Mountain Bikers and Pickleballers Are At War

Pickleball Strikes Again: Another Bike Park Bites the Dust

Canada’s action sports community just took another L as yet another beloved bike park gets bulldozed in favor of—you guessed it—pickleball courts.

The latest casualty? Gleneagles Adventure Park in coastal British Columbia, a longtime haven for skaters and dirt jumpers, is officially on the chopping block. The West Vancouver council has greenlit $28,000 to start designing a “multi-use” redevelopment plan that, in reality, sounds like a pickleball expansion with a side of pump track. If all goes according to plan, the project could break ground by spring 2026.

A Trend No One Asked For

This isn’t an isolated incident. The pickleball takeover is in full swing:

• North Shore Bike Park (North Vancouver): Shuttered in favor of an indoor pickleball facility.

• Bline Bike Park (Calgary): Out with the jumps, in with the pickleball courts.

• SendAir (Vancouver Island): A specialized airbag training facility just lost its lease to—you guessed it—pickleball investors.

For those unfamiliar, SendAir was an elite training spot for riders looking to perfect their aerial skills in a safe, padded environment. It was one of the only facilities of its kind in Canada, but an incoming pickleball company outbid them on rent, forcing them to close by May 1.

The Great Skatepark Showdown

The debate over Gleneagles is heating up. On one side, you have skaters and BMXers who see the park as an internationally recognized training ground, producing top-tier talent in Olympic disciplines. On the other, you have pickleball advocates and city planners arguing that the existing park is outdated, underutilized, and in need of an upgrade.

Their pitch? A pump track that caters to all skill levels, plus four shiny new pickleball courts to serve West Vancouver’s growing army of paddle-swinging enthusiasts.

Unsurprisingly, the action sports community isn’t backing down without a fight. A Change.org petition is making the rounds, urging officials to reconsider. The proposed compromise: keep the skatepark, refresh the dirt jumps, and squeeze the pickleball courts into part of the existing parking lot instead of wiping out the park entirely.

The Bottom Line

Pickleball’s meteoric rise has cities scrambling to carve out space for the sport—often at the expense of long-established action sports hubs. The battle for Gleneagles is just the latest front in a larger war between generations, activities, and, let’s be real, cultural identities.