FMX
Nate Wessel has created some of the most pioneering ramps in action sports. Read the interview.
A couple of two-by-fours cobbled together made for a simple boardslide rail. That basic skate obstacle was the first thing Nate Wessel built back in 1984. It filled a need for something to shred, and in the process triggered a desire to build better and build more.
He didn’t know it at the time, but building ramps would turn into his burning passion that would change the BMX, skateboarding, freestyle motocross and the stunt world forever.
Skating in the ’80s turned into BMX in the ’90s, and the American was a natural badass on a bike. In 1995, he found himself working at Woodward Camp, a summer camp in Pennsylvania, where he learned better building techniques from fellow rider Jay Miron and skaters/builders Mark Podgurski and Tim Payne.
Sponsors, coveted spots on Props video trips and world travel became the norm, as did building more and more ramps and full parks, like the game-changing Chenga World in Ohio. There, Wessel’s creativity produced the world’s first wooden rhythm section to mimic a set of trails. Beefed-up ramps and a bowl at another indoor Ohio park Section 8 followed. Soon after, a BMX magazine’s top-10 list of the nation’s best parks included both, with Chenga at the top.
Riding and building full throttle, Wessel met riders all over the world, including those who told him they were going to use their vacation time to travel to and ride a park he'd built.
Wessel couldn’t believe it. Seeing his parks listed as the best and knowing that riders travelled from the opposite side of the globe to ride them was an eye-opener that told him he could build for a living.
He knew sponsors wouldn’t last forever, so he continued to build. With ramp income, he didn’t have to stress on riding he got to enjoy it. And his level of riding and gnarly, go-for-it style fuelled his fire when it came to his designs.
Riding on top of your game with all your friends, you get to know how they ride, you can visualise it and understand it. That’s what’s helped me the most with my designs and building.
Those designs would turn into X Games courses, new Woodward Camps, Hot Wheels stunts, parkour gyms, groundbreaking Red Bull contests, rider projects, movie work, Nitro Circus events and Bikes Over Baghdad military shows.
"I have a lot of favourite builds," he says. "But my favourite thing that I do is work with Travis Pastrana. He thinks along the level of how I think. And he dreams so outside the box on things that have never been done. He’s not scared to push that limit. I get to work with somebody who has just as open a mind but is also just as insane as I am, knowing that a lot of these things are going to work.”
MX triple backflips, BMX quadruple flips – the risks are deadly with those tricks. There’s no room for error when it comes to building those set-ups and, time and time again, Wessel’s insight, knowledge and skills have helped make those firsts reality. And there will undoubtedly be more firsts. "I want to keep creating and learning, take a lot of things to the next level," he says. "Use my brain and really try to push into a different realm."
When asked what one word he would use to describe a Wessel build, he thinks back to that driveway slide rail. "Evolution," he says. "It’s what keeps me excited about my job and passionate about what I do. Always trying to be cutting edge – that’s evolution for me."
