Photo Epic: Grom Spotlight at Big White Slopestyle
Kids are shredding at a younger and younger age. The progression is inspiring to see. Watch a few minutes from Anthills Return to Earth segment 'Time Wisely Spent' for exhibit A. Event organizers like Crankworx (Kidsworx), Big White (Grom division), Stephanie Nychka (WST), Lisa Mason (WFM) are all contributing to this surge. (This list is not exhaustive.)
As a content creator myself, I've tried to ensure balanced coverage of the kids, ladies and pro's - if not leaning a bit to the former. I feel it is important to the future health of the sport to be as inclusive as possible. Obviously, I am not alone. This leads me to the event being held at Big White this weekend, and the two categories, grom and open female. Included in this list is a collection of boy and girls - I tried to limit the age to 'under being legally allowed to drive a vehicle'.
I'll be the first to admit, it is humbling to watch 11-year-old boys and girls hitting drops, step-ups and catching more air than I ever have, or ever will. At the same time, seeing Zoe Witwicki, Tayte Proulx-Royds, Rex Johnson (ages 11), or Cohen Johns (age 10!) throwing down on the bronze course is absolutely a sight to behold.
I just don't understand how the parents of young athletes do it. I'm a nervous wreck for them on every hit. So with that in mind, I felt it appropriate to carve out a place here at Pinkbike to highlight some of these up and comers. Here is a little 411 on some of the kids, and some action shots from the bronze event yesterday. Enjoy, and if you see them, throw them some support. It means the world to these little shredders.
The Bronze Course is no joke.
Just getting to the drop in proved difficult at times.
Cohen Johns, age 10
Riding: Norco Rampage on 20's
Favorite Trick - 360
Favorite Bike Part - Chromag handle bars
Bike Name: Aron
Can you do that on 20's, at half that age...?
Tayte Proulx-Royds, age 11
Riding Spawn Kotori on 24s
Favorite Trick - T-Bog
Next Trick - Tuck No Hander
Bike Name: Lorraine
3rd place in the female open category. Easy to see why.
Zoe Witwicki, age 11
Riding Norco Rampage on 24s
Favorite Trick - 1 Foot Can
Favorite Bike Part - Sparkle paint
Bike Name: Nico
Best shoes, hands down.
Zoe Witwicki goes big on the bronze course.
Rex Johnson, age 10
Riding Norco Rampage on 20's
Favorite Bike Part: Brakes (I don't think he uses them much honestly)
Favorite Trick - 360
Next Trick. - 360 Can
Bike Name: Betty
Rex has style and the personality to match.
Now let us be clear, these four were not the only kids riding this weekend. Just four I could wrangle for some information in-between the million laps they took. I kid you not (pun intended), no one took as many laps as the kids did. I swear they were every third or fourth rider down. That, or they've cloned themselves. (sorry parents).
Michael Delesalle
Floyd Guy
Natasha Miller
Max Wittenburg
Final Action Shots
Yeah, the kids are alright.
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Fwiw we need a big shout out to the Dad's/Mom's at #Manitou/#Haynes/#Protaper/#Sunringle. There is a cool story there about a Dad fab'ing stuff for his kid...and then got fed up and started the nicest kids components we've ever seen.. Its not just a little nicer than the other kids stuff...it's nicer than a lot of adult stuff. As much as I love my SRAM Codes, the Hayes Dominions on my kids bike are ridiculously nice with custom kid levers. Likely the best brake ever made aside from Trickstuff...and they make them for kids too lol. The suspension is flat out nutty nice and its all custom tuned for kids since they have a small weight window compared to adults. All that and they are continuing to push the envelop with new enhanced stuff (JUnit Pro with the sweet Durado airspring, custom tune and IRT etc). It's all the best grom gear you can get, by FAR. And as you can see, kids will put it to use.
It'd be great if PinkBike did more articles/testing on the kids stuff/kids scene. Its the wild west out there.
Shoutout to Clint for highlighting the youth and covering the event with amazing content, nicely done.
#norcorampage
Norco Bicycles
good luck! (if you don't find what you need, let me know and I'll source something else)
Impressive work out there boys and girls!!!