{"id":1984277,"date":"2026-06-11T11:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1984277"},"modified":"2026-06-11T11:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:26:00","slug":"a-225000-revamp-of-the-lunch-loops-bike-park-is-currently-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1984277","title":{"rendered":"A $225,000 revamp of the Lunch Loops Bike Park is currently underway"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Lunch Loops<\/a> in Grand Junction, CO, is one of the most iconic trail systems on the Western Slope. Renowned for its rugged, technical trails, the expansive network also boasts a large trailhead area at the base of the ridge. That trailhead saw 227,000 visitors last year, proving that it\u2019s an important hub for locals and tourists alike.<\/p>\n

While the Lunch Loops trailhead has long been home to a small bike park, it was last rebuilt about 10 years ago and was in serious need of some love. \u201cOf course, [it] was done on a very small budget, so it\u2019s been pretty deteriorated for a while,\u201d said Faith Rodriguez, Executive Director of the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association<\/a> (COPMOBA). The jumps were also geared more toward BMX riding and didn\u2019t serve the mountain bike demographic very well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the takeaways from a recent community survey COPMOBA conducted was that local riders wanted more jumps and skills-based features. A revamp of the Lunch Loops Bike Park (LLBP) would be the perfect place to add them.\u00a0Spencer Rugland, a local rider and owner of Thunderbird Trail Works, was selected for the project.<\/p>\n

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Phase one: dual slalom<\/h2>\n

The first phase was a quick $10,000 addition of a dual slalom course to the property, and it\u2019s already open to the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week, COPMOBA and the Grand Valley Youth Cycling Club hosted an event on the improved dual slalom, and we\u2019ve received some great feedback so far,\u201d said Rugland. \u201cBeing a fairly flat area, we are limited in what we can do, and still have the track work well, but I feel like we\u2019ve made a big improvement. Once we return in the fall for the big overhaul, we\u2019ll be able to tweak it and make adjustments if we feel the need.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Phase two: the full buildout begins this fall<\/h2>\n

The bulk of the LLBP rebuild will take place this fall. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be four jump lines, two blue and two green with wood features,\u201d said Rodriguez. \u201cAnd then there\u2019s going to be a rock garden. And then more of a progression area where the smaller kids can get comfortable on wood features before hitting the jumps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than carving out a big expert line for expert riders, COPMOBA is deliberately catering to the masses. \u201cWe don\u2019t have set distances yet, but our jump heights will start around three and a half feet and grow to approximately six feet for the larger blue line,\u201d said Rugland. The progression between lines is engineered to be seamless. \u201cThe plan will be for the last jump in the easier line to be the same size as the first jump in the next larger line, and so on,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo as you ride one line, and the jumps grow throughout the line, once you\u2019re comfortable with the last jump of a line, you\u2019ll be ready for the start of the next larger line.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And it won\u2019t be all jumps, either. A rock garden will give riders a taste of what makes the Lunch Loops, well\u2026 Lunch Loops. \u201cThe idea here is to replicate what you would see out on the trails in the Lunch Loops area,\u201d said Rugland, noting they want to \u201cprep the riders for what they\u2019ll experience \u2018in the wild’\u201d without bogging them down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The wood features, meanwhile, reflect the reality of who\u2019s actually riding here: they\u2019re designed for trail bikes, not dirt jumpers. \u201cThese will be designed with a more open radius, as we\u2019re catering to more \u2018trail bikes\u2019 than dirt jump bikes,\u201d Rugland explained, with \u201csteel frame features with rough-sawn lumber surfacing\u201d built in-house to dial in the right shapes for the area\u2014part of COPMOBA\u2019s broader goal of building something durable enough to outlast the budget bike parks that came before it.<\/p>\n

The final timing hinges on fundraising. COPMOBA has committed $85,000 \u2014 $35,000 as a down payment, plus $50,000 earmarked as a match \u2014 but the remaining balance for the project still needs to come in. \u201cWe\u2019re fundraising through the summer, and then in the fall, he\u2019ll finish the rest of the build,\u201d Rodriguez said, noting the organization is relying on local, community-driven fundraising rather than grants at this stage. If you want to help make the LLBP rebuild a reality, be sure to donate now<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Know about a new trail project we should cover?<\/strong> Whether you\u2019re breaking ground on the next must-ride destination or putting the finishing touches on a neighborhood flow trail, we want to hear about it. Drop us a line at [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/a> with high-quality photos of your build, plus details like trail mileage, location, difficulty, and what makes it special. We\u2019re always on the hunt for the next great trail story, and there\u2019s a good chance your project could be featured in an upcoming article.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!–<\/p>\n

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The Lunch Loops in Grand Junction, CO, is one of the most iconic trail systems on the Western Slope. Renowned for its rugged, technical trails, the expansive network also boasts a large trailhead area at the base of the ridge. That trailhead saw 227,000 visitors last year, proving that it\u2019s an important hub for locals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,274],"class_list":["post-1984277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-singletracks-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1984277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1984277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1984277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1984277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}