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This is WallRide Park, India's first asphalt pump track
Built by BMX athlete Hamza Khan and his father, WallRide Park is India’s first asphalt pump track. It hosted the Indian qualifier of the Red Bull Pump Track World Championship.
The first-ever Red Bull Pump Track World Championship is taking place across the world this year, and Hyderabad’s WallRide Park was an important stop on the tournament circuit.
The pump track was the vision of avid BMX rider Hamza Khan that was built by global pioneers Velosolutions. Having been opened to the public in September 2017, the pump track has gone on to become a roaring success in Hyderabad.
A testament to that success is the fact that after hosting a few local events, the track played host to a major international tournament when the Indian qualifier of the Red Bull Pump Track World Championship took place in Hyderabad on 21st April.
View of the entire pump track at WallRide Park
© Focus Sports
The big bang story
Bengaluru resident Hamza Khan felt that as India continues to move away from the identity of being a one-sport nation, infrastructure needs to be developed to support new disciplines.
“The cycling market over the past few years has grown tremendously, and that was the initial driving factor [behind building the track],” says Hamza. “India has moved on to a multi-sport culture; at least the people have if not the country necessarily — this is only because of the lack of infrastructure for new and growing sports. In most other countries, this is taken up by the local municipality, which didn't seem to be the case here. So in the interest of seeing these sports flourish, it made sense to take it into our hands.”
Banked corners are an important feature of pump tracks
© Focus Sports
Hamza, a mountain biking and BMX enthusiast, created the park out of passion and to create a viable business model. He toyed with the idea of building the track in Bengaluru but shelved the idea realising that the city had plenty of skateboarding options while Hyderabad had a thriving cycling and skating culture that did not have the infrastructure in place. The 24-year-old spotted a gap in the market and went about bridging it.
“The process of turning the idea into reality was a gruelling one,” he says. “We went through a hell of a lot of noes from prospective investors, who weren't even aware of the existence of the sport, much less as an investment opportunity. Eventually, my father (Ikram Khan) started paying more attention to my business model and the concept of bringing something new to India, at which point he was on board.”
Putting up some of the money himself, Hamza got a loan from his dad to finance the construction of the track across 11,606 square feet on a family-owned land on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
The asphalt surface makes WallRide Park an all-weather track
© Focus Sports
A pump track is a course designed for all things on wheels — from mountain bikes to BMX to skateboards. It combines rolling jumps with turns, making them perfect for beginners and professional athletes alike. WallRide Park’s main pump track was made of asphalt — it is India’s first asphalt pump track — with an attached concrete skate park built by Bengaluru’s Holystoked.
Traditionally, pump tracks were made of dirt, which was the early plan for WallRide Park as well, but the idea to build an asphalt course came about once Velosolutions came on board.
Early on Hamza had visited Thailand to make notes on an asphalt pump track that had been built there. Realising the positives of using asphalt over dirt, and that Velosolutions had built the Thai track, Hamza got in touch with the renowned company for his project.
The expertise of Velosolutions
Led by Claudio Caluori, Velosolutions are global leaders in building pump tracks. They have developed industry-leading construction techniques that apply strict health and safety risk assessments. Their expertise, especially in Asian conditions, swung the vote in their favour. And the team did a remarkable job, completing the project in a mere two weeks — this despite the scorching Hyderabad heat sometimes turning up the temperature of asphalt to 150-160° C.
“It was quite an effort for our client from WallRide Park to organize the right machinery and the right materials. In the end, it all worked out, but everybody was exhausted,” says Caluori. The 40-year-old Swiss is a former mountain biker and has participated in the Downhill World Cup for more than ten years.
The skate park built by Holystoked
© Hamza Khan
“All our pump tracks are fun for kids, beginners, as well as pro athletes. We design them in a way that beginners can simply roll through the whole track, and if they get better, they will start jumping, doubling up some rollers, or even triple them. Expert riders will then start combining different lines, not staying on the main loop,” he explains, on the versatility the pump track provides.
“The advantages of a Velosolutions Pump Track are the usability in any weather, the grip, the low rolling resistance, the usability with bikes, skateboards, inline skates and scooters, and the low maintenance. So, pretty much everybody can ride our tracks at any time, no matter what the weather does. You don’t need to reshape our pump tracks — you just ride and get better.”
The track and the world championship
The pump track is built on around 9,418 square feet and has 165m straights. Apart from the jumps, the most exciting features of the track are the wall ride and the airbag jump.
Since its official inauguration on 16th September 2017, the park has seen several visitors, including skaters and BMX riders from New Delhi, Mumbai, Tripura, Pune, Bengaluru and Vizag. These riders and many others were the participants at the Red Bull Pump Track World Championship.
Read: India gets a first-ever BMX pump track champion
Young riders and skaters are trained at WallRide Park
© Hamza Khan
Apart from the accomplished riders, young and less-experienced enthusiasts have also been frequenting the track. Hamza and his team have been conducting weekly training sessions for these novices.
WallRide Park has been doing exactly what Hamza hoped it would – giving BMX riders in Hyderabad a place to practice and inviting more people to join this growing community.
