# Clarksville project pumptrack planning.



## Cotharyus (Jun 21, 2012)

Hello,
I posted in the generic pump track plan thread not too long ago about a pump track/BMX track concept for a project I'm working on. Just to catch any new people up:

I'm the primary builder. I have a lot of XC MTB trail building experience, and when it comes to building MTB trail, I can pretty much build whatever. This is the first pump track/jump track I've built.

This project is fully supported by the city, to the extent that I have access to equipment (mini ex, probably a bobcat if I ask for it), they will bring in dirt, rock, or sort out how to get wood if I need it, etc.

It should be pretty easy to have a hydrant put in on the property.

The other group working with this project is the COGS cycling club, mostly MTBers, a couple of old BMXers, some roadies, and a bunch of guys that just like to have fun on 2 wheels. I know my limitations and will be consulting and working with the freeriders and BMXers in the group to dial things in.

What I'm looking for is this:

You'll note from the picture(s) further down, the property is wooded. I will only be clearing PATHS through the woods for the track or tracks. I'm looking for people with some experience who can recommend good paths to clear to allow for creative runs, cross overs, best use of topography, etc. I understand the jumps themselves will take some (a lot?) fine tuning, but I don't want to just bulldoze the woods to leave options open for creative lines. I'd like to clear as little as possible.

My goal is tracks everyone can ride, without dumbing anything down too much (meaning everything should be rollable - I saw a few REALLY good examples of this in the other thread) that will require minimal maintaining or additional materials once built - I know the jumps will always need work, I'm thinking here particularly about wood structures that might be vandalized, or just rot eventually.

About the pictures: One is clean, with nothing drawn on it to give people a chance to draw on something without having to worry about the lines I've put on my picture to try to get points across about location and topography.

The other picture has two "zones" on it. One zone is outlined in RED. This is where the actual BMX track was proposed on the project plans. The area is about 300x300 ft. The GREEN box is "extra space" that I've been given a tentative "ok" for a second track. The parks director is so behind this project, it's amazing.... The black lines are topo lines. They aren't exact, but they're designed to give you some idea what's there. The green section is smooth and roughly half bowl shaped, the red section is more half pipe like (although it does fall west to east) with a gully on the top (west) side that opens up and flattens out on the east side.

The two zones are split by a road that will be part of the entrance to the parking area, which will be on the hill in the open area at the north end of the two zones. The exit will loop out over (north of) the green zone, and connect back to a road. Everything North of the two zones (~90 acres) is dedicated to MTB trails.

I've been super impressed by what I've seen from the users on this forum so far, and look forward to seeing what y'all put out there on this. I'll answer any questions you might have as best I can, and apologize in advance for anything obvious I've left out - I know there's something. There always is.


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

Nice aerial shots. Are they oriented with North "up"? So you're saying the elevation falls from left to right? How much elevation drop? Unfortunately, I think I'd really have to be out there and walk the site to be able give any reasonable suggestions specfiic to your site
Do you have any ground level picss?

On layout in general, you can either to

*(1) some version of a loop trail that comes back to the beginning*--rough rectangle, triangle, or other shape like that. (best if you can make it work)

The outside loop at this spot in Colorado (designed by Lee McCormack, I think) is a rectangle that rides counter-clockwise.









*(2) several different lines that start at the same place, but end far away from the beginning and then you have to crank back*. (not as fun, but sometimes no other choice). Downhill and dual-slalom could be thought of like this.

*(3) an "S"-ing course,* kind of like BMX race tracks, where you start in one spot, but the end is is not as far from the beginning as #2.

BMX race tracks tend to use consecutive 180 degree berm layouts. However, there's nothing intrinsically better about riding a layout like this. I think it's done mainly to maximize the area of riding space in a small area that can be watched by spectators and the announcer etc. It also helps the race in the sense that a lot of passing can happen when the riders are cranking around those massive 180 turns. However, massive 180 turns are NOT FUN to pedal at normal speed--because of the huge radius, you have to be cranking mach 10.



















This pump track was obviously designed by a person with bmx race background. It's like a mini version of the straight-180-straight-180 layout.









Rather than doing a strict geometric shape, though,... recognize that the terrain can dictate better shapes.


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

Good example of a rollable pump track that has rollers paired up as rollable doubles (aka "camel-back") . . . . The proper spacing on a track like this takes a lot of experience and some trial and error. . . . Everything has to sych up right for it to be a joy to ride; otherwise it can have weird dead spots that just frustrate riders....



















Winter Digging: Tottenham Pump Track | Dirt


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

On your terrain out there, try to scout out some gradual declines to use as sections to get your flow going before hitting the first jump(s).










See how the starting area is naturally higher than the bottom (flatter) area?


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## Cotharyus (Jun 21, 2012)

Yes, pictures are oriented North up. 

Elevation drop is about 7 feet on the green area, and 10-12 feet on the red area.


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