Gorham Gets More Flow:
Greater Portland NEMBA and the Gorham Conservation Commission will team up to create a beginner friendly flow trail using funding from a NEMBA Signature Trail Grant. The trail will have berms, rollers and progressive jumps that will entice beginner to intermediate level riders, especially kids, while also being fun for advanced level riders. Utilizing existing natural features such as knolls and depressions it will be ¾ mile long and adjacent to the Lavoie Bike Park. The bike park located between Gorham’s high and middle school campuses currently has a pump track and a 15-mile trail network.
Overall things are progressing really well. Chapter representatives have already had a few meetings and site walks with members from the Town to finalize the plan and make sure everyone is on the same page.
Exciting news is that the Town of Gorham officially recognized the trails in Gorham as an economic benefit.
We think this will be helpful for us long term as we look for the Town to contribute and support trails more.
We have the corridor of the trail 90% cleared and we need to do a bit more trimming and clearing to prep for the machine work. Of course, you can't 100% trust Strava but it looks like we will be really close to a full mile! This area used to be a dump so we're not able to dig more than a few inches however we'll be bringing in a lot of material for the tread of the trail. This has already started with volunteer support over the past several weeks.
For this project they and are providing help with material and machine operators. Gorham Sand & Gravel supported us during the pump track build, and they are excited to be involved in this project too. This is a huge win with both financial support and to free up volunteer time to work on the features of the trail. The base layer is different than what we are used to working with and want to see how fast sections roll before going too crazy with berms, rollers & features.
We estimate that we will need to raise an additional $3-4k to complete the project and are doing a lot of grassroots communication at the pump track, trails and in town. So far there has been an amazing response, and everyone is super excited.
We hope we can get the tread down and packed by end of July. Look for more information and potentially a grand opening celebration around that time!
Submitted by Sam Morton
(a few pictures of the process and progress!)
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