Chicopee Ski and Summer Resort Launches New Bike Park in Partnership with IMBA Canada
For more than 70 years, Chicopee has been known as an urban ski hill in Kitchener, a community of townships and cities with a population over 500,000, located an hour south of Toronto. In the off season the hill had long been a local trail riding destination on property owned by the regional conservation authority. For nearly 70 years no formal biking plan existed within the organization, however over the past 5 summers, with the help of volunteers and organizations such as IMBA, Chicopee has been building new trail networks, slowly accumulating kilometres of challenging single and double track trails with demanding climbs and a variety of technical features. This year Chicopee decided the time was right to give Ontario enthusiasts a new venue for a completely different type of riding with the creation of a new multi-use bike park.
Initial planning for the park began in earnest only around early April of this year. IMBA's Canadian Director Mark Schmidt was able to craft a park design catering to all skill levels, with a definite focus on rider progression. IMBA and Chicopee hosted an open house on May 1st to listen to local riders and address their concerns, understanding the importance of the need to create a park keeping their input in mind. On May 10th, in a marathon hauling and dumping session, the dirt had been laid to create the skeleton of what would be: a snaking, gravity-fed flow track featuring step-ups, a series of rollers and challenging berms, two pump tracks, one for beginners and one slightly more advanced and technical and a progression of dirt jumps to allow for riders to advance at their own pace.
The last Sunday in May was volunteer build day. It was clear that Chicopee could count on community support for the park. Over 40 riders, ranging in age from 8 to 58 came out to help shape the features and test ride Southern Ontario's newest bike destination. The official ribbon cutting took place on June 7th and welcomed over 200 riders and spectators, as well as local bike shops and distributors.
Chicopee currently offers memberships and day tickets, as well as a range of beginner lesson programs and summer camps. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Chicopee will need to utilize the bike park's terrain for winter operations next season, the park will be dismantled this fall. However, if there is a bright side to demolishing this new gem, it is that staff, volunteers and riders will get the opportunity to design and build a new park again next spring.
