Friday, April 16, 2010

A Complete Pump-able Loop!

There is a moment of pride when you come to realize the dream.

I stared at and thought about my yard(too much). I looked at the slight elevation gain along one side, and knew keeping momentum was going to be tough. Then a glance down the long fence line opened my mind up a little.

A 11 foot piece of string confirmed my beliefs.

And then I just started digging at the base of the Fir tree.

While still lacking dirt, I worked up enough of a berm to complete the Super Loop, or Mini Loop, of my pump track.

It is only a little more than a third of the length of the track, but very fun to ride as is. At 14 seconds a lap so far, 3 laps is what I can pull off right now. It is not really shaped yet, so those 14 seconds should be narrowed down to 12 eventually.



I laid it out to be pump-able, then dug it out to be a puzzle. This means that it takes some work, which is how it should be.
Some of the bumps have had dirt added to the sides, making a bigger pump possible. I can now gain more speed than I can carry through the berms.

That means that when I make the berms twice as tall as they are now, it is going to be a slingshot. The kind of berms that the bike whizzes through, making that noise that Mark Weir makes when riding berms.
And when it is a slingshot, I can start adding jumps inline. I think I have made the right decision to wait to build it more jumpy when it is fully pump-able.

This week I am bringing in the dirt for the final berm. Ken in Salmon Creek has many piles of dirt and a tractor. Oh, and a dump truck.... this is good times. I will be able to add double the dirt to every berm.