"Are you crazy? That’s insane!" People say this to me all the time, but I’m not crazy. Recently, I caught myself thinking the same thing about the top slopestyle riders, but I know better, they’re not crazy either. So what’s the deal?
Taking the perspective of another, or ‘walking in their shoes’ (in this case, ‘riding in a pro's shoes’), is not easy. When we see someone do something above and beyond our ability level, the tendency is to imagine
ourselves doing the same stunt rather than imagining seeing the world through
their eyes; it sounds simple, but takes practice.
Check out this clip from
my film CRUX:
People often comment, “That’s impossible,” or “No way!” However, if you
look-as me, then you’d get at least a small, imagined sense of what that chain looks like after well over 10,000 hours of balance practice, and then realize riding that chain is a real possibility and actually quite a logical thing to attempt.
As my teammate Sam Dueck said:
| They would realize that I'm not crazy if they saw that I slowly worked my way up to bigger stunts by taking calculated risks and coming up with carefully thought out progressions. - Sam Dueck |
I am amazed when watching slopestyle at just how skillful the pros are at crashing; it’s unbelievable. Right? Well, no, it is unbelievable only if you imagine
yourself doing the stunt. If you
look-as them, then you’ll see that it is actually quite believable. After all, they’ve crashed a zillion times on progressively bigger jumps, gaining the knowledge necessary to intimately know exactly where their bike and body are at all times, and to instantaneously know what to do if something goes wrong. The cool thing is that when I take their perspective, I experience a much higher level of respect for them as a human being.
Doing this perspective swap takes a little bit of the thrill away though, eh? Bike porn they call it, and just like real porn, the stars become objects for entertainment and pleasure, and people love it. Spectators cheer so they can continue their safe vicarious thrill. They want more and more, and that’s often okay, but doing so without first
looking-as to discover what you’re encouraging the pros to do may be selfish and harming. Harming because pros often hear this as praise and thus succumb to this encouragement (I have been guilty of this), and when they do, they cross the line into crazy land.
Here’s what Gully had to say about navigating his own crazy line:
| No, I am not crazy. I have been riding bikes since I was 12; I love everything about it. What your average Joe sees as crazy, I see as the natural progression of my ability on a bicycle. I have always been hungry to go faster, bigger and nastier and I am just going to keep going. Maybe I'm a little crazy... - Geoff Gulevich |
And Darcy Turenne:
| I'm actually one of the more calculated and cautious people out there. Despite the 'lesser known' and uncomfortable destinations I travel to and the things I do on my bike, I never enter a situation where I'm not 99% sure that I'll be OK coming out of it. I've trained a long time to acquire skills and have a really good understanding of my limits and how I can push them. I think most people labelled as crazy are just misunderstood by the person labelling them. - Darcy Turenne |
In our rapidly evolving sport the pros deserve respect, but because of mainstream influence it’ll become harder for them to distinguish porn-praise from respect-praise. So, as part of the core mountain biking scene, which if you’re reading this you’re likely part of, I see it as our job to inject enough depth into our culture to keep pace with the sport's mainstream recognition. How?
Look-as another, take their perspective, and we will thus have more respectful care when designing slopestyle courses, announcing events, cheering, judging, making trick choices, and deciding who our role models are. So…
Spectators, add some
looking-as perspective to your viewing pleasure. Developing this skill may also help you become more accurate in your own riding decisions, that goes for those who
underestimate their abilities just as much as for those who
overestimate.
Pro riders, be aware of when you’re being used for a cheap thrill. Ask yourself, "Is it worth it?" It’s just as useful for pros to take the perspective of spectators as it is for spectators to take the perspective of pros.
-Ryan
www.ryanleech.comRyan Leech is widely considered to be one of the most progressive and technically skilled mountain bikers in the world. Intimate with the benefits of yoga for a thriving pro career, he got certified to teach and thus began injecting a new generation of cyclists with the body mind intelligence necessary for long term optimal performance. As a
Professional Integral Coach™, trained up to the International Coaching Federation’s master level, he works privately with professionals in the development of new competencies to navigate the most meaningful, but complex facets of life.
It's kind of funny though to see the way that urban dictionary defines it, having just read this write up: "Huck: A term generally used in extreme sports referring to a large jump, often without knowledge or regard for the risk or consequences." Without knowledge or regard? Tell that to Bender!
freeskier.com/stories/head-game-theories-on-why-some-skiers-can-risk-it-all
@xwason, I don't know if you're still in high school, but Ryan will be touring the West Coast in March with his Trials of Life tour (www.trialsoflife.com/home.php). Don't know if he will be going to AZ, but it would be worth contacting him and seeing if he could come do a presentation at your school. I've seen his presentation a few times, and he's coming to my school as part of this tour.
Go Big Go Hard or Just Go Home and Quit Bitching about What You can't Do!
Those wingsuit flyers who scrape cliffs are friggin crazy though.
The worst drug I've ever done is smoke a little pot. I'd honestly do the Oakley sender before I'd do coke or smoke crack. That shit's crazy
But its not limited to just sports. Everyone experiences this no matter what they chose to do in life even just at an every day day job. I think back to when I started working in the real world 10 years ago. I had no idea what I was doing. I'd look at my bosses and see how easily they just understood what was going on with the business around them while I was clueless. Sure enough, 10 years later, I'm in their position and the whole thing is second nature.
So before you make stupid uncalled for comments take a step back and remember that you were once that person too scared to jump the doubles and had to work your way up to the bigger jumps. If you've only ever jumped off a curb then yes, a 2 meter jump is a big achievement and worth being proud of.. Starting out small builds confidence. So when you do attempt a big drop or jump you know you have the skill, competence and confidence to achieve it..
So encourage the beginner rather than shooting them down for something they feel proud within themselves about.
... and who wants to be normal?...
worked my way up from skateboard and bmx in late 1970's and early 1980's, and then mountain bike, more skateboarding, bmx, jetski, rollerblade, scuba diving, more bmx and mountain biking including XC racing, then downhill racing and eventually freeride
did bmx, rollerblade and freeride at professional sponsored level, people always commented "you are crazy", but I always knew when to back off a stunt if it did not feel right, comes with experience. learned this from scuba diving where my dive master taught me to back out of a dive if it did not feel correct, even if sitting on the boat kitted up with diving buddy ready to roll into the water!
on the freeride bikes, threw down some huge stunts, like this one: gp1.pinkbike.org/p4pb342965/p4pb342965.jpg , yes I was scared but its good to be scared, if you are not scared you are either dumb or arrogant and either will get you seriously hurt or killed!
riding for Banshee Bikes and Da Kine, went all over the planet riding, jams / comps and magazine shoots. great times! but still the comments "you are crazy!".
not really, I knew my limits....much of the decision is confidence in your abilities and the skillset to adjust the bike in the air when things are not quite correct, and also the ability to ride out potentially horrible crashes
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI1ylg4GKv8
One rider doesnt speak for everyone. Some of those pros are f*cking crazy adrenaline junkies