A project two years in the making will provide a space for those wanting to try their hand at mountainbiking, whether they are eight or 80.
Codgers Skills Park, just off Brook St, officially opens on Sunday.
After being flagged by Nelson City Council that the area could be utilised by the Nelson Mountain Bike Club, an agreement was reached to lease the land.
Architecturally-designed, the skills park offers a safe area for riders to learn how to balance, ride on different surfaces, and learn how to navigate the type of drops they can find on some of the region’s trails.
A grant from the Lions Foundation enabled the bulk of the construction, with local companies jumping on board.
Donaldson Civil cleared the site, South Pine donated wood, Fulton Hogan donated rock, NCC provided gravel, and Nelson Environment Centre jumped on board too - a real labour of love, according to Tayla Carson, the club’s events portfolio holder.
The skills park differs to pump tracks by offering different surfaces.
“Pump tracks are more speed and flow so it’s a smooth surface, the skills park has rock gardens and more varied stuff like balance and drops,” construction contractor Kurt Lancaster says.
Tayla says the park will be more forgiving than learning up in the hills.
“That’s the idea around it. To be able to recreate features in an easily-accessed area that you would see on a trail. So like these rollers, for example, we have very similar ones on P51 and then drop features. On a lot of trails, you’ll have a drop which is compulsory. So if they come here and practice, they can build up their confidence, so when they are on the trail, they’re able, and more confident, to hit those features.”
They have tried to make the park progressive to incorporate an easier area, more focused on balance, to more difficult stuff on the other side. A picnic area will also be established with someone already offering to build a picnic table for the space.
The club hopes it will become a place people gather before and after rides, which will double as an added bonus, shifting riders away from Brook St and its residents.
“It’s good for all of the community,” Tayla says.
Head along to the opening of the park on Sunday, 20 October at 1pm. Working bee from 9am.
