FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)- The Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board approved a proposal from the Ozark Off-Road Cyclists, local non-profit organization, and the trail division of Crossland Construction Company Monday (July 13) to build a new bike park and make improvements to soft-surface trails at Lake Fayetteville.
The bike park will include two skills courses and a pump track near the nature trail and disc golf course parking lot on the north shore of the lake. The OORC and Crossland will also construct a new single-track soft-surface trail that will include bridges and boardwalks as well as technical features such as rollers, hips and berms. That trail will also be built near the disc golf course parking lot.
The skills courses will include an intermediate loop and a beginner loop. Chuck Maxwell, president of the OORC, said the beginner course will be designed with very young children in mind to teach them how to balance on a bicycle. Both courses will consist of a soft-surface trail with wooden features.
The pump track, which is coming from a company called Progressive Bike Ramps, will be constructed nearby. When riding on a pump track riders use the up and down pumping motion of their bodies to move the bike forward and increase their speed instead of pedaling.
According to plans submitted to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, the OORC is also proposing installing a wall ride along a portion of the existing soft-surface trail that sits between South Turner Street and a paved portion of the Lake Fayetteville trail. A wall ride is a technical feature that allows riders to come around a corner, ride up the wall and transition back to the soft-surface trail.
Other plans included in the documents include removing sections of trail to restore them to natural condition, repairing portions of the existing trail, building fences and planting trees.
The project is expected to cost $153,408 and Maxwell said the OORC will now begin to gather funding for the materials and construction through grants and donations. Maxwell said there is no concrete timeline for the project.
Maxwell said the OORC has been involved in rerouting and revitalizing the trail system at Lake Fayetteville since 2010. They also maintain more than 100 miles of trail in the Northwest Arkansas region, including the Mount Kessler trail system in Fayetteville.
