Drew is not from this planet.
Berms and Jumps and Flow
- Thread starter don
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jackx
Well-Known Member
qclabrat
Well-Known Member
wow, that red wall ride is unreal, just the nerves alone
I was thinking of posting this somewhere and maybe this is the right place
I'm not much of air rider on either dirt, snow or pavement
How do you start practicing this? Being a contact rider my whole life, having the gravity between me and the ground is really an awkward feeling.
I was thinking of posting this somewhere and maybe this is the right place
I'm not much of air rider on either dirt, snow or pavement
How do you start practicing this? Being a contact rider my whole life, having the gravity between me and the ground is really an awkward feeling.
Ian F
Well-Known Member
He's a 20" rider. Most of these guys start out doing street and vert-ramp stuff when they're really young. The first section is really just a massive vert ramp/half-pipe. The wall-ride at the end is similar to any number of street tricks - with a huge difference in consequence-of-failure. This is not something you really start taking up in your 30's or 40's... or even in your 20's...
For better or worse, it's not uncommon to see street riders doing insane tricks without even a helmet on - even today. It's sort of a throwback to the old days of BMX trick riding... Other than when I was racing BMX (and a helmet was required), I never wore a helmet doing jumps and stunts. Not saying that was the right thing to do - it just never occurred to us. Some magazines won't show pictures of riders without helmets, but some still do. RideBMX and a lot of UK rags, for example.
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
I couldn't contain myself as he back flip dropped in. His style is uncanny! UH Thank You....
Johnny Utah
Well-Known Member
Unreal from Whistler.......this is top notch riding. I have seen some of these lines in person, and the things they are doing huge and beyond high risk....Unreal where this end of the sport has headed to since I got into it in 98
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/whistler-demolished-kovarik-crew-video-2015.html
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/whistler-demolished-kovarik-crew-video-2015.html
Ian F
Well-Known Member
Saw that the other day... Yes... when I watch videos like that, part of me is inspired to go ride... another part wants to just quit and take up needle-point or something since I know I will never be even close to that good...
In a way, it's gotten to the point where the difference between amateurs and professionals is as extreme as in other sports. Like one of us trying to hit a 95 MPH fast ball... or even comprehending the speeds pro football players can move or how hard they hit.
I am not sure this is the case, it is just progression. If you had perfectly groomed trails like that is your backyard, you would have been doing similar in your prime. And these guys have skills and BALLS, like huge ones.
Ian F
Well-Known Member
Perhaps. There is progression to the next level and then there's progression to the stratosphere. It still takes raw talent and ability to be able to do what these guys are doing. Believe it or not, "balls" doesn't have much to do with it.
I will agree I have definitely seen the level of riding progress since I quit back in 2003. I've seen it in the guys I used to race with. Guys I used to be able to ride with who now leave me in the dust because they didn't stop in 2003. It's been a brutal (and recently painful) learning curve trying to claw my way back.
I agree, I have always progressed with skill rather than balls, but going 40 mph and hitting a 30-40 foot gap just I inherently falls in the balls territory
Mountain Bike Mike
Well-Known Member
But if over time, they worked up to that speed and distance, then I would say skill over balls. Dude may just be comfrtable and experienced with that
The other part of the equation is that these young guys know it is possible to do some of these lines, and knowing is half the battle. Some of the lines these guys are doing have been there for years and they probably ride them everyday. I am not downplaying it but people always rip their home trails or park the hardest.
As you know, trails and parks always have one or two guys that are the Guinea pigs, who will jump anything and once they do it, everyone else hits it no problem. You see this at things like red bull rampage, once one guy hits the 70' gap, next thing you know, bitches be flipping it.
YouTube and other media outlets are speeding up progression immensely, especially with video parts dropping literally on the daily. Oh shit, so and so did what?, 6 months later is is the new norm.
Not my favorite Mullen talk, but since it has sk8rs and computer guys....
https://www.ted.com/talks/rodney_mullen_pop_an_ollie_and_innovate?language=en
He talks about 'once you see it' - once you know it can be done....to Kev's point.
https://www.ted.com/talks/rodney_mullen_pop_an_ollie_and_innovate?language=en
He talks about 'once you see it' - once you know it can be done....to Kev's point.
Ian F
Well-Known Member
I don't know... I think YouTube and videos have made a difference. Years ago it was just riding with different people. When I first started racing DH, I looked at some of the courses and thought, "This is nuts. That isn't a trail." ...and then I rode it. And crashed. A lot. But kept riding it until I didn't crash. And after awhile I wasn't scared riding it. And I started looking at things differently. Back around 2002, I went down to Fredrick to ride with some friends on some DH trails they built. Mostly locals and guys who didn't really race much. At least not in Expert class. A couple of them weren't prepared for some guy they didn't know come down and ride their trails in ways they hadn't envisioned. It wasn't that I was a more talented rider. I simply had more experience and had seen more types of trails.
At Windham on the World Cup course, they built a jump about 10' high with a 40' gap. Cat 1's were over-shooting the landing during the "pre-race" two weeks prior. Most of the pros over-shot it or scrub-jumped it. Hell - just scrub-jumping was something taken from MX that I had never even seen 10+ years ago. Now DH racers are doing - because so many use MX for cross-training. It has nothing to do with balls - they are simply used to the speed. It's the main reason I recently bought a dirt bike. While I have no desire at 45 years old to go out and try to do MX jumps, I do want to get out on trails with it and hope to get more used to the speeds needed to do well racing DH today.
Yeah, he is like a mad genius. Big fan, I had a G&S hat signed by him from a demo circa 1988? Damn, wtf happened to that.
Rodney Mullen Free lunch this linked should go to 2:42 of this video where he explains how he did self therapy on his knee, pretty gnarly stuffed that would either completely end his skating career or completely change it. The following section talks about his thoughts on stance and undoing your natural stance, basically reprogramming your brain to have non-stance. There are alot of guys that skate both ways just as well these days but this is different. The following story is funny as hell too.
BTW, the free lunch series is great, lots of old heads telling their best stories, Lance Mountain, Cab and others. Must see if you were aware of those guys in their prime time.
Shitzzzz,
Rodney Mullen Beautiful Mind this one starts out talking about what I said the other day about falling and getting up.
Man, this talk hits home for me in so many ways. The only way you teach falling and getting back up is doing it. I actually get chills watching this, it is so damn spot on to what i have taken from skating, even though I am largely more than a decade displaced fro the last time I skated on the regular.
Rodney Mullen Beautiful Mind this one starts out talking about what I said the other day about falling and getting up.
Man, this talk hits home for me in so many ways. The only way you teach falling and getting back up is doing it. I actually get chills watching this, it is so damn spot on to what i have taken from skating, even though I am largely more than a decade displaced fro the last time I skated on the regular.
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