With trail building wrapping up, the focus associated with Stone Eater Bike Park is shifting to trail maintenance. The City recently welcomed members of the City’s Parks & Recreation Department, Department of Public Works (DPW), as well as members of the community who volunteered to learn more about taking care of Stone Eater for years to come.
“Make sure to get my good side,” joked a member of the PumpTrax trail building team.
“It’s cool seeing how to fix holes in the berm, and also the ruts from a tire on a muddy course,” said volunteer and Lebanon resident Sam Hippely. “It was cool learning how you need moisture, how water is your best friend. That’s something I can use in my own backyard.”
“It was super great to see all the volunteers, to see the Parks Department, to see DPW out here,” said Nat Lopes from Hilride Progression Group. “They were all eager to help with the maintenance and get Stone Eater Bike Park off the ground.”
“We took the opportunity, while we had Nat Lopes from Hilride here, and while we had the great folks from PumpTrax on-site,” said City of Lebanon Engineer Kevin Krulik. “We brought out our DPW and our Parks Department maintenance personnel. We were able to give them first-hand knowledge from these trail building experts on how to properly maintain trails. But what was really exciting too was the fact that we put the call out. We put the call out for volunteers and we had 10-12 guys show up that were really excited about wanting to volunteer here and help to maintain these trails. They got to go through this maintenance training, with all of those professionals, and it was just a great turnout. We were really excited to have everybody here taking ownership of the park. This park is for everybody.”
“I recently moved here in February,” added Hippely. “When my wife and I moved here from Sheridan, one of the first things I heard was that there was going to be a bike park built. I have been mountain biking for a couple years now, and I feel lucky that I’m moving to a fun town that has a cool new mountain bike park.”
“This is a super critical stage, between construction and then going into maintenance and operations,” added Lopes. “First thing is just realizing that not all of the DPW and Parks Department personnel necessarily ride bikes themselves. We want to make sure that they see the entire park, that they see all the trails, all the features, just so they know what’s out here. Number two, it was great to have all the riders out here today. It’s difficult to see some of the more advanced or technical features until you see a rider to over it, then you realize where setups and fall zones need to be added. Also, if a rider is going to ride around a feature, you need to account for that extra space. That is super helpful and it worked out really well because we had a good mix of riders and parks staff, and DPW all kind of seeing the same thing. I feel like everyone is on the same page at this point.”
“I’m excited for the park to be open and make multiple trips out here a week,” laughed Hippley.
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