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| Jerry Emerson owns Peak Bicycle Pro Shop in Douglaston with his wife, Joani Giambrone. The bike shop helps raise funds to improve the trails at the Queens park.
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With the help of Emerson’s periodic fundraisers, the group has created local course for New Yorkers that both embraces beginners and challenges veterans.
“We used to have to drive out to Long Island,” Emerson said. “And here it’s in our backyard – and it’s better than any of the Long Island trails. It has far more technical features.”
Emerson said he felt obligated to contribute to the project both as a biker and as a business owner.
“Cunningham’s our backyard, that’s why I had to give,” he said.
Emerson and Peak Bicycle Pro Shop have raised more than $9,000 towards the signs, tools and labor needed to build and maintain the trails.
“All of it is going to Cunningham Park,” Emerson said. “They’re building so many cool technical features in there.”
Today, man made dirt mounds, rocky hills and log bridges have replaced the trash heaps and broken cars along the park’s trails.
“It’s a great park for everybody to learn on, you can be a novice rider or you can be a skilled rider – everybody has something to ride on,” Clifford Toy, a Flushing mountain biking enthusiast, said. “Anybody can ride Cunningham Park; just grab a bicycle and go.”
Toy has joined the group of nearly 20 volunteers who come to the park every Thursday to maintain and expand the bike trails.
“The CLIMB organization is constantly fixing or improving the mountain bike park,” Toy said. “We’re just trying to give back to the community.”
And with the most recent Cunningham Park fund raiser last Tuesday, riders can expect even more improvements coming up in the near future.
“It’s a great organization.” Emerson said. “They’re taking boring parks and making them really cool.”
For more information on the Cunningham Park mountain bike trails, visit www.climbonline.org. |