For the past several weeks, BMX rider and ramp designer Nate Wessel has been building a custom BMX park at the Davidsonville, Maryland home of X Games multi-sport medalist Travis Pastrana. "He's got a lot of bike skills, and he's been riding the new course on both a BMX bike and a mountain bike, killing it," said Wessel.
Wessel, of Wessel Built LLC Ramp Construction, along with a crew that includes BMX ramp builders Ryan Corrigan and Ron Kimler, designed the course according to rough ideas from Pastrana, who said he wanted "a big jump coming down the hill" of his training compound. "He basically told me that if X Games went good for him, he'd want to build a ramp. So he calls me three weeks after X Games, and said they went good, asking me if I was down to build for him. So we started talking about the ramp," said Wessel.
"I started drawing it up. And Travis is so nuts. He got on the phone, said it looks awesome and asked us to come here to construct it. He asked when I was ready, and I asked what his time frame was, and he said that he was pouring concrete the next day to start it. That's how he is. He wanted it done as soon as possible," added Wessel.
The course, which consists of spines, hips, rhythm sections, elbows and more, additionally has a big air ramp integrated into the entire ramp. "I'm basically calling the Big Jump 'The Tribute to Colin Winkelmann' and the big quarterpipe 'The Tribute to Mat Hoffman.' We used our own design and this is taller than any other ramp I've built. It's crazy. People are going to be going really high," says Wessel.
The course was not designed solely for Pastrana, who is hoping to get his cousin and fellow "Nitro Circus" cast member Special Greg into the X Games. "Travis wants Special Greg to get into BMX Big Air at the X Games, and he bet me $100 that he's going to have a medal in two years from the X Games," said Wessel.
According to Wessel, Pastrana is aiming to improve his own skills on a BMX bike as well.
"Travis wants to get better on a bike, and he is gonna get way better," said Wessel. In addition to the outdoor course, Wessel's team tore out and redesigned Pastrana's existing indoor BMX course, which consisted of a wooden rhythm section, and redesigned the interior course to feature a pump track, rollable doubles and berms.
But construction is nowhere near done just yet. "In the spring, we're gonna add something to the big quarterpipe that I can't talk about. It's a new design that no one has ever done yet, but it's gonna be very interesting for Travis and his dirt bike," added Wessel.
http://espn.go.com/action/bmx/blog/_/post/5829003/travis-pastrana-builds-custom-bmx-park
at least its better than nascar. .
