The vibe here, the way the kids act here is really civil. It's amazing. And when you work with kids, you see the worst of them, and here everyone is really positive and it's a fun place to be. – Aaron Kruger, high school teacher
SALT LAKE CITY — For 11-year-old Chris Prior, there’s nothing like doing bike tricks on the terrain trails just above the Avenues.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said.
While he may not know how to describe the feeling of doing tricks, he sure knows the moves.
"You're thinking about landing and style and tricks, if you're doing tricks," he said.
Thanks to a new deal, he can continue doing them. The spot called the I Street Bike Terrain — a long-time destination for city mountain bikers — will now become an official city park.
Salt Lake City will spend $55,000 from its Capital Improvement Project fund for fencing, signs, garbage bins and engineering designs to make the area a full-fledged park. City officials said they like to improve the quality of life and they can't go wrong with adding another park.
Toni Walbridge, president of the Wasatch Area Freeride Trails Association, said the day the I Street Bike Terrain Park was secured last week was one of the best days he's had in years. It was a long process that involved a lot of patience, he said, but it might be the association's biggest victory.
Now the jumps, mounds and hills are going to become a Salt Lake City park, specifically for high-flying, trick-pulling mountain bikers.
"The terrain is quite unique, all those gullies and features here that make it maybe not so good for development and housing, but it creates a perfect terrain for riding our mountain bikes," Walbridge said.
It’s also the perfect terrain for kids to just be kids.
High school teacher Aaron Kruger said the park makes a big difference to some of his students.
"The vibe here, the way the kids act here is really civil. It's amazing," Kruger said. "And when you work with kids, you see the worst of them, and here everyone is really positive and it's a fun place to be."
Email: acabrero@deseretnews.com