The Great Falls Park and Recreation Department has constructed the new “River’s Edge Skillz Trail” on the River’s Edge Trail.

The trail is located just east of the 67th Street North trailhead and the half-mile course flows gently downhill and consists of rollers, banked turns, tabletops and constructed features such as teeter-totters and skinnies.

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“The concept was to give inexperienced mountain bikers a place to develop the skills needed to ride our single track trails as well as a trail for more seasoned riders to hone their skills and have fun,” according to Park and Rec.

Volunteers from the Great Falls Bicycle Club and the Scheels bike department helped Park and Rec with construction over several days.

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“I am excited about how the course tuned out,” Steffen Janikula, city trails coordinator said. “I have a lot of sweat equity in this project.”

The mountain bike community has been exploring the concept for a skills park for several years and the 2016 Park and Recreation Master Plan showed hiking and biking trails to be highly important to, and highly needed by, Great Falls residents, according to Park and Rec.

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To celebrate the new trail, Scheels and Pepsi are sponsoring a free barbecue and mountain biking clinic on the new trail from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 18.

Prizes will be drawn for participants who bike the course. Bikes and helmets will be available to use and the Scheels bike department will have a bike safety check station and perform minor bike adjustments.