The words “underground” and “cycling” don’t seem to go together,  but since September last year, avid cyclists, trail builders and staff of the Louisville Mega Cavern have been working on a 320,000-square-foot bike park located 100 feet below the surface of Louisville.

Trinity cycling team moderator and avid multidiscipline cycling racer Jeff Noe had this to say about the cycling scene in Louisville before the Mega Cavern bike park even became known to the public:

“Well, Bicycling Magazine did rank us within the top 10 cities for cyclists a couple years ago. A lot of that was driven off of the cyclocross park, and having the world championships here. There are a ton of guys here into cross and all different types of racing. We’ve really turned into a hotbed for developing cyclists.

“(The bike Park) will bring more recognition for cycling. It’s unique, and I’m not aware of any other things like this out there. In the practical sense, you can ride down there year round.”

With just over six miles of actual trail in only its first stage, the bike park will have something for everyone, beginner to expert.

“With the way it’s set up, you can be down here pretty much all day long and not ride the same thing again,” said Mega Cavern staff member Alec Zaremba, who is one of the main organizers and overseers of the bike park.

The idea first came when Zaremba proposed that the Mega Cavern add a mountain bike tour to their list of activities in the cave system, but soon after expanded when the owners were confronted with a prospect to rent space out for the park.

“Any mountain bike project never gets done like this,” Zaremba said. “It’s all been real quick.”

The next steps of the park’s creation, acquiring enough dirt and finding an experienced park designer, nearly fell into the laps of the Mega Cavern owners. Construction companies weren’t only dumping dirt in the caverns, they were paying to dump the dirt there, giving the Mega Cavern all the dirt they needed to craft world-class dirt jumps.

Joe Prisel, X-Games course designer and creator of this and many other famous bike parks in the United States, was more than happy to take free rein on the project, starting with a blank slate.

Due to open the first week of February, the Mega Underground Bike Park has already stirred up a large commotion in the cycling community. Multi-billion dollar energy drink company Red Bull has opted to sponsor the entire underground park, planning to not only put up signs and banners in the cavern, but carve a massive Red Bull logo into the cave wall.

Red Bull also has plans to host a slope-style mountain biking event in the cavern, building their own features and bringing in their professional world-class athletes to christen the park.

“It’s already blown up pretty big, man,” Zaremba said about a video that his friend posted online of Zaremba riding one of the many jump lines. The video went viral and ended up on several different websites, collecting thousands of views.

With many magazines and websites like Ride BMX, Bike Mag, Men’s Journal, Men’s Health, and Outside Magazine already writing articles about the park, it’s only a matter of time before Louisville explodes onto the map as home to one of the world’s most unique and incredible cycling scenes.