Editorial: City wise to get behind bike park

The Issue: Mountain bike park

We Say: An excellent idea

If you build it, will they really come?

The Yellowknife Mountain Bike Club has been cycling uphill for many years in its efforts to see the city support a skills park to serve a growing community of pedal-pushers.

After getting the gears from some civic politicians during budget deliberations late last year, city council agreed to invest in a park at Bristol Pit. The city will match funds raised in 2018 by the mountain bike club – up to $25,000 – for Operation Bike Park.

As reported in Yellowknifer, the news was bittersweet for club president Geoff Foster, who had hoped the bike park would get heartier support from council – such as has happened with similar projects in other Canadian communities, such as Whitehorse.

"We barely squeaked by," he said. There is no doubt Yellowknife has become a hotbed for cycling of all
sorts. All year round you see all forms of two-wheel transportation being used for sport, recreation and transportation.

You can rent a fat bike, get your bicycle repaired at a specialty shop, go on guided tours, or attend the
annual eco-friendly Ramble and Ride to Old Town on August long weekend.

Or as many do, simply get exercise and avoid the expense of a gas-powered vehicle by taking a bicycle to
work on one of the several new bike lanes being constructed by the city alongside our roadways.

There are many, many positive arguments for making this city as friendly a place for cyclists as possible.

It's a good, affordable sport for many families. While top-end mountain bikes can top thousands of dollars, a second-hand 10-speed can be agreeable to even the most modest of budgets.

As this is the year a nation-wide carbon tax comes into play – with its as-yet unknown impact on everything associated with fossil fuels – the more green activities that can be developed, the better.

And once the city has a decent facility, the prospect of hosting a sponsored event could attract hundreds
of people with some estimates pegging the economic benefits into the hundreds of thousands.

While people might think our mountain-free terrain in and around the city isn't the best place for mountain biking, we note the the Trailforks entry for Yellowknife lists 25 trails available for cyclists with a total distance of 93 kilometres.

However, while Yellowknifer does support the idea of the Bristol Pit project, we also understand council has some tough decisions to make on where to spend our tax dollars.

The cycling community (and community at large), private sector corporations and other levels of government all need to be tapped for projects such as this.

The Yellowknife Mountain Bike Club was only one of a host of groups who came to council, cap in hand during this budget cycle all looking for their slice of the budget pie.

The cost of living here is staggeringly high already for many residents. While the skills park at Bristol Pit will undoubtedly be a welcome addition to the city's recreation scene, we also appreciate council casting a frugal eye on all spending and thereby keeping the property tax hike to an estimated 1.86 per cent for this year.

We agree with Foster when he said a summertime bike park at Bristol Pit would complement the wintertime snowboard park already on scene, transforming the area into an outdoor recreational hub, and connected to the city by trails.

So with council onside, now comes the real work for the Yellowknife Mountain Bike Club – raising money
for the Bristol Pit skills park.

The potential $50,000 invested in the first year will go toward the planning and design of the park. The final cost of the finished park will be in the six figures.

Foster believes the first phase of the park could be in place as early as the end of this summer.

Yellowknifer looks forward to being there with our cameras to show the wide community support this project truly has.