By Grant Clark
Every so often a bike pump track would mysteriously pop up around the Boston area of where Morgan Misek lived.
“All unsanctioned,” said Misek, who now resides in Olympia. “They were all eventually torn down by the city.”
So, what exactly is a bike pump track?
A pump track is a looping trail you can ride continuously without pedaling. The course features a series of rollers, which are smooth dirt mounds, and berms, and its emerging popularity has grown considerably within the mountain bike community over the last few years.
It was something Thurston County was lacking. That is before Misek and the South Sound Bike Park Alliance (SSBPA) got together about two years ago.
The mission was to create a local bike pump track, but one done with the assistance and help from the City of Olympia so it would not suffer the same fate as so many of the tracks Misek used to ride in his hometown.
The reality of that two-year process materialized on August 8 with the grand opening of the pump track portion of the Yauger Park Bicycle Skills Area.
“In the South Sound, especially in Thurston County, you don’t have a lot of options,” said Misek, who serves as SSBPA president. “You have road racing and regular mountain biking out in the Capitol Forest, but that’s about it.”
That is until Misek and his fellow SSBPA members approached the Olympia Parks, Arts and Recreation Department (OPARD) with the concept in February 2014.
“A lot of cities aren’t there yet. They are hesitant to get involved,” Misek said, “but Olympia worked with us. Obviously, safety is the top concern for everyone.”
The final cost of the project was $19,450 with funding coming from a variety of sources, including the city of Olympia ($9,050), Nisqually Tribe ($5,000), REI ($5,000) and a donation from Macy’s ($450).
The tagline for the track was “Built by the community for the community” and SSBPA certainly held true to that slogan.
An all hand’s on deck volunteer call was put out last September by the SSBPA. The response within the local biking community was highly successful. Once the city spread the dirt over the track, the volunteers helped with fine-tuning the course by grooming the bumps and berms. More than 136 volunteer hours went into the project.
“We really had a lot of people involved in this, a lot of volunteer work,” Misek said.
The SSBPA also provided construction of the pump track facility and tool storage shed and installation of the bike rack, while Bob Droll, a Lacey-based landscape architect whose previous projects included the Olympia’s East Bay Public Plaza, Saint Martin’s University’s track and soccer field improvements, and the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex in Spokane, provided project design and construction drawings.
The track celebrated its opening with a presentation followed by demonstrations and a kid’s obstacle course.
The bike skills area is located in the southern part of Yauger Park, near the skate court and Safeway. Parking is available at 3100 Capital Mall Dr. SW and 530 Alta St. SW.
“The location is the best part,” Misek said. “It’s right in the city. The Capitol and downtown are both close by. It doesn’t take much to get here.”
With the ribbing-cutting completed on phase 1, Misek and his team are now focused on the track’s evolution.
A phase 2 proposal was submitted by SSBPA to the City of Olympia in May with the hopes of enhancing the already existing track with jump lines and additional bike skill features.
“The great thing about this is it’s not a concrete structure,” Misek said. “It’s dynamic. It can always change and be improved upon. Moving forward that’s what we want to do.”
Concept designs for the next phase can be viewed at the bike skills area.
“We want people to tell us what works and what doesn’t so we can update it and constantly make it better,” Misek said. “This will be an ongoing project.”
