TRACKING PROGRESS: COMMUNITY PUMP TRACK PROJECT RECEIVES DONATION OF SERVICES

Eddie Martinez
7 days ago
2 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

Cheryl Simmons (left) and Jake Carsten (right) visited the site of the future pump track while drilling happened.

Previous Reporting on the Pump Track can be read here: Action Sport Dreams Becoming Reality: Rotary Club Bike Pump Track Getting "Shovel-Ready"

Reps from the Rotary Club and Alliance Action Sports Experts (ASE) visited the site of the future pump track on De La Rosa Street while donated soil sampling and drilling services took place on Monday. ‘Pump tracks’ are a kind of bicycle-motocross track with rolling mounds and turns — and for a build that will be used largely by young people, drilling for samples to make sure the earth beneath their wheels won’t betray them is a key part of the process.

Carrillo & Associates, a geotechnical engineering firm from San Antonio, donated their soil sampling services to the project. According to Jake Carsten of ASE, this type of drilling would have cost around $6,000, but was all done for free.

Results from the drilling will be known in a couple weeks. Should results find no restrictive layers of earth that impede progress, the next step in the process is to design the pump track.

ASE, an Austrian action-park construction firm, has designed and built over 200 tracks all over Europe, and is set to bring their vision of mindfully-planned action-sports infrastructure to Del Rio.

“We almost exclusively use materials from the local environment, supporting local businesses and the local economy,” says ASE’s website. “We also cooperate with local contractors and even volunteers to further decrease project costs wherever possible.”

A couple of very interesting details concerning the cost of this pump track project:

The City of Del Rio is contributing $0 toward the cost of the track.
This particular project will cost "$500,000 or more" in total, according to Carsten.

This means an economical philosophy like ASE’s is critical in bringing the track to fruition.

These truths do have Carsten asking himself, “Can we get the money? How long will it take to get the money?” He admits it's all a sort of "leap of faith". But he's got a supportive backer in the Rotary Club of Del Rio. He also draws from his 14 years of experience in the bike-trail-building industry and has numerous completed park projects under his belt. All-in-all, he says he is “pretty hopeful” Del Rio will be riding and gliding across a community pump track soon enough.