Gilroy
– Local BMX bikers could be soaring off jumps in Gilroy this
summer if Jim and Mary Garcia win approval for a new bike park.
Gilroy – Local BMX bikers could be soaring off jumps in Gilroy this summer if Jim and Mary Garcia win approval for a new bike park.
A permanent dirt track for BMX racers has been part of the city’s plans for six years, but thanks to the long-time Gilroy couple, it is now closer than ever to becoming reality. The Garcias operate the nonprofit Manzanita Park in Prunedale and have approached City Hall about setting up a similar facility at the city’s new sports complex, off Monterey Road.
“I expect the program to grow rapidly,” Mary Garcia said. “We’ll probably start off with about 50 riders coming to our races, but I imagine it will expand to 200 before long. It’s in the 2008 Olympics, so the sport’s getting a lot of press.”
The 1,000-foot track the Garcias have proposed would be sanctioned by the National Bicycle League and would host weekly league races. Table-tops, step-ups, rollers and banked turns are among the standard features the couple hopes to incorporate in the Gilroy facility. Their plans also call for an announcer’s tower and a starting gate.
Costs for riders to use the Gilroy facility would parallel fees at the Prunedale track 20 miles south of Gilroy. There, BMXers are required to sign up for a $45 annual NBL membership, which provides liability insurance for the park and secondary medical insurance to the rider. The fee also includes a subscription to the NBL newsletter and a pass to ride at any of its sponsored tracks across the country, meaning that any riders that sign up at the Gilroy facility could use either park. Riders pay additional weekly fees of $4 for practice and $6 to $8 for races.
That’s a small price for a sport that has taken a number of Gilroy youth and their families around the world, including the Garcias. Two of their sons rose to the pinnacle of the sport, ranking in the top five riders world-wide in the ’90s. One of them, Joey, even won a gold medal in the “dirt jumping” event at the ESPN X Games in 1996.
It all started in 1982, when a neighbor told their son about a bike track in Morgan Hill.
“My son tried it and loved it and we’ve been in it ever since,” said Mary Garcia, now 60. “What attracts us to the sport is the family atmosphere and all the benefits for young children. (My husband and I) are both teachers so we have seen the positive effects of the sport, especially with children who have ADHD, (or Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder). It really helps them focus a lot of their attention.”
It also helps keep kids out of trouble, according to Al Roybal, another world-class biker.
“I got really lucky,” Roybal said. “When I was young, I probably wasn’t making the best choices, and the Garcias literally loaded me up in their motor home and started taking me to races across Californian, then to national series. ”
Roybal, now 35, went on to become a world-class BMXer as well, finishing third and fifth in world competitions in Australia and Brazil, respectively. Nowadays, he stays active in the sport as an announcer for events at the Prunedale facility the Garcias created.
“I cannot express how excited I am. It’s been a long time coming,” said Roybal, who credits the Garcias with resurrecting the bike park idea after five years of limbo. The idea was first referred to the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission in 2000, when Roybal served on the body, and then was referred to the Youth Commission. It stalled there until about last year, when the Garcias began pushing to build the facility at the sports complex.
In February, council members gave staff permission to negotiate a deal in which the city would share the costs of development with the Garcias’ future nonprofit. Under the draft proposal, Gilroy would provide $26,000 for the project; install bleachers, picnic tables, fencing and lights; and provide water and electricity service to the facility. In exchange, the Garcias would install and operate the dirt track with the aid of a $14,500 grant from the NBL.
“We’re not experienced in operating BMX tracks and these folks are,” said City Operations Manager Carla Ruigh, lead negotiator on the deal. “They have extensive experience. You’re getting somebody in there who knows what they’re doing. Secondly, by doing it under NBL, it minimizes the city’s risk if something were to happen. Thirdly, at very little cost, we’re able to provide a recreational opportunity that we might otherwise not be able to provide.”
The Garcias’ offer is the latest part of an emerging trend of partnerships between City Hall and various public and private groups. In addition to the bike park proposal, the city is also considering building a new softball facility at the sports complex and farming out its operation to a private business. Officials also are partnering with the Gilroy Unified School District on the construction of an aquatics center.
“I think partnerships are the answer to the future,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “Any time we can find ways to partner, I think that’s a good thing.”
The city’s latest potential collaborators bring two decades of experience to the table. The Garcias have operated two dirt bike facilities in Gilroy since 1982 – one on New Avenue in the ’80s and the other on Denio Avenue in the late ’90s. Both were forced to close because the locations lacked the proper zoning, Garcia said, explaining that they kept the sport alive locally by moving to Fort Ord and then Prunedale.
If the city approves a permanent home for BMXers at the Gilroy sports complex, the Garcias plan to generate new interest through four or five yearly open houses. On those days, bikers will have a chance to use the facility for free or pay $10 to $20 for lessons from experts.
The facility would lie south of the parking lot at the sports complex. If they receive city and other regulatory approval, the Garcias plan to construct and open the park by the end of June.
