Steve Peat shares his vast wealth of experience from well over 100 downhill World Cup races with the trail builders at Trailworks, led by owner Rafael Rhyner. With regular visits and test rides on the "Straigthline" from the Scharmoin middle station down to the Rothornbahnen, the 40-year-old is gathering experience of the new course and providing important suggestions to make the race course perfect.

Does this cooperation mean you'll still be riding races until the World Championships in 2018?
Hopefully I'll still be racing until then and can take part here. I've known Rafael Rhyner for a long time and when he asked me to help him with this project, I was immediately interested. The mountain is perfect for it and it's in a super beautiful location too.

What was your thought when it was announced that the World Championships were coming back to the Alps?
I was delighted. The championships have been held on very different tracks in recent years and many people complained about bike park tracks that were too easy for downhill. Here we can use all the natural features, the terrain, roots and rocks to build a very good and versatile course.

What is the most important thing for you in this cooperation between you and Lenzerheide?
The most important thing for me is to save face with the other Downhill World Cup racers (laughs). Not that they say: "Peaty designed the course and now it's no good!" It's a big deal for Rafael that all the structures work and that the flow of the course is right. In the end, it's important to me that all the riders have fun on it and that our sport comes across well on this track.

How does it feel that you were asked to be the "track godfather" and not Nick Beer?
Peat laughs: I've never spoken to Nick about it before. As I said, Rafael and I have known each other for almost 20 years, so the collaboration was an obvious choice for me. If he had never asked me, it probably wouldn't have happened.

Now that you're back here, are you happy with the progress of the track construction and how the track is coming along?
Yes, I am very satisfied. When I was here for the first time, Rafael, Claudio Caluori and I walked the course. Now, a month later, most of it is already in place, the jumps have been built and I've already been able to do the first test runs. There are still a few small improvements to be made here and there so that everything can be ridden a little more smoothly. But it was fun to be able to test a brand new track.

Shouldn't the track be even rougher?
No, we have a good mix on this track in terms of roughness. At the moment, it still looks too groomed in places, but stones and roots quickly emerge. We also made sure that there are enough forest sections and that the route is kept natural in many places. So I'm sure that this course will be tough enough.

Shortly describe the characteristics of the route.
Characteristics? Hm - hopefully it will be fun (laughs).

Speaking of fun, will there also be a video episode of "This is Peaty"?
Yes, I plan to include some footage I shot with the helmet cam plus a few other things in the next episode.

You'll be racing the ixs Swiss Downhill Cup, which takes place here in a month's time. How come?
The reason is that I can test the track even better here in racing conditions and to make sure that all the built-in elements are placed correctly. But above all, I love to ride races.

Will you also be taking your protégé Josh Bryceland to the Swiss Cup?
I don't know if he'll be there, we haven't even talked about it yet. I'll invite him and see what he says - maybe he'll chase after some girls (laughs).

What advice would you give the riders in the fun categories? Just have fun riding!!!

Would you like to add anything else?
I would like to thank Rafael Rhyner, Claudio Caluori and all the people involved for giving me this opportunity to help build a fantastic track.

Steve Peat testing one of the big jumps.