My partner at work is well past his 30 years on the force to retire. He rides w/ me at work and is very fit for a 50-something year old. I usually tell him the weekend stories of where noah and i went to ride or what i want to build and, after telling him how packed skate cary was this weekend he got a glimmer in his eye.
you see, he wants to retire but he has a young wife and newborn to support and the healthcare premium goes from about $250 per month per family to $750 per month per family for retirees (friggin ridiculous)
so he inherited 15 acres right near the entrance to the NC zoo in asheboro and he's been trying to figure out the best way to make money off of it for extra retirement income. today he started drilling me about bike parks and asking me for ideas. he says he has about $250k to invest if needed and was curious about insurance costs and what he would need to make it work.
I suggested the following and i'm looking for more suggestions because, if he goes through w/ this, it could be one heck of a park that's only about 30 minutes from greensboro.
- indoor and outdoor skate/bike ramp area with the possibility of a bowl. indoor section would be made with one of the inexpensive steel framed buildings common in warehouses nowadays (ie: factory skatepark in GA) outdoor area would be more spaced out and geared more toward the bike crowd but the inside would still be bikeable if the outside was shut down due to weather.
- LARGE dirtjump area, i'm talking a few acres worth. he told me that the area is mostly flat with a slight downward slope on the back half. he has access to numerous tractors/diggers. i was thinking he could make several different areas from novice to pro lines and, given there will be no lack of dirt, everything would be made as a table so as not to intimidate those trying to learn.
- freeride skills area. the lack of elevation change would limit this section but a network of skinnies, teeters and small drops a la Rays MTB Park would be sufficient for some skill building and could still be rideable if the dj's are too wet.
- concession/pro shop, about the size of the one at skate cary but perhaps with a limited kitchen (pizza,hot dogs...microwave stuff) pro shop would carry limited stock to keep the overhead low but would have the necessities (skate parts, tubes, stems, cranks...)
- nature trail: for the parents of the groms, a groomed trail that meanders throughout the park where they could jog/walk/watch if they chose to stay at the park. perhaps make this feature free for spectators/fitness minded locals.
- now, i don't know how to go about this part but what better way to promote your park than by having either a NBL or ABA bmx track there as well. with 15 acres available there will be plenty of room for a tanglewood sized track in addition to the skate/dj/freeride areas. this is the area i need you local SE monkies to help me out with. i'm a NBL member but i don't have many contacts in that area but i know some of you folks have been in the bmx scene for a long time and know how it works. also, given the uh...confederate-ish location, i'm sure there are plenty of redneck kids just dying to have a bmx track closer to them
so..to bring this back to reality, i don't know how serious he was about all of this but he is definitely considering it very deeply. he's run a business before and likes the idea of the low overhead involved with this type of venture, especially considering his only real operating expense would be the insurance...since he owns the land and all. the dirt jump area would cost about nothing as i'm sure we could round up a bunch of diggers/shapers to come help out in exchange for some free sessions and he has all of the heavy equipment to do it right.
so what i'm asking now is:
1. if all of this came to fruition, how many of you would be willing to drive to asheboro to ride something like this and how often would you make the trip(use the nc zoo address for mapquest/distance queries 4401 Zoo Pkwy, Asheboro, NC 27205) *about 30-45 minutes for triad riders and 1:45 for raleigh area folks*
2. are there any suggestions that would make something like this better or more appealing. my goal is to help him design something that will appeal to more people more of the time than a basic skatepark and possibly open up another bmx track.
thanks for the ideas in advance.
you see, he wants to retire but he has a young wife and newborn to support and the healthcare premium goes from about $250 per month per family to $750 per month per family for retirees (friggin ridiculous)
so he inherited 15 acres right near the entrance to the NC zoo in asheboro and he's been trying to figure out the best way to make money off of it for extra retirement income. today he started drilling me about bike parks and asking me for ideas. he says he has about $250k to invest if needed and was curious about insurance costs and what he would need to make it work.
I suggested the following and i'm looking for more suggestions because, if he goes through w/ this, it could be one heck of a park that's only about 30 minutes from greensboro.
- indoor and outdoor skate/bike ramp area with the possibility of a bowl. indoor section would be made with one of the inexpensive steel framed buildings common in warehouses nowadays (ie: factory skatepark in GA) outdoor area would be more spaced out and geared more toward the bike crowd but the inside would still be bikeable if the outside was shut down due to weather.
- LARGE dirtjump area, i'm talking a few acres worth. he told me that the area is mostly flat with a slight downward slope on the back half. he has access to numerous tractors/diggers. i was thinking he could make several different areas from novice to pro lines and, given there will be no lack of dirt, everything would be made as a table so as not to intimidate those trying to learn.
- freeride skills area. the lack of elevation change would limit this section but a network of skinnies, teeters and small drops a la Rays MTB Park would be sufficient for some skill building and could still be rideable if the dj's are too wet.
- concession/pro shop, about the size of the one at skate cary but perhaps with a limited kitchen (pizza,hot dogs...microwave stuff) pro shop would carry limited stock to keep the overhead low but would have the necessities (skate parts, tubes, stems, cranks...)
- nature trail: for the parents of the groms, a groomed trail that meanders throughout the park where they could jog/walk/watch if they chose to stay at the park. perhaps make this feature free for spectators/fitness minded locals.
- now, i don't know how to go about this part but what better way to promote your park than by having either a NBL or ABA bmx track there as well. with 15 acres available there will be plenty of room for a tanglewood sized track in addition to the skate/dj/freeride areas. this is the area i need you local SE monkies to help me out with. i'm a NBL member but i don't have many contacts in that area but i know some of you folks have been in the bmx scene for a long time and know how it works. also, given the uh...confederate-ish location, i'm sure there are plenty of redneck kids just dying to have a bmx track closer to them
so..to bring this back to reality, i don't know how serious he was about all of this but he is definitely considering it very deeply. he's run a business before and likes the idea of the low overhead involved with this type of venture, especially considering his only real operating expense would be the insurance...since he owns the land and all. the dirt jump area would cost about nothing as i'm sure we could round up a bunch of diggers/shapers to come help out in exchange for some free sessions and he has all of the heavy equipment to do it right.
so what i'm asking now is:
1. if all of this came to fruition, how many of you would be willing to drive to asheboro to ride something like this and how often would you make the trip(use the nc zoo address for mapquest/distance queries 4401 Zoo Pkwy, Asheboro, NC 27205) *about 30-45 minutes for triad riders and 1:45 for raleigh area folks*
2. are there any suggestions that would make something like this better or more appealing. my goal is to help him design something that will appeal to more people more of the time than a basic skatepark and possibly open up another bmx track.
thanks for the ideas in advance.