5 minute read
PUMP TRACK
WORDS
ART
Advertisement
PHOTOS & LAYOUT
JACOB PENICK
DAFNÉ THEROUX IZQUIERDO
LAURIAN QUEZADA
iain GRant eyes up a sketchy transfer — he wants to jump from a roller on the dirt track into a berm on the asphalt track. It’s a bit of a huck.
Grant’s tried this particular jump before. He lost his bike from underneath him and landed square on his left side, skinning his business up bad. His hesitation is totally understandable.
“I’m just gonna pull for it; we’ll see what happens!” Grant pedals off the starting pad, all other riders’ eyes on him, wondering if he’ll survive his flight. After a few well-timed pumps, Grant prepares himself to pull his wheels into the air and hold on for dear life, hoping to make contact with the landing. He launches and lands without a hitch. Fear: conquered.
This is it! This is the process. A process that pump track people know well and swear by — progression. Progression sounds like success, but that isn’t always the case. When Grant hit the ground trying that jump in the past, he learned how not to hit that
jump. That was progression.
“Sometimes it’s frustrating, or just kind of like, janky and discordant. For the most part, riding in general is just kinda nice — you don’t really think about anything but riding the bike for a moment. It’s simple, but it’s nice; it’s kind of an escape from everything for a minute. Satisfying, for sure,” Grant said.
People who love wheeled sports are all about this new pump track on campus. Bikers, skateboarders, even scooterers often take the 15 minutes they have between classes and spend it throwing themselves
What's that baloney?
Pump track (n.) A circuit of rollers and berms that allow for lap after lap after lap after lap after lap ... you get the idea.
Roller (n.) A 3-foot-high bump in the asphalt that is the bread and butter of what a pump track is all about.
Berm (n.) A banked turn that connects rollers to create a circuit. Go way too sideways for maximum effect.
Pump (v.) Pushin’ and pullin’ between berms and rollers to make a bike go fast.
Manual (v.) One wheel only! Front or back wheel, whichever — if you only have one wheel on the ground, you’re pulling a phat manual.
around the track. It’s a major release, the same way going to the gym is, or skydiving is. Riding the pump track falls somewhere between those.
It literally doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, you could show up at the pump track and have a blast. Bring your commuter bike, your old beater board, or don’t bring anything at all! Just hang out at the starting platform and chill with the riders! They’d love to show you what they can do out there.
The track didn’t just appear out of nowhere — it has had no shortage of advocates rooting for its creation for years. Brian Flaherty, the Colorado Mesa University mountain biking
coach, has been there since the beginning of development. In fact, Flaherty recollects a couple of team riders first planting the pump track idea seed in President Foster’s head.
“The pump track started two years ago at the team dinner. President Foster attended. Each table at our team dinner gets paired with donors of the team, special guests and a few team members, and that particular year, there were two athletes at President Foster’s table. The story goes that they were chiming in his ear throughout the evening that we should have some sort of pump track on campus,” Flaherty said.
As Flaherty tells it, years went by without any word on
a pump track. That is, until July 2019. CMU called Flaherty into a meeting to have him make a case for a pump track being worthy of a small amount of funding left over from upcoming construction.
Flaherty assured the higher-ups that this track would not just be for his mountain bike team; it would be for kids on Razor scooters, local mountain bikers, skateboarders, everybody.
They bought it. Funding was allocated, and a track design was laid out — mostly asphalt, partially dirt. While the track today is impressive, it is far from finished.
Gap (n.) Lift off! Hit up air traffic control so they know you’re about to yank on it hard to sail from one roller to another.
Case (n.) Have your lawyer on speed dial, ‘cuz you’re gonna need to settle some major cases if you’re going for gaps! Come up too short on the jump and you’ve got a case on your hands.
Wallride (n.) Those big wooden things on either side of the starting area are, believe it or not, actually for riding bikes on.
Pump track people can expect to see an electronic starting gate and timing system on the starting platform, Mavroon and gold paint on the asphalt tracks, more landscaping and tons of other little tweaks to make this thing sparkle. From 3 to 5 p.m. each evening, the pump track will be allocated for CMU’s cycling team practice — come by and watch them slay.
Otherwise, this track is open to the public and every single student on campus. There’s nothing like spending an hour on the starting platform on a warm evening. The sun falls beneath the horizon, but nobody stops riding. ▪
