So there is a local pump track near me in Longwell Green (Bristol – but South Glos council owned I believe) that’s seen better days. It has 3 banked tarmac corners which are still in good condition but everything between them is just compacted stone and it’s well worn / needs some tlc. I also think the bigger tables they’ve put in are too big to jump at the speeds I’ve seen everyone go round it on. Would be much better fully tarmacked with smaller rollers. It also doesn’t flow in a loop all the way round – it has a start ramp kind of thing.

Has anyone had any experience of trying to get something like this reworked / had some investment out into local facilities to improve them? I think it would get far more use if it was reconfigured / made more fun. Not sure it would cost a huge amount because the big banked corners are already there – just 3 sections that could be redone and tarmaced.

Presumably I’d need to contact the council to see if anything could be done – but any idea how to go about this / who to try and make contact with?

I think with some reworking it would work better for basically all users – from little kids on balance bikes (who can’t get up the 2 tables) to bmxs where the smoother surface would make it a bit quicker / could give more options to play.

Sorry can’t help but you might have more luck if you can provide the labour and just ask for equipment hire. You would need a community group for this. This not not so relevant if you want new tarmac.

Also.

Would be much better fully tarmacked with smaller rollers.

Some of the smaller roller pump tracks can be quite horribly in the sense that they leave this horrible skills gap / progression gap where by they are really good for beginners, really good for really good people who can ride anything but horrible if you’re in-between. Some good tables actually help here (as long as they are not some of these horrible super mellow ones.).

Get in touch with your local Councillor and ask to meet them at the track then get them on board. Get a group of kids to meet you there at the same time (just don’t molest them).

Councillors can get stuff done quickly by talking to the right departments, they often also have their own delegated local budget to pay for work in their own constituency area.

Also whatever you do get someone who knows what they are doing to help with any rebuilding as (no offence you may do) you probably don’t, good design is really hard. I go to loads of skateparks (and a few pump tracks) and I can see money has been thrown at them but they are poorly designed that make them unusable for a large % of their potential target. Council leaders see a load of kids on scooters and think its a success but then don’t realise that half the BMXers and skaters are not there in the “non post school rush” times because its crap. But for the councillors seeing what isn’t there is hard as you don’t know what you don’t know.

I wouldn’t plan to design the track myself. Happy to provide free labour to clear all the vegetation that’s growing around the place and barrow aggregate around etc. Would think they’d want to get a proper contractor in for h&s reasons though.

Examples of good tarmac tracks around Bristol are by the Cumberland basin, Hillfields Park (this one is ace as it has a small pump track circuit and also a flowing pump track that goes down a slight gradient) and Hartcliffe. The latter 2 are tarmac with red pint markings on them and I suspect they are done by the same company. Cumberland basin is a bit older I think but is still fun and is used by a huge variety of different people / ages etc. Seen skateboarders on it (who definitely can’t use Longwell green), bmxs, small kids on scooters / bikes, people on mountain bikes etc.

Will look up a suitable local councillor and start there and see what occurs. Hopefully they are less likely to think we’re all aggressive male child molestors!

Well there we are – email pinged off to the 2 local councillors for Longwell Green. Let’s see what happens!

Fingers crossed!

As if by magic it turns out they did it last week 🤷‍♂️

They’ve kept the big corners they already had and tarmaced the sections inbetween. The only thing they didn’t do is swap the large tables for smaller rollers.

Makes me want to get a bmx now but going to try and get down there ASAP for a little play round it on the hardtail!