Montgomery Parks is excited to announce the grand opening of the Wheaton Gravity Mountain Bike Park, a thrilling new destination for mountain biking and BMX enthusiasts. Located within Wheaton Regional Park, this park is designed to challenge intermediate riders and offer an adventurous outdoor experience.
Grand Opening Event Details:
- What: Wheaton Gravity Mountain Bike Park Grand Opening
- When: Sunday, July 21, 2024, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Rain date: Sunday, July 28, 2024, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.)
- Where: Wheaton Regional Park, Shorefield area, 2000 Shorefield Road, Wheaton, MD 20902
The new Gravity Mountain Bike Park is nestled in the wooded area behind the Adventure Playground in Wheaton Regional Park. This exciting addition is specifically tailored for mountain bikers and BMX riders seeking an adrenaline rush. The park features two distinct trails catering to different skill levels, ensuring a challenging yet enjoyable ride for all intermediate adventurers.
Explore the Gravity Mountain Bike Trails:
The Gravity Mountain Bike Park boasts two courses with varying degrees of difficulty. The green course is perfect for riders looking to hone their skills, featuring smooth dirt berms, tabletop jumps, and rollers for a flowing ride. For those seeking a more advanced challenge, the blue course offers a steeper start platform, jump sections designed for airtime, and wooden berm turns for dynamic cornering. Both trails, when combined, stretch for nearly a mile, providing ample opportunity for riders to practice and improve their gravity mountain bike techniques.
Understanding Gravity Mountain Biking:
Gravity mountain bike parks are designed around the concept of downhill flow. These trails minimize the need for pedaling uphill, focusing instead on a continuous descent through a series of features. Riders navigate rollers, berms, jumps, and other obstacles using gravity and momentum. At the trail’s lowest point, a return line allows riders to pedal back to the top, ready for another thrilling downhill run. This style of riding is popular among mountain bikers and BMX enthusiasts looking to improve their bike handling skills and enjoy an action-packed experience.
Safety First at the Bike Park:
Montgomery Parks emphasizes safety at all its facilities. The Gravity Mountain Bike Park operates under a ride-at-your-own-risk policy. While helmets are strongly encouraged for all riders, they are mandatory for anyone aged 18 and younger. Riders are advised to start on the green course to familiarize themselves with the park’s features and gradually progress to the blue course as their confidence and skills grow.
Bob Turnbull, Montgomery Parks’ natural surface trails program manager, highlights the park’s appeal: “This new bike park is an ideal location for adventure riders to enhance their abilities on demanding terrain. Once riders embark on the course, it’s entirely downhill, presenting a variety of obstacles to overcome. We recommend riders begin with the green course and advance to the blue course as they become more comfortable.”
Vision and Future Developments:
The Gravity Mountain Bike Park is a key project stemming from the 2022 Wheaton Regional Park Master Plan update. This plan outlines park improvements for the next 15-20 years, aiming to enhance services for park users and the local community. Looking ahead, Montgomery Parks is also in the initial design phase for an Action Sports Park at the Wheaton Regional Park’s Rubini Complex. This future complex is planned to include a skate park, pump track, climbing wall, obstacle course, and seating areas, further expanding the recreational offerings at Wheaton Regional Park. Funding reductions may affect the timeline of this and other projects, but the commitment to enhancing park amenities remains strong.
Miti Figueredo, director of Montgomery Parks, expressed enthusiasm for the new bike park: “This bike skills park is among the first projects realized from the recent master plan update for Wheaton Regional Park. We hope the community enjoys using it with friends and family. We are also actively seeking funding to proceed with further improvements, including the Action Sports Park, in the coming years.”
About Montgomery Parks:
Montgomery Parks manages an extensive network of over 37,000 acres of parkland, encompassing 419 parks. The department’s mission is to promote physical activity, social connections, and environmental stewardship, particularly in diverse and urbanized areas, with a focus on engaging teens, working-age adults, and seniors. Montgomery Parks is a department of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC), an agency established in 1927 dedicated to preserving public land. M-NCPPC is nationally recognized for its exceptional parks and recreation services and is considered a model for park systems nationwide.
Accessibility Information:
Montgomery Parks is committed to inclusivity and encourages participation from individuals with disabilities. For disability modifications, please contact the Program Access Office at 301-495-2581 (Voice), MD Relay 7-1-1 or 800-552-7724, or via email at [email protected]. More information is available on the Montgomery Parks Accessibility page.
Come and experience the thrill of gravity mountain biking at the new Wheaton Gravity Mountain Bike Park! Join the grand opening event on July 21st and be among the first to ride these exciting new trails.
