Courtesy photo
The bike park will feature tracks and trails for beginners, intermediate and expert riders.

By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor

More than one Berthoud resident has asked about what is being built on the east side of U.S. Route 287 with all those ramps, jumps and dirt excavators. Some claimed that an illegal motocross course was being built. But Berthoud Town Administrator Chris Kirk recently confirmed that there is “absolutely no motocross allowed.”

What is being constructed at Richardson Park is Berthoud’s new 24-acre $2.2 million bike park. Approved by the Board of Trustees last September, the bike park will expand Berthoud’s existing parks and open spaces while also being a regional bike attraction.

On Monday, a friendly dog with a brindle coat sniffs and explores the construction site at Richardson Park. Nearby, Travis Greenlee and Brandon Hetrick are working on laying flagstone for drainage at the bike park while Colonel Mustard watches on wagging his tail. Greenlee and Hetrick are both life-long bike enthusiasts and both now build bike trails and tracks for a living.

“We travel nationwide building bike parks and trail systems. It’s very rewarding. Getting to see all the smiles on kids’ faces and the community that grows around it,” Greenlee explained. He is the founder of Creative Native Concepts, a trail design and construction company that works to build, maintain, and restore trail systems and parks.

Hetrick grew up when bike parks were still clandestine. “I grew up in Pennsylvania, and there’s a great culture of building this type of stuff. But back then it was like underground — you know — backwoods,” he said. People would create makeshift courses in abandoned buildings or secluded spots in the forest, Hetrick explained. Now he works as a trail builder with Greenlee. “For most of us this is a dream come true,” Hetrick added.

Greenlee said that the park will have something for everyone. “It doesn’t matter what your skill level is or what kind of bicycle you’re going to be on. You come out here and have a great time. We’ve got jump lines going in at the north end of the park. We’ve got a dual slalom course going in there. We’ll have three separate starting mount areas, a central one here and another split one down at the bottom. The south end will have Velosolutions pump track, a smaller pump drag, a kid’s bicycle playground and then the center section is a one-mile mountain bike skills course.”

“This is a high-quality park. Very comparable to Valmont or any good park like that,” Hetrick said. Finished in 2011, Valmont Bike Park stretches across 42 acres in northeast Boulder and is well-renowned among cyclists in the area.

In April Hetrick made a post on a Berthoud community Facebook page looking for tree stumps that could be incorporated into the park. “We’ve never had so much support from a city or a community, especially a small one like this. It was very overwhelming, just people offering everything they can offer,” he stated.

For both Greenlee and Hetrick, cycling brings people together and they are happy to be a part of the Berthoud Bike Park. “It just has such an awesome impact on the community. It gives kids a great positive outlet,” Greenlee said.

Completion of the bike park is scheduled for the end of summer or early fall. Greenlee and Hetrick will then head to Utah for their next bike park project. But a bit of northern Colorado will go with them. Two weeks ago, Greenlee adopted Colonel Mustard from the Longmont Humane Society and he has been helping build the bike park every day since.