The Mountain-Bike Trails

Built and kept by volunteers; three systems

Built by riders: The city's mountain-bike trails were built by the riders. Three natural-surface systems stand in and around the city, and one organization runs through all three: the Northern Indiana Mountain Bike Association — NIMBA, a chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association. At Rum Village, on the annex west of Gertrude Street, NIMBA's volunteers built the area's first real mountain bike trail; the city's own park page counts "over five miles of trails at the Rum Village Annex," in beginner, intermediate, and advanced lines, while Visit South Bend Mishawaka's guide describes the NIMBA-built trail as "three connected segments — beginner, intermediate and advanced — covering around six miles total in a single-direction loop." At Bendix Woods County Park, the county's brochure states the mountain-bike trails are "specially designed" and "managed by NIMBA," over five miles of them, one-way, helmets required. At Potato Creek State Park, the DNR's own park page records that the 7.4-mile mountain bike trail was "developed through a partnership between the Northern Indiana Mountain Bike Association and Potato Creek State Park." The pattern is the snowmobile pattern in summer dress, and this section will meet it again below: the maintaining body for this ground's volunteer trails is a club, and the public agencies say so in their own publications.

Sources:

1. South Bend Venues Parks & Arts, Rum Village Park (the annex's five-plus miles and three skill lines).
2. Visit South Bend Mishawaka, "Exploring Rum Village Park" (the NIMBA-built trail, its three segments and around-six-miles count).
3. St. Joseph County Parks, Bendix Woods County Park trail map and brochure, 2026 (the NIMBA-managed mountain-bike trails, their five-plus miles, the one-way and helmet rules).
4. Indiana DNR, Potato Creek State Park page (the 7.4-mile mountain bike trail and the NIMBA partnership).
5. South Bend Tribune outdoor column (the Rum Village trail as the area's first real mountain bike trail, built by NIMBA's efforts).