'Twas about this same time-a-year, 'cept four ago:
.JPG) |
| Yes, this was pre-snowblower (best money I ever spent btw, after last winter), and so yes, those berms were all hand-built. I was a badass machine, obviously. |
This is what we were riding on:
.JPG)
When that didn't work out, this was a pretty good alternative:
.JPG)
Snowbike aside, I'm not complaining. Just happened to notice.
4 comments:
Not entirely related, but speaking of cold places, as a pump track owner you might be interested in checking out how the National Park Service built a pump track in Fairbanks, AK:
http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/news&events/ne_videoak.html
Maybe you can turn your not-snowy-this-year yard into Pat's Pump Track National Park.
BDD, thanks for the link. That vid totally captures the flavor of how I think a community pump track could and should work in a public space.
And I can taste just about every operation and experience in that video - it's just a scaled community-sized version of my little micro experiment. Which is so much more appropriate and useful than my unsustainable backyard model.
John and I have had the discussion over a couple of head-slappingly, no-brainer public spaces that just cry out to become pump tracks, and how to even begin to approach the powers that be with the idea in a manner that would even give us half a chance. John's actually done a little work on it.
If they could ever envision one of their grandkids taking that first, slow, herky-jerky, "it works!" lap on a track they had just spent all day sweating over and sculpting out of nothing with a bunch of people of all ages from their neighborhood, well . . . just maybe.
Painting the picture is easier said than done, though. Maybe if we could get them over here with their kids and grandkids on the pretense of a back yard tea party and just happen to have some bikes laying around . . .
Booty call! How's the tail bone? Any good drug experiences to report?
You're sitting on an ice doughnut dreaming of snowfalls and pumptracks past....hmmmm.
Pat,
Building a community pump track may actually be a real possibility. In my day job I'm a bike-focused researcher. Community based projects to promote preventive health behaviors are hot right now for a variety of reasons. A pump track is a project that would work toward increasing physical activity of a range of people, young to not-so-young, and may be eligible for parks space and grant funding.
If this sounds of interest to you, contact me through my Blogger profile and I can give you some details and contacts.
Post a Comment