Official opening: Lory State Park bike park
Last Saturday was the first official session. Snowflakes flew, but a couple dozen riders had a great time.
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Here’s an overview of the site.
The pump track is SICK! The outside loop is super fast, and the inside loops are super tricky. Jon Watt and his Ft. Collins crew were doubling everything and jumping will-nilly into and out of berms. That was just Day 1: The possibilities are endless.
I really wanted to ride, so that means I only took a few photos — dirt jump style.
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Overview of the dirt jumps. Fun and safe. |
 Jimmy from PUSH Industries rocks the intermediate step-up line on his 20. I think that fork is PUSHED. |
 The intermediate line splits. Matt from PUSH goes right. |
 Tammy from IMBA styles a table with the mega pump track in the background. That green vertical thing is a water spigot. |
it mus be PUSHED, they have such skills, they can make ridged forcks uber plush. 🙂
looks goood. You do great work!!
What are the dimensions of the pump track? Any pictures of it?
Working on photos. It’s snowing again.
Sorry to hear about the snow. I’ve built a small pump track & am loving it. Looking to expand. I like the outline above, but have a small issue with elevation. I have app. 1/2 an acre to work with, but it slopes 5-6 ft over app 100 ft. Any ideas?
Amazing.
I wish is wasn’t snowing.
But VeloSwap is right around the corner!
Sam!F
Hey Lee,
That place looks sick! My friend and I are looking to take a post-season freeride trip up to the Fort Collins Area, we’ll have to add that to our list of places to hit.
Also, a long time ago you posted an article about Pawnee National Grasslands, and the big natural halfpipe and huge drops. I can’t seem to find the article, and I can’t seem to find reliable directions to the trials at that park. Could you help me?
Geoff
That article’s on the old site, not yet migrated to this platform.
The photos are sweet!
http://leelikesbikes.com/Stories/111604/
We missed the festivities, but got up before the snow fell. Truly a nice track. The Pump track is as fun as any I’ve ridden (and it WILL give you a workout). The jump lines allow even an old dog like me to make a few. The boys were killing the bigger lines. Great job! Every state and local park needs one!
What about a Snow Pump Track? We’ve got the snow that’ll stick around till April already – given any thought to that? studded bike tires? Every storm – a new track can be built…. hmmm
As long as it stays frozen …
Awesome! It looks almost like a motocross track for bikes! Haha.
Lee
What is the height of the starting area for the DJ’s? Also, what height to length ratio for the table tops? Thanks and VERY nice work!
The DJ roll-in is only about three feet tall.
The intermediate tables are about 1:2 height:length. 3 feet:6 feet approx.
Yo Leeeeeeeeeee! Like I says to you on the phone last night, me and Grant headed up to Lory State Park yesterday to check out the jump park/pump track they got going up there, and I wanted to throw down my own report for the peoples! Here’s my take on the giddyup that’s going down in Lory State Park…
So first things first – if you go, BRING SPARE TUBES! The ground is still pretty littered with goatheads, and it can make for a long day if you don’t bring tubes. We talked to some people that said they Slimed their tubes just for riding here. Grant and I both caught flats, and had to wander over to Road 34 to pick up spares. Thanks to Matt who was manning the counter at Road 34 for getting us what we need! We rocked the thorn-resistant variety and that seemed to work very well! I’d be willing to bet that the more the park gets used the goathead problem will eventually go away as more people pick up the nasty little buggers with their tires and take them out of the park.
Besides the goatheads, the park itself is really dang cool! The dirtjump lines are all small to medium in size, and everything is tabletopped and well built – perfect for learning to jump or perfecting your skills. At the end of each line was a berm to help bring you back around towards the top… I had TONS of fun no-braking into these things and getting my back wheel to drift a bit… BRAAP. We even had the bright idea to go BACKWARDS through the smallest line, sprinting into the berm first and then pump pump pumping our way back to the beginning. The slight downhillish slope of the place had other plans for us though… we made it but it wasn’t as easy as we thought it would be! By the end of the day, Grant and I had backsided every dirtjump in the joint, which for me was an accomplishment as (if you know me you know) I don’t do the dirtjumping thing anymore, and it’s been over a year since I’ve dirtjumped. But the jumps themselves gave me that extra confidence (like I said, tabletopped and well built) so I rocked it and I’m glad I did!
The pump track is awesome… you’ve probably heard it before but the outside line is FAST and LONG… I had a little fun by trying to manual between every even set, and even accomplished it once. Just like the Count on Sesame Street: 8 rollers in the first straight plus 4 rollers in the second straight equals 6 manuals AH AH AAAAAHHHH!!! The inside lines are tight and tricky, but if you perfect your form you could RIP through some of the lines. Really interesting combos and transfers abound, if I wasn’t so tired from two days of moto and and a day riding 4X at Chalk Creek (yeah that’s right suckers!) I would have played around in there some more.
I checked out the skills park a little bit, but it wasn’t so much my cup o’ tea. Very beginner friendly, with some cool little stunts and “skinnies” and such to ride around on, with some mild pumpy rollers and little berms. PERFECT for kids or a person that has never been exposed to this type of riding!
All in all it’s a great place, a fantastic addition for the mountain biking community, and a true step in the right direction for “freerider/gravity/downhill/jumping” folks. With the mountain bike market heading more towards this type of riding, this is a great way for that end of the riding spectrum to be legitamized in the eyes of state land managers, the general public, and the industry at large. We saw tons of different types of people riding: from freehuckers to DH racers, families, kids, and even a completely lycra-clad XC guy learning how to jump his hardtail in the small line of dirtjumps. Someone mentioned that it would be easier for him if he lowered his saddle, but I thought it was cool he was learning to control his bike exactly the way he rides it on the trail: clipped in, with flat bars, and the seat all the way up.
Righteous!
Right on Evan. Thanks for the report.
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Turns out the horse feed contains lots of goatheads. They will indeed thin out over time, but I think it’ll take a while to pick up all 10 billion.
I made some sweet tire liners out of Tyvek envelopes. They’re crazy light and so far impenetrable. Cut a 10×13″ envelope into four long strips, then tape them end to end, with both sides of the envelope so it’s two ply. A pair of 26″ tires takes 12 strips and three envelopes.
Where exactly is this park at in Lory State Park? I am at CSU and need to know how to get there before the winter has utterly overwhelmed the natural acres of this lush landscape!
Wow. beautiful place, what I would give for a photo session and a day of riding there… Would look amazing in photos..
sweet
This is a great place to ride. I loved it. Great for beginner jumpers too. Well recommended!