he last few weeks has seen me (and others) going through some old MTB magazines I have here, and generally laughing a lot at what was the norm 5 years ago. DH bikes with 4-5″ of travel, and XC bikes getting a whole 3″ out the front (rear wheel travel on an XC bike? fogeddaboudit!).

And I’m re-reading the whole “Freeride” thing. And I’m reading it with a new slant on things, since I just bought a new bike that fits into one of the “Freeride” categories.

I’m not a fan of what “Freeride” has become, or where it came from actually. And for the 14 year old Blender wanna-be’s, here’s a brief history lesson.

Freeride, as a term, came out of snowboarding. And it was pretty true to its name. It was all about being “free” and using a snowboard to generally have fun. Then mountainbiking picked up the term. The original meaning (at least for 5 minutes on a Thursday afternoon back in late 1997) was that freeriding was doing what we all do anyway, riding free. It was about taking a bike with 3-5 inches of travel, riding it up hills, then back down them, usually at speed and with as many jumps as possible.

Then marketing got hold of it. First it was an abundance of ads proclaiming that companies bike as being the better freeride bike, then came Cannondale, with a rather sneaky trade marking of the term. Rocky Mountain responded with the term Froriding, and 3 weeks later, we all became so bloody sick of the term that most of us refused to say it without a snigger.

Then it all changed.

Rocky Mountain, and a few other companies, started making downhill bikes without a huge ring on the front. And people started using them to do huge jumps and drop-offs. And it quickly became the silly phenomenon we now call Freeriding.

Now we have Joke Blender throwing himself off cliffs, along with his bike, and sometimes landing with it. And once or twice with the bike the right way up! And we have any number of cronies doing the same. It wouldn’t be so bad if Blender landed the jumps most of the time, or even some of the time, but you can only see someone crash the same thing so many times before it becomes a tad boring.

Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching most of it on video (after all, that’s what it’s there for) but I do have some problems with it.
1) It give the rest of us a bad name with the public. The only mountainbiking on TV these days is Freeride on someone’s ads. So Joe and Susie Public think we are all like that.
2) The average 14 year old thinks that Freeride is cool, and emulates it. Including the skidding down tracks, skidding down things that aren?t tracks, and skidding. Not exactly the best way to keep tracks the way they are.

Now I will admit that “Freeride” was a great marketing move for the bike industry, as it sold downhill bikes to people who don’t race, and its continued to sell replacement parts to riders who manage to destroy every part they own. But do we really need some snotty nosed 14 year old running off about how great a rider Blender is, how fantastic his new 10″ travel bike is at running over anything in his way, and how anyone who doesn?t agree is a dick.

I think not!

Maybe I’m getting old, but I’m (still) so over the whole “Freeride” thing. Anyone who thinks I’m wrong can email me at free...@nothingdesign.com.au

Now where is my body armour?

And now for a counterpoint:

What the hell’s going on?

Pauly’s ranting about snotty nosed 14year old freeriders… Martin’s ranting about would be downhillers who think pedals are for decoration… At times the chat group sounds like a weight watchers meeting… How did the sport become so divided?

Why is it people need to shove themselves in a pigeon hole and then justify their position by slagging off everyone else. It’s the type of “my pencil case is better then your pencil case” thing I got sick of back in kindergarten. It’s something I’d expect from a bunch of
roadies (That’s a joke for the folks with the bald legs :o) ), I thought Mountain biking would be about some thing more.

It seems to me that it’s more prevalent amongst the younger riders (those snotty nosed 14yr olds and young blokes Paul and Martin were talking about) but it stretches further then that. And it’s damn disappointing.

Downhillers only do shuttle runs… Freeriders are a bunch of trail wrecking, macho wankers… If your tire doesn’t puncture every time you hit a pebble then it’s to heavy and you can’t come riding with the lycra clad crosscountry brigade.

Have these no-blurring-the-lines-between-riding-styles types never heard of N+1. Refusing to ride a trail because it doesn’t fit into your chosen discipline seems like a good way to miss out on a great ride.

Hey, I consider myself a freerider in the true sense of the word. I ride to have fun, not to race and not as some midlife fitness kick. Sure I prefer pointing the front wheel downhill and going fast but I don’t mind the ride up either. I like to test myself out by dropping in from silly heights (mind you 6ft my limit so far, that’s silly enough at my age) but I also
enjoy the challenge of a technical crosscountry track. I’ve had plenty good rides out along the fire roads and I’m not happy there isn’t a jump track in my area (I’m thinking about putting one in somewhere).

Look you’d have to be moron not to see how the improved fitness you get from longer rides can help in downhilling. If your not doing a dozen shuttle runs why not ride up? Even if you are doing shuttle runs, riding the same track over and over will only lead to going stale. You might be the fastest guy on that particular track but try and ride another
and you’ll be hopeless because you’ve only gained a limited skill base.

The same is true for the technical descending skills that crosscountry riders gain from downhill runs. A mate of mine races crosscountry, last time he hit the steepness with us he left us all for dead. Never mind the fact we had 6″s of bounce and he was on a anorexic hardtail. Why? because in between the hard stuff he was pedalling like a demon.

The more skill you have and the fitter you are the better your performance will be, with out question. But that’s all besides the point.

Mountain biking is about having fun! If some sort of image crisis is causing you to limit yourself to one certain style of riding because you think crossing the line will make you uncool you really are limiting the amount of fun you could have.

It’s the old Tim Tam syndrome. They’re a pretty tasty bickie but if they were all you had to eat you’d get sick of them rather quickly. Hell, you might even consider giving up bickies altogether. Thrown in a dry Sayo every now and again and it will remind you how much you like the chocolatety goodness.

Cross disciplines. Ride as many different types of terrain possible, downhill, crosscountry, fire trails, dirt jumps and road. You’ll become a better rider and because you’ll be having so much fun you’ll be less likely to post a for sale sign on your bike and take up some
other hobby.

Flynny

Tags: freeride