JANESVILLE — Janesville mountain bikers will celebrate their new facility Saturday with a ground breaking of the new Palmer Park Mountain Bike Trails and Skills Area.
The event runs from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, October 12 with food, games, T-shirts and music.
Parking is in the large grass field that can be accessed via gravel road directly to the north of the PUMP parking lot entrance. The city will have electronic signs set up to direct people to this parking area.
Known by the acronym, the PUMP, The Janesville Velo Club and Michael’s Cycles staff have worked with the City of Janesville and Traction Trailworx (professional trail building) to complete the 35-acre mountain bike park with flow and progressive trails in the southern part of Janesville’s Palmer Park.
According to a news release, the new site was created as a compromise after banning bikes from other popular off-road trails in the northern part of the park and contains professionally built MTB/BMX type trails that are fun for beginners, encourage riders to improve, accommodate riders with more advanced skills, while also being safely away from the unleashed dog space in the northern part of the park.
The park currently has a 1.25-mile East ‘flow’ loop, a 1.25-mile West ‘flow’ loop, two .25-mile jump lines with a start hub, a dirt pump track, and will eventually also have a skills area. The JVC donated about $25,000 from its treasury and then also raised additional funds totaling over $100,000 that have been put towards the project’s estimated $250,000 total cost.
