On Top of the World: How Gravity Logic Builds the Best Bike Parks

Singletracks Mountain Bike Podcast

Singletracks.com

Wilderness, Sports

4.7 • 574 Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2024

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Tom Prochazka is a co-founder and director at Gravity Logic, a bike park design and development company based in Whistler, British Columbia. He served as the manager of the Whistler Bike Park from 2001 to 2007 and designed the iconic Top of the World Trail which opened in 2011. Since then he's worked on bike parks all over the world from the western US to Europe and South America.

In this podcast interview we ask Tom:

How did you get involved in mountain bike trail building?
What do you think makes Whistler such a special place?
What drove the huge increase in Whistler visits between 2001 and 2007?
How did Gravity Logic get its start?
Tell us how the Top of the World Trail came together. How is it different from the other trails in the bike park?
What's your definition for the term "bike park"?
Are for-profit park operators able to get a decent return on investment on a bike-only, ground-up build?
How much work is involved in keeping bike trails running during the season?
Does a trail ever work exactly as planned on paper? Do builders and designers need to make adjustments once they see how people are riding the trail?
Are there many tradeoffs between safety and fun when it comes to mountain bike trail design?
It seems like most bike park visitors prefer flowy, jumpy trails to raw, technical lines. Why do you think so many mountain bikers like to complain about flow trails?
What are some of the latest trends you're seeing in bike park design today?
Do you have a favorite park or trail that you like to ride?

More information: Whistlergravitylogic.com

Cover photo provided by Tom Prochazka.

--Keep up with the latest in mountain biking at Singletracks.com and on Instagram @singletracks

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody, welcome to the single tracks podcast. My name is Jeff, and today my guest is Tom Prohaska.
0:07.2	Tom is a co-founder and director at Gravity Logic, which is a bike park design and development
0:13.4	company based in Whistler, British Columbia. He served as the manager of Whistler Bike Park
0:19.5	from 2001 to 2007 and designed the iconic
0:24.2	Top of the World Trail, which opened in 2011.
0:27.8	Since then, he's worked on bike parks all over the world from the western U.S. to Europe and
0:32.2	South America.
0:33.6	Thanks for joining me, Tom.
0:35.4	Yeah, likewise.
0:36.6	Yeah, I'm happy to be here.
0:39.0	Awesome.
0:39.8	Well, tell us, how did you get involved in mountain bike trail building?
0:43.8	Well, when I became the manager at Westbrook Park in 2001,
0:49.4	that was pretty much my introduction to trail building.
0:53.4	Before that, I was an av know, I was an avid
0:56.0	mountain biker since 1981. And, you know, my, my skill to the bike park was management,
1:05.5	because I managed, I managed a program for the ski school.
1:16.6	So, and my enthusiasm for mountain biking got me the job.
1:26.0	And after that, I, you know, I had great mentors like Rob Coquette, my partner, and Dave Kelly, who's, he's the guru.
1:28.6	He's the guru.
1:29.8	Yeah.
1:30.9	Well, so you started at the bike park in 2001.
	...

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