Jarvso Bergscykel Park in Sweden commenced the construction of a new red (black in North America) trail, designed this spring, to add to the four existing trails in the bike park. This addition will give JBP one trail in each difficulty level (green, blue single track, blue jump trail, red and black) and will make it one of the most versatile bike parks in Sweden. In its first year of operation, JBP has exceeded all expectations and is on its way to be a major component of the mountain biking industry in Sweden, if not worldwide.

Trestle Bike Park in Winter Park, Co. has seen their visits climb 40% over last year and the Bike Programs participation is up 1000% over last year. The Rental/Retail has been off the charts as well. The rising popularity of the bike park can be attributed to continued development of new trails and to attentive maintenance of existing trails. TBP added two new sections of the Rainmaker  jump trail, making it an instant rider’s favorite, and a new excavated single track called Upper No Quarter. TBP also hosted the Colorado Crankworx which was a resounding success, breaking past attendance and revenue records.

Whistler Mountain Bike Parkcontinues to set the standards for the industry with new development and the Kokanee Crankworx festival getting bigger each year. WMBP is committed to building intermediate (blue) trails in the difficult Garbanzo zone. At present they are busy excavating the continuation of Blue Velvet to meet up with the start of Crank It Up that will eventually add up to a 1300 vertical meters of riding bliss. Meanwhile, Gravity Logic designed and built a scenic blue single track snaking through a cliff band in the Garbanzo zone, connecting Freight Train from 3.5 step up to the end of Side Track. This trail should open this fall and will eventually continue to the junction of Golden Triangle and Duffman. WMBP will the home of the 2010 Gravity Logic Forum from September 16^th to 18^th. Attendees are coming from different parts of the world to hear industry leaders present relevant topics and to discuss bike park issues. Riding the bike park and socials at  our “office”, The GLC, will be major components of the Forum.
Sugarloaf Bike Park, New Brunswick  has reported  a 100% increase in visits over last year. This will make the SBP one of the busiest bike parks on the East Coast in just its second full year of operations. Much of this success can be attributed to the construction of new trails over last two years. This year Gravity Logic reworked Swamp Donkey trail into one of the most unique trails in the world. This excavated single track full of tasty features will be a trend setter for innovative trail design and construction. And according to designer Dave Kelly, Supa Sweet is the best jump trail in the world, even better than A-Line or Dirt Merchant in WMBP. That is a tall statement to make, but since DK designed all of those trails he has the right to make that claim.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort  is in the process of developing the Teewinot Chair serviced terrain. Our team spent June designing trails and construction began in July on a variety of trails. With a lot of great riding in the Tetons already, the Jackson Hole Bike Park will be icing on the cake and will be poised to introduce many new riders to the sport.

Steamboat Ski Resort  is jumping into the bike park pool with both feet and GL team spent three weeks in July and August designing thirteen kilometers of trails to be built next year. The terrain is very interesting and the natural beauty of Steamboat will ensure that this bike park will attract riders from far and wide and help Trestle Bike Park to put Colorado on the world bike park map.

Timberline Lodge in Oregon  is also getting in the game and our team is there right now designing twenty-two kilometers of hard flagged trails and a further 8 kilometers of future trail corridors. With super flowing terrain, Mount Hood as backdrop and Portland near, this bike park is going to thrive. Construction will hopefully start next year.

Snowmassis also going through a major re and re of their bike park operation and had us design an A-Line style jump trail which is just going through USFS approval and will hopefully be built next year. I visited Snowmass in August and I have never seen such beautiful Aspen forest in my life. And the dirt is to die for – you get the picture?

OK, so it wasn’t such a short report, but at least you get the point – we are busy and the bike park business is taking off. I know that I sound like a Baptist preacher with a concussion, but the facts speak for themselves – when it’s done right it works. And we expect to get much busier in the future.

A recent article by the the Globe and Mail explores Bike Parks versus golfing, Crankworx versus winter events, and how a sleepy summer village has been transformed into a vibrant biker’s paradise.  Read it here.

Ken Melamed, Mayor of Whistler – opening with an introduction and welcome to Whister.
Rob McSkimming, VP of Business Development – Whistler/Blackcomb. Topic – Economic Impact of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park on the Whistler community.
Paul Mutch, Director of Retail/Rental – Winter Park Resort. Topic – Rental/Retail Operations in a growing bike park as experienced in Trestle Bike Park.
Brian Finestone, Bike Park Manager – Whistler/Blackcomb. Topic – General Risk Management pertaining to bike parks globally.
Kira Cailes, Bike Park Patrol Supervisor – Whistler/Blackcomb. Topic – Risk Management in day to day operations.
Lars Loov, Director – Jarvso Bergscykel Park, Jarvso, Sweden. Topic – From nothing to a bike park in a year – The Swedish Way.
Tom Pro, Gravity Logic. Topic – What’s new and trends in bike parks around the world.

This year’s forum promises to bring together an unprecedented number of people interested in sharing their experiences as they pertain to entertaining the idea of developing a bike park, going through the process of design and construction, and improving revenue and guest experience at existing bike parks.

Join us on September 16th to 18th in Whistler. Registration forms can be downloaded here.

Much has changed in the bike park world over the last few years. New bike parks have been built, new styles of trails have emerged and scores of new riders have been introduced to the sport of downhill mountain biking. Much of this change can be attributed to the brainstorming and sharing of knowledge that has occurred in previous Forums. Many resort managers that attended past Forums have made the forward thinking decision to get into the bike park business. Some are now operating successful bike parks, some are in the planning stages of new bike parks and some are needing just a little more information before making the leap

To build a bike park is a huge step and an important decision to undertake for any manager. The Forum has been providing a platform of information and interaction to make the decision to build a bike park a much more rational process. A few years ago we only had The Whistler Mountain Bike Park as a model of what a bike park should be and what is possible to achieve. Now some other bike parks have achieved the “model” status and have the statistics to prove it.

This year The Forum will include presentations from various industry experts and some managers of the new bike parks will share their experiences of building a bike park from scratch. The last few years have taught us a lot about the bike park business and we will be there to share our experiences with you.

The usual social component will be in place and GLC will be the “Forum Office” and The Whistler Mountain Bike Park our playground.

Join us on September 16th to 18th in Whistler. Registration forms can be downloaded here.

Sugar Daddy Wall Ride

Sugarloaf opening weekend has come and gone and with it a few interesting stats. It is important to understand that Sugarloaf is no Whistler. At just 500 feet of vertical it is more of a bump than a mountain. It is served not by a high speed detachable quad but instead by a reliable fixed grip double chair. And while Whistler has millions of people a short drive away and a local community of literally thousands of riders Sugarloaf is 15 minutes from nowhere, 4 hours from any significant population, and the dedicated local riding population can likely be counted on two hands. Despite all this, Saturday saw 180 riders from as far away as Montreal (a 10 hour drive), 100 season’s passes sold, the entire rental fleet sold out, campground full, and the newly opened restaurant/bar at the bottom of the hill was packed from early in the morning until the wee hours of Saturday night. But I digress. Numbers are just numbers and can be twisted and distorted to suit one’s purpose. Ultimately what matters most is a rider’s experience and judging from the comments found here , it seems like Sugarloaf has found success by any measure. As an example: 

“Just got home and I want to go back already. What a great thing. I spent last year loving the hill and riding all the trails. So first thing after a warm up run down SugarDaddy (amazing work at the end in the pine tree section btw) I hit Supa Sweet.
Expecting to see the same great trail that it was last year with a couple of small changes… DID I EVER HAVE MY MIND BLOWN! The opening with the back to back amazingly fast, fun, and heavenly jumps got the adrenaline flowing like nothing else. I crossed the road and that hit right there blew my mind again. The berms, step downs the size of houses and step ups that feel like you are climbing up a mini mountain and everything else just flows and thrills like nothing else. Then the 2 platform drops at the end are to die for. Sugarloaf no long seems like a small park. That trail is SERIOUS BIZNISS!
Sorry for the book but I just needed to let others know that weren’t there to go. GO NOW. Quit your job, sell your kids, max the visa and rip SUPA SWEET!” 

Why are your lifts gathering dust over the summer?

At the end of the day, a bike park is only as good as the beer is cold...

20-06-10 Words by Tom Pro: I left Whistler on May 4th on what looked like a fairly casual trip to Sweden. I had a scheduled two day speaking engagement at the SLAO (Swedish Ski Lift Operators Association) Conference in Salen and then seven days of helping the Jarvso Bergscykel Park (www.jarvsobergscykelpark.se/) trail crew to get their bike park ready for the grand opening on June 5th. That adds up to nine days of work and my return date was for May 26th. I had cleverly fit about two weeks of sightseeing and relaxing into my trip while my GL partners slaved building trails at Sugarloaf Bike Park in New Brunswick (www.sugarloafpark.ca/en/).
The carefully crafted plan went up in smoke right after my SLAO presentation. Heck, all I said was that if you build quality trails in your bike park you have a good chance of being successful. Whistler did it; Winter Park and Sugarloaf are doing it. I didn’t reveal anything profound, just basic facts and common sense. Apparently Swedes possess uncommonly large amounts of common sense in their systems. Right after my presentation the flood gates opened and before I knew it I was committing to enough work to last well past my May 26th return date. Most of the work consisted of Operational Assessments – ‘come and see what we’ve got and let us know what we can improve’. In the end I visited twelve resorts from Goteborg to Are, drove 4947 kilometers, designed 7.72 kilometers of trails at three different resorts and built seven bridges on the Jarvso trails.

When in doubt...bridge it.

While the above numbers are interesting, it is the personal experiences that have convinced me that the bike park business in Sweden is on the right track and will prosper in the future. I met some very dedicated, passionate trail crews and open minded managers. Bike parks are nothing new to Sweden and have been around for a few years at various resorts. Unfortunately due to lack of knowledge most were not built in a sustainable fashion. But I did not hear any excuses from anyone, just willingness to learn and do it right the next time with professional help. No looking back, just moving forward. Here’s that Swedish common sense!
The highlight of my trip was working with Lars and the Jarvso crew to get the bike park in ship shape for the grand opening on June 5th. Just a bit of background: I visited Jarso last year at the end of July for one day on Lars’ request. At the end of the day I proclaimed, in my infinite positive wisdom, that Jarvso was suitable to build a bike park and I left for Canada. In September Gravity Logic dispatched Rob Cocquyt to Jarvso for three weeks to turn blank canvas into a master piece of bike trails and a bike park. My memory of Jarvso was of untouched forest and a few ski runs. In my imagination I saw the trails and different possibilities but I was not prepared for what I saw the first day I hiked up the trails. My eyes got a bit misty when I saw the carefully crafted trails and met the tired but incredibly pumped crew. The Swedes are not boastful people but the look in their eyes quietly told me that they were very proud of their accomplishment. Under Rob’s uncompromising supervision they were transformed from simple diggers to skilled trail builders. They still recount Rob’s teaching words with a laugh; “You think that someone is going to pay to ride this trail? Better get back and redo it better”.
We had three weeks to go before the opening and a lot of work to do. Because of the ongoing snowmelt we experienced a few water issues, parts of trails had to be finished and bridges had to be built. Due to the abundance of daylight (it actually never gets dark in this part of Sweden at this time of the year) we put in some long days. Often we were still working at 8 pm and I was thinking that it was about 5 pm. Dinner was eaten at 10 pm. In the end the bike park opening was a resounding success. The weather gods were smiling and blessed us with sunny skies. The people came, rode and everyone had a great time. Good riding day has to end with a beer(s) and this was no exception. The problem was that the Jarvso Bergscykel Park Café does not have a liquor license therefore they could not sell beer. No problem, with a great system busting and rider appreciating move they just gave the beer away, and lots of it! Nice move.
Swedish bike parks may be penny stocks right now and may never equal a blue chipper like Whistler in sheer size but they will be on par in the quality of trails built. I have no doubt that the new breed of Swedish bike parks will introduce many new riders to downhill mountain biking and help to grow the sport globally. The vibe in Sweden is very positive both from the resorts side and the rider’s side.
I left Sweden on June 16th, three weeks after my scheduled departure date on May 26th. Well worth it!

I don't know about you, but I'd rather be face to face with a cuddly black bear

16-06-10 After a solid ten days of walking every square inch of terrain served by the Teewinot lift, today marked Gravity Logic’s last day of bike park design at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. True, the vertical served by the lift might be pint-sized at just over 110 meters, but we’ve managed to squeeze some serious flow into every bit of ground that we had to work with. We began with a clean slate, ignoring most of the semi-xc trails from a bygone era that criss-crossed the mountain and are leaving confident that Teewinot, once built out, will be the best it can possibly be and ready to convert legions of cross-country warriors into DH addicts.
So, after a lengthy stare-down with a moose (I won), after reports of Grizzlies migrating through the area and the subsequent mysterious discovery of a severed Buffalo head in the middle of the forest, and after dodging lightning and hail on the final day of layout, it is with a heavy heart that we pack our bags as JHMR begins plans for construction over the coming summer. Check back often…we’ll be sure to keep you up to date with developments…
**On a side note, we had the fortunate opportunity to sample some of the trails made possible by the incredible volunteer efforts of the Teton Freedom Riders and the support of the USFS. There is no doubt that a bike park at JHMR will act as a bridge between those new to downhill mountain biking and the progressive trails of Teton Pass. With any luck perhaps the trails at the Pass will serve as a stepping stonein the future to bigger, bolder, mind-blowing trails further up the mountain at JHMR.

-rc