"About four or five years ago, I realized I was shuttling my kids and our bikes to Three Forks or Bozeman just to be able to ride pump tracks," Belgrade Community Coalition board member Emily Decker told KBZK in January.
That drive has a local answer now. The City of Belgrade scheduled the grand opening of the new asphalt pump track at Mayfair Meadows Bike Park, off Meadow Circle, for Monday, Oct. 5, from 4 to 5 p.m. Mayor Mike Meis and the Belgrade Community Coalition were set to speak, and the Service Station of Belgrade planned to offer quick tune-ups and small bike repairs. The odd thing about the opening is what you won't find when you get there. The park has no permanent parking lot and no restrooms yet. The riding surface came first. That order was a choice, and it explains how the park works right now and why it turned out so different from the tracks Belgrade families used to drive to.
The Order Things Got Built In
Most parks start with a parking lot, a restroom and a path, and the specialty features come later if the money holds out. Mayfair Meadows went the other way, because a group of residents put the track at the top of the list and kept it there.
- 2021. The Belgrade Community Coalition starts work on the bike park with the City of Belgrade and local residents.
- August 2022. Nicki Sandbe presents the proposal to the city's Park Board.
- 2025. The Yellowstone Club Community Foundation awards $20,000 toward Mayfair, according to minutes of the Belgrade Regional Parks, Trails and Recreation District.
- January 2026. The City Council votes unanimously to approve a construction contract with American Ramp Company for an "Asphalt Pump Track," capped at $299,999.
- September 2026. Crews build the track, and a Coalition statement describes five years of planning and fundraising behind it.
- Oct. 5, 2026. Grand opening.
Jordan Green, the city's director of Parks, Trails and Recreation, told councilmembers at the January vote that the pump track "is probably the most substantial component of the master plan for Mayfair Meadows Park," and that the project "has pretty much been spearheaded by the BCC." When the group behind a project is made up of parents tired of loading bikes into the car, the riding surface is what gets built first.
The money followed the same local path. The Belgrade Regional Parks, Trails and Recreation District set aside $400,000 for the project. The $299,999 construction contract left about $100,000 on the table for other work, in addition to grants and donated services. Green said donated civil engineering, site design and general contracting were "taking every dollar that we have in the parks budget even further." The city's partner list includes the Gallatin County Open Lands Program, the Rieschel Foundation, Morrison-Maierle, DSC Construction, Cushing Terrell and Rivers Landscaping, along with the Coalition and the parks district.
What's Actually on the Ground
A pump track is a continuous loop of rollers and berms. You ride it without pedaling, building speed by pushing your body weight down into each roller. Green gave the council a shorter version: "pretty much just like a skate park for bicycles."
Belgrade's version is a Velosolutions asphalt park, designed to meet Union Cycliste Internationale standards. That certification qualifies it for high-level competition and race-qualifying events. The city says it is the only asphalt bike park of its kind within 430 miles and the only one in Montana. Velosolutions is the design name on the city's announcement, and American Ramp Company held the construction contract, so don't be surprised to see both names attached to the track.
The paved surface is also why the track welcomes more than bikes. The city says it was built for "all wheels" and all ways of moving:
- Bicycles, including the balance bikes small kids start on
- Rollerblades
- Scooters
- Skateboards
- Specialized wheelchairs
"We want to make sure that this park is available to as many people as possible, so it is optimized for toddlers on strider bikes as well as Olympic hopefuls, everywhere in between," Decker said at the January council meeting. "And it is adaptive-optimized for people with disabilities. So really, it's for everybody."
Asphalt, Not Dirt
This is where Belgrade stops being the town that drives somewhere else to ride. According to Green, the City of Bozeman is also building a bike track, and Bozeman's will be dirt. Because the two tracks are made of different materials, he said, they may complement each other. Belgrade did more than catch up with its neighbors. It built a different kind of surface, the paved one that skateboards, scooters and wheelchairs can use.
Belgrade has watched one paved recreation feature play out before. At the January vote, City Councilmember Renae Mattimoe compared the new track to the skate park at Lewis and Clark City Park:
"The only days there weren't kids there [at the skate park] was when there was so much snow, we couldn't shovel it off. I've been out there and shoveled it a lot over the years. I have a feeling this [new track] will be very popular."
The city hasn't announced any plans for how the Mayfair track will be handled in winter. For now, the skate park's record is the only local hint of how much use an all-weather paved surface in Belgrade can get.
What Isn't There Yet
Building the track first means the rest of the park is still a plan. The city calls the pump track the first completed phase of the Mayfair Meadows master plan. Future phases include bike jump lines, parking, restrooms and landscaping. More site work is planned for next spring, and later phases will move forward as funding comes in.
Here's what that means for a visit this fall:
- Parking. For the grand opening, the city sent visitors to the Bridge Church lot at 608 N. Jackrabbit Lane. The city hasn't named a permanent parking area yet. Green estimated in January that the future lot could hold 50 to 80 vehicles.
- Restrooms. They're part of a future phase, so plan accordingly with little kids.
- Jump lines. Also a later phase. Green said that once the park is fully built, the company told him it would be "the only fully asphalt bike track and jump line park ... in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana."
- A wall ride. Green said one could be added to the track if more funding turns up.
The city hasn't published hours, helmet rules or a winter access policy for the track. Check the City of Belgrade's parks page before you treat any of those as settled.
The Same Habit on East Main
Mayfair isn't the only Belgrade project where the city is deciding the order of things one step at a time. In February the city bought Big Red, the eight-story grain elevator at 88 E. Main St., from Nutrien Ag Solutions for $550,000 in tax increment financing funds. Nelson Story built it along the Northern Pacific rail line in 1891. The building appears on the city seal, even though it is no longer red. A $1 million EPA brownfields grant will pay to find out how much remediation the structure needs.
Katharine King, the city's director of Community and Economic Development, showed the TIF Advisory Committee photos of a grain elevator in Carlton, Oregon, on Sept. 17. That building now houses Flâneur Wines, and its interior hosts tastings and weddings. King said one option is leasing Big Red to a private partner. She also laid out a minimum result: even if the building can't be reused, cleaning up the exterior and adding landscaping, or "if nothing more, a park," would make "a dramatic difference to our eastern entrance."
The Mayfair approach is the same. Build the piece the community wants most, and add the rest as the money comes in. Riders can use the track now, and parking, restrooms and jump lines are the work planned for next spring and beyond.
If your family has spent the last few years loading bikes into the car for Bozeman or Three Forks, the Mayfair Meadows track is a good reason to look again at what's close to home in Belgrade. Tyler Garrison follows projects like this across the Gallatin Valley, from Belgrade's parks to Big Red. If you'd like to talk through how new amenities like this one shape the neighborhoods around them, schedule a free consultation.
