Bike-skills park planned for the Metfield area

The facility will offer a place where people new to mountain biking can practice.

By spring another new amenity will be opened in Bella Vista, but it’s not being built by the POA. A new bike-skills park will be ready near Metfield Park.

It will be part of the new trail system, POA Recreation Manager Joan Glubczynski said. Like the new trail system, it will be funded by grants from the Walton Family Foundation and will be open to the public.

Although the skills park will be open to everyone, Glubczynski believes because of its location, most users will be POA members. It will share the Metfield Park parking area and won’t replace anything that’s out there now. It’s planned for a space that is mostly empty, she said.

A skills park is a place people new to mountain biking can practice their skills, she explained. While adults can use it, she believes it will be used more by young people on fat-tire bikes.

“It gives then a place to learn without letting them loose on the trails,” she said. Parents will be able to drive their cyclist to the park and supervise the experience.

There will be several surfaces that the cyclists can try, including wooden bridges, and low, rolling hills. But everything is low enough to keep the young riders safe.

Because it’s a small area, it won’t take long to build, she said. If the weather cooperates it may be ready to open early next year. It will not be staffed. People can come and go and use it just like they use a playground.

Another skills park will open in Bentonville this weekend as part of the regional trails system. The Bentonville Bike Playground will open on Nov. 5. It’s located on Walton Boulevard, just north of the Bentonville Bark Park.

It took just over a month to build, Bentonville Parks and Recreation Program Supervisor Josh Spacey said. He also expects to see mostly young people using it, although some adults may use it as a warm up area on their way to Bentonville’s mountain bike area at Slaughter Pen.

Drawings of the Bentonville Bike Playground show oversized pipes that riders will pass through and some artificial hills, as well as wooden ramps and bridges.