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Only reasons I don't have headphones in is firstly because I like to be able to hear the noises the bike makes, gives me reassurance in mechanical function / safety and secondly ( while trail riding) it keeps me more aware of bears/moose to be able to hear.

Watching the street hucking video really brought me back! Things I noticed: -Russ Morell could actually Huck (only ever knew him for the "bread and butter" Huck) -Super T could bunny hop a 50lb ...elseworth or something? Like three feet to manual a 3 inch wide piece of concrete with a railing on one side... Actually sick. -british guy with braces on the orange was super sick - bikes were basically made of glass in the 90s/early 2000s -those dudes fell insanely hard and got back up quickly and / or didn't die. Serious nostalgia here. Time to go re watch all the drop in seasons

2010 stinky was my first real FS bike. Amazing how 180mm travel felt bottomless and the short rear end and super clack front end really made that bike ahead of its time. Only thing stopping it was weight. The Stinky gave me the confidence to hit the biggest jumps I ever hit in my life. Next bike was a full custom 2009 Giant Reign. Different bike in basically every way. The Reign was lighter and faster but I ended up just keeping both because the Kona just had better feel at the bike park and wore parts out less often. Other odd quirk of the Stinky was the brake caliper pushrod thing. Never had issues with it but always wondered why they didn't just engineer things to not have to use it. Miss that bike alot but as I get older and style changes a 45lb "freeride" bike isn't exactly practical as a full time bike. Both bikes are gone now and I'm on an a 2015 NS Snabb which is a great bike too but I am at a point where I may sell it for something with a little different geometry and newer parts or just get something for beating up at the park and downhill trails and keep the snabb as my adventure bike. Anyways Konas are great! and maybe I will take a closer look at their bikes as I consider something new this season.

There is a zone called the canyon in Descenders that is touching on the Utah terrain characteristics. The game still has a way to go but has potential since it's brand new and still in early access.

@guytherev: agreed on all points except for arcade style. I think the mix of reality and "impossible" physics is right in the pocket but the trails lack technical depth and the lives system is silly. Logs accross the trails in the forest zone destroy the whole zone for me. Bunny hop needs rethinking. Online multiplayer in a freeride mode would be nice. Hopefully developers listen to people and make changes as time goes on.

Great game for sure. Very close to being the leader in current mountain biking video games. A few things I think they need to address are map structure, lives system, logs on trails (remove them or put in a kicker so you can clear them at speed), change the bunny hop to a button (can get squirly on controller) and offer online multiplayer for slalom and freeriding, and include more technical features to trails like extremely steeps, better drops, and roots/rocks that make the user have to use brakes. If they can accomplish that there will be no competition. For now Shred and MTBFreeride on PC still offer things that Descenders don't. To me there are some aspects of downhill/freeride not represented in any game that would be nice to see included in a game.

For those interested in a brand new downhill game there is Descenders. I Think currently only out for PC on Steam but coming to consoles possibly within the year. It's a pretty good mountain biking game that is mostly simulation with a touch of over the top jumps and physics. Pretty darn good for 25$ and definately a step up and different direction from Shred Which is also a pretty good one. Of course most people are aware of Shred which is a very playable game but made more as a sort of cross screen style that lacks the technicality of cornering, yet still allows the user to enter a first person POV. If you're looking for the more underground market there is a game called MTB Freeride launched on a PC platform called Desura. It's a downhill freeride based game that is modeled heavily on simulation... Which makes it alot more difficult than the other two but worth a look.

I think this is one of the first times I saw trails I ride weekly on a pro video. Watching the video I'm kind of just like "oh man I love that part of the trail!" And then it sinks in, it's -10C with half a foot of snow on the ground here. Gotta wait 5.5 months beige there is even a slight chance of riding those trails again on dirt.