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Pines pump track proposal again growing some traction

(May 11, 2017) Two members of the Ocean Pines Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee are hoping to gain support for a proposed “pump track,” a small, circular track that can accommodate both bicycling and skateboarding.
“It promotes bicycling that’s more about the momentum and the finesse of riding. Another good analogy is like a skate park with a hole cut out in the middle – people have to go in order. You can’t just go anywhere you want,” Tres Denk said.
Committee members Skip Schlesinger and Denk are promoting the track, which Denk said could go either next to the existing skateboard ramp near White Horse Park or at Bainbridge Park. The idea stemmed from a recent committee discussion.
Denk, a six-year member of the committee and a member of the Eastern Shore chapter of the International Mountain Biking Association, has been pushing the notion since 2012.
He said pump tracks appeared in Ocean Pines budget drafts twice, most recently in 2016 when about $30,000 was earmarked, but eliminated at the last minute.
Denk said former General Manager Bob Thompson and former Recreation and Parks Director Sonya Bounds had backed the idea, but “every time there’s a new administration, I fall off of the agenda.”
“I’ve been trying to call it a skate park expansion to get some traction, because any kind of skateboard works on it as well,” Denk said. “At the skate park, you can only use certain kinds of skateboards. You don’t really see kids with long boards there.
“The skate park, although it’s excellent, only caters to those who are excellent – or are trying to be,” he added. “There’s a big gap between that and all the major users. The rest of the people can’t really enjoy using their skateboards and scooters, not to mention bicycles.”
Denk and Schlesinger launched an online petition for the track on social media this week.
 To view the petition, search “OPA BOD consider the addition of a bike modular-pump track” on www.change.org. Alternately, email tres@esimba.org.
Denk said he had all but given up pushing for the track when Schlesinger created the petition. Because of term limits, this will be Denk’s last year on the advisory committee unless a special exception is granted.
“I’m trying to get the community behind it,” Denk said. “Bicycling is kind of a build-it-and-they-will-come situation. They’re very independent people. Getting their attention or their signature isn’t always easy to do.”
Still, Denk said interest in the cycling in the United States is high – it’s an $850 billion annual industry.
If enough signatures are collected, Denk said he and Schlesinger could bring up the track up at a board of directors’ session.
“It’s starting to grow its own legs,” Denk said. “It’s funny, it’s like the whole believing in God thing – you have to give up before you can actually get there.
“A lot of people still see bicycles as a toy and don’t understand how a young person with a bicycle has their own freedom and becomes independent that way,” he continued. “This is baby steps to growing a bicycle community. That’s really what all of my initiatives are about.”
Denk is also one of eight men and women on the Maryland Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
“I would like people to know that they can reach out to me with specific areas of anything that they feel needs to be addressed on a state level [because] there is no number anymore to call locally and there is no bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee on a county level.” he said. “It doesn’t mater if its gravel on the shoulders or missing signage – people on bikes notice things that are missing that people in cars never see.”