Building pump tracks on sloped land

Doggy

Inconceivable!
In the not too distant future my wife and I could be getting 2 acres and building a house on it and the thought struck me that I could use the dirt moved during construction and use it to build a pump track that we would both like to have. So in theory, getting the dirt isn't really an issue nor is the space for building a track. The problem I can forsee is that the land is gently sloped, not a great deal but sloped none the less. Is it still possible to get a pump track going on a side slope that is able to be a loop (such as ones on www.leelikesbikes.com) or would you lose too much of the flow of the track. Failing that, is there such a creature as a single run pump track.....really a mini BMX track then isnt it.
I have had a look on www.leelikesbikes.com and have seen a couple of tracks that would be a sweet design. I would like to incorporate gardens around it as well just to give it a bit of bling.
Anyone else had a crack at making their own pump track???
 

Gluey_trails

Likes Dirt
How bout making it go across the aspect of the hill. So if the hill is running down hill from north to south having the pump track going east to west.

And if the hill isn't too bad of a slope, using some of the fill from the house to even out an area for the pump track.
 

thompo

Likes Dirt
the idea of a single pump track sounds cool as you could design it like a zig zag going down a hill, but gluey's idea would be more practical. i can lend a hand if you want any help?
 

Doggy

Inconceivable!
How bout making it go across the aspect of the hill. So if the hill is running down hill from north to south having the pump track going east to west.

And if the hill isn't too bad of a slope, using some of the fill from the house to even out an area for the pump track.

That was my plan Gluey, to have it running across the slope. I dont really want to fill in an area to do it as I dont really want to ruin the already established trees and grass if I dont have to. The idea being to try and build the track with the trees and a garden involved.
Mind you, having said that....I have to get the whole house designing and building out of the road yet.
 

---Matt---

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I've been thinking the same thing myself recently and basically came to the conclusion is that it's not ideal but it could work. Obviously the hill can't have too much of a gradient but it will work with a slight one. I also figured the issue with the gradient won't be the flow but the amount of speed you'll gain on the down slope. Even on flat ground you can get going quite fast and I suspect you'll probably end up going a bit too quick on the downhill. You could probably get around it by putting in lots of corners... but then you'll end up with a one way pump track, which kind of goes against my idea of a good pump track.

As gluey said, if you have the ability to level the area around the track it'd make it a much easier thing to ride.
Also, a pump track doesn't need to be huge to be good. We have always felt that ours was an ideal size and only took about 11 seconds to get around it flat out.

We had the pump track pictured below going for a few months before the local council bulldozed the place. We've been looking to build another one ever since.



Good luck with yours if you get it built!
 

Gluey_trails

Likes Dirt
That was my plan Gluey, to have it running across the slope. I dont really want to fill in an area to do it as I dont really want to ruin the already established trees and grass if I dont have to. The idea being to try and build the track with the trees and a garden involved.
Mind you, having said that....I have to get the whole house designing and building out of the road yet.
Understandable - Maybe if you use the slope to gain speed could always help
say go directly against the slop then with a helix downward berm (too much roller coaster tycoon) go along the lower part of the slope. I myself have never built a pump track but pumps in itself are finicky and I know that they take a lot of trial and error to work the way you want them to, so I can only assume a pump track is much the same.

Good luck with it, and good luck with the property in general, sounds like a good project.
 

daddyrat

Likes Dirt
hey you could build single run with a quite tight 180 berm at either end. if you start with that at least you can also start riding soon and experiment with new lines later
 

shenanigans

Likes Dirt
use the extra speed you gain from the track pointing downhill to carry you up part of the track that goes uphill and links back up to the track, could make it flat or put a jump in facing uphill to take advantage of the speed you have.
 

Downhill Domination

Captyvate Media
I've been thinking the same thing myself recently and basically came to the conclusion is that it's not ideal but it could work. Obviously the hill can't have too much of a gradient but it will work with a slight one. I also figured the issue with the gradient won't be the flow but the amount of speed you'll gain on the down slope. Even on flat ground you can get going quite fast and I suspect you'll probably end up going a bit too quick on the downhill. You could probably get around it by putting in lots of corners... but then you'll end up with a one way pump track, which kind of goes against my idea of a good pump track.

As gluey said, if you have the ability to level the area around the track it'd make it a much easier thing to ride.
Also, a pump track doesn't need to be huge to be good. We have always felt that ours was an ideal size and only took about 11 seconds to get around it flat out.

We had the pump track pictured below going for a few months before the local council bulldozed the place. We've been looking to build another one ever since.



Good luck with yours if you get it built!
That is sick!
Would 've loved to ride that. :(
 

Nmag

Likes Dirt
Run it traversing the slop. Although it's nice to have a single oval, you actually run into problems at the ends (where you need to effectively do a 180).

For this reason:
Lay a shape like <x===x> length-ways traversing the slope.
The X indicates to cross the track.
Design flow such that direction has you working up to the high edge BEFORE the turn.
This way you are doing the sharper turn DH at each end.
Does this make sense to the reader? I can draw it if need be.
This method works well traversing gentle slopes.
 

stringbean

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Run it traversing the slop. Although it's nice to have a single oval, you actually run into problems at the ends (where you need to effectively do a 180).

For this reason:
Lay a shape like <x===x> length-ways traversing the slope.
The X indicates to cross the track.
Design flow such that direction has you working up to the high edge BEFORE the turn.
This way you are doing the sharper turn DH at each end.
Does this make sense to the reader? I can draw it if need be.
This method works well traversing gentle slopes.
that a realy good idea, pump up the hill, then hit the berm goin down the hill to gain speed, i like your thinkin.
 

frenchie

Glenorchy MTB Park
I've got a pump track in my back yard (about 1/8 of an acres total space used) on a slight slope. You just need to be creative with how you generate and use your speed to get yourself back up the hill. Don't waste any speed with braking points, whenever you gain a bit more speed berm back up a bit. Also by incorporating numerous linking points you can link countless variations clockwise/counterclockwise etc. I'll try and post up a vid/pics of my pump track soon. Bear in mind, unless you can corner VERY well, 90 deg berms will generate speed where as 180 deg berms may lose you speed. To get back up the hill try a 90 deg berm leading to a roller or two, into another 90 deg berm back up the hill

I am also currently about to finish a public jump park which is basically a downhill pump track. We have a reasonable slope but have cut deep berms, and rollers in to make for a track with no braking/pedalling. None of the track is flat, its all bermed or rollers. Eventually we plan to get it tracking right back up the hill through careful generation and use of speed

At the end of the day just get out there and have a dig, with a few mates it all comes together quickly (especially as you will have a water supply). Trial and error is your best bet.

Have you got a picture of your block?
 

jasevr4

Likes Dirt
i'm keen to see pics of your block too

i just started on the DH track on ours.. pump track comes next:D
 

Doggy

Inconceivable!
Ive lucked out on the land we were going to build on so no house for me but more importantly no pump track:(
 
Top