X Games Slopestyle: Impressions
The X Games has a pedigree few can equal in the adrenaline wars and is arguably one of the most celebrated platforms for many of today's iconic athletes. Starting back in 1995 in Rhode Island, the event has seen the likes of Shaun White, Travis Pastrana, Mat Hoffman, Jamie Bestwick, Jeremy McGrath, Danny Way and Tony Hawk - the list of action sports nobility goes on.
Consider the positive aspects X Games brings to the table. X Games sports are eventually all viewed as fairly mainstream, and the trappings that kind of exposure brings are substantial. Host cities benefit, with economic impacts routinely hitting the $50 million mark. A large portion of attendees from all over the world make the pilgrimage to the X Games to witness skaters, Moto and BMX riders make history. 2012 saw continued growth for the series, with the beginning of a six city X Games tour, the most recent being Munich, the fifth stop on the 2013 tour.
With the introduction of MTB slopestyle into the X Games, there has been immense pressure on the riders to do well, especially in our inaugural year. Add to that the Red Bull Phenom contest which, while it brought a large measure of MTB legitimacy to the X Games, also provided us a glimpse of future slopestyle superstars. Full marks to all involved for making that happen, Red Bull seems to understand that supporting and promoting new talent is one of the best ways to sustain progress in our sport.
So in the name of progress, and with both a mighty bike community and X Games fans looking on, some of the top slope shredders in the world came to shoulder a huge responsibility, undoubtedly compelled to throw down regardless, in order for slopestyle to shine at this key event. Surely no one doled out that specific mandate, but you can bet your ass all of these guys were feeling this way. Glory is sweet for the few yet fleeting, but to be a player at a historically pivotal time for the sport you love is something nearly everyone can relate to.
CAM MCCAUL
Here are 3 main points that come to mind when I think about Slopestyle finals at X Games.
1. The 6 dudes who manned up and dropped in for their final runs did it because they love slopestyle. They believe in the sport, its future, and they understand that it took 10 years for the sport to get to that moment...it was too huge of an opportunity to let go to waste. I know for a fact that they were driven to give the fans a great show and expose more people to slopestyle, and it was less about medals and prize money than you would think. Those 6 riders acted like heroes and saved the day.
2. Taking qualifying results in place of running finals is an absolute worst case scenario and should only happen when there's no other option. If there are multiple riders dropping in and making full course runs with tricks, it's time to run finals. Some riders are way too comfortable with finals getting cancelled, it's got to the point where I think some actually prefer this and hope for it. That's not right. That's not slopestyle. Slopestyle can get gnarly and that's part of the game...sometimes it's a bit wet, sometimes it's a bit windy, and when the conditions get rough, it's time to see who can adapt to the elements and put some type of run together.
3. Everybody has the right to choose whether they want to risk their health and ride in gnarly conditions, and I respect that. If the conditions get to the point where you feel like it's not worth risking your health, that's a personal decision and there's nothing wrong with respectfully bowing out. Just don't try to sink the whole ship while you're going overboard with a life vest. Fear can make people say and do things they might not even mean. There's no disrespect to any of the riders who said things or chose not to ride finals because the truth of the matter is, the conditions were dangerous, and that brought up a lot of fear. I think since this game is inherently dangerous, it might be a good idea to consider a new strategy with the FMB, where the next few riders who missed the qualifying cutoff are standing by as a backup reserve in case some riders decide at the last minute not to ride. It could guarantee a fuller field in case something like this happens again.
YANNICK GRANIERI
X Games for me was the Olympics for freestylers, so I was expecting a lot! The organisation was perfect, the atmosphere was incredible, being there in the middle of those legendary riders was a dream come true! The course design was not as good as it could be, they should have done something easier to shape and make it more rideable and trickable. My biggest disappointment was not being able to express myself on the course. For me we had 2 cool big drops and a cool jump and the rest was shit. It's freestyle where we are suppose to pull the hardest tricks we have in the bag, but we couldn't because of the track and the weather conditions didn't help either. So in the end I won't blame anyone cause I'm sure that everyone tried their best, but an X Games final where 4 of the final boys don't ride the course means something is wrong.
THOMAS GENON
X Games was a chance for mountain biking to show to the world what is it and I think the guys who competed in the final made a good work. I didn't know how big X Games was before, but when I got there I really saw that extrême sports are becoming bigger and bigger! I hope it will keep going that way.
MARTIN SODERSTROM
I would say that we pretty much had all the bad luck we could get for our first X-games with the rain and wind and a course that was really hard to trick. Five hour waits before we could drop in for finals is pretty much the last thing you want, way too much time to over-think stuff, and it was really exhausting to stand there and be ready to drop in for so many hours. And because of these things, we only had 6 riders in the finals, and I thought, well that was our chance - first and last time in the X-games. But I definitely changed my mind when I saw how excited and how crazy the crowd went after standing there waiting for so long when the finals actually started.
So, with all the bad luck and stuff that were against us, everyone still seemed to think that it was an successful event. And then I can just imagine what they would think if everything would have worked out as planned. I really hope we will get another chance to show our sport in the best possible way because this wasn't really it.
TYLER MCCAUL
There were a lot of complaints about the slope course at X Games and I think that overpowered some people's realization that there even was a course for us in the first place, and how big of a deal that was. I can understand why some people chose to not ride in the wind, as I for one, took a real hard crash in qualifying because of it and ruined my chance of making it to finals. However, seeing people boycott the comp just because they didn't like the course seemed like it must have felt like a slap in the face to all the other riders that weren't invited and would've killed for the chance to ride in X Games. I'm not suggesting to ride stuff that you don't have fun riding, but when it's something as big as X Games, I think it's reason enough to ride for the sake of how big of a door it could open for us in the future. I think that if we get invited back to X Games next year, then we can thank the 6 people that rode in finals for that. It was a first time event at that location and venue and those factors are always bound to cause mistakes in course design, format, and so on...but at least now we may have another chance to do it again and improve on it for next year.
SAM PILGRIM
It was so sick that MTB slopestyle was finally in X Games, it was our chance to show off, but I feel like the course was pretty bad and this was nothing to do with the builders. I guess they were given an area to work with and they built something they thought would be cool, but in reality it wasn't fun to ride and apparently, you had to be a 4x racer to hit the satellite dish haha. For me it was just not cool at all, but other riders may disagree, I just had no fun riding the course! We all started riding bikes for the fun aspect, so when I ain't having fun I don't wanna do it. Let's get more courses built like Bearclaw's contest in the future, courses that we actually wanna ride all day long!
DARREN BERRECLOTH
After seeing the coverage from X Games, I am under the impression that a lot of people are in the dark in terms of understanding what really went down at X Games. The course had some really well built features and rode fairly well, it did have a few challenges, but what course doesn't nowadays? Some riders struggled a bit and some did not but I will tell you what every rider did struggle with is the wind. The wind on that course was horrible, I've never seen 35 mph crosswinds on a day that we really needed flat, calm winds. The qualifiers were in the AM and the wind was picking up with every rider going down the hill, and to make you understand how bad it was up there, riders were getting blown 5 feet to the side on the first drop.
Come finals time, the wind was so bad we didn't want to risk getting hurt and looking like a bunch of squids on the course in front of millions, so we waited and waited and waited. Then after a few hours of standing on the deck the wind started to have small breaks and started to give us a little hope. Then one minute later it would howl again. It was by far the most mentally exhausting and frustrating few hours I have ever had during an event. At any other event I would have just walked away and said it's too windy and unsafe to ride but this was X Games and there were thousands of people waiting to watch us shred. Then the call came down from ESPN that we could wait until 8 pm and run the contest then.
Come 8 pm the wind was still a bit breezy, but most of us were able to forget that it was still windy and hope for the best. Some of us were so mentally frustrated from the day and still were not comfortable in the wind. At the end of the day, we all killed it, the event went off and the people of Munich got a bad ass show - we gave the world a taste of what is possible on mountain bikes, and now the sport we know and love as one of the best spectator sports out there is on the global serving platter. To our loyal fans, thanks, you rock!
DEREK WESTERLUND
X Games was a tough one. Lot of things were unconventional about the event. The presence of the course stood prominently above the Olympic Park...it looked huge, especially from afar! It was kind of like saying, "we're here!"
Being on the highest mountain within 50 km there was only one choice of the venue. It had very little vertical drop. Hence the uphill section that became the focus of so much criticism. I think a lot of people that criticized it have to look at what it was really going on and what it did for the sport. It was live in 72 countries and probably brought more eyeballs to the sport then we have had ever before. Sad time for a political stand off. I am surprised ESPN did not cancel it 3 hours earlier.
Who cares if the course sucks? Sack up and ride! The wind was no surprise. There was a lot of pressure for the riders to drop in under compromised circumstances. A lot of people were really conscious about how they would look in front of the other sports like Moto and BMX. Then you have 55,000 people going ape shit for a straight air. The Euro riders not riding the finals was a bit of a statement to the FMB, but a lame time to make it. I think each and every one of those boys regret it. Especially after watching Semenuk and Rheeder put together 2 of the most impressive runs in slopestyle ever!
The boys that did drop in were warriors and doing it for the fans. Zink had a half separated shoulder when he got there, ate shit a couple times and still got out there and put on a show for X Games and the finals. Kind of hard to not feel like a pussy walking off the start gate because of a little wind.
BRETT RHEEDER
X Games was honestly the sickest event I've ever been to in my life. Being at such a high level event with all of the best athletes from all different action sports is such a rad experience. We always see X Games highlights on the internet and TV but to actually be a part of event and have our sport be at the venue is such a privilege.
Maybe we didn't have the best weather, as it was very windy at some points throughout the weekend and maybe we didn't have the best course, but it was a great start for our sport at X Games. We are versatile riders and we are used to riding different features all the time, in all types of weather conditions. That's what makes our sport so unique. It got too windy to start finals at 3pm on Sunday, so after a few hours of waiting for the wind, discussion and decision making between the riders and the event organizers / ESPN, we finally found a window that we could run the live feed at which was 8 pm. Then, 8 pm rolled around and the wind was still howling, not as bad as before, but enough that some of the riders didn't feel comfortable to ride.
The riders that did choose to ride, took the risk of doing high consequence final runs in the wind, for not only ourselves, but for our sport, and the thousands and thousands of spectators that paid to come watch us. I'm extremely thankful to be a part of the first ever Mountain Bike Slopestyle in X-Games, and so stoked for being able to put down the winning run. I hope that mountain bike Slopestyle is here to stay in X Games and I hope everyone else feels the same!
Consider the positive aspects X Games brings to the table. X Games sports are eventually all viewed as fairly mainstream, and the trappings that kind of exposure brings are substantial. Host cities benefit, with economic impacts routinely hitting the $50 million mark. A large portion of attendees from all over the world make the pilgrimage to the X Games to witness skaters, Moto and BMX riders make history. 2012 saw continued growth for the series, with the beginning of a six city X Games tour, the most recent being Munich, the fifth stop on the 2013 tour.
 |
 |
 First check of the final drop. |
With the introduction of MTB slopestyle into the X Games, there has been immense pressure on the riders to do well, especially in our inaugural year. Add to that the Red Bull Phenom contest which, while it brought a large measure of MTB legitimacy to the X Games, also provided us a glimpse of future slopestyle superstars. Full marks to all involved for making that happen, Red Bull seems to understand that supporting and promoting new talent is one of the best ways to sustain progress in our sport.
So in the name of progress, and with both a mighty bike community and X Games fans looking on, some of the top slope shredders in the world came to shoulder a huge responsibility, undoubtedly compelled to throw down regardless, in order for slopestyle to shine at this key event. Surely no one doled out that specific mandate, but you can bet your ass all of these guys were feeling this way. Glory is sweet for the few yet fleeting, but to be a player at a historically pivotal time for the sport you love is something nearly everyone can relate to.
 |
| Brandon was one of the first to start with flips in practice. |
 |
| The first trick on the practice was of course from Andreu - a flip on his second go on the huge first jump. He was really stoked to be at X-Games and his motivation level was huge. |
CAM MCCAUL
Here are 3 main points that come to mind when I think about Slopestyle finals at X Games.
1. The 6 dudes who manned up and dropped in for their final runs did it because they love slopestyle. They believe in the sport, its future, and they understand that it took 10 years for the sport to get to that moment...it was too huge of an opportunity to let go to waste. I know for a fact that they were driven to give the fans a great show and expose more people to slopestyle, and it was less about medals and prize money than you would think. Those 6 riders acted like heroes and saved the day.
2. Taking qualifying results in place of running finals is an absolute worst case scenario and should only happen when there's no other option. If there are multiple riders dropping in and making full course runs with tricks, it's time to run finals. Some riders are way too comfortable with finals getting cancelled, it's got to the point where I think some actually prefer this and hope for it. That's not right. That's not slopestyle. Slopestyle can get gnarly and that's part of the game...sometimes it's a bit wet, sometimes it's a bit windy, and when the conditions get rough, it's time to see who can adapt to the elements and put some type of run together.
3. Everybody has the right to choose whether they want to risk their health and ride in gnarly conditions, and I respect that. If the conditions get to the point where you feel like it's not worth risking your health, that's a personal decision and there's nothing wrong with respectfully bowing out. Just don't try to sink the whole ship while you're going overboard with a life vest. Fear can make people say and do things they might not even mean. There's no disrespect to any of the riders who said things or chose not to ride finals because the truth of the matter is, the conditions were dangerous, and that brought up a lot of fear. I think since this game is inherently dangerous, it might be a good idea to consider a new strategy with the FMB, where the next few riders who missed the qualifying cutoff are standing by as a backup reserve in case some riders decide at the last minute not to ride. It could guarantee a fuller field in case something like this happens again.
 |
| Cam McCaul. |
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| Cam coming off a season with some troubles and wasn't really lucky here at X-Games. Cam's tailwhip off the starting tower. |
YANNICK GRANIERI
X Games for me was the Olympics for freestylers, so I was expecting a lot! The organisation was perfect, the atmosphere was incredible, being there in the middle of those legendary riders was a dream come true! The course design was not as good as it could be, they should have done something easier to shape and make it more rideable and trickable. My biggest disappointment was not being able to express myself on the course. For me we had 2 cool big drops and a cool jump and the rest was shit. It's freestyle where we are suppose to pull the hardest tricks we have in the bag, but we couldn't because of the track and the weather conditions didn't help either. So in the end I won't blame anyone cause I'm sure that everyone tried their best, but an X Games final where 4 of the final boys don't ride the course means something is wrong.
 |
| Kurt Sorge. The view of Munich from the tower was great. |
THOMAS GENON
X Games was a chance for mountain biking to show to the world what is it and I think the guys who competed in the final made a good work. I didn't know how big X Games was before, but when I got there I really saw that extrême sports are becoming bigger and bigger! I hope it will keep going that way.
 |
| Getting ready - Andreu manages a smile. |
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| Wallriding over the BMW tower. |
MARTIN SODERSTROM
I would say that we pretty much had all the bad luck we could get for our first X-games with the rain and wind and a course that was really hard to trick. Five hour waits before we could drop in for finals is pretty much the last thing you want, way too much time to over-think stuff, and it was really exhausting to stand there and be ready to drop in for so many hours. And because of these things, we only had 6 riders in the finals, and I thought, well that was our chance - first and last time in the X-games. But I definitely changed my mind when I saw how excited and how crazy the crowd went after standing there waiting for so long when the finals actually started.
So, with all the bad luck and stuff that were against us, everyone still seemed to think that it was an successful event. And then I can just imagine what they would think if everything would have worked out as planned. I really hope we will get another chance to show our sport in the best possible way because this wasn't really it.
 |
| Sorge spinning the first drop. Very confident on the big stuff, as expected. |
TYLER MCCAUL
There were a lot of complaints about the slope course at X Games and I think that overpowered some people's realization that there even was a course for us in the first place, and how big of a deal that was. I can understand why some people chose to not ride in the wind, as I for one, took a real hard crash in qualifying because of it and ruined my chance of making it to finals. However, seeing people boycott the comp just because they didn't like the course seemed like it must have felt like a slap in the face to all the other riders that weren't invited and would've killed for the chance to ride in X Games. I'm not suggesting to ride stuff that you don't have fun riding, but when it's something as big as X Games, I think it's reason enough to ride for the sake of how big of a door it could open for us in the future. I think that if we get invited back to X Games next year, then we can thank the 6 people that rode in finals for that. It was a first time event at that location and venue and those factors are always bound to cause mistakes in course design, format, and so on...but at least now we may have another chance to do it again and improve on it for next year.
 |
 |
| This was the third obstacle - a very technical step-up after a quick and fast berm. |
 |
| Portrait during rider's meeting. |
SAM PILGRIM
It was so sick that MTB slopestyle was finally in X Games, it was our chance to show off, but I feel like the course was pretty bad and this was nothing to do with the builders. I guess they were given an area to work with and they built something they thought would be cool, but in reality it wasn't fun to ride and apparently, you had to be a 4x racer to hit the satellite dish haha. For me it was just not cool at all, but other riders may disagree, I just had no fun riding the course! We all started riding bikes for the fun aspect, so when I ain't having fun I don't wanna do it. Let's get more courses built like Bearclaw's contest in the future, courses that we actually wanna ride all day long!
 |
| Unfortunately Pilgrim didn't find the feeling with the course. Bummer, as he was among the favorites. |
DARREN BERRECLOTH
After seeing the coverage from X Games, I am under the impression that a lot of people are in the dark in terms of understanding what really went down at X Games. The course had some really well built features and rode fairly well, it did have a few challenges, but what course doesn't nowadays? Some riders struggled a bit and some did not but I will tell you what every rider did struggle with is the wind. The wind on that course was horrible, I've never seen 35 mph crosswinds on a day that we really needed flat, calm winds. The qualifiers were in the AM and the wind was picking up with every rider going down the hill, and to make you understand how bad it was up there, riders were getting blown 5 feet to the side on the first drop.
Come finals time, the wind was so bad we didn't want to risk getting hurt and looking like a bunch of squids on the course in front of millions, so we waited and waited and waited. Then after a few hours of standing on the deck the wind started to have small breaks and started to give us a little hope. Then one minute later it would howl again. It was by far the most mentally exhausting and frustrating few hours I have ever had during an event. At any other event I would have just walked away and said it's too windy and unsafe to ride but this was X Games and there were thousands of people waiting to watch us shred. Then the call came down from ESPN that we could wait until 8 pm and run the contest then.
Come 8 pm the wind was still a bit breezy, but most of us were able to forget that it was still windy and hope for the best. Some of us were so mentally frustrated from the day and still were not comfortable in the wind. At the end of the day, we all killed it, the event went off and the people of Munich got a bad ass show - we gave the world a taste of what is possible on mountain bikes, and now the sport we know and love as one of the best spectator sports out there is on the global serving platter. To our loyal fans, thanks, you rock!
 |
| Claw spinning the drop. |
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| The Claw claimed he wasn't feeling confident on his bike, but he made a great effort and demonstrated that, when the course is technical and windy, experience and riding skills can make the difference. |
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| Trying to find the time for a trick off the wallride. |
DEREK WESTERLUND
X Games was a tough one. Lot of things were unconventional about the event. The presence of the course stood prominently above the Olympic Park...it looked huge, especially from afar! It was kind of like saying, "we're here!"
Being on the highest mountain within 50 km there was only one choice of the venue. It had very little vertical drop. Hence the uphill section that became the focus of so much criticism. I think a lot of people that criticized it have to look at what it was really going on and what it did for the sport. It was live in 72 countries and probably brought more eyeballs to the sport then we have had ever before. Sad time for a political stand off. I am surprised ESPN did not cancel it 3 hours earlier.
Who cares if the course sucks? Sack up and ride! The wind was no surprise. There was a lot of pressure for the riders to drop in under compromised circumstances. A lot of people were really conscious about how they would look in front of the other sports like Moto and BMX. Then you have 55,000 people going ape shit for a straight air. The Euro riders not riding the finals was a bit of a statement to the FMB, but a lame time to make it. I think each and every one of those boys regret it. Especially after watching Semenuk and Rheeder put together 2 of the most impressive runs in slopestyle ever!
The boys that did drop in were warriors and doing it for the fans. Zink had a half separated shoulder when he got there, ate shit a couple times and still got out there and put on a show for X Games and the finals. Kind of hard to not feel like a pussy walking off the start gate because of a little wind.
 |
| Cam Zink with a bad ass flip seat grab attempt. |
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| 360, the starting drop |
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| Brandon Semenuk was the favorite and he demonstrate how solid his riding is. Probably the most confident in every single part of the course since the first jump in practice. I m sure this will not be the only time we ll see him on the podium this year. |
BRETT RHEEDER
X Games was honestly the sickest event I've ever been to in my life. Being at such a high level event with all of the best athletes from all different action sports is such a rad experience. We always see X Games highlights on the internet and TV but to actually be a part of event and have our sport be at the venue is such a privilege.
Maybe we didn't have the best weather, as it was very windy at some points throughout the weekend and maybe we didn't have the best course, but it was a great start for our sport at X Games. We are versatile riders and we are used to riding different features all the time, in all types of weather conditions. That's what makes our sport so unique. It got too windy to start finals at 3pm on Sunday, so after a few hours of waiting for the wind, discussion and decision making between the riders and the event organizers / ESPN, we finally found a window that we could run the live feed at which was 8 pm. Then, 8 pm rolled around and the wind was still howling, not as bad as before, but enough that some of the riders didn't feel comfortable to ride.
The riders that did choose to ride, took the risk of doing high consequence final runs in the wind, for not only ourselves, but for our sport, and the thousands and thousands of spectators that paid to come watch us. I'm extremely thankful to be a part of the first ever Mountain Bike Slopestyle in X-Games, and so stoked for being able to put down the winning run. I hope that mountain bike Slopestyle is here to stay in X Games and I hope everyone else feels the same!
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| Brett Rheeder spinning the first drop |
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| I remember when I first noticed of Brett. It was one year ago at RB Bergline. He qualified first.. but nobody was thinking that one year after, he would have been the X-GAMES winner. |
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| Right after the final run... |
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Rant Over.
Props for Derek Westerlund!
and bring on the neggs...
But I must be out of the loop. What was Westerlund referring to with the euro riders and the FMB?
And I don't think any "fan" has a right to tell the riders, the risk takers, the innovators, what their job is. Hurling ones self off a huge drop in 30mph winds, when's the last time you did that, or even considered it? Can't blame people for not want to take a calculated risk on their LIFE. However, I agree to a point, it's not time/place to make a statement. Just bow out gracefully and honorably.
That said, I think it's incredible that there were riders that stayed and rode till the end despite the danger. Those riders are now examples to the X-Games world of what it takes to be a top slope rider.
Zink is a f*cking warrior! Love the guy!
The guys who rode are saying they respect the others for not riding in the wind, but the guys that didn't ride seem to take more issue with the course than the wind.
I'm sure that even though he didn't put emphasis on the wind, that was his deciding factor not to ride... it's difficult to hate on a decision like that, really. Although I still find it weak that many of the riders didn't even do their runs. Conditions are never perfect and you'll only become a better rider by experiencing adverse weather conditions.
some riders lost ALOT of fans.
leave the style and tricks to the euros and the chest thumping to the rest!!!
I sure hope all the riders that rode get bonuses and all the Phenom riders get signed to big deals! I think the course looked sick... way out of my league no doubt about it but at the end of the day. The riders that got an invite, new what they were getting into and it is Freeride Mountain Bike so if you signed up and then backed out due to the course and not the conditions. That is a big black mark on your pro record.... a lot of thing aren't "fun" in real jobs or even other pro sports but they still have to play or go to work and do what they are paid to do.
If you are a competition pro and you sign up for a competition you should be competing IMO
When you're having fun you'll always ride your best. If there's something in the back of your mind holding you back like bad weather conditions or odd courses them fair play to sit back for upcoming contests. We're riding small travel mountainbikes, that weigh around 12kgs, not heavy motos with huge suspension to take the impact.
Look at the Claymore Challenge course for example, everything is a nice size for our big bmx bikes, everything is trick able and everything is fun, that's where some of the most progressive riding is being put down.
Just wait for this years Joyride. Aslong as the weather plays ball it is guna set the standard for better slopestyle courses and the best riding possible...
Too many of the FMB contests consist of the "3 big wide smooth jumps in a row" format and it needs to die off. If certain rider's aren't versatile enough to ride the technical course so much the better. Not like a few whoops are really hard to deal with, any bmxer worth a pinch of salt can pull that off, yet in slopestyle we have guys complaining about it.
Now, one question....did the BMX guys pull out because the park was too big...? and so on with the rest of the disciplines...
What if he falls and breaks a bone....? A part of the sport maybe.
After all, it sucks for all the guys who didn't get an invite, like Strait, Aggy and all the other great slopestyle/big mountain riders.
Makes a guy respect some athletes more (the McCauls, Rheeder, Bearcloth) for their positivity, and some less for their negativity and non-constructive criticism.
4th- To the riders who bailed on the finals I'm not going to lump you into one group. You may have had individual reasons for not riding in the finals of one of the potentially biggest events in our sport's history. If it was because of conditions I can understand and respect that. No one should be forced into riding in a situation where they don't feel comfortable. Part of being a pro is stepping it up when there are challenges and dangers (or else why are you getting paid to do what the rest of us also love to do?) but part of being a pro is also recognizing when a situation is just too dangerous to risk the consequences. Any time I'm shooting with someone I never want them to push beyond what they feel is safe. It's not worth it for a shot or a medal or prize money. So if you made the decision based on that I understand. But if your reasoning was some political basis and/or about the course design then that's terrible. This was our sport on the biggest stage in the world and even more importantly the first time it was there. All eyes were on what was happening with this. Hopefully ESPN decides to continue on with this in future versions of X. I don't think our sport must have this to survive. But it is a great opportunity to grow the sport and for the riders who are putting themselves in danger to at least be making more $$$ for their endeavors. You saw (and rode) the course before the finals. If you didn't like it, bail out then. Don't screw over the sport and especially the other riders. I'm sure Tyler, Cam, Anthony & Kelly would have jumped (no pun intended) at the chance to take those empty spots.
Well, it clearly did.
In a little chat with Cam McCaul, Cam told me that the course is kind of a challenge but that's what it's supposed to be, since it's a slopestyle.
while european rider trained trick s in dirtjump course and skatepark.. i thik most of european rider have much combination of trick but they not ready to throw it in "big" course like X-Games. but i think the likes of Andreu, Soderstrom, Granieri and Genon is leading slopestyle rider from europe.
so stoked for incoming gold event Les2Alpes! come on riders!
Congrats to Rheeder for laying down another flawless run and taking home gold!!
neg: course, sam reynolds not invited, payment to see web replay...
He bailed just before finals. f*cked up his shoulder and taco'd his wheel. Borrowed a wheel off someone else and ran up the hill to make his final run. On a borrowed wheel with a blown shoulder STILL killed it. He's a boss. Good Canadian kid!
Calling the guys who did not ride pussys is hardly called for. Massive wind on a massive course has serious consequences and the guys who sat out should be respected for their choices. As Cam says though it would have been nice to give other guys the chance to fill the empty spots.
Sam Pilgrim lacks the media training of some of the other comments but essentially has the same view a Martin (who expresses better). I wouldn't be hating on Sam because he is honest.
These riders are people not entertainment commodities so give the the right conditions to do their job and give them a break when conditions raise the risks to a daft level.
We wouldn't have seen many of the amazing things we do in a whole range of sports if not for red bull.
Red bull I salute you.
Got to be my "energy" drink of choice for all your hard work promoting gnarr
love the once a year events, the once every four years is dang gnarly too.
the big show!
whos gonnna bring their a - game to the big show...?....intense stuff really.
writing is on the wall, the north americans crushed and the 3rd place rider has been more so cal than kids from so cal for the last 5 or so years.
having nasty as a role model will do that for ya.
the top 6 really deserve big credit. huge credit. top 4 were down right radical.