A bike skills park could be coming to View Royal.
The Town’s parks, recreation and environment advisory committee is in the early stages of building a new bike skills park in the green space in View Royal Park next to the new playground that is under construction.
The park would cater to youth looking to improve their skills on two wheels, rather than to the more experienced rider.
“The whole point is not to have a really highly skilled level for older teenagers, this is more for beginners,” said Coun. John Rogers. “Our interest in this is really to use the bike park to teach or help young people learn and be confident in their bike skills.”
The idea of a bike skills park came from former committee chair Jennifer Jakobsen. The long-time View Royal resident would often take her kids – now eight and 11 – camping at Goldstream Provincial Park, where they would use their bikes at the bike park there.
Jakobsen watched as her kids’ bike skills improve and were taking more of an interest in the sport.
“They developed all sorts of new skills and I also would get on my bike and we made all these games. It became super interactive … Their interest in biking went up and we could do it together,” said Jakobsen, adding they would go to the park when they weren’t camping to ride their bikes as well.
“I started to hear from other parents that they too were driving out to Goldstream, going into the campground to ride their bikes there.”
Since pitching the idea to the committee last year, the project has moved along incrementally. The next step is to have preliminary designs drawn up and present those to the public for feedback in the coming months.
Rogers noted he also hopes to reach out to the school district’s parent advisory committees to get feedback from youth as well.
“It being right next to the E&N Rail Trail, we really do see that it’s going to be a wonderful way for young people to cycle in with their parents and use the bike park,” said Rogers, adding he hopes it will look similar to the one being pitched at Topaz Park in Victoria, which consists of an asphalt surface that would wind its way through the trees.
“It’s about learning new skills and eventually growing up to be confident and aware.”
Depending on the design and size of the park, Rogers estimates the project could cost between $100,000 to $150,000. The Town has allocated $60,000 within this year’s budget to build the park.
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