“It was a challenge”, Pro says, “but, Daniel, the excavator operator, did a great job from there on.” Daniel Soraker, a local machine operator, who had never in his career built anything reminiscent of a bike trail proved to have a natural talent for the job. Underneath the annoying first layer of rocks he found a golden brown seam, a near perfect mix of sand, pebbles and clay – the kind of stuff trail builders dream wet dreams about, it creates a rock solid foundation that still drains water well.
Together with a minor army of local volunteers, the Gravity Logic people managed to build four trails on the hill, from easy green to double black diamond difficult. All carefully and lovingly crafted with the grateful help from excavators and countless hours of digging by hand.
And within less than 24 months from the initial idea being born, Jarvso Bike Park was ready to welcome its first riders. Opening day was June 2nd 2010 and it blew everyone’s collective minds. Sweden’s gravity fed community showed up by the hundreds, ready to shred the new trails to pieces. No one had expected what they first experienced. The flow, the dirt, the quality of the trails…or the free beer at après that very same afternoon for that matter – the restaurant lacked the proper alcohol permits so they did the only legal thing possible, handed out beer cans for free.
Jarvso went for the hard route when they set out to build their park. Instead of letting a group of experienced riders create trails on their own, trails that tend to end up way too advanced and hardcore for most riders, they set out to create a bike park that not only caters to the upper echelon of bike riders, but also to those that are trying downhill and freeride mountain biking for the very first time.
“About 80% of the people in a bike park are intermediate riders or even beginners”, Pro claims. “You can’t build a park for just a core group of riders”, Loov fills in, “It’s not a feasible business model. It’s kind of like skiing, the whole family should be able to enjoy a day’s riding in the park.”
Today, three season’s into operations and moving into its fourth full swing, the Jarvso Bike Park has grown far beyond the founder’s wildest expectations. Last year the park saw close to 10,000 biker days, and an increase in rental bikes to a total of 50. Numbers of course dwarfed by those of Whistler and Morzine, but still extremely respectable for a relatively small park in the Swedish countryside, more than three hours from the closest major city in a country that lacks a solid and widespread biking tradition. And the numbers keep growing, with no apparent end in sight as the word spreads throughout central Sweden. Because if you’ve been to Jarvso once, you’re most likely to return again. It’s that good. This time you’ll to bring your friends…and then they’ll bring a few other friends the next time around.
Even though Stockholm, and the mass of Sweden’s population, might be a three or four hour drive away, it’s still close enough for a weekend of shredding. And it shows. Experienced riders flock to Scandinavia’s latest addition to the bike park world. Beginners, vacationers and weekend warriors come in bigger and bigger numbers. Even most of the motorized locals have swapped their motocross bikes for pedally ones.
The number of trails have now grown to eleven, with everything from the super easy beginner trail Monica, to the gap and drop infested mayhem of Lite For Liten. All built in close cooperation with Gravity Logic.
