Rad. Sick! Even the mildly grudging "It's legit," as if Bainbridge Island's first-ever dedicated bike park was ever going to be something less.
Choose your superlative – and with 150 riders zooming around the course on its sparkling opening day, many were heard – but Strawberry Hill Bike Park was a smash hit.
"This park is built So. Friggin'. Cool," puffed one rider, chugging his way up the return trail toward the starting platform for another pell-mell run down the hillside.
"Unbelievable. A great first day, and they're still lining up," said John Benjes, who led the Strawberry Hill Bike Park committee from inception through design to completion. "Everybody has good things to say about all the trails. This place is going to be crazy, non-stop crazy.
"It's beyond anything we imagined."
Riders of all ages and skill levels heard the siren call of the mile and a half of progressively challenging, serpentine trails, the flowing, propulsive berms, and the yawning gap-jumps that sent the swiftest and most daring riders briefly, thrillingly skyward. They collected at the top of the course, paused to peer over the edge, and gravity did the rest.
The jump lines, a row of varyingly sloped and crested mounds and a training ground of sorts for the bigger challenges farther down the hill, proved immediately popular, riders queuing up on the platform in an endless circuit of pump, jump, return, repeat.
At the Skills Zone, funded by the Gear Grinders youth bicycling program, younger riders dared mild platform drops into a gently banked oval track. Many soon graduated to the larger pump track, a continuous loop of rollers and berms and perhaps bicycling's closest analog to perpetual-motion generator.
"There's something for all levels, which is particularly nice because my kids are young," said Jason Acosta, who hadn't ridden a mountain bike for years but brought his children, Avi (6) and Levi (10), to try out the Skills Zone. "Since they're getting into this, I may ride their coattails and get out here."
Nathan Snyder said the bike park will be great to get in "some easy local laps."
"I often find myself with half an hour and I would love to go on a quick ride, but I'm not about to go up to Port Gamble," he said. "Got some energy to kill? Come here."
Opening day marked the culmination of a three-year effort by the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation and Bainbridge Metro Parks to bring a dedicated mountain bike facility to the community.
It began with a $1 million anonymous gift to the Parks & Trails Foundation to purchase the former Hayashida property, adding 10 acres to Strawberry Hill Park for conservation, an expanded dog park, and what would become the 8-acre Bike Park.
A year-long round of intense restoration followed. Stands of unhealthy trees were culled, and volunteers put in many hundreds of hours uprooting the invasive holly that blighted the hillside.
"This park is unique in that it is both a mountain bike park and an active restoration site," said Lydia Roush, Park Services Division Director for the Park District. "When you come here, yes, you're a mountain biker, but you're also a conservation steward."
The $500,000 Bike Park was funded by private gifts through the Parks & Trails Foundation. Primary sponsors included Bainbridge Bike Co. and Isley Construction, while Brown Bear Car Wash sponsored the year-long fundraising campaign.
Park construction and on-the-ground course design is by Shire Built/Oceanside of Bellingham. The general course layout was by Evergreen Mountain Bike Coalition, in consultation with island riders.
Trails and features are named for donors, including one towering "flyover" structure (essentially a trail overpass) dubbed "Even Kiel" to honor local youth biking mentor Kiel Reijnen. The Gear Grinders youth bicycling program funded the skill-building area.
"We knew from the start that Strawberry Hill Bike Park would expand mountain biking, and you can see it from the turnout," said Mary Meier, Parks & Trails Foundation executive director. "The Bike Park is community inspired, and it's inspiring the community in return."
One more major gift is in the works. Dissimilar Metal Design is producing a metal entryway to the bike park. The feature will be installed later this fall, to coincide with Strawberry Hill Bike Park's formal dedication.
Let's Ride! – Ride Strawberry Hill Bike Park from dawn to dusk daily at Strawberry Hill Park, 7666 High School Road. Please wear appropriate safety gear, observe posted park rules and follow directional signage – four trails down, one up. Sick!