TRAIL BLAZERS
Thanks to former racer Matt Simmonds, and supportive landowner Ian, Mid Wales’s DH race tracks are taking on a second life
Bermed switchbacks offer more than one way to find your flow ike brands like to talk about evolution. Every model year brings tweaks and changes, increases or decreases in wheel size, suspension, weight and all the metrics that look good on a spec sheet. BNGs (Bold New Graphics) and some on-trend colorways (sic) complete the package. While the marketing departments might tell you their latest and greatest is a product of evolution, in truth there’s a lot of intelligent design. Engineers refine the formula, taking on board feedback from shops, riders and racers to build a better bike, and the cycle starts over again.
As cynical as that all might sound, there’s no denying that this evolutionary process has made for bikes that are far better than what has gone before. Survival of the fittest, and a bit of fashion, works for mountain bikes. But does the same thing apply to the trails we ride our highly evolved bikes on?
The town of Caersws – pronounced kaiuh-soos – in Mid Wales is best known for its downhill race tracks. The unassuming hillside just north of Caersws itself has been a staple of the DH race circuit for decades, and still sees regular action on the racing calendar. Now, as bikes and riders evolve, this hill, or rather the tracks on it, is evolving too, becoming not just a race track but also the UK’s latest bike park.
One of the people behind this evolution is someone who has a long history with Caersws, Matt Simmonds. A hugely successful pro-downhiller, Matt has retired from competing at the sharp end of elite-level racing and now runs ProLine Mountain Bike Coaching, as well as managing the Madison Saracen Development Team. He’s a busy man, but he’s now taken on the task of opening up the tracks at Caersws to riders who are more interested
