World-Class Bike Park Opens in Texas | The Creation of Teenager Rhett Jones Who Built His Dream Park Outside His Home Town
Texas teenager Rhett Jones had a dream of building a world-class bike park close to home and just saw his dream turn into reality with the opening of Station Mountain bike park in Marble Falls, TX. Built for riders, by riders, it has the most trails, highest elevation and by far the longest jump lines in the state of Texas. There’s a weekend shuttle service a lot of initial buzz and it’s already attracting some of the top mountain bikers in the country. Pro Neko Mulally, who built his own bike park and inspired Jones, was the first rider to hit the trails when it opened. Seth Alvo, sent a video congratulating him on his impressive venture and is planning a visit.
Links to the Station Mountain bike park website and Instagram page:
Instagram: @stationmountainbikepark
Website: www.stationmountain.com
Rhett was just named to “Austin’s 25 under 25” list of top innovators in the region by The Business Journals, the youngest on the list.
Texas Monthly is profiling Rhett’s journey to be the youngest major bike park creator in the U.S.
A SXSW award-winning film director's doing a documentary on Rhett’s story.
How the heck did a teenager decide to embark on building a bike park of this magnitude while still in high school? Rhett goes to a one-of-a-kind school, Alpha School in Austin that inspires kids to boldly follow their passions, to think big and make their dreams happen, “I always had a dream of making a world-class downhill park ever since I got into riding. But you know, I always thought of it as a project that I would do after college, maybe after working for a few years, then launch it at 25 or something,” explains Jones. “Instead my school challenged me to build a business plan and I thought, why not take the leap, now?”
The backstory on how Rhett did it, is pretty incredible. At 17, he called every suitable landowner in Texas Hill Country (tracking down 123 people) to try to obtain a property for his bike park. They all turned him down. The story of how he finally closed on his current site is beyond remarkable. Too young to close himself, he had to find an estate purchaser to buy the land with him. As for getting the enormous amount of money he needed to close–that part didn’t come easy. He tried pitching investors in the Austin area, shopped his pitch deck around town and got literally no takers. No one wanted to invest. Then he reached out to total strangers on LinkedIn, anyone he could find with the words “mountain biker” and “investor” in their profiles. He sent out several hundred pitches and raised over $350,000 to build his park, including an investment from a man who runs a plumbing company (who’d never invested in anyone before) and gave him $100K.
Rhett is available for interviews. We can also provide additional videos and press photos. Reach out with any questions.
Anna (312)498-5654
Rhett’s Bike Park Story
In his own words:
My name is Rhett Jones, and I’m a high school entrepreneur from downtown Austin, Texas. After 6 months of daily networking and pitching, I raised $358,000 from 20 non-family-friend equity investors and, after securing a real estate investor, acquired a $3.24 million property in Marble Falls. My mission? To bring Station Mountain Bike Park to life.
Set to open on November 3rd, the first world-class bike park in Texas will offer downhill shuttle services to over 120 acres! I have personally hired 10 full-time contractors to construct the trails and I am managing day-to-day operations. And yes, I’m doing all of that even though I’m still in high school.
I decided to create this bike park because mountain biking is my passion. I’ve been riding bikes 7 days a week for the past 3 years and have become well-known in the Texas MTB scene. After becoming heavily involved in the Texas mountain bike community, which is very supportive of this park, my passion for riding turned into an obsession with making Texas the next big mountain bike destination.
This story showcases the power of determination, hard work and major community support. I believe my journey can inspire others, especially high schoolers, to chase their dreams. I would be honored if you considered featuring my journey, whether through an article or a video (which I can help professionally film - I’m actively making a Netflix documentary, by the way!). If you would like more information or an interview, please reach out to me through the contact information provided below. I look forward to the opportunity to share my entrepreneurial story and/or the growth around this new amazing Texas mountain bike destination!
Sincerely,
Rhett Jones
Founder | Station Mountain Bike Park
512-653-9872