[Photography courtesy of Velosolutions]

Swiss former World Cup downhiller, Claudio Caluori, is well known in the mountain bike world. Not only for his racy past, but also through his onboard camera work with Red Bull TV. Of late, he has become better known for the Pump for Peace and Velosolutions initiatives, where he spreads his incredible passion for biking around the planet in the form of creating pump tracks. We asked Claudio all about his project and more.

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off.road.cc: What led you to start building pump tracks?

Claudio Caluori: Velosolutions was actually founded as a Bike Park Design, a building and marketing company, in 2004. Back then, pump tracks weren't really a big thing yet. 
Soon after that, though, I rode the first pump track in Switzerland and fell in love with it. There were so many events and people involved with getting Velosolutions Pump Tracks to where they are now, it would be too long a story to even try to explain, but that’s the short answer.

2025 PFP fulll team.jpg, by Liam Mercer

ORCC: How do the projects come about, especially in far-flung countries, and where do the contacts and introductions come from?

CC: People usually contact us from all over the world. With Pump for Peace (PFP), we lowered the hurdle for developing countries, so that they're not scared of contacting us to see what's possible. We're not actively approaching developing countries because we believe the desire for a pump track must come from the locals, and not from us. But for sure, we're excited if we can make them happen in places where nobody would expect one.

ORCC: Funding, this must differ between wealthy and developing nations; roughly, how does this come together?

CC: Over time, we put a bit of money aside and into the Pump for Peace NPO (Non-Profit Organisation) so that we can help in making it happen in developing nations. There are people and companies donating to Pump for Peace so that we can go and build more; Rotwild, for example, funded a big chunk of the track in Uganda, and Crankbrothers funded the one in Kathmandu, Nepal, by selling a red shoe and donating the profits from it to Pump for Peace. 

ORCC: For a simple pump track in a developing nation, what would a rough cost to build one be?

CC: This really depends on the project and the situation. If it is for a wealthy person and his friends, we charge as usual. If it's for a poor town that is making sure that the track stays open to everyone for free, we'll find solutions to make it happen, one way or the other, so it’s impossible to put a general cost on things. 

2025 PFP 2.jpg, by Liam Mercer

ORCC: How different are the receptions and impacts of pump tracks in local communities, comparing European to developing nations?

CC: You could say that it's the same! Kids come to the track and love it. They come back together, ride, and have fun. The pump track often becomes the place to be after school.

ORCC: In developing nations, what have been the tangible impacts you've seen on those communities?

CC: One of the most tangible impacts we’ve seen was in Lesotho, where we built a Velosolutions pump track through our Pump for Peace initiative. Very quickly, it became the place to be for all the local kids whenever they weren’t in school, a real community hub.

2025 PFP 1.jpg, by Liam Mercer

At one point, teachers went on strike and schools were closed for several months. During that time, the pump track didn’t just remain busy, it was packed every single day. But that led to an unexpected problem: the kids were normally fed lunch at school, and with schools closed, we suddenly had hundreds of hungry kids spending all day at the track.
So we stepped in and hired two local women to cook and serve food at the track until schools reopened. That’s when it really hit us, the track wasn’t just about biking or sport. It became a safety net, a social space, and a platform for care and support in the community. That’s the kind of impact we aim for, where a pump track becomes more than just infrastructure, and actually helps improve lives in meaningful and everyday ways.

ORCC: Where do you think pump tracks sit in the chain of introducing people to mountain biking?

CC: They can be anywhere in the chain. For a lot of kids, it's what brings them into the sport (cycling) or mountain biking. For many experienced riders who don't have a background in BMX, a pump track is a new feeling on a bike that ignites a new fire for a different kind of riding, which definitely leads to better skills in many situations. For riders who got a bit tired of the same thing for thirty years, not making any progress, or even giving up, pump tracks can get them back into it. Last but not least, athletes who want to train, both physical strength and skills at the same time, as a full-body workout.

ORCC: What is the PFP project ethos, and where does it fit in globally in terms of providing opportunities and creating awareness?

CC: We love what we do, and we love it even more when we see how others love it too. Seeing the kids in Africa having fun with something we've built for them fills my heart with gratitude. It is the most rewarding thing in the world. There's no need to create an ethos around it or a story about awareness. Kids around the world love pump tracks. We love building them. Win-Win! Everything else is marketing.

ORCC: What has PFP taught you about the hurdles faced in bringing MTB to different regions, the kinds of things that Westerners rarely understand?

CC: You know, the things you learn on one day are put in question on the next day. When you go into the field of NGOs / NPOs working in developing countries, sooner or later you have to deal with questions about how beneficial you’re doing really is. Are you actually serving the locals in the way you claim to be serving them? Or are you just imposing your own values on other cultures? Are you just trying to find a purpose for yourself, justifying your own existence? 

2025 PFP 4 team.jpg, by Liam Mercer

That's when you start creating a story about an ethos, a justification for what you're doing. Maybe, later on, you'll get to the point where you're going to give it up and just be honest about it: you love what you're doing, and that's just fine.

This is why we are not actively looking for places to build Pump for Peace tracks. We're not going to tell people what they need and what is good for them. But if there is a strong desire from a community to have a pump track, and also the commitment to make an effort, to make it happen, then together we're ready to go anywhere in the world. 

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