I stumbled upon this thread on MTBR.com and thought it looked pretty cool.

MTBR Thread

The landscaping is excellent.

Pump Track

And here's a company that specializes in this type of landscaping:

Company that specializes in this

Anyone else built a small track in their back yard?

is it just me or do the links not work

?

bad links

These are the links

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=45...ight=pump+TRACK


http://www.russconstructionllc.com/exerscapes/

Ive built 3 pump tracks so far and they have been the some of the purest, laugh out loud, best time ever, [I tried to curse] yer pants experiences Ive ever had. They are the best kept secret in riding. So easy to build you'll wonder why theres not one in every back yard. If I can give you any advice it would be to start out with 2ft wide logs! Seriously, get a dozen or more logs depending on how big your yard is and just lay them out and get a feel for how its going to ride. This also gives you a chance to try different configurations and combos. Put two or three logs together to form a table, stack them to create a step up, the best part is when your plan is locked down you just cover it with dirt and start riding. Obviously you want to be sure to cover the logs completely with dirt including the ends, throw some water on, pack it like a sum ***** and let it sit for a day or so to cure in the sun. Id recommend 2ft wide just to give yourself room to move, I see some youtube vids and the pumper is 8 inches wide and sketchy......dont be lazy. The bonus of using logs is you'll use less dirt and over time it will hold its shape better, try and find logs that are at least 1ft in diameter to make it worth wild. And another sugestion is to go on youtube and search "pump track" there has to be at least 100 videos that will give you ideas and inspiration. Dont be afraid to get creative either, if it doesnt work it will take you an hour to change it. Read my lips "EVERYONE NEEDS TO FIND AN AREA AT LEAST 20' X 50' AND BUILD A PUMP TRACK" Its way cheaper than drugs or therapy and a good pump track may just save your life.
Heres just a couple of examples to get started.

I have started building one in my yard. I used alot of logs to get the shapes and sizes and then buried it in dirt. There are pictures of it on my myspace page link below, just go into my pictures and you will see them.

Brian, that pumper track looks cool, virtually the same way Ive built mine. Looks like you got a good thing going on down there, keep it up brotha.
Nate

Thanks,

I got more dirt but its a mud pit out there now. I need to wait until it freezes at this point to move dirt then just wait until spring. The step jump I built is alot of fun, but I am going to make it alittle bigger for next year.

I built a little track in our back yard, it's not much (3 little trail berms & 6 micro jumps), our kids and the neighbors kids ride it often. I'll go back there and do laps all by myself more than I thought I ever would ; it's super small stuff but it's better than not riding at all. I'd like to ad an adult section this spring, I will need a lot more dirt to do this.

Brian & others: what kind of dirt are you using?
I bought some river silt & sand mixture, it's not perfect but alright. I'm thinking about ordering raw clay because it's cheap, but I'm afraid it will come in as huge rock hard & un work-able clumps.

BACKYARD TRACK = FUN!

I just got dirt that had alot of clay in it. The clay chunks were a pain but I just kept breaking them up and running them over with the tractor to pack them in. The jumps are rock hard now and fun to ride.

Brian & others: what kind of dirt are you using?
I bought some river silt & sand mixture, it's not perfect but alright. I'm thinking about ordering raw clay because it's cheap, but I'm afraid it will come in as huge rock hard & un work-able clumps.

All we have up here is clay and we've learned to make it work. My experience is real close to Brians, with clay you just have to break it down to a workable consistancy, form it to what you want, throw a little water on it and pack the hell out of it (we use a 100pound lawn roller.) Once you do all that the beauty of clay is that it will bake in the sun and be as hard as concrete. We have a pump track thats built out of 100% clay, its out in the open and gets lots of sun, we fix it up in the spring and pack it down and it is solid for the entire season......as long as no one rides it wet. In fact I think thats the only downside to clay, when its wet it turns to greasy snot and is unbelievably soft. Stay off of after a rain and you'll be golden, good luck.
Nate

great suggestions everyone, thanks for your input.

I had no idea there was a specific name for these. We used to build them a lot when I was a kid and we'd use just about anything as the base structure for a jump and cover it with dirt. I think the best one was the step-up we build using an old couch we found.

Good idea!!! LOL My wife might wonder why I am carrying the couch out of out living room and into the yard.

"Because I don't need it anymore honey. I'm going riding now"

I can see it now..."babe i need the dining room table, it's the perfect table top"

Due to a divorce, my trails in the backyard are gone, while I await the sale of the house. I have a new one picked out, but I think I'm going to do a pump track this time. Some of them look so cool

Built a pump track down in the lower part of my field a couple of years ago. Everything on it has been moved a foot one way or another at least once. To get the flow we put the rollers the length of a 26" bike apart. As your rear wheel comes off a roller your front is going up the next. It rides great on a mountain bike and is super fast on anything smaller.

I would recommend staying away from using wood. It will rot causing your berms/rollers to collapse. I have had to remove most of the wood I used and replaced it with dirt. Not to mention that every critter that roams at night will be digging up your stuff looking to eat the bugs in your rotten wood. Bowl out everything you can. No flat spots between rollers. Mine is a continuing work in progress looking for a major upgrade over the winter. Posted a couple of shots from a while back.

I've been working on one the second half of the summer.

Once it thaws I'll try again. it has no flow yet and, I think its way too small, at least in the berms. The idea of bowling everything out is a good one. I'll try that asap.

Cool little track.

There are several in the immediate area. This is my friend Terry's backyard. This place is a blast.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v631/M-W...20Pump%20Track/



edit for spelling

That's wicked, some of the funnest pump tracks Ive ridden use that same design. This thread is awesome for stoking me up to ride, until I realize we have a foot of snow on the ground right now. Oh well, keep em coming.

I love the pump track pics! I wish I had the room for one. Looks Awesome

I found this pic - has to be the smallest pump track in existence...

Wow.. That is one of the cooler layouts I have seen... Lines for days... That's the type thing I have had in mind...

Brian

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getting 30 yards of dirt delivered monday ....very excited and a little nervous... alot of work ahead of me.

Good luck man!

What a cool thread! My brother had one of these little tracks in the middle of downtown in my parents backyard. You guys are right, its a pure blast! It doesn't take a thousand dollars worth of dirt to do because its so simple - and that's the beauty of it. Whenever we got tired of the layout we just got our shovels and changed it. One of the neat things about it to was that we must have got ten new riders for our BMX track because of all the fun they had in our backyard. Sometimes its easy to forget that it isn't about the money, backhoe, or a bulldozer. JUST RIDE AND HAVE A GOOD TIME.

Sorry to hit right back but wanted to say that Billy Griggs had one of these in his very small back yard when he was one of the top AA's in the world. BMX Plus did an article on it if you can find it. Good Luck