Built: Lory State Park bike park
Super cool! The Corral Center Mountain Bike Park at Lory State Park near Fort Collins, CO, is built and ready to ride. Session this Saturday …
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This is the first facility of its kind on public land, at least in Colorado. Steve Wentz and I worked with trail contractor Greg Mazu and park manager Kathy Sieple. Steve and I did the design, I did the documentation, and Steve did the building. The area has:
– A fenced off skills area for beginners. They can practice corners, rollers, jumps, ups, downs, logs, bridges and even a teeter.
– A HUGE pump track. The outside straights each have eight rollers, spaced for speed. One internal line has seven sweet turns, and the other has two “snails” — full 360-degree berms that you rail then pump/jump out of. Crazy.
– Three lines of dirt jumps. They’re all rollable and safe. A range of sizes will keep most riders busy — and stoked!
Full report and photos soon.
The weather was terrible yesterday, but we visited the park for the final handoff — and we had to ride, at least a little bit.
This Saturday is Jon Watt’s birthday. If the ground is dry, we’re doing a mega riding session. Come on out!
 Holy pump track, Batman! |
Steve works a half-frozen straight. |
Behold the Snail! Steve does his best in tough conditions. |
 Steve rocks the intermediate line. Behind him is the last beginner table and the berm that spits you back toward the roll-in. |
 Second intermediate table. The first ‘advanced’ table is in the background — along with Rufus Special Boy. |
 The intermediate line splits then rails berms back toward the start. |
 Sketchy! I had to give it a try. After envisioning this in a graphics program, it was cool to see it in real life. |
Admission is $5 per vehicle. Such a deal.
Lory State Park is located northwest of Fort Collins, CO. Take U.S. 287 north from Ft. Collins through LaPorte, then turn left at the Bellvue Exit onto County Road 23N. Turn left again, go 1.4 miles and take a right on County Road 25G. Drive another 1.6 miles to the park entrance.
For park info go to the Colorado State Park website
To build your own riding paradise, email Lee at lee@leelikesbikes.com
That thing looks super sick!! What’s all that white stuff all over it though? Oh, wait, it is in Colorado…and you are snowed in 1/2 the year! Hating life! That thing should be great in the spring though.
I hope Colorado gets a hot spell so we can see what your handy work looks like. Even with that white stuff on it, you can see that it’s hours of fun. I just bought 7 acres and can’t wait to get rollin’ on my on spot.
“Snowed in half the year”??? Not so! Typically you can ride year round here and if you want to ski or snowboard you just drive in to the mountains. Colorado is the best place to be! ~Definately not hating life here! 🙂
DJ on Colo. State Park land?? Nice Work!! How’d you manage that??
Is that white dirt? I like mine brown the white looks to slow, maybe that just the Colorado style. BIG WHITE and SLOW… Perfect name “snail berms”. Pedal LEE!!! Looking good…
Pretty sweet eh?
The park needs money. Tax dollars are shrinking, and Lory lacks a lake and camping, which are huge draws for other state parks. Kathy the park manager is really progressive, and she was open to this idea. Anything to bring more people into the park, paying the measly $5/car fee.
A couple years ago, a proposal was submitted, but it got nixed. The jumps were considered dangerous, and I think the cost was kind of high.
This year Greg Mazu (who’s made trails all over the place) was brought in to work on the trails, and he got Kathy excited about the idea — this time with a pump track. He asked around for a pump track expert, and Jimmy at Push Industries told him about me.
I grabbed Steve, and we met everyone up at the park. It was a full-on business meeting. Very cool and fun, but I take this stuff seriously (I guess I can thank those years when I wore a tie). We talked about needs and requirements, and I drew/wrote a detailed design document.
Kathy says the doc — and the huge graphic printouts — gave the project huge credibility. Her bosses in Denver signed off, and we went for it. Steve is now a Bobcat expert, and he finished the park in 10 days. Kathy is really stoked. … And her 7-year-old son is a now a pump fiend!
Seriously Lee, great job! And big thanks to Kathy for making this happen! I used to ride Lory (and Horsetooth) a lot back when I went to CSU. I still love them both. Now I have an even better reason to go back and have some fun…not to mention helping out the park!
“Mr. REE…. Why you NO in uniform?”
Wow!! Nice job guys. Your a “Man of the Peoples” Lee. Can’t wait to hit that SH?T.!!
keep up the good work.
just curious.. but what kind of drive (time wise) is that from Denver?
P”
I AM in uniform …
Maybe 2 hours. A bit more?
Rock I-25 north like the champ you are.
Saweet. Can you share your graphics and design docs and proposal? Maybe it will help others to push through all the “red-tape” normally associated with projects like this.
I too am amazed this was accomplished. I’ve never heard of anything like this in a State Park. Good work.
Now if only they would improve the trails in the park… Could you work some miracles for us in that area as well?
Not my department, but I think Greg just finished some work up there.
Whats the plan for tomorrow’s birthday session for John Watt? Or is the plan weather dependent?
Meet up there and rip all day. Weather permiting.
The ground can’t be sticky — but it can be frozen!
Weather looks good out there in Colorado:
http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/USCO0140.html [20-40 degrees, rain/snow]
Should be a great session for you guys! Don’t forget to bring sunscreen and a cooler full of cold beverages.
With 320 days of sunshine and average WINTER daytime temps in the upper 40’s with bright sunshine, riding year round here is not an issue. Whatever snow we do get is offset by the lack of people. You can ride all day on Lory’s 50 -60 miles of trails and you might see one or two other groups. Some of the best riding in the US including Fruita & Moab.
Just wanted to thank everyone for building this. I live on the south end of the park near Dixon cove and my two boys are super stoked that this exists just a short trail ride from our house. As a matter of fact, I think I’ll head on over for a quick session right now.
Thorny things everywhere! BRING TUBES! Expect 2 flats at least. Great place to build up skills. Was slow rolling on Sunday but will be great once its dry!
TONS of goat heads. Apparently they’re prevalent in horse feed, and this used to be a horse-type place.
Saturday’s sesh was great. Cold but fun.
Norcal, your track is my idol, oh heck you are my idol! Lee I am so stoked that you built this in Lory, when I was at CSU Lory and Horsetooth were my favorite places to ride! I even broke an old bell helmet in half by finding the only rock around on one of those rutted out trails and rode directly over a rattlesnake sunning itself on a trail, lots of fond memories there and when I go to visit I’m gonna bring a bike, schweet! Now matt where in the bay do you live? I’m in woodland (outside of sac) and my parents ranch is outside of town. I’ve built a few pump and BMX tracks there over the years and the one thing I have learned is just go out and do it. Books and tips teach a good amount of the basics but trial and error will teach you the most, so just build wherever you are.
ok, im near walnut creek, i do need to build
no way! I used to live in Dublin! If you want some help digging let me know, drop me an e-mail at merventues@gmail.com.
Rode the Lory State bike park yesterday with my son for the first time — what a hoot! We are pump track novices and still had a great time. I never got tired of going over the teeter-toter either. The jump runs were a nice introduction to getting some air. My 9-year old is convinced he was getting three feet of air. Optimistic, perhaps, but he was loving it.
Goatheads! I have to agree with all the thorn / puncture comments. We rode for about 30 minutes and suffered 4 flats. Others were flatting right and left too. We drove down to Full Cycle in Fort Collins and bought Stan’s and Schrader tubes to fill. Problem solved! I’m sure the thorn problem will diminish over time, but for now I’d recommend Stan’s or another “slime” setup.
Fabulous track and huge fun! Thanks for your role in bringing this park to reality. I saw a lot of families out there riding. I think it’ll be a great bridge for a bunch of cross-country riders like myself to ride even more with their kids (and improve our bike handling and conditioning). Big fun.
This looks great! I’m new to CO. Looking for a place to ride. I’m going to check it out this weekend. My son and nephew will love it also. Also if you have any other projects or know of any trails new Pueblo let me know. I’m willing to dig