Pump track, bike skills course coming to Perkins Hill Park

At their meeting on May 20, commissioners for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) approved the concept plan [PDF] for improvements at Perkins Hill Park. The plan includes a pump track for skates, bicycles, scooters and gliders and a natural-surface mountain-bike skills trail: the first facilities of this kind in the Minneapolis park system.

Sometimes referred to as an all-wheel park or bike training course, a pump track features circuits of banked turns, mounds and other features that can be used by people of all ages and abilities with any type of bike, scooter or skateboard. While novices use them to build skills, pump tracks are also a challenging workout for advanced riders, who skip pedaling and maintain momentum with upper- and lower-body pumping motions.