A pump track is a continuous, looped dirt mound used to improve BMX skills. Its smaller size, as compared to a full-scale BMX bike park, makes it "accessible to any age, any skill level," says North Corktown resident Brian Conaghan. Members of the Corktown Residents Council (CRC), armed with Conaghan's know-how gleaned from his years in Colorado constructing these tracks with friends, have built one in the North Corktown neighborhood at the northeast corner of Sycamore and Cochrane.
On a pump track, cyclists "pump" their bikes -- any non-road bike will do -- up the front side of a mound and then down the back side, picking up the speed needed to get back up the next mound. Essentially, the pumping replaces the pedaling. Consider it the equivalent of bouldering in rock climbing, an activity that builds skills with little danger or altitude -- perfect for neighborhood youth. "This is really about the children who existed in the neighborhood before I moved here," says Kym Bevill, who purchased her home in 2005 and lives with Conaghan near the new pump track. "They show such an interest in bicycling ... that was our main inspiration behind this."
The CRC plans to add landscaping and signage to the Corktown Pump Track, including one that will say, "Ride at Your Own Risk" -- although Bevill thinks that any risk is far outweighed by the benefits. "This is safe, clean, healthy fun," she says. Conaghan agrees: "You need a lot of skill to ride (the pump track)
well, but you don't need a lot to ride it," he says.
See a video of some kids riding a backyard pump track
here and one made on Saturday, Nov.14 that show Corktown's pump track being built
here.
Source: Kym Bevill and Brian Conaghan, Corktown Residents Council
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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