outdoor life style in families. The 3 - 8 year old set outnumbered everybody else a lot of my evenings this summer.

Work done at Cam Rock this year makes it more kid friendly and you can make adventures off of the gravel path.

Quarry Ridge and Quarry Park are excellent and popular with little ones.

Bring your kids to the Blackhawk Bash 10/7 and I'm sure they'll have contemporaries to ride with. That's an open to public day.

We hope to get approval for putting in this exact type of loop at CamRock I next year. That is the park you ride through from Cambridge to get to the existing trails. What we need are others to take care of trail maintenance to free some of us up for the required meetings with government.  And when it comes time for public meetings for bodies to show up in support. If all goes well we could be building next summer. 

Thanks guys, I'll take the family to the Blackhawk Bash!!  Sounds like a good place to join, Freeride meets Strider time.  When it comes time cut CamRock 1 let me know.  Till then, if there is a meeting with Dane county I'd love help represent.  I've talked to them before, they are great people.  A 1/2 mile figure 8 with some jumps (bumps), mini berms and tiny bridges is enough to keep my kids going all afternoon.  Flat is important for the 3-6 age range, this way they can do laps and never reach terminal velocity.

Hey everybody,
I love aggressive flowing single track trails and that is why I've joined CORP, but there is a need for some short green trail loops in Dane county.  Kids age 3 to 10 need a place to get excited about riding a bike, maybe this will be part of Dawley park.  I have limited time for meetings, but when it comes time to cut or design I'm all in.  How cool would it be to have a place to go after work where your kids could ride a do-able yet fun trail that is short enough for a strider, but fun enough to keep a 10 year old's attention.  Any body else have a problem finding a place for the kids?  Don't get me wrong we need big jumps and challenging trails, I've waited for a decade, but kids have to start somewhere too.  If they were at the same place, everybody wins!

What trails have you had your kids on? What were the shortcomings?

Gary S. says his 2 year old loves the pump track at Pleasant View. Obviously he's not getting the pump action going, but the bumps are tiny compared to anywhere else, and he can get his stride bike over them.

Walt

Gary S. says his 2 year old loves the pump track at Pleasant View. Obviously he's not getting the pump action going, but the bumps are tiny compared to anywhere else, and he can get his stride bike over them.

It was amazing seeing my son go from not wanting to ride and go home, to having a blast in the span of about 2 minutes.  I ended up pushing him around the track at first, but after a couple laps he was pushing me away and wanting to do it himself.  He's crashed several times but since it's low speed (for him), it's nothing major.  I bought elbow and knee pads with the Strider and they really help out there.  One thing though is there is some exposure on the west side of the track, but so far it hasn't been an issue.  I generally park myself over there just in case.

Hope you have fun!

[

quote author=Gary S link=topic=924.msg6402#msg6402 date=1348323138]

Gary S. says his 2 year old loves the pump track at Pleasant View. Obviously he's not getting the pump action going, but the bumps are tiny compared to anywhere else, and he can get his stride bike over them.

It was amazing seeing my son go from not wanting to ride and go home, to having a blast in the span of about 2 minutes...

The Pump Tracks do work well for Strider aged kids (Middleton and Quarry Park)!  The places that we find most convenient for the very young riders, are ones that have short loops around a play area, shelter area, or other hangout zone.  The short loops give a ball out option for the Striders and you can watch the older kids do laps while entertaining the young ones or tending a grill.  If the trail has optional features, I've observed a Strider, 5 year old, mom and a 10yr old all having fun doing laps.

It is rather easy then to tag out for some aerobic black diamond hot laps if they are on site. Or split the crew and meet back at the central location in half an hour.  I could see Cam Rock 1, Dawley parking lot area, or a city park like Elver in Madison being good spots for these bike play area trails.  The flat trails tend to be safer for the Striders. A hockey helmet and face guard have been a handy safety item for our recent trail stunts in the backyard.
-ghost