It's Not Mountain Biking, it's "Pumping"

It seems every time you turn around there’s a new and more specialized way to ride a bike. First, there was the big scandal in the stodgy Road Bike scene when Mountain Biking was born. Shortly thereafter someone decided that there was a distinction between Cross Country and Downhill. In an uncertain order there were, Trials, Slalom, Short-track, Dirt Jumping, Mountain Cross, Street Riding, Single Speeding, Free-Riding, Hucking, Chucking, and one of the most obscure and misunderstood… Trail Riding.

One day when I figure out exactly what it is, I’ll talk about Trail Riding.

And now, I have discovered a new kind of riding. It’s called “Pumping”. You have to have a special “Pump Track” to “Pump.”


Nathan Rennie


Last week I witnessed Pump Riding first hand, this weird and sublime mountain bike variation, on what looked like a wimpy BMX course. It was in the backyard of the infamous all-rounder Mark Weir (WTB), one of our sport’s most charismatic trendsetters. Mark’s paid his dues with sweat and swagger, and now he’s brazenly showing the world champions how to run their pro careers.

Anyway, it looks like Mark’s figured out how to make a mountain out of a suburban molehill. He, with the help of a guy named Beavis, has built one of these newfangled pump tracks in his backyard. This past Friday, a work day for normal people, Weir held a Pump-fest, and riders from all over showed up.

The course was back yard flat…maybe thirty feet long, 20’ wide, inside and outside lines, berms, lips and of course myriad bumpy sections. If you’re good, this little course requires no pedaling. Thus, the “pump”.


Beavis


Pumping seems to involve the mysterious laws of perpetual motion. The track isn’t on a slope, yet the rider goes faster and faster on each lap. I could get into the physics, but you can just look it up on the internet if you’re really curious. All I really know is that pedaling on this pump track is frowned upon.

The goal is to generate a bunch of speed by working these little mounds in a certain way…a lot of Body English on the rhythm sections… and then you can get fancy by taking different lines and perhaps doubling and tripling the little mounds in a way you think may be impressive to the crowd.

Each lap takes about 5 seconds, and after a few laps, the spectators’ necks start aching like they’re watching a tennis match. It’s basically a subjective sport, but I heard you can also quantify the laps with a stopwatch. Another variation is a game of Horse, which they played and Brian Lopes (GT) evidently won. A Pump Pursuit was about to be put in play when I snuck out of there.

Way too hard to explain, but I think this Pumping has the potential to become a trend, maybe even world championship event. Can backyard Pump Track Pursuit be the future of cycling?