Squeezed between US-287 and Loveland Reservoir, nestled at the end of Meadowlark Drive in Berthoud, sits a bike park.

But this park ain’t your “built-by-kids-messing-around-one-sunny-afternoon” park. It’s a legitimate, pro-level bike park, with several features for beginners to professionals and sits on 20 acres a short drive from downtown Berthoud.

The Berthoud Bike Park is one piece of a master plan Berthoud has been working on for several years to grow recreational offerings like ball fields and the Berthoud Recreation Center at Waggener Farm Park.

“When the new administration came in about five and a half years ago, we started a parks master plan with three or four parcels of land, and put designs to them, asking the community about it,” Deputy Town Administrator Jeremy Olinger said. “There’s this peninsula of land that wraps around 287 and Loveland Reservoir and they designed it for a bike park.”

With informational help from the Overland Mountain Bike Association and the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance, and some research from the Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, the city pieced together its park to include a pump track, jump lines, a dual slalom course, mountain bike flow track and kids playground area.

“This little 20-acre site we think is perfect. It has some good topo and has some good (north to south) slope to it,” Olinger said.

The mountain bike flow track (Raptor Ridge) sits is the middle of the park, is approximately one mile long, loops back around to the central starting hub and has multiple wood and rock features imitating riding on mountain bike trails.

One intermediate (Smokejumper) and one advanced (Barnstormer) jump line trails are next to the dual slalom (Ditch Rider) course on the north end of the park. The Shred Shed is the crown jewel feature on Barnstormer.

Berthoud Recreation staffer and mountain bike rider Bohdan Schurr demoed some of the features for the Denver Gazette Wednesday, and voiced some of his thoughts and feelings about the bike park.

“It is a big project and we are all very excited to have it open to the public,” Schurr said. “There’s a lot of terrain for everybody, from super beginner to all the way to more experienced, pro-level riders.”

“Today was my first time on the pump track it was awesome, and it has wonderful flow to it, and will be super fun and easy for everyone to dip their toes in the water a little bit.”

Riders can either ride through the Shred Shed or jump onto the roof of the feature via a ramp, then exit off by jumping onto the landing.

“I feel like it is going to be one of the next up-and-coming bike parks for the area,” Schurr said. “Everything we have out here is really high quality and I feel like it is going to be a category holder for a lot of people.”

World-renowned bike park builder Velosolutions built the pump track and American Ramp Company designed the whole park. The kids bicycle playground is next to the pump track near the parking area.

Olinger said the cost of the entire bike park build was just shy of $2.5 million. The bike park will have two dedicated staffers maintaining it with plans to add more staff to start 2024.

Olinger said he was already receiving emails and calls for volunteers to help maintain the park.

“It’s different for us, the excitement, the overall genuineness of people wanting to come keep this maintained, we’re very receptive to that desire,” Olinger said.

The grand opening of the bike park is set for 9 a.m., Sept. 16. Check the Berthoud Bike Park Facebook page for more details and further updates.