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families, and teaching lessons to develop a continual pipeline Figure 1. Highland Bike Park
of new riders. To be clear, the numbers shown here do not Gross Profit Model
include revenues and expenses for Highland’s camp business.
Included are these lines of business for the bike park: rentals $686,140
and demos, repairs and service, retail, sales of rental bikes, Total Gross profits
lessons, and tickets.
$374,917
Many factors, beyond just the financial, played a role
in each area’s decision to invest in their bike park (see 24,800
“Does a Bike Park Make Sense at Your Area?”, pg. 38).
At the end of the day, the ROI of a bike park can be mea- $138,583 Rider Visits
sured in many different ways—financially, growth in cus-
tomers, and even goodwill with the community. While $74,448 16,800
many areas may strictly look at the bottom line contribu- 4
tion that first year, taking a longer view may prove to be $12,117 6,500 10,700 5
the healthier perspective. 2
3,000 3
Seamans brought up the fact that Windham was able to 1 Years
open its park during a challenging winter season, enabling the
area to offer a variety of activities (including skiing and rid- SUMMER.
ing) and bring in visits it might not normally have had. To READY.
paraphrase Seamans, while the park may have not paid for
itself that first season of operation, it has created a buzz and Gunstock Mountain Adventure Park
energy that will only contribute to the success of the area.
Strategy. Planning. Permitting. Design.
Growing the Sport

Several of the NSAA Mountain Bike Summit sessions
focused on growing participation through smart trail devel-
opment and skills parks, programming, and leveraging the
growing number of urban parks.

From the programming angle, the main points that
came up time and again were the need for trails and skill
development areas suitable for beginners. Many area bike
parks began with intermediate and advanced trails that
appealed to the existing market. Now, as operators look
toward building the market, they are investing in beginner
trails that provide a much more accessible introduction for
new downhill riders. Other areas are choosing to start first
with green and blue trails in an effort to build up the mar-
ket for the future, counting on these new riders continuing
to build their skills as the area builds its intermediate and
advanced trails.

Adding to the beginner-focused investment, skills parks
are now being built with features suitable for first-time riders
that replicate what they can expect to encounter when they
do get onto their first green trail. Skills parks provide new
riders with the right environment to learn and develop their
downhill biking skills without having to worry about con-
stantly moving down the hill. The features most commonly
included in these skills parks are rock gardens, dirt berms or
corners, dirt rollers and jumps, and even wooden bridges just
off the ground.

SUMMER 2016 | NSAA JOURNAL | 35