Bike Pump Track breaks ground in Watsonville

Come this fall, bikers will have a new place to ride in Santa Cruz County.

The first pump track in the South part of the County broke ground on Monday.

County Supervisor, Zach Friend, says outdoor recreation is something this area has been missing, “we can all agree that the southern portion of Santa Cruz County does not have enough parks and enough outdoor recreational space for people. This really will provide a new opportunity for kids to use this space to have the very first pump track in all of South County. We know kids in Watsonville, kids in Aptos and a number of other locations will be coming here.”

The project is costing about $125,000, officials say a large amount of the funds are being donated.

With the help of world renowned bike track designer Alex Fowler, this project is coming to life.

Fowler has helped designed nearly 200 tracks around the World and says they all have something in common, “these have really had a positive impact on every community that we’ve done them in. It just gives kids something to do, to keep them entertained. Teaches them basic bicycle skills which is good when they’re going around town to ya know avoid getting injured while riding, it just gives them a safe place to ride similar to skate parks.”

Santa Cruz County is where Fowler says he got his inspiration to get into this line of work, “we really didn’t have anything where I grew up in Berkeley and I had to travel far and wide on public transportation just to go race and ride my bike. And coming to Santa Cruz and seeing parks directly in the community really inspired me to go out and build more bike parks so that kids in other communities have places to ride.”

The Park superintendent for Santa Cruz County, Eric Sturm, says he sees more of these pump tracks being built in the future, “we hope to put pump tracks in all over, it’s just a matter of timing to get it done and the funding from the public to get them in.”

The track is expected to be finished by October or November.

South County resident Lisa Logsdon, says she usually takes her grandkids to the pump track in Scotts Valley. She says she’s excited to not have to make that trip, “they love the pump track, they’re always on wheels of some kind so it will be really fun, we’re just used to going around the circle here at pinto lake so this will be more fun.”