Bentonville, Arkansas has established itself as the ideal example of a mountain bike community. It built an abundance of interconnected trails throughout the entire town and beyond. With the new trails came new businesses, tourists, and revenue.
It’s no wonder that other communities have paid attention to what Bentonville has done and want to replicate its magic. One such community is Midland, Michigan, a town of just over 50,000 in the Great Lakes Bay Region.
The Central Michigan Mountain Bike Association (CMMBA) has begun working on what it hopes will be the start of a system of trails throughout the city, beginning with new trails at City Forest.
To find out more about CMMBA’s plans for Midland, Singletracks spoke to C.J. Brey, the current vice-president of the CMMBA, a Midland resident, and Marcie Post, the Assistant Director of Public Services for the city of Midland.
Midland’s destination potential
According to Brey, Midland has the ingredients to make it a destination for mountain biking.
“We have the infrastructure, a big corporate presence, and a lot of greenspace in town,” he said. Post and Brey mentioned a robust and dedicated local ridership.
Brey said that, while Midland is in the middle of a region that is somewhat economically challenged due to the loss of industry, the town itself is thriving. “It is a young, family-oriented community. If you want to raise kids, the schools are as good as it gets.”
Post described the city as an oasis in the region. “We have a community that expects excellence. Our community loves our parks and our arts. We want that quality-of-life piece.”
Most of Midland’s residents work for the local hospital, the Dow Chemical Company (which has been headquartered in the town for over a hundred years), or a couple of other major businesses. Brey told Singletracks that Dow has invested heavily in the town, funding the construction of a performing arts center, a community center, and a tree canopy walk. Additionally, Brey said Midland has completely revitalized its downtown area. There are several new businesses and restaurants, including Three Bridges, a brewery and distillery. This revitalization effort has helped Midland attract the attention of outsiders.
Spurring new trails closer to town
Brey helped start the Midland Mountain Bike Crew, a composite team affiliated with the Michigan Scholastic Cycling Association, in 2020. In its first year, the team had 40 young people who rode with the team. This past season, there were approximately 120 young people who participated with the team.
The explosive growth of the team helped spotlight the lack of trails conducive to riders of varying abilities. Brey said that the town’s main mountain bike trails are located at the north end of town in City Forest, a park approximately two miles long by two miles wide. It has roughly 12 miles of singletrack, which consists mainly of older trails.
Local riders often drive an hour or more away to get a different experience than what the current Midland trails have to offer. CMMBA wants to change that and keep more riders in town, as well as attract riders from other areas.
Sampling a vision
Brey told Singletracks that CMMBA initially approached the city with the idea of creating a mountain bike master plan, using IMBA Trail Solutions. However, the city was reluctant to spend $30-40k to do so. Instead, it suggested CMMBA do a pilot project first.
Using a part of City Forest that was undeveloped, CMMBA came up with a plan to build a green trail, 0.3 miles in length, that will accommodate adaptive bikes, a blue trail 0.6 miles in length, and a skills park that has progressive riding features from blue to black, including jump lines and drops.
CMMBA helped raise the funds required for the build. It secured a matching grant through IMBA, and donations from Dow, the James Musil Memorial Foundation, and other local businesses and riders. CMMBA also teamed up with BeAlive, Inc. to put on a fundraising music festival in City Forest.Once it had secured funds, CMMBA enlisted the services of TrailSense, LLC to build the new trails. Phase I of the project begins this month, and Brey expects the other two phases to be completed by next summer.
The start of an interconnecting trail system in Midland
The goal for the new trails at City Forest is simple, says Brey: get people out on bikes. He hopes that once local riders use the new trails they will be left wanting more, and that’s what Brey and CMMBA have in mind. They hope the popularity of the new trails will spur the city to fund the development of a mountain bike master plan and begin building more trails.
“The next thing to do is connect City Forest back to other parts of town.”
Brey envisions building connector trails that encourage locals to commute by mountain bike throughout the city. He believes the connector trails will make it safer and more fun for kids and adults to move about the city and commute to and from school or work.
“It’s too easy for everyone to just go to work and come back home,” he said “I want to create a new personality for the city.”
Post also loves the idea of having a soft-surface transportation system in town. She mentioned that Midland already has a rail-trail in town that is heavily utilized by both cyclists and pedestrians.
Both Brey and Post said that the city already has an active, outdoor lifestyle. There are year-round recreational activities available in Midland from kayaking, hiking, and biking in the warm months to skiing and sledding in the winter months.
Brey hopes the new trails will bring a youthful vibrance to the town, giving it new energy and bringing more people in. “We have all the makings of big-time mountain biking.”
Post is excited about the new trails as well. She likes the economic impact of the new trails as well as the opportunities they will give for riders of all abilities. “We know this will be big for our community. It’s going to have something for everyone.”
