The guys from Shire Built construction were on the scene just a few hours, and already the contours of Strawberry Hill Bike Park were taking shape.
The first jump, fashioned from a scavenged boulder mounded over with dirt. The first of countless berms, the banked, earthen curves that will propel riders through progressive “racing lines” around the course. The first 30 or 40 yards of the mile and half of chute-like trails that soon will serpentine down and around the wooded hillside.
“You’ve already gone from there to there?” an onlooker asked.
Shire Built trail builder Spencer Baldwin shrugged off the fast start.
“No time wasted.”
“With a coffee break,” added builder Scott Scamehorn. “Heck yeah!”
Heck yeah, indeed. Long sought by local riders, the island’s first-ever dedicated bike park is under construction at Strawberry Hill. A summer opening is possible, with about $95,000 in fundraising left to complete the park.
Shire Built of Bellingham is lead builder, with other local firms supporting the project.
Dissimilar Metal Design of Bremerton, whose principals are on Bainbridge Island, is donating a custom-designed metal entrance arch. Isley Construction of Bainbridge Island is providing pro bono services to build one of the park’s three “flyover” structures, wooden overpasses that let riders pass safely where two trails cross.
Naming and recognition opportunities are available for two more “flyover” structures (see end). Gifts to complete the park can be made at www.bikestrawberry.org.
Mary Meier, Parks & Trails Foundation executive director. “This is a great opportunity to make a meaningful impact and ensure the quick completion of the park while honoring an individual, family or local business and earn recognition on the donor wall and right on the course. The groundbreaking last week drew an enthusiastic summit to the park site at Strawberry Hill.
Members of the volunteer bike park committee, familiar with Shire Built’s Bellingham-area bike parks, joined park officials to greet the builders and shop-talk the finer points of bike trail design.
“It’s a special day for us,” said John Benjes, design committee member, “knowing what these guys have done before and what they’re going to do here. We know it’s going to be spectacular.”
Project seeded by a million-dollar gift
An anonymous donor gifted $1 million through the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation in 2022, to purchase 10 acres of woodlands at Strawberry Hill Park’s northwest corner for conservation and park uses.
The property addition allowed the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District to expand the existing dog park, and design a bike park on the remaining 8 acres.
The Bike Park has become a marquee project for the meeting of active recreation and environmental restoration. Volunteers have given thousands of hours to relocate native plants, clear invasive weeds and prepare the property for bike park construction.
Selective thinning reduced stress among the tree stand, opening the canopy and creating space for new plantings to create a more resilient, ecologically sound forest.
Now comes the main event: the build.
An offshoot of Oceanside Construction of Bellingham, the Shire Built crew brings 15 years’ experience in bike park and pump track design-build work. Their portfolio includes Mohawk bike park at Galbraith Mountain, and Bellingham’s Waterfront Bike Park.
Strawberry Hill promises a compact, community-scaled park that will welcome riders of all skill levels. Multiple, intertwined downhill runs and two uphill return tracks are planned, with special skill-building areas at top and bottom. The flyovers let course designers Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance eke out extra mileage by safely crisscrossing trails on the hillside.
The course will see a mix of machine-built and narrower hand-built trails. The general layout leaves room for Shire Built to improvise where they see opportunity for a curvier berm or a taller jump, as they sculpt each trail into the unique contours of the hillside.
Natural forms and features abound. A downed tree may become the platform for a dramatic drop-off. Earth brought in from offsite will form a series of “tabletop” jumps on one of the more challenging runs.
“We’re following the layout (on paper), but also seeing what works with the land,” Scamehorn said.
Bike Park committee member David Maron noted the creativity afforded by this on-the-ground, trail-by-trail design.
“It’s a win-win, and maximizes trail length and user experience,” Maron said. “We want trails that aren’t boring, that can be ridden over and over. Shire Built creates these gravity-fed trails with unique features that guarantee fun, whether on your first ride or one-thousandth.”
“There’s science to it, but a lot of field-fit that comes with experience,” Baldwin agreed. “We’ll shape a berm and ride it, and if it needs more, we’ll add to it.
“They’re open to interpretation, and we like that. We’ll get creative with it.”
This is one of the perks of being the guys who build a bike park: they get to test it out as they go. Avid riders themselves and ambassadors for the Specialized brand, the builders keep a pair of high-end mountain bikes in the back of their truck among the equipment and tools.
“Those are tools,” Baldwin said. “Tools of the trade. That’s the best part – we get to put the first tracks on it.”
SEND TO THE END – Give today at www.bikestrawberry.org to support the Strawberry Hill Bike Park toward a summer opening. To sponsor one of the special “flyover” structures for on-course naming and recognition opportunities, contact Mary Meier at 206.842.4971 or mary@biparksfoundation.org.
The Strawberry Hill Bike Park “flyover” structures are top sponsorship opportunities with name recognition on the course and the donor wall. Call Mary Meier, 206.842.4971, to sponsor one of the structures.