[Sandwich]

So I just bought some property that came with about 0.5 acres of undeveloped land. It's literally forest, at least up until the d-bag that lived here before me cut down 5-6 60 year old trees. Anyways, that means that I can do whatever the hell I want with it, because nobody is going back there but me.

So, I'd like to build a pump track. Problem is that virtually 75% of it is on slanted land. I have a good chunk that isn't too bad and I think can be made to feel flat, but the other part is really slanted. Every pump track I see is on flat ground, like parking lot flat. Are there any resources to making a borderline decent track that has changes in elevation?

 

[cmc]

So I just bought some property that came with about 0.5 acres of undeveloped land. It's literally forest, at least up until the d-bag that lived here before me cut down 5-6 60 year old trees. Anyways, that means that I can do whatever the hell I want with it, because nobody is going back there but me.

So, I'd like to build a pump track. Problem is that virtually 75% of it is on slanted land. I have a good chunk that isn't too bad and I think can be made to feel flat, but the other part is really slanted. Every pump track I see is on flat ground, like parking lot flat. Are there any resources to making a borderline decent track that has changes in elevation?

you could run a long line across the slant (perpendicular to the fall line) with a 180 berm on each end. or some kind of side-winding pump trail down the slant. maybe occaisonally cutting back up-gradient to soak up speed.

 

[spacemanspiff06]

you could run a long line across the slant (perpendicular to the fall line) with a 180 berm on each end. or some kind of side-winding pump trail down the slant. maybe occaisonally cutting back up-gradient to soak up speed.

For Sure! this is exactly what I'm in the process of building. our lines are super close so you can gap from one line to the other. just make the 180 berms large and mellow, took us a lot of rebuilding larger to get it to flow. drainage is a non-issue. but it gets interesting if you high-side down the hill on a DJ bike with 1 cheap brake and no tread

if you plan it out right you don't have to import any dirt, just carve into the hillside.
the best pump track building advice i've seen is on leelikesbikes.com he's got a great E-book.

 

[Jeremy R]

I hand built my own track on a slanted slope. It does not look that slanted in the video, but it is.
One thing to do is, on the high side dig down and remove dirt. In other words, have the top of the ground be the height of the top of your rollers. And on the low side, build the dirt up from ground. This will help level it out some. Here is a vid of my track:

Spring pump track laps on Vimeo

 

[cmc]

! this is exactly what I'm in the process of building. .

so rad. i love to see when i think of something that somebody is on my same wavelength. that is awesome!

 

[cmc]

I hand built my own track on a slanted slope.

excellent!

 

[nyhc00]

how slanted are we talking here?

 

[Sandwich]

let me see if I can grab some photos. One area is pretty shallow, another is kind of crazy, but I think I could avoid using it, or use it only for some lines.

 

[Sandwich]

so this is the side and upper right corner of the area. I tried to make the largest and closest tree "straight"/vertical.

 

[jasride]

ok, I'll try and take a stab at this. First thing, a picture from the bottom most point of your elevation looking up might help a little bit. Because that's gonna be your lowest point, the point that will take the most effort to get out of and back up the hill. There are probably countless options on how to pump your way back up a hill. This goofy illustration I've attached would be my first thought or personal suggestion. But s**t in your yard like boulders you cant or dont want to move or a tree or something could def come into play and dilute the plan. But to me with a "huge" elevation change, you'd want a berm at the utmost bottom that you could absolutely pump and rail followed immediately by a roller or a bike length jump 2 to 3 ft high that you could catch back side on and also pump transition and begin your process of coming back up the hill. Also, you obviously don't want to just shoot straight down the hill into the turn, try and come into the bottom at some kind of an angle to the elevation and then match that angle out of the turn going back up. With a steep elevation change, this works pretty well with carrying consistent speed down and then back up the hill.

Of course, that's just the start of coming back up. Trial and error is really your only true answer but basic things like not making the rollers too high or peaky and at least 10 ft apart probably still apply.

Also, this drawing isnt to scale, the berm should look bigger in relation to the rollers but just trying to convey the idea.

 

[happyangryhappy]

Have you seen this video? A little more than a basic pumptrack, but a great example of rythem lines on non-level terrain.

http://www.vitalmtb.com/videos/member/Pat-Kellers-Compound,12660/970biking,307