Race Report: MTB vs BMX - Red Bull Pump Track Leavenworth 2019
This weekend Leavenworth, WA hosted its 2nd annual Red Bull Pump Track event. It's a qualifier for the "World Championships" later this year, with the top 4 men and women all being invited to the finals.
The series is put on by Velosolutions, and the race director Johan Lindstrom is quick to point out its grassroots nature. "The series has a unique setup that's open to everyone, with such a cool vibe," said Lindstrom, "the super fast locals get to mix it up with pros, and sometimes even challenge them!" They make things as accessible as possible. All bikes are welcome, they use a flying start so there's no need to have gates or remove drivetrains, most of the tracks are in local parks and easily visited, there's no entry fee, etc.
After several hours of seeding runs, the top 32 men and 8 women did back to back knockout heats with the fastest time facing the slowest, and so on. With a fairly even mix of MTBs and BMXes, one of the storylines of the weekend is which bikes had the advantage. Johan and some of the athletes felt that maybe BMXes had the advantage on the deep rollers, but it seemed as the day went on that MTBs were able to keep their cornering speed higher.
In the women's field, last year's winner Kialani Hines faced several fast BMXers, including Payton Ridenour, the #1 ranked female amateur BMX racer in the USA. After a long day it eventually came down to Kialani and Payton in the big final, with Payton and the 20" wheels taking the win by 0.2 seconds.
On the men's side, former Crankworx pump track winner Collin Hudson, last year's Leavenworth winner Bubba Warren, and Nanaimo local Dillon Butcher all looked fast, but it was Velosolutions track builder Keagan Nelson (BMX) and small-wheel transplant Tommy Zula (MTB) that were the clear favourites after seeding. Keagan's seeding time was 17.0 seconds, with Tommy just 0.2 seconds slower. In the men's big final though, Tommy Zula put down the fastest time of the day, breaking the 17 second barrier with a 16.8 second lap and taking the win.
There's another qualifier event at the Stevie Smith Memorial Bike Park in Nanaimo, Canada in August, and then a final one in North Carolina in September before the World Championships. The big takeaway from this event for me is that you can tell some of the younger kids who are racing will be super quick soon—regardless of which discipline they go into. Growing up on pump tracks is going to be a great foundation for the next generation of riders.
Race Director Johan Lindstrom with some housecleaning before racing gets underway.
Through the finish line.
Counterintuitively, the tall concrete corners appeared to favour big wheels.
Carson Storch was there throwing miniflips, signing autographs, and keeping the racers honest. On dirt tires and a full suspension slope bike he was stoked just to qualify, and drinks were on him after he took home the style preme.
Collin Hudson looked super fast and actually put down a 17 second lap, but a mistake in one of the knock out heats cost him a shot at gold.
Squamish represent.
Bubba didn't quite have the speed to repeat his win from last year.
Liam Wallace was stylish as always.
Best facial hair award.
Good times.
Between seeding and the final heats there was time for everyone to put down some laps.
Dixie Owens pushing it into fourth place.
Payton Ridenour looked absolutely dominant all day, and took the win over Kialani in the final heat.
After putting down consistent times all day, a mistake cost Keagen Nelson a half-second in the final heat.
Keagan Nelson looks on as Tommy Zula puts down a scorcher for the fastest lap of the day.
Results
Men
1st. Tommy Zula
2nd. Keagan Nelson
3rd. Austin "Bubba" Warren
4th. Dillon Butcher
Women
1st. Payton Ridenour
2nd. Kialani Hines
3rd. Violet Cejalvo
4th. Dixie Owens
MENTIONS: @redbullbike @velosolutionsglobal
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- low maintenance
- hufter proof
- usable and fun for everyone on wheels (would be interesting to see if people someone could even ride it on a basketball type wheelchair)
- they arguably look prettier (smoother) than most other kinds of play equipment
These are big selling points. Cities are willing to invest in equipment but if it is prone to damage it turns into a nightmare. In fact a facility like this helps skaters, BMX riders etc to stay off the urban furniture so it may actually reduce wear overall. Bring it as such. Show them the Velosolutions videos as available on youtube. The youngest kids, old people, enthusiasts and top BMX racers all on the same track. If you can serve all those people with one single facility, it suddenly isn't all that expensive anymore. Hundreds of thousands sure sounds like a lot, but they're used to these kinds of numbers. Street furniture like a bench or even a thrash can (and the installation thereof) costs way more than you may think at first.
We only have a surfaced dirt pumptrack over here so it is only useful for bicycles. The town only supplied the dirt and surface material and some initial sculpting with small diggers. Even that cost them 15k euro. This is what it looks like from above.
twiskemountainbikeroutes.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/pumptrackvanboven900x600.jpg
As it is only useful for bikes, it doesn't even see that much use. But it is great for me as it is only three minutes from home
I definitely think the tarmac Velosolutions track is an easier sell as at the end of the day kids always get on some kind of wheels. Be it skateboards, inline skates, bikes or the latest trend no one heard of before. So if it could accommodate them, that's great. Of course this also implies that you need to be careful and can't go fast or big when school's out or on a nice day in the weekend. But chances are that you often find yourself riding these in the evenings or when the trails are to wet to ride anyway. So then you can go as fast and big as you like.
This is what the Velosolution track looks like a bit further from home. Over an hour by car but it is well worth the trip.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE_dvJUgIAg
2nd. Keagan Nelson (BMX)
3rd. Austin "Bubba" Warren (MTB)
4th. Dillon Butcher (MTB, possibly 24" wheels though?)
1st. Payton Ridenour (BMX)
2nd. Kialani Hines (MTB)
3rd. Violet Cejalvo (BMX)
4th. Dixie Owens (MTB)
100% conclusive evidence of... something?
What BMX is great at for a regular mountain biker is it will allow you to shit your pants on a pump track. It turns one into A-line on a DH bike. Highly recommended
Regarding my earlier comment, I was just surprised to see hardly any kneepads in the pictures. But indeed the elbows can take a beating too. Unlike a rocky trail though, the impact is on a smooth pumptrack is more predictable and there is more room to safely roll out in case of a crash.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=babtIcBKNs4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xMfnI4v7zg