Done and dirty in Sterling

STERLING – Talk about dirt cheap.

The city is using leftover dirt from the 2015 Thomas Park pond dredging, and volunteer labor from a couple of mountain biking enthusiasts, to turn Platt Park into a pumper’s paradise.

At the request of fellow Tempo Velo bike club member and Sterling City Manager Scott Shumard, Doug Carolus, 31, of Sterling, a longtime mechanic at Mead’s Bike Shop, and Fred Johnson, 48, of Rock Falls, an International Mountain Biking Association instructor for REI, have, in only a few days, created an off-road terrain ready for riding.

The pump track, in the city-owned park at 17th Avenue and 15th Street, will be free to users. It will have a pump section, and a section for jumps, and its design occasionally will change on the basis of input from its users, and a committee that will be established to oversee it, Johnson said.

“Pumping” is the term mountain bikers use for creating momentum with up and down body movements.

The 1.5-acre site will have two main sections, including space for beginners and a more advanced section. “It’s designed to develop your skills over time,” he said.

There’s no age limit, and rules are in the works and will be posted. Helmets, of course, will be strongly recommended.

“We are every much about it being a safe place to ride,” Carolus said.

Street bikes are welcome, but he recommends using a mountain bike to maximize the fun.

Users will maintain the park, under the supervision of Johnson and Carolus

Other work planned at Platt includes removing a rusty fence along LeFevre, putting up a new fence up around the baseball diamond and, sometime next year, pouring a pathway, Shumard said.

Sterling Public Works crews have been hauling the dirt in from where it was being stored behind The Factory Pub and Grub, and helping with construction.

Thanks to a its share of a $900,000 EPA Mud to Parks grant, the Sterling Park District was able to dredge the little pond off Lynn Boulevard in August 2015, installing a lighted fountain and piling up 8,329 cubic yards of dirt that, per the terms of the grant, was given to the city for riverfront redevelopment.

Specifically, it was to be used to cover the former Northwestern Steel & Wire Co. brownfield site.

Thanks to the leftovers, pumpers will be bouncing off berms and flying off booters in what’s sure to be one of Sterling’s most popular parks.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Find Sterling IL Pump Track on Facebook to learn more about the track, or to get involved.