Cambridge BMX bicycle track slated to reopen in August

CAMBRIDGE — The front gate to Riverside Park’s BMX Track is chained and locked.

The only public bike park in the city — with jumps, tight turns and ride-over concrete tunnel — has been closed since the spring. It may reopen in mid-August, the city says.

The seven-year-old freestyle bicycle park, which gets about 5,000 rider visits a season, is undergoing a city-launched condition assessment to make sure the latest safety standards are being met.

“We’ve been fortunate, there have been no major injuries at the bike park,” deputy city manager Hardy Bromberg said. “But there is a growing awareness of potential bike park-related injuries.”

Municipalities across Ontario took note of a Supreme Court of Canada ruling last year. The court dismissed a request by Bruce County to appeal a finding it was entirely to blame for an accident that left a 43-year-old mountain biker a quadriplegic. The devastating injury occurred at Bruce Peninsula Mount Bike Adventure Park in August 2008.

Helmets are mandatory for all cyclists at the Cambridge bike park. Elbow, knee and wrist guards are strongly recommended.

Bromberg says standards have changed since the city built the $150,000 BMX run at Riverside, beside a concrete skate park, in 2012.

“There doesn’t appear to be anything we need to do in terms of redesign,” Bromberg said. “There are some things we continue to look at in terms of signage and marking, making sure the users are well aware where the risks are. And which sort of paths might be a little bit easier and which might be a little bit more difficult.”

The city opted not to open the bike park this spring so the assessment could be done. Ice and snow make an assessment of drainage and track soft spots impossible during winter months.

“We did some analysis of what the bike park is now. We compared that to the current standards and we’re fine. But we’re also looking at the trends — what are the future trends going to be?” Bromberg said.

“We’ve always been on sort of the leading edge. We just want to make sure we remain there.”