You are reading a sneak peek version of the Dispatch: Daily News in the Spa City.
It’s a bicycle track built for Red Bull competitions.
Well, not really, or at least not yet.
However the new Saratoga Bike Park, a “pump track” bicycle course on Weibel Avenue behind Saratoga Spring’s ice skating rink, is of the quality and size that it qualifies for Red Bull energy drink races. It also qualifies for international competition under UCI, or Union Cycliste Internationale, requirements.
So is the local Shredders MTB bicycle club, a group that helped the city shepherd this park into being, going to pursue major competitions?
“Yes, that's definitely part of the big plan,” said Anna Laloë, the Shredders MTB executive director. “Once the whole thing is built and we have the…[grand]stands here so that we can have pump track events — then, yeah, to have to have a Red Bull World Championship, or a Red Bull U.S. championship, or a UCI level championship would absolutely be something to move towards.”
But that is years out and not the reason the track was built. Supporters and officials at the June 30 grand opening often highlighted the track as hard enough for the Red Bull crowd but easy enough for beginners to ride.
The pump track is made with a special type of blacktop more durable than most roads or parking lots. The serpentine track is kept inside a tight rectangle with high-walled 180-degree turns and short straightaways filled with rolling humps.
Although beginner riders might pedal through the whole course, experts can pump up and down on the bike handle bars, working the bike’s front shock absorbers to produce momentum, and jump over one hump to another with minimal pedaling.
“It’s amazing,” said professional rider Christian Arehart. A Saratogian, he rides with the Nitro Circus motocross touring trick riding group. He even won their 2024 “Show us your tricks” competition for completing a quad backflip on his bike on a jumps course.
“A place like this is special because everyone can ride here together, right?” Arehart said. “Whether you’re a professional, you’re just starting out, [or] you’re just getting off the training wheels, this is awesome.”
But this is only the first phase of a three-phase park. Next up is an all-access track, similar to the pump track but with lower hills and accessibility at all levels, including bicycles built for people with special needs, such as tricycles or bikes with training wheels. The third phase is a jumps course, the sort of track that starts with a steep drop off a tall platform to a steep jump that can be used for flips and other special tricks. The first phase cost about $400,000. In total, the cost should hit about $1.2 million, Laloë said.
Still in the planning process, the other tracks will fill space adjacent to the pump track behind the skating rink.
The park planning began in January 2022 under the watch of then-Commissioner of Public Works Jason Golub.
Current DPW Commissioner Charles “Chuck” Marshall, who was elected in a special election earlier this year after Golub was tapped by the state, joked that it is nice to be able to take credit for something that he did not handle from the beginning. He even took a spin around the track.
“Obviously everyone saw that I did it, and that means just about anyone can do it,” he quipped.
Laloë thanked the City Council for working with the biking community, and she thanked the recreation staff and volunteers who saw the project through. She highlighted the work of Golub, former Mayor Ron Kim, John Hirliman the director of recreation for the city, current Mayor John Safford and Marshall.
“So thank you fully 100% to the City of Saratoga Springs for bringing our dreams to reality,” she said.
The group is the official fundraiser for the next phases of the park. To see more, click here.