Finally, a place for biking
by B. William Poole on Mar. 03, 2007, under Family, LocalBMX to be allowed twice a week at park in Marana
Tony Erickson, 18, rides through the BMX course in the backyard of Bruce Burr, near Grant and Swan roads.
Local BMX riders have scored a victory in their quest to find terrain they can ride without facing fines.
Starting Wednesday, the skate park in Continental Ranch Community Park, 8900 N. Coachline Blvd., will be open to BMX riders two days a week, Marana Parks & Recreation Director Tom Ellis said.
“I’m fairly confident it will work,” Ellis said of the experiment in brotherly extreme sport love.
Tyler Shotts, 18, grew up in Continental Ranch. He has been ticketed three times for illegally riding his bike in the park, which was built for skateboards but has long been ridden by BMXers who jump the fence. He thinks opening the park to bikes is a good idea.
“I think it’s great for all of the kids who live here, because it will give them something to do . . . It’s a safe environment. It’s not some wash behind a strip club or a liquor store,” he said.
BMXers will be allowed in the park on Wednesdays and Saturdays, Ellis said.
BMX advocate John C. Dale, a University of Arizona graduate who owns the RedEndo BMX shop in Nogales, helped broker the deal.
In the past year, he has been lobbying local governments to open places, new or existing, to BMX riders. He would like to see the Tucson Parks & Recreation Department build a park for BMX riders and hopes to persuade Ott Family YMCA, 401 S. Prudence Road, to open its park to bikes.
The city has no plan for a BMX park, but county bonds planned for 2008 could include one if community interest is high enough, said Tucson parks director Fred Gray.
It is unlikely bikes will ever be allowed at Ott because the park is not designed for them, said Ott Director Suu Holtslander.
The transitions in the bowls, the coping on the park’s edges and the concrete itself are made for skateboards, she said.
“Bikes are primarily made of metal. When it gouges the concrete, it creates a problem with small wheels that you would find on skateboards or rollerblades,” Holtslander said.
The YMCA’s insurance company would cover liability only if the park was designed for bikes, she said.
The Conti Bowl, as BMXers know the park at Continental Ranch, will be assessed in coming months for damage. The issue will be addressed if it arises, said Ellis, adding that there were no such issues at a park in Albuquerque, N.M., where he was parks director before coming to Marana.
Liability issues will be addressed with a “ride at your own risk” sign at Continental Ranch, he said.
BMX rider Bruce Burr, 40, transformed his backyard near Grant and Swan roads into a dirt BMX park for himself and his close friends. He wants Tucson to follow the leads of Flagstaff, Prescott, Nogales, Goodyear, Douglas and now Marana, all of which have parks open to BMX riders.
At the very least, it would keep kids from congregating in vacant lots and washes, he said.
“If a couple piles of dirt in the desert can draw . . . kids, imagine what a park would do. It would get used, for sure.”
Will Bissell spins his bike around in midair while going through the BMX course in the backyard of Bruce Burr.
