The Langford surprise
The Jordie Lunn Bike Park and The Gravity Zone is only a few years old and is already a model for what mountain biking can do for a community
Wildcat might be the best blue flow trail I’ve ever ridden. It starts with a statement: from the top of a small bluff, I roll onto a 100-foot wooden bridge. Clickity, clack, clicking, clack all the way down and around a rock wall until it deposits me back on the forest floor on a wide strip of dirt. From there it swings back and forth across a rocky hillside in what seems like a classic connection of berms, table tops and high speed corners. But it feels more natural than its machine-made width would suggest. One of the first turns uses a small ridgeline to set up for big banked swoop. I come flying around with a G-force smile. A natural fall-away roll becomes an optional launch. Here and there I come over a rise to find a rock slab in my path. Corners tend to be big and banked with just a cautionary braking required. It has all the playfulness of a machine-built flow trail at any bike park, but with the natural features it feels more surprising and exciting.
But Wildcat is not just a highlight trail in the Jordie Lunn Bike Park and The Gravity Zone. It’s an important element in the future of mountain biking on southern Vancouver Island and community building in Langford.
The Jordie trails are in Langford, a city 15 minutes from downtown Victoria. It’s a rugged area: numerous small, rocky mountains with steep sides and swampy bottoms. The topography resisted development, which left the hillsides to mountain bikers who built interesting and challenging trails on Bear and Skirt mountains and around Thetis Lake.
Steep lines tumbled down technical slabs, traversed grassy ledges and skidded through tight gullies. The mountain tops and open ledges revealed panoramas across the city and ocean to the snow capped peaks of Washington State. Epic sure, but entirely unsanctioned and unprotected. As the city grew some of the trails have disappeared, leaving local riders with fewer places to go.
Then three forces collided. The first was Jon Watkins, Drew Mackenzie and Parker Bloom. The trio had been organizing bike races and events in the Victoria area for years, but with no permanent venue, it was always a stress finding a place to host cyclocross races and mountain bike festivals. They developed a proposal for a bike park where they could host their events.
Their need complimented the second force: the Mayor of Langford was working to turn the city into a sport tourism destination. And the city had a piece of land that might work well for a bike park. The two parties started talking.
Watkin’s original idea was modest: a pump track, a skills area, maybe a jump line and few cyclocross trails. The Mayor had bigger ambitions. “He said ‘No. We want a world class facility,’” Watkin remembers. They added a clubhouse and more features to the design. Then a developer traded the neighbouring parcel of land to the city. The forested hillside was just the right angle for gravity mountain bike trails. Mayor and council approved a $1.4-million budget. The only thing missing was a name.
Jordie Lunn grew up in Langford and raced BMX and mountain bikes. He eventually found his niche in freeride mountain biking and became one of the top athletes, winning contests and filming all over the world.
“Jordie was always really invested in the community and getting kids into the sport,” says Craig Lunn, Jordie’s brother. “He had a huge impact on B.C. mountain biking and riding in Langford.”
Jordie hosted events, built trails, designed bike parks and always had time for fans, says Craig.
Jordie tragically died in a mountain bike crash in 2019. A few months later Watkin approached the Lunn family about dedicating the park to Jordie. They were interested but wanted the facility to reflect Jordie’s vibe, which meant dirt jumps. The city agreed and hired Darren Berrecloth, a friend and colleague of Jordie’s, to design and build the expert jump line and a couple other trails.
The Jordie Lunn Bike Park opened in 2020. The Gravity Zone, the neighbouring trail network, opened a year later. It now includes two climbing trails and six descents.
“It’s insane and mind boggling what it has become,” says Watkin. “Credit goes to the city of Langford for taking what we started and evolving it into something incredible.”
On a Friday afternoon I pull into the main parking lot and am immediately impressed.
Construction workers are putting the finishing touches on the club house. By this summer the bottom floor will be home to Rhino Coffee and a satellite store for Broad Street Cycles (offering bike rentals and repairs). On the second floor will be offices for Cycling BC and Cycling Canada.
A city-funded, full time trail crew is out working on the trails. (Barrecloth’s JD Parks maintains the Jordie Lunn Bike Park, while Allman Dirtworks keeps the Gravity Zone running smooth.) Right out front of the clubhouse is a paved pump track that weaves and bobs back and forth. It’s full of kids and teenagers.
Not wanting to embarrass myself, I wait for a lull and pedal into Snake Run, a paved trail of banked corners and whoops, designed to help riders build their skills. It twists and turns through the bike park before spitting me out onto a wide gravel trail. A green single track heads off into the woods, away from the skills park and jump lines hidden in the woods. I roll in the opposite direction, cross a bridge and enter the Gravity Zone. The wide path gradually narrows into a rolling intermediate cross country ramble that traverses the base of the slope to the bottom of Slow Burn, the main climbing trail.
It zig zags up the hillside, with a few punchy bits here and there, to keep the mind sharp. Near the top the trail forks. Left leads to Wildcat and a couple other technical lines. One of them, On the Rocks, negotiates its way down an exposed rock bluff with views across the city. Right heads to a fast and flowy blue and then on to some harder flow lines that drop right back down to the bike park. It’s a compact area, but surprisingly diverse and well laid out. The builders did a good job of working with the terrain and not crowding the trails. Each line feels individual, with its own character.
More importantly, the network fills a hole in the mountain biker infrastructure around Victoria, says Craig Lunn. The region has always had lots of technical riding and lots of flat, wide paths, but very little in between. The Jordie bike park and trails have created an easily accessible place for a beginner rider to get a taste for mountain biking and then build their skills right up to expert.
“The level of progression is unparalleled on the Island,” says Lunn. “E-bikes, kids, people of any age can get comfortable there and take those skills to bigger mountain bike networks.”
Goldstream Bicycles, a nearby bike shop, has noticed an increase in new riders and definitely more kids getting into cycling since the bike park opened.
“With Jordie’s name it is borderline branded,” says Bailey Avenue, the general manager at Goldstream. “It’s part of what makes it cool and excites the kids”
Growing the mountain bike community will only bring more support for the sport, he figures.
“The big benefit is when the city and politicians see how successful the Jordie park is,” Avenue says. “It shows how beneficial it is to work with the mountain bike community overall. Hopefully that will transfer over to protecting and sanctioning trails elsewhere in Langford.”
It’s already paying off economically. Watkin ran the Langford Bike Fest out of the Jordie Lunn Bike Park for the last two years and has two festivals planned for this year. He figures each one generates more than $500,000 of economic activity in food, accommodation and other spin offs.
“Translate that to daily visits, holidays, long weekends, etcetera, and the numbers get quite impressive,” he says.
It’s a model that he thinks will improve the mountain biking experience across Vancouver Island.
“The Jordie Lunn Bike Park is a benchmark,” Watkin says. “All the other cycling infrastructure and trail systems are going to learn from what’s been done here.”
Langford Ride Guide
Getting there: Langford sits next to the city of Victoria and is a 35 minute drive from the Victoria International Airport and 45 minutes from BCFerries Swartz Bay terminal.
Coffee: The Coffee Shack Westshore serves locally roasted beans in a calming and comfy atmosphere.
Post ride bevy: From Thursday to Sunday the best place for apres ride is The Langford Station, a converted train yard that’s now home to retailers, food trucks and a seasonal beer garden.
Swimming hole: Thetis Lake Regional Park has cross country mountain bike trails and the nicest freshwater swimming in the area.
Accommodation: At the base of Skirt Mountain and a short drive to the Jordie Lunn Bike Park, Four Points by Sheraton Victoria Gateway is easy, new and comfortable. Campers should check out nearby Goldstream Provincial Park.
Support: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jordie-lunn-bike-park-fundraiser
Guiding: Nolan Riding
Find out more: Langford Visitor Guide
Trailforks Link: https://www.trailforks.com/region/langford/
Where else to ride: Victoria’s main mountain bike trail network is at Hartland. Visiting riders should also check out the trails in Sooke.
The City of Langford acknowledges and honours the traditional territories of the Coast Salish, specifically Xwsepsum (Esquimalt), Lekwungen (Songhees), Sc’ianew (Beecher Bay), and the W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples represented by the Tsartlip, Pauquachin, Tsawout, Tseycum, and Malahat Nations. We thank them for sharing this beautiful land.