Ride Report: the park next to Woodland Park Zoo

Woodland Park Zoo is home to horny birds, hairy and scaly critters that will tear your leg off, and at at least one giraffe. It is also closed. However, its outskirts sport some grade B loamy dirt paths that smell of sweet, exotic manures, with just the right amount of #sick #gnar to make you feel like purchasing 50mm tires for the bike that sees maybe 5% of its miles off-tarmac was money well spent, but not so much that you start thinking about fat bikes or front suspension.

Next to the zoo, a park [reader, it is called “Woodland Park”; -ed.] sprawls across verdant hills and sports fields. Criss-crossing the second- or maybe fourth-growth forest is a dense network of gravel paths, blips of dirt track, and a smattering of rocks, roots, ruts and bumps.

In the time of Corona, the park next to the Woodland Park Zoo is the Phinney Ridge dirt-cycling enthusiast’s damp dream.