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New Features in the Works at Rockland Preserve

Avid mountain bicyclists already know about the Singletracks of Rockland in North Madison—each week, year-round, nearly 500 riders from across New England visit the popular trail system. While the bike features have added a great deal to the preserve recently, volunteers are still hard at work adding more bike features and activities for kids up at Rockland in an attempt to diversify offerings up at the preserve.

The Singletracks of Rockland is a series of loops and courses for non-motorized cycling or trail hiking covering nearly 20 miles. Singletracks creator Jason Engelhardt said the tracks have been a great success, but now he and his fellow volunteers are looking to add a bicycle pump track, a skills area, and a natural playground to the mix.

The skills area, a dense area of bicycle challenges that work to improve balance and skills unique to mountain biking such as traversing logs and rocks, is nearly complete. Engelhardt said plenty of donated labor and materials went into creating the course, which provides a safe space for bikers to test out certain elements commonly found while mountain biking.

The pump track (a continuous loop of multi-level dirt that allows cyclists to generate speed without pedaling, providing a form of exercise and a place for children to practice biking in a controlled environment) is still in the works according to Jon Petersen, a volunteer trail designer.

“It is something different,” he said of the track. “It’s fun. It’s an added skill that you learn including bike handling skills and you are learning all of these things in just this tiny piece of land, so I think it is definitely a good starting point. It’s also a good place to kill time if you’re waiting for your friends who showed up late for a ride.”

Petersen said the pump track will likely be completed in spring 2018 because, while a feature like the skills area could be built into the natural landscape, the pump track requires the removal of some brush and the shaping of dirt and clay to create the track.

“I think people are going to come here just for the pump track, because it is a unique feature and there aren’t many things like this on public lands,” said Engelhardt.

While the skills area and the pump track are in the works, the final element, the natural playground, may take longer to plan. A natural playground is just what it sounds like: natural. Engelhardt said the playground wouldn’t have any plastic elements and would use the surrounding forest environment, incorporating features like a climbing structures and low ropes as well as seating for families.

“This [playground] is a way to change the demographic of the user here...[Y]ou get so many people who come to ride bikes, which is great, because before there was really no one using the 650 acres…but still, I have a family in North Madison and I see this as a community asset,” he said. “We want to bring more families.”

Engelhardt said volunteers are committed to bringing a playground to the preserve, but unlike the new bike features, the playground is a town project and is listed in the Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

“There is money in the CIP for a few years out that we want to use to create a surface and then we just met with a playground consultant to get some designs to propose to try and build some excitement,” he said. “I market this whole project here as ‘There is not really anything for young people in Madison except for what is here.’”

According to Planning and Economic Development Director Dave Anderson, the project is listed in the CIP for $85,000, but is slated for completion a few years out. However, Anderson said hopefully the concept plan will help move the project up in the CIP.

“The playground is an aspiration,” said Engelhardt. “It is going to get better with the amount of people who are interested in it. If we could get some of the families in North Madison to speak up and say that they want something up here, I think that would help it along.”

To learn more about the Rockland Preserve, the Singletracks, and the new features, visit www.madisonct.org/RBP.