Trailside Park in Park City, Utah
If you'd have told me at the beginning of the summer that come end of August I'd be clearing the biggest features of my life and doing so confidently I would have laughed and continued on my way up to the nearest blue flow trail. But, with the help of one of my local community bike parks I was able to progress from a confident blue rider to sending local black tech and even jump (eek!) trails. Now, you may be asking yourself: Did he train every day for 6 hours in the blistering sun in his own personal pain cave? Did he hire Brendan Fairclough as his personal trainer for a month? Did he have a visit from the mountain biking fairy who granted him almighty shredding powers? The answer to all of those questions is no, although having a professional freeride mountain biker as my coach would definitely be a high point in my life. The real answer is the trails, more specifically Trailside Bike Park in Park City Utah.
Trailside is a city owned and maintained bike park in Park City, Utah. Just 35 minutes from Salt Lake City, it is an easy drive for riders all around the valley to make in order for them to progress their skills. It also has anything a mountain biker could dream of. Skinnies, trails ranging from green to black, rock gardens, and jumps. Lots and lots of jumps. The bike park consists of three main areas: the skills park, the jump lines (nicknamed the "tar pits"), and the four 3/4 mile long trails that all start from the hub at the top of the hill on which the whole park is built around. The skills park has everything any rider needs to progress. With ladder bridges of varying difficulties, rock gardens, and wooden drops/features it offers a safe area for everyone to progress their skills. Riders can not only ride one feature, but also practice going farther off a drop, riding a feature against the grain, or linking multiple features together for added difficulty. There are also two pump tracks for everyone to practice the ever so important skills of body position and pumping transitions.
The tar pits are a big attraction for everyone visiting the park. There are two sets of tabletop jumps side by side, with the one on the left being the larger of the two and having a distance of eight feet lip to knuckle. You'll see jumpers of all abilities taking advantage of these jumps to hone in their skills in the air. Many also connect the bottom of this jump line to the upper pump track to make for a fun lap which takes about 45 seconds. Easy to get lots of hot laps in here to really progress your skills for the flowier trails.
The biggest and most fun black at Trailside Park is called Bam-Bam, and it opens with a 4-ish foot ladder flat-drop, and features some of the most exciting and fun slopestyle-ish features around. Work up to it, and you'll find yourself pumped to up your game. I know I have been. And Trailside Park is designed perfectly for doing just that.