Video: Dan Atherton - Escape. Create. Teaser

 He's always had a stealth black helmet. Would be cool if RedBull did pick him up.. ( Seems like he's well supported by them anyways, probably through Gee & Rach ) But if they did decide to give him a helmet, It would be cool to see a stealth black redbull lid.

 gloss black redbull on a matte black helmet. mmmmmm.

 Would have to keep that helmet well polished :-P

 Not sure if I'm right on this but I think Dan has purposefully gone for the low key, stealth, out of the limelight approach compared to Gee and Rach. I reckon he could be wearing a Red Bull helmet if he wanted but would rather not be a walking billboard for them.

 correct me if i'm wrong, but i think red bull has the policy that they only support 1 athlete per discipline and gender for each country. So for the UK that's Gee and Rachel Atherton.

 Im not sure, Martin Soderstrom and Anton Thelander both Sweedish riders on the FMB, Semenuk, Messere and Berrecloth are all Canadian on the FMB,

 I used to think that too until I looked at their MX roster

 If I heard correctly I think it was Gee who said Dan had moved away to the middle of nowhere, he was never not in the Atherton series with Redbull, but I dont really blame him if he wasnt with Redbull, probably gave him a lot more freedom over the building of the project, that being said, I'm certain Redbull sponsors Hardline? :L

 Looking at the great big redbull finish line, I'd say you're right.

 And invite more that 10 riders.

 Agreed, this was amazing too see this race. But don't let it explode too much or it could loose it's appeal.

 You guys giving negative props understand that shuwukong is saying Gee and Rachel wouldn't be where they are at with out Dan's creativity, competitiveness, and support?

 yes, i understood that.

 @solidautomech thanks for clarifying

 There are many like Dan in the DH scene; unfortunately, corporate money talks louder than riders and builders voices ever will and the sport has been dumbed down by a bunch of suits in a glass office somewhere who discuss 'quarterly projections' and 'consumer viability' that think people want to watch something they can ride. These suits should be chatting with the people inside of the industry, not folks who know nothing of the sport and would love to see it go the way of the Petermaritzburg, RSA track. They could learn a lot from Dan and the other builders who give this sport its spirit, but their own egos are far more important than integrity and spirit.

 well honestly i cant see many like Dan and his family of 3 siblings that are so dedicated to the sport and i don't see anything wrong to get good sponsors with a good results and ideas, enough said and shown so far

 @WAKIdesigns, I completely agree; in order to save DH, it must be kept as it was originally meant to be: burly, technical, terrifying and fast. I've always been a proponent of creating tracks that require a DH bike and keeping the spirit of DH that way -- anything less just cheapens the sport.

Having my very first DH experience at Deer Valley on Upper Thieves/Fireswamp led by a few ex-racers also didn't hurt, either. It cemented in my mind the proper form of downhill, and that's what people fall in love with.

 Don't forget the dh course on the lower half of deer. That thing makes thieves Forest look easy.

 @ambatt - I am not sure though if World Cup must look like that. I'd be more than fine with seeing small invitational races from time to time. I really think people try too hard to get the mainstream openly appreciate what they are doing. I'm not anti conformist douche, I don't try to be different which involves following what's currently cool down to the bone to be able to make a quality counterstatement. Ilike variety: codes and unification are enemy of it. I think Hardline ir Fest series were examples of pure creativity and as much as framing it in a format could bring a great message to more people, I think those eager to listen will always keep their ears open for such things so target audience will be reached. I love to ride what I like, the way I like it, my best solo rides were done in a spirit as if no one was ever meant to see me and know what I do. Strava, FB, sick edits don't really make it easy to keep it this way. So in the end where everything is framed, named and formalized (like aggroXC/trail riding will soon surely be) you still have that thing within you that inspired your passion... What a load of bullshit hahaha

 Hardline is to DH what the Fest series is to FMB series. Built by riders for the select few riders who are willing to take up the challenge. Pushing the boundaries for themselves on their own terms.

 @Marlfox87, NCS is one of my favorite trails of all time out here -- in fact, I filmed on it a bit a few years ago. Still on my top-five US race courses, too. What an amazing trail.

@WAKIdesigns, you're right: us non-conformist douches just ruin everything, don't we?! I'm teasing. In all seriousness, keeping it interesting is the best way to determine a rider's overall capabilities and trying to compartmentalize everything DOES kill that special passion inside of us, but it's the nature of an 'organized sport'; any organization is always going to try to create a 'system' by which to classify everything, and it will automatically kill creativity.

 Sure racing something like Hardline is spectacular with its Rampage-like features. Now I don't mean to be controversial for the sake of it, and yes I've been all in all very impressed by this "small" race (10 riders or so) but apart from the already mentioned massive man made features the track did not impress me so much. Sure for 4 jumps (if I correctly remember) Ropellato may not make it with a trail bike but for the rest? Yes a bit in the forest looks super steep ok. Here everybody complains about the bike park type tracks like Leogang or the flatness of PMB we sometimes see on WC. But on the Hardline also there were number of section that did not LOOK (might be wrong from footage) technical, even sporting a few berms. Sure they needed the berms to keep speed for the massive jumps that had to be cleared. For the rest? Line choice? None: follow the Hardline, hit the jumps at the very same speed as all the others because max speed was needed to clear the gaps, except the road gap which needed controlled speed (so here also same speed for everyone). So basically the racing occurred on the rest of the track, which will be highly depended of the dude's fitness.
Don't misunderstand me though, I like the concept of the extreme track but I hope the next iteration will manage to remain that spectacular but will be more interesting in terms of line choice and pure technicality. Looking forward to next year.

 Hardline and fest are awesome and I love what they're doing for the sport, but if you look at it from the riders point of view, if they occured in the same frequency as WC races do or if the WC tracks had massive features like those mentioned above it would could have severe consequences for the riders. The severity of a mistake would be too large. Imagine if every WC track was like the fest series with rock gardens and etc. dping a race every month or two would be too short and more and more injuries would occur, killing the sport and all of it's competitors. I think the best progression would be to keep the freeriding events invite only, occasional and not in racing form, and then follow the natural progression of downhill racing.

 I wish there were more trails like NCS, Fire Swamp, Thieves Forest near the Salt Lake/PC area. But sadly I think old school downhill trails are quickly dying and are being replaced by easy XC trails, or flow trails.

 By "the rest of us" I'm assuming the movie. Not sure how many riders could handle that trail.