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A pump track is a type of off-road terrain for cycle sport consisting of a circuit of banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders "pumping" - creating momentum via up and down body moments.
Contents
They are relatively simple and cheap to contruct, and cater to a wide variety of rider skill levels, so are popular in council owned parks and schools.
History
The origins of the pump track are BMX trails of the 1970s and 1980s. Australian downhill racers began creating the new era pump tracks around 2002. The first new era pump track in the United States was built in 2004 at The Fix Bike Shop in Boulder, Colorado, by professional downhill bicyclist Steve Wentz.
Design
Most pump tracks link a series of rollers to steeply bermed corners that bring cyclists back around. Tracks are commonly constructed from soil, and can be as small as 10 x 30 feet of land.