From Miami Landfill to MTB Park - Virginia Key

This is Miami, hardly the place you would expect to find mountain bike trials. Miami is more of a testament to urban development than anything else, but a little island off Key Biscane is a product of exactly that.

Frenchy is arguably the most important man in all of Miami, as far as we’re concerned anyway. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, he’s converted a landfill into beautiful switchback mountain bike trails. It’s hard to believe this whole island didn’t even exist before the Port of Miami was dredged. Nature has certainly taken it over quickly.

In 2011, the newly formed Virginia Key Bicycle club got the thumbs up to start building trails here. The city had nothing to lose and everything to gain. According to Frenchy, there have been more volunteer hours logged here in the last 5 years than any other trail in South Florida. At the beginning of the project, Frenchy’s primary goal was to make the park accessible to as many people as possible. He wanted the community to love the park, and they did. The volunteers up on this stage have logged the most time of anyone, with some of them spending over 800 hours of their own time working on the trails.

With the remaining acreage, Frenchy has plans for more difficult trails. The very people who got into mountain biking here are now growing and improving their skills, thirsty for new challenges. Today is the park’s 5 year anniversary, and there’s a brand new black diamond section opening in a few minutes. Frenchy is kicking things off by popping a bottle of champagne with a machete. I’m not sure if it’s for the anniversary or the new section, but it’s some handy machete-work nonetheless. There’s reason to celebrate too, as this park has had an enormous effect on the local cycling economy. Whenever there’s an event here, shops, bike companies, and riders come out in droves, eager to see the continued success of the park. There are enough demo bikes here for everyone.

Now that the champagne hacking is through, we’re riding a huge train through the adaptive trails, ending with the opening of the new black diamond run. I saw some stuff there yesterday which had me itching to come back today. Here goes… The new section has a little something for everyone. From what Frenchy tells me there will be more to come, including a continuation of this trail. I plan on spending a lot more time here at Virginia Key, even if I need to fight Miami’s traffic to do so.

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