2019 Angel Fire Bike Park Update
Words By Patrick West | Bike Park Manager
Hello and happy spring to everyone from the Angel Fire Bike Park and Trail Crew!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! We are pleased to announce spring is here, the snow is revealing that amazing “Cacao Pow” loamy dirt that we all crave after those long winter months. Angel Fire Resort had a fantastic winter which means our dirt will remain moist straight from the beginning! This always excites me, kind of like the warm, fuzzy, excited feeling you get from Christmas morning as a kid.
The team had our first group ride up Enlightenment for the season this week. This is always a recommended way to clear the cobwebs and get the blood flowing for early season riding. After almost losing my insides more than once… all agreed to ride down Lower Boogie, one of our staple blue trails. Really there are no bad trails to choose but Lower Boogie has a lot of history and is where, way back in 2010, we first began transforming and creating what we all recognize the bike park as it sits today. The ride down gave me that oh-so-good feeling, not to mention the group of friends was choice! That “Cacao Pow” dirt is soft and untouched and just roosts up from you tires as you slam into that banked berm. We rode as a tight group hooting and giggling with smiles all around, as your buddy in front of you roosted dirt onto your face. Really I can’t think of a better way to kick off the 2019 bike season!
Trail goals and plans for the season:
AFBP is committed to expanding our trail network by more than 2 miles of new gravity-assisted trails this season. We are teaming up with an amazing park builder, Brandon, who has an extensive background with building and creating gravity flow trails all over the world. Brandon will be devoted to building brand new trails and updated older trails for most of the summer. This will help take pressure off our maintenance crew which means a lot of dirt magic will occur! Here’s a short list of what to expect:
-Easy Street will be upgraded as we continue to create a beginner friendly green for all ages
-Duke at Hub A will be completely rebuilt into an awesome blue flow trail with some machine sections and option zones for everyone
-Smoke Signals stage 1 is a new creation to help riders connect to the start of Boulder Dash. Stage 2 will traverse riders over to Middle Supreme jumps area
-Hoots Trail, a new option off of Lower Boogie, a black machine trail that can be seen from the Chile Express Lift. Lots of heckling your friends from the lift will be had
-Mac & Cheese: Green and blue trail system, this is top secret and details will unfold later this summer. For the kiddos and adults alike
-New hand-built, singletrack, enduro-style trails will be planned and begin to emerge
– Our greenbelt XC / hiking trails will continue to expand this summer as well. We have a trail builder devoted for 2 months of new trail construction that will begin July 1st
Equipment for the trail crew:
We have continued adding more machines to our adult sandbox this season! AFBP now owns two more excavators, bringing our total to three machines that never leave the bike park. We will have a total of four excavators slinging earth around the park all summer, creating bigger smiles for all of us. This also gives me that Christmas morning feeling!
See you all opening day May 24th
The team is currently working very hard clearing trails from the winter months. We are extremely excited for this season and for the future of AFBP. As always, we look forward to seeing familiar faces and new faces at the park as we roll into the 2019 season. Our famous “Cacao Pow” dirt will be waiting untouched for you all to shred on Opening Day, May 24. Until then, put those heavily used skis and boards away, dust off your bike gear and get ready to ride!
Sincerely,
The entire Angel Fire Bike Park team
