Construction on a new bike park is under way in Saratoga Springs.
After three years of planning, ground was broken Monday on the first half-acre phase of a bike park behind the Weibel Avenue ice rink.
This first phase will be a pump track, meaning it’s accessible by all types of bikes and riders of all skill levels. The second and third phases will total three acres.
The city’s capital budget afforded the initial $400,000. Phases two and three cost a total of $650,000. Democratic state Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner of the 113th district has pledged $400,000 for the later phases.
Anna Laloë is the Executive Director of Shredders MTB, a local non-profit that aims to get as many kids on bikes as possible.
“I feel like we roll things out pretty quickly with Shredders. So, this is the first project we’ve worked on a municipal level to understand that things take time. But from what I hear three years is actually a very short amount of time when it comes to municipal projects. So, we’re thrilled to have gotten to this point of groundbreaking three years on from just pitching the idea to the rec commission,” said Anna Laloë.
They kickstarted a novel mountain biking curriculum in the city school district and run educational programs throughout the region.
Laloë says even after the pump track is completed there’s still more work to be done in collaboration with the city.
“The next hurdle will be getting folks from downtown Saratoga to the bike park. The initial hope was to break down all those transportation barriers so that kids could ride right from downtown right to the bike park. I’m not saying that won’t happen, I think that the next phase after the bike park is built, I’m hoping, will mean there’s a reason for the city and the state to build some sort of bike lane or a connection from downtown to here because they’ll see how well it’s used,” said Laloë.
Anne-Sophie Laloë is in ninth grade and was one of the first student Shredders to advocate for the park to city officials, along with her mom.
She may not get to see all three phases in action before she graduates but says it’s still nice to be along for the ride.
“Yeah, it’s great that we can keep it going and all the little kids that are coming up and coming into our grades are going to be able to bike as much as we do,” said Laloë.
Chuck Marshall was elected to lead the city’s Public Works Department in a January special election after his predecessor Jason Golub stepped down last August. Though Marshall admits he “inherited” the project, he’s happy to bring it closer to the finish line.
“There’s a couple things I’ve inherited and the goal is obviously to optimize what you have to deal with. I think the big emphasis that I got, and someone made the comment to me, the city’s ben lacking an overall project manager and in my technical experience that’s what I get to do so, seeing things through to fruition is in my wheelhouse,” said Marshall.
Jason Kaiser is a builder with the international bike park construction company VeloSolutions.
“Every track we build over the course of the job we see kids come and they’re foaming at the mouth ride these things. You know they come daily we’ve built some right next to schools and you can see the kids on break peeking their heads over the gate so it’s awesome. Then, after we’re done once the city opens it we start seeing them pop up on Instagram or Facebook we’ll see videos of little kids learning how to ride. See videos of local riders that are more advanced doing stuff that we were talking about,” said Kaiser.
Laloë says uncertainties at the federal level may delay future construction, but is hopeful to begin to move forward with the later phases of the park in the coming year.
