How to Create and Operate a For-profit Bike Park, According to a Teenager Who's Done It

Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast

Singletracks.com

Wilderness, Sports

4.7 • 574 Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2023

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rhett Jones is a high school mountain biker living in the Austin, Texas area. He's the founder of Station Bike Park, a new private park he developed on 150 acres of former ranchland northwest of Austin.

Singletracks first shared Jones' story in a November feature article on our website; this interview adds more detail and dives into the economic and operational aspects of running a for-profit, private mountain bike park.

How long have you been riding mountain bikes?
Tell us about the free bike, public bike park you built in 2022. How did that get started?
Are there many places to mountain bike in and around Austin, TX? What is the mountain bike scene like in the area? In the state?
How much money did you raise, and how did you raise it? Were you able to stay on budget?
Are bike parks good businesses? Were you able to use any successful bike parks as an example?
How do most bike parks actually make money: tickets, rentals, repairs, or sales?
Was getting insurance a challenge?
Is there a benefit to being close to a more established bike park like Spider Mountain Bike Park?
What are the economics of a fixed lift system? Is the cost feasible for the average bike park?
What's your favorite part of owning a bike park?
What are your plans for the bike park and for yourself in the future?

Find out more at stationmountain.com.

Photo provided by Rhett Jones.

--Keep up with the latest in mountain biking at Singletracks.com and on Instagram @singletracks

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, just leave on work now. Sorry, it's a bit loud. Um, basically, so I was thinking we could get Macies tonight.
0:05.7	Had a big Mac on my mind all day and delivery fee on the app is now from 99P. So you win? Of course you are.
0:11.5	Love you. Bye.
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0:15.9	18 plus service fee and small order fee may apply. Participating restaurants. Serving times and teas and seas apply.
0:20.7	AI is incredible.
0:22.3	It can teach you how to fry an egg and even write a poem, pirate style.
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0:28.2	But it knows nothing about your work.
0:31.2	Slackbot is different.
0:32.5	It doesn't just know the facts.
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0:39.8	taught. Because Slackbot isn't just another AI. It's AI that knows your work as well as you do.
0:46.5	Visit Slack.com forward slash meet Slackbot to learn more.
0:50.2	Hey everybody, welcome to the single tracks podcast. My name is Jeff, and today my guest is
0:55.7	Rhett Jones. Ret is a high school senior and a mountain biker living in the Austin, Texas area.
1:03.4	He's the founder of Station Bike Park, a new private park that he developed on 150 acres of
1:09.9	former ranchland northwest of town. Thanks for joining me,
1:15.4	Rhett. Yes. Hello. Glad I'm here. Yeah. Yeah. You're coming to us from the ranch and it sounds
1:21.7	like you're spending a lot of time out there currently living on the ranch. Is that right?
1:26.4	Yeah. I live here like three, four days a
	...

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