Mountain bike park proposed for Plainfield

May 5, 2007
By Janet Lundquist
Sun-Times

PLAINFIELD -- The Plainfield Park District's Van Horn Woods could be the future home of a mountain biking park.

A group of avid bikers who live in the Plainfield area has proposed building and maintaining a free public bike park.

The group, Chicago Area Mountain Bikers West, has asked if the district would help it by providing land, fencing, signs and a parking lot. The volunteer group would build and maintain the park year-round.

The Plainfield organization is a chapter of the Chicago Area Mountain Bikers, an organization with hundreds of members who volunteer to maintain biking trails in the area.

The group would like to build a park with dirt jumps; a pump track, which includes a series of mounds riders "pump" their bikes over; and a skills area with obstacles for riders with all levels of experience.

The group's proposed bike park layout would fit at Van Horn Woods, said Cameron Bettin, superintendent of planning. The park also has restrooms, a playground, shelters, a locking gate and an expandable parking lot.

The bike park would fit on the eastern side of the park, he said, off the Interstate 55 frontage road. It would be visible from I-55 and would have access to a future regional trail network.

Parks for off-road cyclists like the one proposed are rare and would probably be a regional draw, the group said. In fact, the proposed park would likely be unique in the state.

Park Board members haven't fully signed off on the idea yet and have asked park staff to research similar facilities.

"The board is definitely in support of it," said board President Michelle Kelly. "It seems like a great idea."

Officials said they need to see how the park would fit into the list of projects to be funded in the next fiscal year.