What do I need, to be a Freerider ?
Bikes
Any bike will do, some are stronger than others. Some of the strongest are downhill bikes, so, I've chosen a Super 8, it's what I'd class as the perfect freeride bike (if not a little outdated) for my kind of riding. Well I'd like to think so anyway. But if you disagree and a steel hard tail's more your thing, then you know what a freeride bike is already.
Clothing
To ride a bike you can wear a tweed suit for all I care, but to push your self your going to need some protection, a helmet at least. Downhillers wear the most protection as a rule, so take a look at their clothing.
Courses and Trails
The sort of trails obstacles found by the average rider are the same around the world. The difference being the size and the materials used. One extreme of this is North Shore, trails suspended or built above the ground for the most part, using natural locally available materials. This is to stop trail erosion in ecologically sensitive areas. To show the major trail obstacle groups I've used Downhill as an example.
I've heard many different definitions of the term Freeride when used in the mountain biking context, everyone of them different.
My thoughts on the matter are simple, when you ride for enjoyment, doing your own thing, in your own way with your mates. That's Freeriding. It's not a specific type of riding done on a specialist kind of bike, it's how you ride. Not a riding style mind you but a riding mind set.
If you wanted to get technical then you could narrow it down, to say, cross-country Freeriding on a light weight Freeride bike, downhill Freeriding on a heavy or long travel Freeride bike or North Shore on a hard tail. To complicate things, you could freeride downhill on a cross-country bike, or ride North Shore on a unicycle. There fore, going one step further why not categorise certain types of trails as freeride trails, and have downhill freeride courses for cross-country riders.
But, that goes against what I've just said.
To me, it seems everything has to have a label, to fit into a certain controllable category, usually given by an outsider looking in, in this case trying to understand the how's and why's of the Freerider. This categorization makes it easier for a non mountain biker to understand something their not part of. So, the definitions are always going to be different because it's not a physical thing, it's all in the eye of the beholder.
To ride Freeride, all you need is a Mountain bike and somewhere to ride, the rest is in your head. To sum it up, the following is taken from "Mountain Bike Magazine" it's part of an article written by some guy called Zap. (July 2001, page 50)
"The essence of Freeriding has roots that extend far beyond the shores of British Columbia. As some Freeriders have explained it, Freeriding is more than just riding frightfully narrow log bridges and doing 10-foot wheelie drops. It's about hanging with your friends and doing stuff on a bike that pushes the limits of both yourself and your bike. The ultimate goal isn't about being the fastest or thinking up some dumb trick to entertain the cameras; it's getting out and feeling free with your bike."
Or have I got it totally wrong ?
What's your thoughts? have your say in the forum
Snowboarders coined the phrase Freeriding, when referring to boarding off piste, free from the rules and restraints that go along with it.
Cannondale was quick to snatch it up with their freeride range of bikes, the industry laughed. Rocky Mountain introduced the Fro-Riders to take the piss. The Fro-Riders could ride trails that mere mortal mountain bikers couldn't even see as trails. A new age of riding had been born.
I'm sure riders had been doing that kind of stuff for years, but it doesn't really exist until it's labelled and turned into a viable profit making niche market. Pick up almost any MTB video today and it will most certainly be labelled freeride, it's good to watch, Josh Bender makes sure of that, but is it really riding.
Take a look at the Red Bull Rampage for an interpretation of Freeriding, it's big, fast, fantastic and for TV. I know to some it's just big media hype, getting massive publicity for profit. Or is it just shock sports, an insult to what mountain biking should stand for.
I'm sure there was a time when mountain biking used to be about, getting out into the wide open spaces to be at one with nature, to feel the mother spirit.
I like a crisp winter Yorkshire Dales morning, so I can understand that point of view at a certain level. But tribal mountain biking is dead, it died with all the 60's throw backs, who are now too old to get their leg over the side of a bath tub never mind a top tube.
So what about Red Bull ? Take a look a bit closer, underneath the blatant sensationalism, there's a lot more to it. World class Trials riders going up against top Downhillers, the Freeride specialist taking on the rest of the world.
Incidentally, the professional Freeriders didn't have it all their own way. But that's what I call freeriding. It's how we would all like to be able to Freeride, even if you are an 8st cross-country whippet.
Look out for The Red Bull Ride, The event will be held from 19 January to 24 January 2003 on a new track designed to discover the most accomplished, versatile and skilled rider on the planet. (Red Bull)
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