What started as an idea to get more people to the annual Downhill & Grill community event evolved into Basin Recreation’s first bike race series for toddlers.

There are only two rules for the Tiny Tires Showdown: no riders over 4 years old and no pedals on the bikes.

Hanna Markel, events and outreach lead coordinator for Basin Recreation, said she was pleased with how the series has turned out so far.

“So far, it’s been awesome. Lots of big smiles,” she said.

The races have taken place at parks in the Snyderville Basin. Courses are set up with toddler-friendly obstacles like bubbles, pool noodles and speed bumps. Markel said the kids love exploring the track before the race just as much as the actual competition.

For parents, the races are a chance to explore the parks and get their kids outside in a safe environment. Markel said many have been to new parks and their kids are making new friends because of the races.

“The parents have been super into it, too,” Markel said. “Parents like that their kids are out racing, having fun, and it’s very controlled, low stakes.” 

While it is a low-stakes race, there is still a chance for the kids to get on a podium and receive a medal.

“It’s been very fun and very cute,” Markel said

Along with the Tiny Tire Showdown on Aug. 8, Basin Recreation is planning mountain bike clinics for older kids as part of their Downhill & Grill event. The clinics are for kids aged 6-12 and will be led by Basin Mountain Bike coaches.

The clinics will start at a beginner level, but the Trailside park is built for a wide range of ability and skill levels. 

The Downhill & Grill event started out as a way to thank the community after Basin Recreation built the Trailside Bike Park. Every year people bring bikes, eat barbeque and enjoy the community parks together.

“We are out there to have fun and get kids outside and on bikes,” Markel said. 

Markel said her favorite thing about these events particularly is getting to know a new part of the community. 

“We do a lot of really fun community events,” she said. “But I think this is one where we are reaching out to a bit of a younger crowd of kids, and it’s just fun to see how thankful everyone is for little things like this.” 

Registration is still open for each event on the Basin Recreation website and will be made available through race-day on Aug. 8.

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Summit Bike Share increased its ridership by 20% this year with a total of 17,000 rides, according to Transportation Planning Director Carl Miller, who attributes the program’s success to a full season of operations, marketing campaigns and new stations.

“Last year was the first year that we ran the program as the county,” Miller said. “Previously, we had a service provider who ran it, so that was our first year running the program. We learned a lot, and this year has been even more successful.”

Bike share programs are becoming more popular throughout the country, especially in tourist destinations like ski resort towns, according to Miller. The programs allow people to rent and return bicycles or e-bikes at approved stations in a specific geographical area, such as Summit County.

To use the program in Summit County, riders need to download the official Summit Bike Share app. Then they can purchase a pass, which will let the rider check out an e-bike from one of the stations in Summit County. There are multiple passes available depending on the riders’ needs, including an individual pass, monthly pass, four-day pass and season pass.

“We’re continuing to constantly try to improve the user application because if the system is frustrating and complicated to use, folks aren’t going to give it that much time and they’re going to walk away,” said county active transportation planner Senta Beyer. “Our hope is to continue to educate our users on how to use the app, how to use the bikes and to help them better understand the system.”

In addition to maintaining and updating the mobile app, part of the county’s success with the bike share includes new stations at the Park City Hospital and the Lincoln Station apartments, as well as the reopening of the Park Avenue station after it was shut down by a construction project.

“We’re considering a program to let locals have the first 10 minutes for free on the bikes during the shoulder season, so before the peak in July, Pioneer Day, the 4th of July, those kinds of events,” Miller said. “But for the first and last month of the season, we want to enable locals to really enjoy the bikes, to get out and recreate, run errands between their office and their home and a restaurant, those kinds of things.”

Miller said operating Summit Bike Share in-house instead of contracting with a third-party company has helped the program financially. Beyer manages the program and employs one full-time and one part-time bike mechanic, as well as two seasonal bike mechanics during the summer.

“We really try to keep the ratio of bikes to mechanics fairly streamlined, especially compared to some larger systems, and at the same time make sure that we’re repairing the bikes and providing good customer service to our community,” Miller explained. “As we grow the program, we may need to add more staff down the road in correlation with additional revenues that we expect from adding new bikes and new stations into the system.”

The bike share program broke even financially last season, which Miller said isn’t typical for bike share programs. Typically, bike shares need government subsidiaries to stay afloat, but the Summit Bike Share hasn’t needed to tap into those resources yet because of its three sponsors: the Park City Chamber/Bureau, Intermountain Healthcare and Deer Valley Resort.

“We’re hoping to continue to tap into our business community to see how we can broaden our sponsorship and get the bikes more into the fabric of the community,” Beyer said.

Right now, residents who have feedback on the bike share, including suggestions for new stations, can take the Summit Bike Share’s end-of-season survey. Miller said he also hopes to gauge interest in the proposed locals-focused programs.

“It’s the most sustainable and enjoyable way to get around in the community,” he said about the bike share. “That’s really why we’re asking the community for participation in this survey, to get their feedback, to find out how we can better serve the local residents in the county and in Park City, to find out how they would want to use this system.”

The survey, which is open until Dec. 13, is available at summitbikeshare.com.

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South Summit Elementary School, in conjunction with the Summit County Sheriff’s department and the Summit County Health Department, hosted a bike rodeo for children Thursday afternoon, September 14, 2017. The event saw nearly 80 participants, blowing away expectations, and educated the children on bike safety as well as providing them with an after-school snack. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Bike-Rodeo/

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Park City has released the nation’s first entirely electric bike share program. To kick off the success, locals rode from the Transit Centers in Old Town and Kimball Junction, meeting at the McPolin Barn along SR-224, to celebrate. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-Park-Citys-Electric-Bike-Share-Program/

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