2023 Project overview - City of Sandpoint Mountain Bike Skills Park
The Vision
Pend Oreille Pedalers has received approval from the City of Sandpoint to fundraise for, plan, design, and build a mountain bike skills park in Travers Park, on a site long identified for an improved bike facility. As Sandpoint's cycling club and trails organization, it is our mission to create places for bicyclists of all ages, abilities, and socioeconomic levels to get outside and enjoy time on their bikes. With the closest dirt trail over a mile away from town, a public bike park within City limits will provide physical, social, and emotional health benefits to thousands of kids and their families, right in their backyard!
The Location
The half acre project site on which the new skills park will be built is currently home to an unmaintained dirt bike track, built years ago by users, without any features beyond some rudimentary dirt rollers. We will completely rebuild the bike park with prefabricated skills features from Progressive Bike Ramps, landscaping, and dirt work, including a dirt trail between the wood features, converting it into a modern mountain bike skills park for all ages and skill levels.
The Need
Youth mountain bike programming is already underway in our community. POP operates after-school and summer mountain bike programs for 120+ youth each year. Sandpoint Middle School is offering the Outride grant-supported “Riding for Focus” PE mountain biking curriculum. This project is aimed at providing a venue for existing programs in our community to use for youth mountain bike coaching and instruction, as well as a venue for local riders of all ages to develop mountain biking skills in a fun and challenging course right in the middle of Sandpoint!
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The Budget
The project is scalable, with outcomes budgeted for between $35,000 and $75,000. Additionally, given the module nature of the ramp features, the park can be added to in the future. Below is a proposed budget for a $65,000 bike park.
- Contractor Labor for site prep, grading, and trail construction (2-person crew for 2 weeks) - $8,800
- Contractor equipment (mini-ex, plate compactor, and Canycom for two weeks) - $2,200
- Skid steer rental (one week) - $850
- 10 wood features from Progressive Bike Ramps, manufactured, delivered, and installed - $50,000
- In-kid labor from POP (including volunteers) - $3,150
Total budget: $65,000
Funding sources
POP is applying for three separate grants, ranging from $10,000 - $20,000, to provide the bulk of the funding for this project. However, some of these grants require a local "match," for which we are launching a community fundraising campaign!
By donating to this campaign, you or your company are helping support North Idaho's first mountain bike skills park, which, once completed, will provide riders of all abilities and ages a fun, challenging venue for skills development right in the middle of Sandpoint!
Donate today to help make this dream a reality!
Sponsorship
If your company or organization is interested in sponsoring the park or an individual feature (sponsorship opportunities ranging from $2,500 to $12,500 for a feature), please contact POP here, and let us know how you'd like to help.