Words by: Richard Cunynghame

Surely one of the major beauties of mountain biking lies in the nature it takes place within. Surely the beauty in nature lies in its infinity. No two things will appear the same.

So why then, please tell me, do the constructors of many mountain bike tracks desire so strongly to install order into corners? Spending countless time and money constructing berms that turn one corner into a mirror image of the previous one.

The very charm of a corner is that it’s infinitely different to the next. The phrase ‘who knows what is around the corner’ has been coined and well used to explain this.

If you know that what is around this corner is another berm and around that one yet another berm… what joy is left?

I like a little catch if I’m dancing on my limits. No one wants to fall flat on their face when their dancing shoes slip. Yet no one wants to be taken for a ride, every step danced for them, grasped by some controlling partner. Surely there needs to be a little slip and slide, a little give and take. Along with the catch berm, to appreciate, is the berm that gives you that slingshot with which you can go further on the next leap.

I’m not calling for outlawing, just a little moderation. I recently rode a track in Switzerland and absolutely every corner on the entire track was a berm. I didn’t have to do anything other than lean a little bit on cue, sit back and (not) enjoy the ride. In Les Gets, I showed a group of riders an alternative route to avoid a piste full of berms. Everyone agreed the natural line was way more fun than going dizzy in the dirt ditches.

Now I love BMX. Not the Olympic bullshit BMX, the authentic one. Originally, they had proper corners. Now they have tarmac berms. I mean is there a punching yourself in the face emoji for this? Not only did BMX’s influence ruin Four-Cross by smoothing out tracks and making every corner a berm, now its influence is ruining downhill too. BMX tracks are generally flat. Downhill tracks don’t need berms to maintain speed because we have gravity. If you need a berm for speed to clear a bigger jump, fair enough. If you need a berm to stay on the mountain, then you deserve to fall off it.

Jesus gave ten commandments. Gorge Orwell gave seven in Animal Farm. I think we only need one: No track shall have more than 35 percent of its corners bermed.

I’m not sure Jesus or Orwell would have cared much about this but if it saves one downhill track from becoming a bus trip of sitting in berms waiting for it to end then hopefully a soul has been saved.

I first raced Champéry in 2007. It was so challenging that I still remember certain corners. But I rode it recently and so many had been converted to berms. I barely remembered them the next day.

Hammering a berm may make you feel like a hero for a second but mastering a truly challenging corner will reward you for a lifetime.