Mountain biking is a sport in a state of constant evolution. From the time our spiritual forefathers first blasted their balloon tyred cruisers down the Repack all those years ago countless sub genres of mountain biking riding have sprung into existence and elevated and transformed the two-wheeled experience in a myriad of wild and wonderful ways.
From skinny tyred whippets putting their endurance to the ultimate test in solo 24 hour races to the newest of the new school riders taking it to the streets and tearing up the skateparks there have never been more categories of bikes and ways to ride them for each of us to find our niche.
The latest major division in the MTB family tree came about in the late 1990s when the now bankrupt Cannondale Bicycles tried to trademark a term that quickly became a staple in the vocabulary of all modern mountain bikers. That word was ‘Freeride’.
And while Cannondale’s original freeride bikes were basically downhill bikes with triple chainrings that could be pedaled to the top of climbs as well as bombed down the other side, the term was quickly put to use to describe just about every non-competitive aspect of the mountain bike world.
From the weekend rider on his mid-travel, triple chainringed trail bike to the riders of Canada’s North Shore with their elaborate skybridges, skinnies and crazy drops everyone was all of a sudden considered a freerider. Companies began making and marketing products built to freeride specifications and teams of professional freeriders began springing up around the world. The industry went freeride crazy and began investing more and more money into the newly conceived sport, with big name companies coming on board to sponsor ‘freeride competitions’ (an oxymoron perhaps?).
Today we live in a freeride saturated world, where the big names can earn serious money and just about every bike company out there produces a freeride bike and looks to spend money sponsoring and developing freeriders.
But all this money has to come from somewhere, and particularly in the case of the big-hucking, skinny riding freeriders we all spend our money on to buy videos of in action, that money appears to have come from companies budgets for downhill race teams. While the explosion of freeride is in no way proportional to the gradual decline in downhill sponsorship and team numbers over the past few years, it appears a rot has gradually set in to the world of downhill racing leaving fewer pro teams on smaller budgets chasing the NORBA and World Cup series around the world.
Meanwhile, more and more companies spend their money sponsoring and supporting freeriders and their exploits, the question is, are they spending their money in the right place and are the freeriders they’re spending their money on any better in the saddle than the current crop of downhill racers out there?
Anyone who’s seen Black Phoenix’s Drift knows that Australian downhillers are as at home ripping up dirt jumps or skateparks as they are tearing down the mountain at Mt St Anne or spanking the world with 14 second winning margins at Fort William. These guys are undoubtedly amazing bike handlers, you don’t get to be a pro downhiller without skills on the bike that we mere mortals only dream of.
As if to prove this point, two recent freeride competitions, the RedBull Rampage in Virgin, Utah and the RedBull ride in Jindabyne, Australia both showed the ability of downhillers to one-up the freeriders at their own game. At the Rampage, downhillers Steve Peat and Cedric Gracia both qualified for the final, with Gracia eventually taking second place ahead of a field of big-name freeriders. At the RedBull Ride the downhillers did even better again, with 9 of the top 10 riders being downhillers (8 of them Aussies of course) the professional freeriders were well and truly given a lesson on how to handle one of the most extreme freeride courses the world has seen so far.
So recent results would suggest that the most talented bike handlers in the world are to be found in the world of professional downhilling, not the world of professional freeriding, why then are companies so willing to throw their sponsorship dollars the way of the freeriding?
The answer, in my opinion, is that of image. Freeriding is the first avenue that has ever given mountain biking the chance to compete with the other “Free” or “Extreme” sports out there. Freeriders go big, very big and their exploits are perfect for the “whoa” factor that video viewers and maybe one day, television audiences want from their extreme sports. It puts us on the same track as freestyle motor cross, and BMX dirt jumping, ready to be packaged into half-hour ESPN highlight reels and fed to the massive X-games loving audiences of the worlds biggest television market. Should the day ever come that mountain biking ever gets regular television exposure and the associated dollars that go with it, it’s most likely going to be the freeriders who get that exposure, not the downhillers.
So while the freeriders might not be the most talented riders our sport has to offer, they’re the ones getting the big money and exposure these days and to my mind that’s not a bad thing at all. As far as I’m concerned any exposure our sport gets is good for all of us and if freeriders are the ones who are getting that exposure then kudos and more luck to them. More exposure means more money for the industry and more money means better parts to ride, better facilities to ride at and more people to ride with.
Personally I’m happy justriding, it’s what I’ve always done and what I’ll always be doing and to be honest I think it’s the category most riders fit into. Cross-country or downhill, dirt jumps or skateparks I’m just happy to be on my bike and taking part in a sport that gives me a big stupid grin every time I wheel the bike out of my garage and so should you, to hell with labels, categories and belonging to a particular group, get out there today and justride.
Until next time, consider my two cents deposited.
Ryan Gardiner
