Pump Post 3: Proper Spacing.

If there is one thing I have learned about carving pumpable dirt, is that it is a lot like baking, only with shovels.

When baking, exact measurements are what does the trick.
The same is true for making a pump track.

I have spent some hours in Ryan's woods looking at the pumps, then scraping and reshaping the pumps.
Then once again looking at them for a while. Now, maybe a test ride. Oh, go back and move that bump 6 inches forward.
Look at it for a while. Scrape it again.

Now another test ride.
On and on it goes.

You may ask why, if it is like baking, do I have to continually shape and reshape the BOE pump track?

Because we did not start with proper measurements for the get go. The Berms Of Endearment was started as a loop off of another trail, therefore was not laid out as a pump track. We were following a line.

This line turned into a pump track that is really great. Fast, fun, smooth. Berm options, little jumps, 283 feet of fun in 10 seconds.

But the space between two of the berms is a bit long, and it throws the whole flow off. It is about 6 feet too long, which is half the space between pumps.

I have learned that 11 feet is the secret. 22 foot berms, which means a 11 foot constant radius, and pump bumps are 11 feet top to top.

Using this measurement from the get go on the new track will produce a flowy, fast track.
The 11 foot radius berms down on the farm are fast enough to pop you out of them, but this is because we do not have the tops of the berms high enough yet.

I have some helped lined up to move dirt into my yard, so making the berms tall should be no problem.
The real issue down on the farm was moving the dirt. Being older does not speed up the manual labor.

Back to my search for dirt.......

I am thinking a couple signs on telephone poles.
The key is to be responsible and take them down when you are done.
IMO.