San Juan College Bike Park Pump Track opens to community
Just one day after the new pump track opened at the San Juan College Bike Park on April 13, the college’s executive vice president, Ed DesPlas, stopped by the new attraction to see if it had drawn any riders. What he saw left him feeling very pleased and a little wistful.
“To see people come out here on the second day it was open, to see kids just tearing it up, it was great,” he said, grinning broadly. “It made me wish I was 40 years younger.”
DesPlas and other college officials were on hand at the park on Wednesday, April 17 to introduce the new attraction, which is located at the northwest corner of East 20th St. and College Boulevard in Farmington. It is part of a 133-acre plot the college owns just south of its main campus, a portion of which has been developed into a mountain biking park featuring miles of trails, along with such features as rollers, tunnels and sharply banked turns built into berms.
Farmington Area Single Track, a local cycling advocacy group, has been a longtime partner of the college in development of the park.
The pump track, which is paved in asphalt, was paid for with part of the money from a $7 million general obligation bond issue approved by voters in November 2022 and a nearly $100,000 grant from the New Mexico Economic Development Department. Additional improvements to the park will follow, including a prefabricated restroom building with running water that is scheduled for delivery in the middle of July, shade structures, picnic tables, a new skills area for children on the park’s east side and perhaps even lighting at some point, DesPlas said.
School officials also hope to install artificial turf in the pump track’s interior and the area surrounding it to make things easier on riders who take a tumble, he said.
Construction on the track was started in the middle of March. It was designed and constructed by Velosolutions and the American Ramp Company.
DesPlas said he was amazed the way some of the young riders he saw last weekend zipped around the pump track. Such courses typically include features that are designed to be conquered by riders who generate momentum through up and down body movements or shifting their weight instead of pedaling.
“I asked one of them, ‘How’d you learn how to do this?’” DesPlas recalled. “He said, ‘I saw it on YouTube.’”
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Jon Betz, the director of the college’s Health and Human Performance Center, estimated that only 10% to 20% of the 133-acre site has been developed, leaving plenty of room for the park to grow in the future if college officials can draw additional funding.
But, for now, the park already has a new feature that school officials hope will attract riders from across the region. DesPlas said the closest pump track to the one at the college is located in Bernalillo, and the closest pump track in Colorado is located in Pueblo.
San Juan College is only the second or third higher-education institution in the country to have a pump track, he said.
That should make the track a hot commodity, said Chris Conley, the president of Farmington Area Single Track.
“This asset the college built for this community is mind boggling,” he said.
DesPlas said he envisions the college’s bike park becoming one of the region’s premier destinations for mountain bikers within a five- to 10-year period. He credited FAST officials with helping the college make its plans for the track a reality.
“They’ve got vision,” he said. “We’ve got a major attraction. As people know what we’re doing here, they’re going to be asking us to do more.”
Conley gave a riding demonstration of what the track has to offer for a group of college officials and media members on the morning of April 17. After taking a quick half dozen spins around the track, he ascended to a flat platform at the north end of the track and tried to catch his breath.
“My legs are burning, and my lungs are burning,” he said, referring to the challenging nature of the course.
The unpaved interior portion of the course features several drains, and the course itself is sloped to keep water from pooling on it. That should help prevent cracks and potholes from developing and keep the surface smooth for riders, said Chris Harrelson, the senior director of the college’s physical plant.
DesPlas said he hadn’t spoken to any students yet who have used the track, but he emphasized the attraction is open to anyone who wants to use it.
“This is about our community commitment,” he said. “We serve the community in ways other than just learning … . This is part of our commitment to pony up resources. This is part of what gets people to come here and stay here.”
Harrelson said the other projects paid for by the $7 million bond issue have been completed or are well on their way to being done. That list of finished projects includes new stage rigging at the Henderson Fine Arts Center Performance Hall and the installation of new bleachers and flooring at the Health and Human Performance Center. The Connie Gotsch Theatre will have a new curtain soon, he said.
The largest project in the group is the one that remains farthest from completion. College officials have chosen a site for the school’s new physical plant and hired a contractor, the Jaynes Corporation. They are approximately 25% of the way through the design process, Harrelson said.
He said the new facility would be built at the north of the campus near the college’s ropes course.
Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.
This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Paved pump track was paid for with bond money approved by voters
