The construction of a proposed bicycle pump track could begin as soon as late January, according to organizers from the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz.
The local mountain biking non-profit has secured almost all the $15,000 needed to build the pump track behind the dog park on Kings Village Road. The group is raffling off a bike to help raise the remaining funds.
Sebastien Praly, a Ben Lomond resident who’s been a MBOSC officer for a decade, has taken the lead on the project in its final stages. Praly’s 15-year-old daughter loves to ride and he said riding a pump track was something he could do with his daughter.
“It’s a great way for kids to get out and get up that fitness level.”
Construction will likely take two week, Praly said. The first week will include heavy machinery to bring 400 yards of clean dirt in and move it around, and the second week to fine-tune the track and building the correct berms and rollers.
Donations have been coming in from local companies.
Praly said Fox has donated $10,000 and Bell Helmets another $2,500 toward the project.
“For Fox to come out and donate as huge as they are, they’re doing this as an outreach,” Praly said. “They’re trying to reinvest back in the community.”
The remaining money will be raised through donation and a bike raffle.
Andrew Cavaletto, the owner of Scotts Valley Cyclesport has donated a Specialized P26 single speed dirt-jumping bike to be raffled off to raise money for the pump track. Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased at Cyclesport, 203 Mount Hermon Road in Scotts Valley, and donations to the project can be made at www.mbosc.org under “Current Projects.” Donations will go toward purchasing dirt, signage, the designer services, equipment rental costs and drainage, said Praly.
Praly hopes to raise a total of $17,000 in order to put adequate signage up at the track and add a tool kit that could be used by cyclists. Last week, MBOSC approved up to $2,500 to build a sign thanking all the sponsors of the project, and a box or board where announcements can be posted.
Maintenance of the track will be done by local mountain bikers of all ages.
Cavaletto has volunteered to have the middle school and high school mountain biking team he coaches maintain the pump track once it’s built.
“One a month we’ll have a dig day,” he said. “We’ve volunteered to maintain the pump track and make it better.”
The team has 40 to 45 middle school and high school kids from Scotts Valley and SLV. Cavaletto said it’s been cool to see the community come together to build the pump track.
“I’m super stoked,” Cavaletto said, “and all the kids are fired-up.”
Praly said the outreach for the project has been done in Scotts Valley, rather than countywide.
“This is really about providing something to the Scotts Valley community,” he said.
According to MBOSC, Scotts Valley’s will be the largest pump track in the county at about 14,000 square feet. A pump track in Aptos behind Epicenter Cycling is about 13,000 square feet and a pump track on Westside Santa Cruz near Another Bike shop is about 5,000 square feet.
The Scotts Valley track is being built with the understanding that it’s a temporary structure and will have to be moved when the Town Center is built in Scotts Valley. Additionally, the first design will not be the end-all be all for the berms, tables and rollers.
“There are no permanent structures,” Praly said. “That’s the beauty of it. Pump tracks evolve over time, and it’s very cheap to evolve it. As we ride it, we start to tweak things.”
Besides Praly, Alex Fowler, Nick Thelen, Mark Davidson and Jim Dee have contributed to the project moving. Fowler, of Action Sports Construction, will lead construction on the project.
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