Track choice for the Whistler round of the Enduro World Series is undoubtedly one of the most interesting this year. While a similar process goes on for every race, there is an extra significance here, and it completes a circle that started with Wade Simmons and friends some time in the early 90s. What many North American freeriders maybe never understood is what happened when freeride crossed the Atlantic. In Wade's words, the original freeriding was about interpreting the terrain in creative ways. Yet in Europe, that never happened, instead the word was misappropriated and applied to any descent that didn't qualify as a downhill run. So it could mean anything from badly-made woodwork and hucks, through to long, natural descents. It's that second set of trails that are important to enduro - they are where the sport was born. Enduro was born out of that misinterpretation of freeriding. With the growth of enduro as a discipline, the circle of influence has gone all the way round, and now the sport that grew out of freeriding is returning to the home of freeriding and adopting its trails. Riding the course recon with Richie Schley, he could remember pioneering some of the steeps that are included this year as part of the race course. Trails that were once mainstays of that nascent scene some decade and a half ago, are being reawaken and adjusted to be raced.
Trailforks.com
Not too sure "free riding" was born there, but it def is most welcomed there, hence it being the mecca of said riding type.