Not So Much The Fact That There’s A Mountain Bike Trail In Manhattan As The Idea That There’s A New York City Mountain Bike Association

The Chamber of Commerce soon will abandon the phrase “I can’t believe this is New York City” for “Of course this is New York City”:

Manhattan is small, flat and crowded with cars and concrete — but it still has room for a new 3-mile mountain-biking trail.

“On the face of it, it sounds preposterous,” admitted city Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “But we really do have it, and it takes advantage of the terrain that was always there.”

The Fort George Hill Trails wind through a hilly, remote section of Highbridge Park in Inwood where crooks once dumped stolen cars and parkgoers feared to tread.

“It’s probably the only mountain-bike course in the country you can get to by subway,” Benepe said.

The Parks Department offered to turn the area into a biking trail because it couldn’t do much else with the land — and because rogue bikers were tearing up other hilly northern Manhattan parks in pursuit of muddy, high-energy thrills.

After 18 months of work, a $100,000 state grant and lots of discussions with city lawyers to limit the liability risks, the trail officially opens Saturday — with areas for BMX jumpers, casual riders and hard-core experts.

“It’s pretty impressive for mountain biking in the middle of New York City,” said Jamie Bogner of the New York City Mountain Bike Association, which helped plan and build the paths. “We look for the longest way from point A to point B, with every technical obstacle we can find.”