Photos courtesy COPMOBA

It’s no secret that the mountain bike scene in Montrose, Colorado, is on the rise. In 2024, I covered the recently opened Electric Hills trail system, located a few miles outside of town. But one key element that Montrose was missing was high-quality, in-town trails.

A new trail development is set to fix that problem.

Currently known as the “Baldridge Park Bike Park,” the project will bring purpose-built, gravity-oriented mountain bike trails to the heart of Montrose — specifically to Baldridge Regional Park, on the banks of the Uncompahgre River. For Nick Jacobson, COPMOBA treasurer and the lead on this project, that in-town location is the whole point.

“We have a lot of fantastic riding in Montrose, [but] almost all of it, […] requires putting your bike on the tailgate, putting it on the rack, and driving 15 to 20 minutes,” said Jacobson. The new trails will be built on the east-facing slope of the Hogback, the mesa that runs along the western side of Montrose’s flagship community park. Because it sits “smack dab in the center of the biggest park in town, [it’s] walkable or rideable from I would say the majority of the population base in Montrose, which is one of the reasons that we’re really excited about it.” 

The planned bike park will include four or five gravity trails, but those few trails are designed to cover a remarkable difficulty spread. The bike park will occupy roughly 15 to 20 acres of what Jacobson described as “a dry, sparsely vegetated hillside,” taking advantage of about 100 feet of elevation from the top of the mesa down to the floodplain along the river. 

Most importantly, the trails will be built to a high standard. “We’re talking relatively wide trails, professionally built,” Jacobson said, adding that they “will be entirely adaptive friendly.” There are currently some social singletrack trails in this area, but they’re often overgrown and eroded. The planned trail construction will be totally different.

“The easiest trail is going to be up on the very top,” Jacobson said. “It will be a skills loop. So, you know, totally flat — wooden features and small dirt features.” From a start hub at the top of the mesa, riders will filter into trails that drop down the hillside: a green trail aimed at newer riders, a blue trail with tabletops, and a black trail meant to draw riders from beyond Montrose. “The intent there is to build something that is interesting for folks to travel to Montrose to hit,” Jacobson said. “So we’re thinking some larger wooden features, potentially a wall ride, some bigger drops, that sort of thing.”

A fifth trail is designed to bridge a gap that anyone who’s ridden Montrose’s outlying systems will recognize. Jacobson described it as “a tech-style trail — not full-on tech, but kind of in that blue zone,” built specifically to help riders level up before tackling the harder trails in the nearby trail systems. “It would be nice to have a place for folks to build up their skills,” he said, pointing to Electric Hills, which, as he put it, “is not the most beginner-friendly trail system on the planet.” 

Beyond the descending lines, the plan also calls for a purpose-built climbing trail, connector trails, a start-zone feature at the top of the mesa for a little extra speed, and shade structures and viewing areas for parents and spectators “enjoying a beautiful view over town.”

Design, funding, and timeline

COPMOBA partnered with Dirt Tek Trails for the roughly five-month design process. That process was intentionally collaborative. The city of Montrose was involved in nearly every meeting, alongside the Montrose Recreation District, members of the local disc golf community, and other stakeholders. The goal, Jacobson said, was to “maximize the impact of this bike park for the community, but also minimize and mitigate the impact to other user groups in the park.”

The effort also dovetails with the city’s own long-term vision. Roughly three years ago, Montrose kicked off a formal master planning process for Baldridge Regional Park, and soft-surface trails emerged as a top community priority. “This is, I would say, a direct response to the city’s planning process,” Jacobson said.

The project is estimated to cost between $300,000 and $350,000. Funding is still in its early stages: the city has signaled interest in contributing, with the balance expected to come from grants and community fundraising. “We’ve not formally launched that fundraising effort yet,” Jacobson said, noting COPMOBA is waiting until the grant process is further along.

That funding picture will ultimately dictate the timeline. “We would love to get it in the ground next year,” Jacobson said. “We’ve got one good summer season of fundraising and grant writing, so we’re working fast and furious to see if we can have it all ready to go in 2027.” He was realistic about the uncertainty, adding, “I think that remains to be seen whether or not that’s quite feasible, but that’s what we’re working towards.”

Know about a new trail project we should cover? Whether you’re breaking ground on the next must-ride trail network or putting the finishing touches on a neighborhood flow trail, we want to hear about it. Drop us a line at [email protected] with the details, and your project could be featured!