notenoughfreetimer

Don't forget the "Trail" riding category too. Is that gnarly XC or soft AM? Then there's aggressive trail riding etc etc... ;)

@smoggytom: Always good to hear another mountain biker that considers such things. For that I salute you.

Should be over in the Okanagan sometime next year - can't wait. Will be checking out some of the trails and Silverstar if the wife allows! Will also be doing a bit of a recce as the wife is Canadian so a move from the UK may be on the cards in the near future anyway. From what I've seen the MTB scene in the valley looks great - really proactive guys (and gals).

As an old timer (relatively speaking) new to mountain biking, I found it an interesting article. I get the point that the term "Freeriding" is not just simply people freely riding any kind of bicycle however they want, but is more the kind of riding that can only be done on a mountain bike, and therefore defines it. I also think there is an important cultural aspect to it as well. I got into this mountain biking thing in the last few years and and literally can't get enough. I've spent many hours watching the NWD, Kranked, stund etc etc (as well as some riding!) and can see how it has evolved over the past 10 or so years with a fresh set of eyes. Personally I can draw some comparison with skateboarding. I remember how as young kids we would build ramps out of any old junk, and skate on them until destruction of them or us. At the time skating was not popular with other kids our age, and it was being part of this alternative culture that made it all seem even cooler to us. Eventually skateboarding started to get popular (again). All of a sudden the kids that used to make fun of us wanted to do what we did, parks were built, and skateboarding brands entered the mainstream. At this point some of the magic of the skateboarding culture was lost. The dirty, gritty nature of building and skating whatever you could get your hands on was lost as money entered the equation and things got more sanitized and ordered. Perhaps "Freeride" mountain biking has gone through/is going through a similar process to skateboarding? Mountain biking is getting more popular and therefore is being sanitized (to an extent) to make it even more accessible. Is "Freeriding" dead though? I don't think so. Companies and the media may be more focused on competition riding but while there are riders out there hitting the big, sketchy, gnarly stuff with no incentive other than the rush of adrenaline, then surely "Freeriding" is alive and well, perhaps it's just gone back to it's roots?