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A mountain biker rides through the Forebay Area in Payson in an undated photo. <\/p>\n
Courtesy Karl Teemant<\/p>\n
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Payson’s Forebay Area is pictured in an undated photo. <\/p>\n
Courtesy Karl Teemant<\/p>\n
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A map of the Payson Bike Park concept plan is show. <\/p>\n
Courtesy Payson City<\/p>\n
\u276e<\/a> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tA mountain biker rides through the Forebay Area in Payson in an undated photo. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tPayson\u2019s Forebay Area is pictured in an undated photo. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tA map of the Payson Bike Park concept plan is show. At the foothills of Payson Canyon is the 500-acre Forebay Area, a wilderness owned and maintained by Payson City that offers a wide range of recreational activities.<\/p>\n In 2020, Payson introduced an updated area management plan for Forebay, setting short-term and long-term goals for how the city wanted to harness the land.<\/p>\n In the half-decade since, Payson Recreation Director Karl Teemant said the city and the Payson Forebay Committee improved the recreation area by developing a parking lot, a bridge and restrooms at its lower-access point, while adding trails.<\/p>\n Recently, Payson turned its attention to a more ambitious project, a \u201cpremier mountain bike destination\u201d that will offer trails and features to mountain bikers of all levels with a goal of regional and national appeal, according a city concept plan.<\/p>\n \u201cThe percentage of people that participate in mountain biking in Utah is super high, and I think, why not (cater to them)?\u201d Teemant said. \u201cThat\u2019s a need that needs to be fulfilled, right? And that\u2019s what we do in parks and rec is identify the needs of the community and see how we can fulfill them.\u201d<\/p>\n The concept plan was presented to the Payson City Council in a July 2 meeting by Forebay Assistant Committee Chair Kevin Crook and subsequently approved, granting the city the ability to pursue funding options for the project.<\/p>\n The proposal is to create five mountain biking zones on the north part of the Forebay Area: a short track, dual slalom, bike park core, flow zone and tech zone.<\/p>\n The bike park core is proposed to serve as the park\u2019s access point, with a parking lot, an equestrian parking lot, space for shade structures and a set of progressive dirt jumps to practice on. Other biking zones are proposed outward from there.<\/p>\n Directly to the east would be the flow zone, containing 18.5 acres of four biking trails that average 3,000 feet in length with 257 feet of elevation gain. One trail would be a two-way, multiuse trail while the other three would be downhill trails of varying levels of difficulty with access points at the middle and top of the hill.<\/p>\n The zone would be designed with \u201csmooth, winding lines with gentle berms, playful rollers, and optional jumps,\u201d the concept plan stated.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea is bikers would ride up the two-way trail and connect to one of our existing trails and then access flow trails \u2014 black, blue, green lines coming down, and then people could circle that,\u201d Teemant said.<\/p>\n North of the park core are proposed dual slalom and short track courses with room for spectators. The short track would be high-intensity, designed for mountain bike training and technical precision, while the slalom course would have \u201csharp berms, rhythm sections and strategic rulers,\u201d the plan stated, and be designed for versatility and competition.<\/p>\n \u201cWouldn\u2019t that be awesome?\u201d Teemant said. \u201cWe can set that up and two people could just cruise down side-by-side.\u201d<\/p>\n The tech zone would involve three downhill trails accessible from existing trails that would vary in difficulty but each designed for skill riding, with switchbacks, drops and rock gardens.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are more technical trails,\u201d Teemant said. \u201cThey\u2019re not necessarily man-made features, but they might be rock gardens or steeper terrain, or narrower trails.\u201d<\/p>\n Teemant estimated it will cost \u201ca couple million\u201d to create the bike park and said they will consider a combination of donations, city funds and grants, such as the The Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant and Utah Valley tourism funding.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get funding to get the actual engineering of this concept plan done, and then we could go after bigger funds to get it installed, specifically, if we\u2019re having the professionals do it,\u201d Teemant said.<\/p>\n He believes the city can garner funds and grants for the project due to the popularity the bike park could have.<\/p>\n South Utah County is home to a youth mountain biking team, the Nebo Goats, that pulls in kids 7-12 from the Nebo School District boundaries.<\/p>\n The Utah High School Cycling League claims to be the largest biking league in National Interscholastic Cycling Association history, with 92 teams statewide, per its website<\/a>. Teemant said there\u2019s over 7,000 riders in the youth league, and that it produces 1,000-2,000 new riders annually.<\/p>\n He believes the sport\u2019s population has been reflected at the Firefly Mountain Bike Trails in Eagle Mountain, where he said people began riding new trails last fall \u2014 before the planned spring opening.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are loving (Firefly); they\u2019re driving an hour and a half to come to it,\u201d Teemant said. \u201cWe anticipate if (the Payson bike park) is done as planned, I think people will definitely travel to come and see this and ride it. I don\u2019t know that we\u2019ll get out-of-state travel necessarily to come, but we will definitely be a regional destination for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n In the meantime, Teemant said Forebay still has plenty to offer.<\/p>\n The Friends of Forebay groom winter trails for fat bike riding on a volunteer basis, while the city recently added new trails; \u201cLoading Chut,\u201d and \u201cApple Tree Springs.\u201d<\/p>\n He said they\u2019re also working on a conservation easement to protect the property into perpetuity.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea,\u201d Teemant said, \u201cis to lock it in pretty solid, to say, \u2018We want this to be a natural area for the future of our community.’\u201d<\/p>\n
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