Video: The 'Queens of Gnar' at Audi Nines
Words: Audi Nines
They came, they saw, they slayed. Audi Nines 2021 was proud to welcome a new group of riders into the family and to witness these women pushing mountain biking to new heights. From teenagers to veterans, the moment they rolled into the course, it was clear that Audi Nines is exactly where they belong.
This non-competitive environment brings together an incomparable crew of mountain bikers to ride their bikes and push each other. Liken it to watching the greatest soccer teams playing for fun on the street or great musicians jamming spontaneously together in a studio. This is Audi Nines. When the competitive element is removed, it allows space for magic to happen, and that's exactly what went down on every part of the course. From Freeride to Slopestyle, in only a few short days, these women not only raised the roof, they smashed through it, and they're not showing any signs of slowing down.
 | Progression and evolution of a sport can be tricky concepts to grasp. Evolution from what, progression to where and compared to whom? However, without them, we would still be in the era of the wooden wheel. The most relevant example of taking a sport to the next level, at this moment in time, is women's MTB slopestyle and freeride. These Queens of Gnar showed up at Audi Nines and embodied how passion, talent, skill, and just enough insanity can shatter everyone's expectations. The setup was filled with huge, technical, and high consequence features that intimidated many riders, including the most experienced, let alone those who had never dropped into these infamous lines. To begin with, nobody quite knew what to expect. Progression, yes, but how much and in what setting? Would women ride the whole quarry or just a little part of it? Did they have the skills and the confidence to approach these big and technical features? These were questions uttered from lips. Take a moment to reflect on the fact that most have never had the opportunity to approach a setup of this scale, or to session and progress alongside the best riders in the world. Then they dropped in, and any preconceptions were left in the dust. The amount of camaraderie, energy, determination, and utter willingness to get out of their comfort zones and face uncharted territory was staggering. Their actions truly embodied the word 'Gnar'. The debut of these riders at Audi Nines showcased the unstoppable, limitless force of women's Freeride and Slopestyle mountain biking that is currently rippling across the globe. This is just the beginning. |
Audi Nines is an intersection between athletic prowess and creative minds. 'Queens of Gnar' is led by women and collaborations with editor Anjuna Hartmann, colourist Matilda Schön, director Sophie Acworth, and music producer Something Something. From those in front of the camera to those behind the scenes, this video highlights the passion and skills of these women on a multitude of levels. So sit back, press play, and prepare to witness the start of a new era in mountain biking.
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So here's the thing young obi wan: holding people down because of their sex, race, class, age, etc... will not keep them down forever.
These girls will kick you arse, so watch what you say or you'll be using your hands a lot more.
@Juuhan: The truth isn't allowed if it isn't politically correct. Interesting example of modern censorship and the triumph of ideology over truth.
Being honest that women in average just cannot match with men in pretty much any sports in average is not pressing women down. It's just fact. Also this doesn't tell anything about the value of an individual or if women should ride or not. They as well as any individual in lucky countries are very free to do whatever they want including in sports.
As a side note I don't mind at all if a girl or women rides better than me. On contrary, it's just inspiring when someone rides well no matter what are her/his fashionable but irrelevant identity marker.
At the top of the pile do men - on average - have higher athletic ability? Based on pro sport quantifiable results, yes in most sport.
But in this case, my nephews think girls simply can't ride bikes like this. They're early teen and think they're the kings of the world. Showing them the video will prove they're wrong and there are girls who can ride far better than they can ride now and probably ever will. The message I want to send them is just because they see a girl on the bike they cannot assume they're better than her just because they are male.
your profile indicates female but your posts read otherwise. You seem to be against SJWs, systemic racism, gender bias and the general social movement toward fairness and equal opportunity... and now state you don't mind when girls ride better than you (oddly stated if indeed you are female). Just here to troll perhaps?
Any decent person supports equal rights & equal opportunities for each and every person and a fair society. Intersectional feminism is not needed to continue pursuing those targets. On contrary that ideology seems effectively be sending us back to the history by dividing people into groups and making them to fight each other.
I'm not aware of any evidence, which backs up the huge claims and "world explanation" of intersectional feminism.
This ideology has the readily available answer ( always the same one) to each question it's interested without any investigations ( seeing differences in outcomes is not actually a proof of anything than differences in outcomes). No engagement to a dialogue. Moral high ground and highly educated whites confessing their sins. This ideology doesn't believe that there is an objective truth and thus it's not interested even pursuing it (thus standpoint epistemology). The latter one is kind if interesting taking in account that the Ideology claims to have the explanation on how the societies work and humans in general.
So, I don't see how intersectional feminism is a good way forward and how it could make things better for the minorities or groups witch are lacking on the outcomes compared to certain reference group ( white males)
BTW, how does it matter to which gender I identify?
There is almost always someone who can do a thing X better that you.
It's actually also within every subcategory ( like beginners, weekend warriors, semi-pros etc) where men are better in average. It's strange that we need to have even this discussion, it's just sports after all?
If we want true equality we should be pushing for 50:50 split on Friday fails - come on ladies, you need to be doing far more dumb and/or dangerous stuff all the time everywhere. I recommend starting on the basics, like slowly rolling over drops. With a LOT of practice, one day you can be as dumb as men.
Mountain biking just needs to up its game and encourage underrepresented sections of the population on board. If you've got a female friend who does headstands in a skirt after 2 beers, this is the kind of person we need. Give her your old mountain bike!
All you need to do from that point is to sit her down in front of a video like this one and give her the only introductions any biker needs, i.e. "pull up, don't brake" and another convert will have been inducted into our merry tribe, ready for a starring role on Friday Fails.
Also Robin's hand tremors, that adrenaline must be surging off the charts!
Mad props to the riders in this video as they would likely kick #$@ over most riders no matter what gender.
I wonder with enough lady riders getting into the sport if they will every be able to compete straight up with the guys. Size and power are not really the issue for this kinds of stuff (look at Semenuk and Rheeder - not exactly football linemen but two of the best in game).
Very positive video!!!
- this guy