I-5 Colonnade Mountain Bike Skills Park in Seattle

On our recent trip to Washington, our friend Carl from Transition Bikes took us out to Seattle for the day to ride at the I-5 Colonnade Mountain Bike Skills Park. The I-5 Colonnade is an urban mountain bike skills park, funded and constructed by the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. The park is suitable for all levels of riders from novice to advanced and works for those with an interest in Cross Country, Freeride, Trials, Dirt Jumping, or just wanting to get an idea of what the sport offers.   Just to name a few, the park features:

• Ladder and suspension bridges
• Rock chutes
• Differing levels of skinnies
• Nice, tight switchbacks
• Technical rock rolls
• Dirt jumps
• Flowy berms
• Wall rides
• Differing levels of drops
• Pump track
• Trials area

So many things impressed me about the I-5 Colonnade park. The park is located underneath the Seattle Interstate 5 highway meaning the space that would have otherwise been left vacant has been used for the greater good, allowing Seattle citizens to come and get some exercise in the middle of their city. On top of this however, the trails are a work of art! The park has clearly been well planned, and the trails have not been rushed – the workmanship and creativity involved is very impressive. Given the relative lack of space, there is a lot of riding to be done here – it’s a place that you really can come and spend the day if you have the bike to “do it all”.

Jess and I are quite rusty on our bikes of late – the day we were in Seattle was the third time that we had ridden a bike in 2010! We all took turns on the pump track for a warm up, Carl clearly riding with more energy and skill than both Jess and I. We all checked out the park in our own way. I tried my luck on the dirt jump line – I still have plenty of adapting to do to my Transition Double! Jess took the opportunity to work on her drops, while Carl chucked a no-effort no-footer.

The day that we visited started off dry but finished up with very heavy rainfall. Given that the park is mainly sheltered by the I-5 highway, it is actually a really good spot to ride on those rainy days. We all rode in hoodies and not one of us was soaked.

I had followed the progress of the I-5 Colonnade Mountain Bike Skills Park on the MTBR Forums years ago while we were in Australia (and was amazed by the workmanship) but I’m really glad we visited. Seeing and riding the park in person just proved how well the space has been used.