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A backyard pump track is born!

43K views 106 replies 63 participants last post by  Indy21 
#1 · (Edited)
So after thinking about it for a couple of years, we finally decided to put a pump track in our back yard! I thought I'd post up some progress pics as we go along.

I hired some local trail builders, The Shovel Crew, to do the work since I'm lazy and need instant gratification. :) Today was the first day of four build days that will be spread over the next week or two.

The first step was to mark up the yard. The shape of our yard naturally suggested the layout, which goes along the perimeter of the available space. The yard is 65' long, 25' wide at the widest point, and 15' wide at the narrowest point. I knew I wanted medium-sized rollers at 10' intervals, so the only big remaining questions were whether to incorporate a table top or step-up, and how much to vary the roller height. I decided a step-up would be fun, and the Shovel Crew convinced me that rollers of varying heights would be best, and they also suggested a crossover from one side of the track to the other that will allow more line options. Here's the marked up yard:





The next step was to bring in dirt. We wanted the whole track to be above the surface level of our yard for better drainage, since we live in Seattle. My guys were able to find a 50/50 clay/sand dirt mix and we brought in about 28 cubic yards in 2 dump truck loads:



We're committed now! The next step was to move the dirt from the driveway to the back yard. The mini-excavator had a perfectly sized bucket to fill a wheelbarrow. With 3 guys rolling wheelbarrows back and forth, the dirt started to move pretty quickly. They started by just filling in the outlines with a base of dirt.





Once the whole track was filled in with a layer of dirt, a plate compactor was used to pack it down:

 
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#32 ·
It's rideable!!! The guys made big progress today and it's practically done! Here are some pics from test riding. Now it just needs to dry out and firm up over the next 5-7 days, then a final day of pimping and it's finished. It's looking awesome, I really like how it turned out!! I find it hard to get around it right now, but it's still pretty soft and should get easier as it firms up. I can't believe I have this in my back yard now when 2 weeks ago it was all grass!







 
#43 ·
great now i have to build one for my yard :D
good job.
Great photo's, for future reference there is no need to actually physically move a plate compactor they should move on their own via your guidence. if the compactor merely vibrates and quits moving simply clean the air filter and uusally that sovles the problem :).
 
#44 ·
Thanks for the comments. I've been riding the new pump track a little bit each day for the past few days, although I can't ride it much because it's still soft in a few places, especially the 180 degree berm at the skinny end. The soft spots rob your energy, making it hard to keep up momentum, plus riding on them creates grooves in the track that I then have to stomp down. However, I'm happy to see that it is slowly but surely drying, even though it has been rainy. I keep the whole thing tarped except when the sun comes out. I think it's going to be at least another week until the berm sets up firm.

The good news is I can now consistently do several laps in either direction without getting hung up. It's really fun and I can tell I'm going to love this thing! And as hard as it may be to believe, I already felt a difference in my trail riding when I did an XC ride over the weekend! I was looser and better able to use my body to put the bike where I wanted and conserve momentum. I was psyched to feel a difference already!

Drainage: still needs help. There is a drainage pipe running through the 180 berm and next to the step-down thing that turned into a table/double thing. Those aren't really doing anything. My biggest concern is how the track will hold up to rain. I could see the clay dirt soaking up a lot of water and being soft all winter... but I'm hoping that with time and lots of riding and some sun this summer, it will set up hard and concrete-like. We'll see.

Maintenance: Again, only time will tell how much attention will be needed here. I added some dirt to a couple of places yesterday and it seemed to bond well with the existing dirt, so I think ongoing dirt additions will be possible without too much effort. One of the builders told me I'll probably need to develop a little routine of sweeping it off and watering it before riding it each day. Hopefully the berms will hold up over time.

Poison ivy at the edges: LOL. There's already a fence, a house, concrete stairs, and numerous rakes and shovels littering the edges, so a certain level of skill is already called for! Of the 5 people who have ridden it, 4 of them have crashed so far. :)

Plate compactor: Interesting concept about how it is supposed to just travel along by itself. It seemed more like it wanted to travel DOWNWARD if it wasn't pulled along! Like it would dig itself a hole to China if left unattended! Regardless, it saved a ton of work.

Launch ramp: I wish we had room! But we really don't. It's OK though, once you get going you're good. I'll just think of the lack of a lanch ramp as a skill builder. ;)

Still to come: a little bit more shaping work -- the berms could be taller, or at least extended along the edges so you can maintain a high line all the way through. And some of the rollers would be better if they were more like a sine wave. The guys are back for a few hours today, then maybe another half day next week. Then eventually we have to figure out what to do about landscaping, which will be a whole other project of sorts. I'll post more pics as it gets finished.
 
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