June 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 54

M O U N TA I N B I K I N G T R A I L S

and collaborative creation process,
and it recently played host to the
2014 Cyclocross National Championships. Says IMBA President Mike
Van Abel, " This is the poster child for
how to do urban bike parks right. "

www.flickr.com/scorchedearth

Fountainhead Regional Park
Mountain Bike Trail - Fairfax
Station, Virginia
In Virginia, a group of mountain bikers demonstrated their good faith and
showed an eagerness to cooperate
with park authorities, which cleared
the way for one of the most extensive
mountain biking trail systems in the
mid-Atlantic. Back in 1995, " NVRPA (the Northern Virginia Regional
Park Authority) adopted a policy that
biking is permitted only on paved or
gravel surfaces, not on natural-surface
trails, so when mountain biking was
relatively new, bikers sometimes rode
on natural-surface trails in the NVR-

to MORE's dedication, the Fountainhead Mountain Bike Trail was built
in 1996 and opened to the public the
following year.
MORE continues to contribute
hundreds of volunteer hours each
year at Fountainhead to maintain
and renovate the trails. Additionally,
" MORE has worked diligently with
its members to advocate for users to
follow the rules and not ride on the
trails when they are closed due to
wet conditions, " Rudacille says. In
recent years, MORE has collaborated with NVRPA to renovate the trail
to reduce erosion and improve trail
safety and enjoyment in accordance
with IMBA trail-building standards.
The group continues to bring in
money from grants, fundraisers and
their own pockets; provide design,
construction and maintenance work
on new sections of trail; improve existing sections through collaborative
redesigns and upkeep; and advocate
with other users to use the trails appropriately.
" It has been a very positive and
productive partnership with MORE, "
says Paul Gilbert, NVRPA's executive director. " The result is one of the
best trails on the East Coast. We get
people from hundreds of miles away
who come just to experience this remarkable trail. "

PA system 'illegally,' " says Kate Rudacille, deputy director of planning
and grants for NVRPA. That same
year, members of Mid-Atlantic OffRoad Enthusiasts (MORE) spoke out
at public hearings for NVRPA's capital improvement program to advocate
for new mountain biking trails. In addition, " MORE members helped restore and maintain the 18-mile natural-surface Bull Run-Occoquan Trail,
even though they were not allowed to
ride it, " Rudacille says.
Given MORE's participation and
willingness to work with NVRPA,
the park authority agreed to establish
a mountain biking trail at Fountainhead Regional Park with MORE's
support. The volunteer group developed a design, conducted fundraising, generated publicity, created trail
maps, provided dozens of trail-building volunteers, sought out sponsorships and more. Thanks in large part

Offering dedicated mountain biking trails with varying levels of difficulty, Virginia's
Fountainhead Regional Park draws bikers from several surrounding states.

Parks & Recreation

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Swan Creek Park -
Tacoma, Washington
Mountain biking opponents who
insist the sport deteriorates the land
should visit Washington state's
Swan Creek Park, which opened
its new system of mountain biking
trails this March. Before the 50-acre
Douglas fir forest in the middle of
the 273-acre park was home to a
mountain biking trail system, it attracted a different segment of the
community. Littered with methamphetamine needles, campfires, ille-

June 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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