Opened last month, Third Degree Berms is the latest offering at Dyfi Bike Park and Pete caught up with Dan Atherton about taking it from concept to reality.
How does the man behind Dyfi Bike Park, Mr. Dan Atherton, bring a trail idea out of his head and into dirt on the hill? Pete had a chat with the eldest Atherton sibling about creating Third Degree Berms.
Photos by Dan Griffiths – Moonhead Media.
What was the inspiration for building Third Degree Berms?
We wanted another chill track off the lower mountain really. It’s mad. When we started the bike park, we thought that when the weather was bad, everyone would ride the lower mountain, then go up top when the weather was good but everyone just loves those top tracks. We wanted something to even the field a bit and get more people on the lower mountain.
Once you’ve made the decision to make a new trail, what happens next?
With a track like Third Degree Berms it’s not too bad, it’s relatively easy to do. The boys usually scope it out, find the best line then go in with chainsaws. Then it’s machine work first on a track like this. We do a first cut initially, get all the dirt in the right place, leave it for a bit to settle, then do another pass through with a machine with some better dirt in and start to get some shape into it. Then there’s a final pass through to make it tip top before the boys come in and slap it up.
Are all the materials you use local?
Yeah, we’re pretty lucky with the dirt really, everything is on site. We usually find the dirt we need to surface a new trail pretty close to where we’re building. On the north-facing side of the park it’s a little bit harder but we can always move it around.
How many people are involved in a build like this and what do they do?
We’d usually have one or two machine operators, that can be different people at different times depending on who’s around. The dig crew come through like locusts, about seven or eight of them and just smash it out. I’m always surprised at how much they get done. They are beasts.
How long did it take to build the new trail?
We dipped in and out of it over the winter, depending on what took priority, but if we were on it in one solid block, it would be three of four months. We usually jump between projects based on what the weather’s doing. That long dry spell earlier in the year and it you just couldn’t really do anything. We couldn’t put any shape into anything, it was just so dry. Sometimes trails feel like they have been taking forever but you haven’t really been on it solidly.
We’re so governed with what we can do building-wise by the weather just like anywhere but we do get a lot of rain here so you have to be careful with how you do it, you don’t want to go burying just anything. It is tempting sometimes to just smash it out but it’s never worth it. When you’re burying wet dirt and working in the wet, it just takes so long for it to dry.
How do you know when you’ve got it right?
Well… We don’t normally get it right… It is normally a project a new trail, a work in progress… It also depends who you ask. New tracks are always quite hard work. Any new trail we’ve built, you need the starch to wash out of the dirt before it roll fast. We do need tracks to work well in the wet around here for sure.
Favourite moments?
Filming the other day was really fun. All the dig crew were involved. We did a final prep in the morning, slapped the trail up and then got to filming in the afternoon, it was a real good sesh, real good fun.
Any disasters?
Nah, this one was pretty smooth to be honest.
There was an insane amount of bedrock in some of the bowls between some of the jumps. Wilf and Jamie were on the pecker for weeks hacking bedrock out… It was an annoyingly short section but it needed to be there so we had no choice.
For gents in the north who call the thing between their legs a pecker, what’s a Dyfi pecker?
(Laughs) It is a jackhammer that goes on the digger. It’s a serious bit of kit, but you need it. You need it in Wales for sure.
What’s next?
We’ve got a new Dewalt Line coming. We’re going to start work on that this week so no rest whatsoever. The Dewalt Line will be a big project for us. A new jump line from the top, which is needed. We’re going to give Oakley a full freshen up top to bottom so by the end of the summer that’ll be running amazingly.
A Dirt Merchant-style jump line from the top mountain but not like huge jumps like Oakley but not as flat and pedally as 50 Hits, something that’s flowy and fun on a downhill bike.
