Inglewood Pump Track | Longboarding the First Pump Track in LA
We have lived in several different parts of California, and our travels have allowed us to see even more of the state. But Los Angeles definitely has a special place in our hearts because it is where our adventure began. Years ago when we lived here, there were no pump tracks. So you can imagine my excitement to find out about the first pump track in Los Angeles. Outside of Los Angeles, there are several great pump tracks in southern California to check out: Menifee Pump Track, Corona Pump Track, Temecula Pump Track and Lake Elsinore Pump Track to name a few.
The Inglewood Pump Track is another great example of the high quality craftsmanship that the team over at Velosolutions is all about. The Inglewood Pump Track is a fun and exciting track that will exhaust your legs and fulfill the need for some cement surfing! The track and its features are great for bikes, boards and skates. I really enjoyed everything about riding my longboard the Inglewood Pump Track.
First Impressions: Inglewood Pump Track
When first arriving at the Inglewood Pump Track you’ll see the small Inglewood Skatepark (Nella Skatepark) just on the side of the parking lot. The pump track is down the hill by the trees in the grass. And you will see that there are actually two different pump tracks!
Pros: Two great pump tracks, great transitions and fun banked turns. The track is big enough and has enough cross points to avoid traffic and accidents. And there are two tracks to help thin out the crowd.
Cons: Can’t really thing of any cons… The lights could be brighter at night I guess.
Directions: Click here to get directions to the Inglewood Pump Track.
Know Before You Go: The pump track in Inglewood is open during park hours. We were there until after dark and there were two dim lights over the pump track. The tennis court lights were on and bright. Maybe there will be an improvement in lights to come. Also, the rules indicate no scooters, e-bikes or RC cars allowed on the track at anytime.
Grow Cycling Foundation is the non profit behind the Inglewood Pump Track. The construction of the track was “purpose-built” for bikes so there is a weekly schedule to be aware of here. There are specified days where bikes have priority.
- Bike and Skate: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday:
- Bike Priority: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday:
The Inglewood Pump Track is located inside the larger Edward Vincent Jr. Park. Here you’ll find restrooms and many other amenities including:
- Baseball and Soccer Fields
- Tennis and Basketball Courts
- Walking Paths
- Playgrounds
- Pool Complex
Riders Thoughts: Inglewood Pump Track
The Inglewood Pump Track is a great pump track! With the growing popularity of pump tracks and the culture of skateboarding in Southern California I am surprised that it took this long to get a pump track in Los Angeles. I predict that this pump track will explode with visitors and create a demand for pump tracks all over the LA area. And I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!
The Inglewood Pump Track has many great features. One of the best features is the fact that there are actually two separate pump tracks here! (and a skatepark) The tracks are named separately and are supposed to be of different difficulty levels. I found them to be pretty similar in difficulty, one is just shorter than the other. The two tracks are named Woodlands Track and World Championship Track.
Like the Inglewood pump track, the Temecula pump track also has two tracks – one is a small beginner track and the other a more advanced track. And there is also a skatepark right next to it.
Woodlands Track
The Woodlands Pump Track in Inglewood is labeled as the beginner/intermediate track and is a little bit shorter of a track than the other. This pump track is located on the left side (when coming down the hill from the parking area) and is nestled nicely between some beautiful, large trees.
There are trees located between the banked turns, in the middle, and around the outside of the Woodlands Track which adds to it with a beautiful ride. We have been to pump tracks in the middle of the desert and in the middle of suburban neighborhoods. But the trees in and around the Woodland Pump track give this track a very different atmosphere. The trees provide some shade from the Southern California sun and the peaceful park provides a fun and chill vibe to meet and skate with others.
The Woodlands Track is a really fun and smooth. The downhill orientation of the track allows riders to easily build a lot of speed through the humps and go fast around the turns. This track has a number of banked turns in both direction and can be track can be taken in either direction.
The Woodlands side of the Inglewood Pump Track is the “smaller” of the two tracks. But this is still a pretty good sized pump track that could very well be its own stand alone pump track. The size of the humps and the size of some of the banked turns are still pretty big, but are pretty manageable for riders of varied skill level.
World Championship Track
The World Championship Track at the Inglewood Pump Track is the larger of the two and considered the intermediate/professional track. This track is a really long pump track with humps and turns in all sorts of sizes. This track has no trees like the other track, but it has some rubber “grass” with gravel islands in between. You can see how the size of this track makes me look like a tiny little guy surrounded in asphalt waves.
I really enjoyed skating this pump track on my longboard! The familiar sensations of cement surfing just coast along with ease as I traveled around the track. The humps here are a great size that provide rounded transitions mellow enough for my longboard to not scrape or bottom out.
My first lap in the Inglewood Pump Track was fun, but a little confusing. The direction in this pump track flows in many different directions. And on my first lap, I didn’t know which way I was supposed to be going. But that made it fun because I had to decide my path on the fly, not knowing where exactly I was headed. The builders of this track made the layout fun by providing a number of different places to cross over and take lines in any direction. These transitional areas make this park a lot of fun because there is great opportunity to continue a line in a new direction in order to pass kids or avoid a crash.
Shred it Later – Pin it Now
The Inglewood Pump Track provides is a very long course if you decide to take the full lap. So don’t forget to warm up or stretch a little bit. A full day, or even just a short day here can turn your legs into a jello/cement mixture of exhaustion.
I would highly recommend the Inglewood Pump Track to anyone looking for a fun day on wheels. The track is big enough for a lot of people, and the variety of pump track sized features gives all athletes something fun to play on. There are a number of straightaways and small humps that beginners will be able to conquer with ease. And the shape and flow of the track will help riders gradually become better at riding. Advanced riders will have a ball here, and probably be tempted to break out the stop watch to see how fast they can finish a lap! I didn’t think about timing a lap until we were about to leave, so my legs were pretty exhausted, but I was clocked around 0:38 sec for a full lap on the World Championships Track.
Inglewood Skatepark – Nella Skatepark
The small Inglewood Skatepark is called the Nella Skatepark and is located right next to the parking lot. This is a small, typical street oriented skatepark with modular ramps and boxes on flat platform.
Unfortunately, there are no lights for night riding at the Nella Inglewood Skatepark. But the simplicity of this skatepark is a good place to warm up for the pump track, or a good place for the little ones to play on their scooters since they are not allowed in the pump track.
Thanks for Reading About the Inglewood Pump Track!
We’ve been on this seven year road trip checking out skateparks all over the country. And we were stoked when we found our first few pump tracks! Now it seems they are popping up all over the place. Here are a few great pump tracks that we’ve been to so far:
- Temecula Pump Track
- Centennial Bike Park and Pump Track in West Valley City
- Unique Skatepark and Pump Track in Kanab
- Richfield Pump Track
- Floyd Lamb Pump Track in Las Vegas
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