SAN FRANCISCO -- The park course on Pier 30/32 in San Francisco is an immense structure. To the athletes competing at the 2000 X Games, it will be a challenge.

"This park separates the men from the boys," says designer John "JT" Tyson, of VPI Industries and designer of the park course.

There is no other way to put it, he knows his course. He has knowledge of park course design and his expertise is sought by others. He receives about 50 emails a week asking for information on building courses and about 20 emails asking him to personally design courses. Though Tyson is the mastermind behind many courses, he does have help.

"I use an athlete advisory board (of bikers, in-liners, skateboarders), and they give us ideas and what they want to see in the course. We try to put all the key elements into the course and my job is to make them all flow into the course. We still go back and forth, it's about a four-month process to get it done and finalized," says Tyson.

The end result is a course that is pleasing to the competitors, but it also forces them to turn up their game.

"It takes us about a month to do a course this size, half of this course is from the B3 and the other half is from scratch. It's assembled on site, this course took us about nine days. It will take about three days to take down," says Tyson.

At first glance, champion rider Dave Mirra says, "this course looks crazy!" and it's easy have to agree with him. The park looks menacing, but Tyson designed it that way for a reason.

"The biggest thing about our course is this year is that it is bigger with a lot of different lines," says Tyson. "This course really makes the athletes be creative. For a competition course, this is probably about the biggest course you will ever see.

"To get an athlete to hit every obstacle and get through this course in a minute and a half is going to be really difficult, and it will separate the men from the boys and will make for some diverse riding in this event. There are many lines to choose from," says Tyson.

This will also make the event more entertaining to fans. Says Mirra, "My first impression of this course is that it looks pretty sick so far, I am super excited to get on it. I am just trying to see what ideas I can get in my head so when it comes time I will be all ready to go, so right now, I am just looking at it, but it looks awesome."

In the end, Tyson must take into consideration the thoughts and ideas of all the competitors, and then pull those elements together in building a better course.

"Skateboarders, bikers, in-liners all want something different," says Tyson. "My job is to be a mediator, and make it flow. I am not just re-inventing the wheel, I am making it better."

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