GET PUMPED: New bike course on track in TD
Darian Ritchie, 24, creates the right grade with a large gravel rake on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at The Dalles Skate and future pump track park.
The Dalles, Ore., Oct. 11, 2023 - Darian Ritchie was working the gravel for a new pump track this morning near The Dalles Aquatic Center on West Second Street as the rain was just starting to fall.
Ritchie is with Velo Solutions which has the contract to build the track.
What’s a pump track?
It is a circuit of humps, banked turns, and features that are designed to be ridden completely by "pumping" — generating momentum by up and down body movements instead of pedaling or pushing.
And it’s a riot.
Design Rendering of the new skate bowl and pump track.
Money
North Wasco County Parks and Recreation received a $300,000 grant to build both the pump track and the recent additions to the skate park. Parks Executive Director Scott Baker said The Dalles Lions have also contributed $5,000 and Parks and Rec. is putting in about $300,000. The total project cost for both the skate park improvements and the pump track is about $605,000. The District is also working to raise $4,000 toward installing lights at the location.
“This project is so awesome,” Baker said last April. “It’s a free fun and entertaining activity for the whole family.”
Here is an overall look at the work done by Velo Solutions thus far.
Darian Ritchie and Skylar Griffith of Detroit, Michigan work for Velo Solutions which has the contract to build the new pump track next to the skate park in The Dalles. Skylar is the foreman on the project and estimated it would be another three weeks before they bring the track to completion. He said the final track will have an asphalt surface.
On a side note - Darian and Skylar met when they were 4 years old and have been riding bicycles together for years. and it was a natural to move into pump track development.
“It’s a dream job,” Skylar said. “We’ve been digging and building ever since.”
Skylar said he currently had a couple of bikes being worked on by Calvin Lepinski at SPR Bicycle Shop on Washington Street.
He said he was stoked to ride the pump track when done.
“This is an amazing park,” Skylar said, noting Redbull hosts pump tracks often and will only use Velo-built sites. “This is a cool town up here.”
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