RHINELANDER, WI (WSAU-WXPR) — The Northwoods is home to dozens of mountain biking trails.
The Lakeland Area Mountain Biking Organizations, or LAMBO, is working on a new trail feature it hopes will get more people interested in the sport. LAMBO is aiming to finish building the Minocqua area’s first pump track by this fall.
For those not familiar with pump tracks, think of a looped trail with a series of little hills and some banked turns. It’s designed to be ridden without pedaling, instead of pumping your bike to propel yourself forward. LAMBO Trail Boss Michael Johnson tells WXPR Radio he hopes it will help get new people into mountain biking.
“Besides being fun and great exercise, it helps develop a lot of the riding skills that you’re going to need once you get out on our larger single tracks and I think it makes people more comfortable,” said Johnson. “It’s a little smaller, safer version of some of the big stuff out in the woods on the single track, some bigger berms, and hills. It’s just a great way to develop your skills and confidence.”
He also hopes it will bring seasoned mountain bikers to the area. “A pump track is really just a cool feature. Everybody who rides bikes, if they hear about a new pump track in the area, they’re going to want to flock to it cause it’s just a really cool thing to do,” said Johnson.
LAMBO is still in the early stages of creating the pump track at the Zip Trails south of downtown Minocqua. It raised enough initial funds to start building this spring with the goal of finishing the first phase by the fall. It has a couple of fundraisers going now to raise the $15,000 still needed for the track.
“We got what we’re calling Frank the Tank Hill challenge. We have a really steep hill over at our Zip Trails locations. It’s a members-only fund drive. Members are soliciting pledges from the public for each time they climb the hill in a two-hour period. That’s the main thing we’re working on right now,” said Johnson.
LAMBO is also registering people for the 23-mile InSayner Race in June. You can learn more about the events and find other ways to contribute to the pump track project on LAMBO’s website.
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