This year's "Swatch Rocket Air" is all about the forest. The use of the forest by bikers is increasingly leading to conflicts with other forest users and wildlife. The forest theme has therefore been deliberately chosen to raise questions and facilitate a dialog. At the Trailnet stand on site, information will be provided about the code of conduct on trails and current problems will be discussed. The forest theme will also be integrated into the slopestyle course: a tree trunk will serve as the final jump.

A year ago, the Flying Metal crew led by course builder Ramon Hunziker showed that a lot is still possible in terms of jumping technique. With the big air jump, in which the riders are catapulted just below the ceiling of the ice rink, the maximum has been reached. Bigger is hardly possible, but better. Course builder Ramon Hunziker, himself a participant in the event, listens carefully to the feedback from other riders every year. "They all agreed: it's a creative and fun course with top obstacles, but the speed was often lacking. In 2013, we had the problem that the earth was delivered to us wet," explains Hunziker. The course is now being revised. With dry soil, the course will also be fast again. A so-called "whale tail" will now be built. This is a whale tail on which the riders jump up and down from a height of three meters.

It has now been five years since a few bike enthusiasts from Thun launched the "Rocket Air". According to Jérôme Hunziker, initiator of the event, many things were different back then. "The event was much smaller and much more regional. A lot was uncertain. We didn't even know whether people would be interested in such an event." Today we know that the hall will be full to bursting at the "Swatch Rocket Air" 2014. The event has grown from a regional bike event to a bike happening with international appeal. This includes flying cameras, photographers, a production truck and direct transmission to the internet and television. Even though everything was a little smaller five years ago, one thing was already right back then: the atmosphere.

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