Racer X: You’ve been a busy man lately. Let’s start with a rundown of some of the things you’ve got going on right now.
Tyler Bereman: I just got back on the bike from my injury and jumped right back in full force. I got through X Games and walked away with a silver [QuarterPipe High Air] and gold [Best Whip] and went straight to Sturgis to race a half-mile flat track race, which I won. I had another flat track race that week too. Now I’m in Salt Lake City for the Nitro Games, then after that it’s off to X Games Norway. It’s quite the hectic schedule.
It’s pretty incredible that you’re doing so well after being injured so recently.
The injury itself was pretty extensive. I did both big toes, the third metatarsal on my right foot, disintegrated my navicular, broke my talus and heel, and tore my ACL, all on the right side. Crawling back out of the hole after that injury was quite the process. I was in a cast for four months and couldn’t really do much. I hopped right into therapy as soon as I could, and basically from month four till ten I was doing nonstop physical therapy every week at Red Bull High Performance. I got on the bike not quite two months before X Games and slowly started riding a little bit. I was still really sore, though, in my foot and could only ride one day a week. I just kept getting back into the swing of things, and finally about a month before X Games I turned the corner and was able to ride more.
So when you came into X Games, was winning on your mind or were you just going to see what happened?
I came into X Games in the best shape I’ve ever been in. I was still battling my foot, but I was still mentally in the best place I’d ever been in, just knowing that I’d done all that work. I worked with a mental coach and started believing in myself again, and I knew the hard work had been done. I was going to X Games and I was going to do my best. I was just going to stay in my lane and emulate another practice day. I knew where I wanted to be, but at the end of the day, I was just thankful to be there. I think it showed in my riding. I put a lot of eggs into my quarter-pipe basket in preparation. I was way more focused on that than Best Whip. I’ve been doing that for a long time and feel comfortable with it. The quarter-pipe, not so much. The only two times I’d hit a quarter-pipe before X Games this year was just showing up and competing. I hadn’t had any time to practice on them. So this year I bought a ramp and had two weeks on it before going to X Games. That was two more weeks than I’d had in years prior, so it was all good things. Getting second that first day after all the hard work, I was over the moon to be back to medal.
The quarter-pipe is crazy. We’ve become numb in this day and age to how gnarly and massive this stuff can be, but the quarter-pipe is insane.
It’s one of those things that’s messed up. It’s really scary. Photos and video don’t do it justice. When you’re sitting there at the bottom of it and we’re sessioning these quarter-pipes, it’s seriously next level. Your heart, just standing there watching, is jumping through your chest. It’s one of those things that really draws attention, no matter who you are. There’s not a time when you hit that thing and you’re not thinking about it. The X Games quarter-pipe is 18’ tall, and the Nitro ramp is 34’ tall. Everyone will say they want to hit it, but there aren’t a lot of guys who will show up and actually hit that thing with serious intention. It’s unbelievable.
What’s it like when you get to the peak and enter that dead zone right before falling back down?
It’s like a roller coaster. You go straight up, get to that point, and you just straight freefall back down. It’s one of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. I’ve done quite a few things and different forms of racing and freeriding, and I’ve never felt a feeling that compares to that. It’s a feeling you can’t describe. I know guys are doing crazy flip tricks and all that, but it’s not that weightless, balls-in-your-stomach feeling.
At what point do you know if a launch has gone wrong?
You pretty much know right away. Everything happens in the second half of the ramp. Testing for X Games and stuff, I ran a LitPro and was able to see some things. I was pulling anywhere from 8.6 to 10.2 Gs. It’s pretty gnarly. We’re hitting a wall at 30 miles an hour. You have to be fully committed or don’t do it at all. The second half of the ramp, however you lean, you have to have bike control to pick up on an error. If you don’t pull hard enough or don’t turn your head enough to get to your point, you can kind of fall in with your rear wheel and get stuck. You need that drive off the ramp to keep the back wheel rotating around and come back down with your wheels in line.
Your recent “Fundamentals” Red Bull video had a cool narrative. Talk about that a little bit.
At the beginning of last year I had a meeting with the Red Bull guys about doing this project. I brought my insight to it and we collaborated on how we wanted to do it. We started the project down in Florida at Kenny Roczen’s spot, Moto Sandbox. We got some good footage, but before we finished it I went to Australia and got hurt. There was a time when I didn’t think we’d be able to finish the project, just knowing my timeline of getting back on the bike and doing these contests, but I was riding at a friend’s place in El Cajon and ended up asking if we could film some content out there. It couldn’t have worked out better. I ended up buying the quarter-pipe and getting it all set up out there. I bought a 75’ ramp, too, which ended up being the bread and butter for the video in breaking down some different kinds of whips.
That whole four days was really clutch. It allowed me to finish what I’d set out to do, and it allowed me to practice for X Games the whole time. I was able to watch the footage back, break things down, slow it down, and pick up on things I was able to do better. All in all, it turned out to be really cool, and the direction they went with the voiceovers, I think it was really different, and it was filmed really well. I’m pretty stoked on it, and I can’t wait to get to work on my next project we have planned. Hopefully you’ll be seeing that right about Straight Rhythm time.
What’d we miss?
I’ve been doing a lot of flat track racing. My dad ended up rebuilding a bike of his from high school, and we started doing a few races together, and next thing you know we’re here racing hooligan stuff against each other. I have to pinch myself sometimes. Pops used to take me racing, and now he’s flying into the races and we’re racing together. It’s all-time to be able to do that. Whatever I can get hands into, I love it all. I’m stoked to be able to do what I love and to be in this position. 