To celebrate “It’s My Park” Day Saturday, the Parks Department unveiled the city’s first-ever mountain biking trail Saturday.
Highbridge Park is now home to three trails — cross-country, free-ride, and BMX.
Bikers NY1 spoke to said it’s about time for them to have a place to ride.
“It’s the first legal mountain biking trails in all of New York City,” said Jamie Bodner of the New York City Mountain Bike Association. “Mountain biking has been banned from New York City parks since 1993, so it’s a lot of pent up energy that people are getting out today.”
“There was no park,” said Juan Carlos, a young mountain biker. “In Inwood Park they used to have a couple of trails in the back, but they took it off because the park didn’t accept it. So now I have somewhere where I can come any time and just show my tricks.”
“I live in the Bronx, around Van Cortlandt Park, which it’s illegal to build and ride there,” said New York cyclist Leonid Podokshik. “So it really is a good thing.”
“It’s My Park” Day celebrates the thousands of volunteers who help to revitalize the city’s parks and playgrounds during the year.
“Volunteering is sometimes a one time thing, sometimes it’s an everyday thing,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “For the last 18 months, volunteers have been working on building this mountain biking course.”
The day’s event also included professional jump demonstrations, group rides, and an amateur jump jam contest.
-Ruschell Boone
