HollyHills Directory 2024

20 2024 | Holly Hills Directory Mountain Bikes Coming to Carondelet Park Ryan Hanlon has lived in Holly Hills since 2007, and since 2007 he’s dreamed of an off-road cycling track in Carondelet Park. This year, Hanlon’s dream is going to come true. With support from Gateway Off Road Cyclists (GORC), he spearheaded the effort that will soon culminate in the first and only sanctioned mountain bike course in the city of St. Louis. It will consist of a six-tenths of a mile, two- loop, entry-level track through two sinkholes on the north side of the park. The city approved the plan with additional support from 1st Ward Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer and South Side Cyclery. Hanlon, who lives on Dover Street, has been active in Holly Hills as chair of the Special Business District Infrastructure Committee and has been involved in the Ozark Trail Association and GORC for many years. Mountain bike racing is growing in popularity, sparked in part by the COVID pandemic and as access to trails increases, Hanlon said. “It’s not something that’s just in Utah or Colorado anymore.” Hanlon said the trail—which can also be used for hiking—in the least-used part of the park will provide a multitude of benefits and draw new park users. One group in particular, the South City Otters, will finally have their own practice course. The co-ed team of 6th through 12th graders is part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, whose aim is to get kids on mountain bikes and learn important life skills along the way. Hanlon emphasized that the trail will be built and maintained by donations and grants and “by sheer will and determination,” without any park money. “We won’t just build it and walk away,” Hanlon said. Already, Holly Hills resident Doug Bauer and his company DJM Ecological Services has donated $10,000 of work by clearing out the eastern loop. Prior to their work, the impenetrable wooded area was choked with invasive species. In April, Hanlon and GORC will hold a trail “build” where volunteers, including the Otters will begin the process to clear out the west loop and build the trail. “With the help of GORC and neighborhood volunteers, it will have new life,” Schweitzer said, “and be an asset to our park, instead of a problem area.”