One of my 2025 MTB goals is to build a backyard pump track

Ask someone if they have any New Year’s Resolutions, and chances are decent that they’ll say they don’t believe in resolutions. And I get it: most of us have had more than a few failures when it comes to following through with our goals for the new year, sometimes within the first week of January. Not only that, I tend to think of resolutions in terms of the things I want to stop doing, but according to the textbook definition of the term, a resolution can cover things to do, or not to do. Still, I prefer to use the word “goal” since it has less baggage.

Mountain biking is such a rich and dynamic sport, it’s hard to choose just one goal for the year. With that in mind, my 2025 goals include plans to build, progress, and ride.

Build: Backyard pump track

I’ve been wanting to build a small pump track in my backyard for years. A recent landscaping project in another part of the yard gave me literally tons of dirt to work with, making this dream a reality. Well, potentially.

Admittedly, I’ve never built a pump track before, but I’ve ridden a ton of them and have interviewed experts who design and build pump tracks all over the world. I’ll probably get it wrong the first time, and likely the second time, too, but I’m looking forward to learning as I go.

Along with the pump track, I’m also hoping to create some more skills features like jumps, skinnies, and rock gardens, so I can work on bike skills at home whenever I have a free moment.

Progress: Jumping and cornering

The last time I shared my MTB goals in an article like this one, I mentioned that I wanted to get better at cornering. Well, guess what: I’ve still got plenty of room for improvement, haha. The pump track should help, especially since my backyard build will need to have a tight radius by necessity.

I’d also like to get better at jumping my mountain bike. There aren’t a lot of trails with jumps close to my house, so here again my plan is to build some progressive skills features at home, including jumps.

Last year I committed myself to riding with flat pedals for a month so that I could get to a point where they didn’t feel totally sketchy on the trail. Much to my surprise, it’s already been a year, and I’ve fully committed to flat pedals for mountain biking. Flat pedal riding isn’t a big deal by any means, but it does give me confidence that I can achieve my jumping and cornering goals if I’m committed.

Ride: Bikepack somewhere new

I didn’t go bikepacking in 2024, but I’m hoping to get out for at least one big trip in 2025. Putting a bikepacking ride on the calendar is a great way to set a goal, one that involves both travel and fitness. Some friends are planning to do a modified version of the ~300-mile Tally Tango in Florida around the first of February, which sounds like a blast, though it will probably end up being too close to an Arizona bike trip I have planned around the same time.

The bikepacking trip that I really want to take is one that my friend Nick designed. The idea is to ride Amtrak from Atlanta, Georgia to Birmingham, Alabama, and then bikepack back home to Atlanta. The route hits quality singletrack in Oak Mountain State Park and at Sylaward in Sylacauga, crests some of the tallest peaks in Alabama around Cheaha State Park, and finishes on a 60-mile+ rail trail through Georgia. We don’t have a date yet, which has me worried it might not happen, so maybe I should just put it on the calendar and see who shows up. I know I’m in!

Your turn: What are your mountain bike-related plans and goals for 2025? How’d you do on your 2024 goals?