phil-mclean

@bigmeatpete420: It is not a step down its a slight step up. The jump is 30ft long and certainly well big enough for a great whip off. Last year after we flattened the hill after Joyride, the crew installing the new lift services put the electrical lines in far too shallow, limiting how much dirt is available for us to use, and how deep we can go. The lip is huge considering what we were left to work with and the jump will be perfect for people that can crank out a lofty whip, rather than the flat out, sketchy style the old Crabapple jump had for it. And surely not having to hike up and down the mountain to watch is a major plus for spectators...

Because you don't ride it often enough to be comfortable and in total control. This is the problem with the majority of people that buy a dirt jump bike, they expect to be a pro at it without putting in the hours just because they can get by doing jumps on a big bike, then when they aren't instantly comfortable on it they drop it completely. It takes a lot of time to learn to ride a jump bike properly. Starting by just regularly using it to pedal to and from a local skatepark or pumptrack/dirt jumps to get used to how it feels, before even trying to get in the air. Many of the best riders in every discipline learnt to ride on a dirt jump bike in the early days. Once you've dialled in riding a jump bike, the skills will translate hugely into general mountain biking.

So damn good boys! Such a fresh and creative concept brought to life flawlessly, unreal...

Imagine how lame it would be to watch a bunch of dudes throw their chamois and bum bags on and go pedal up a hill then whinge about how “freestyle isn’t mountain biking” because they can’t relate to it…

@gcrider: They use someone to come up with silly little physics chats for the livestreaming of certain events to create a bit of entertainment for the general viewers, but they certainly don't bring in an engineer to tell us how to build jumps at mountain bike events... They also measure jumps in cans of Redbull, squirrells hockey sticks and all sorts of other stuff for kooky entertainment value... There are far too many variables in MTB to use math for the perfect formula for jumps. Every rider weighs differently, the dirt rolls faster or slower depending on the conditions, tyre choice, varying bike geometry, whether a rider pumps the flat bottom or pops off the take off, just to name a few. This stuff comes from years of experience in building and riding, gaining an eye for what works and how much speed will typically be generated for each feature, discussing with other experienced builder/riders on hand to come to the best educated guess we can before testing everything. There wasn't enough unbiased discussion on the ramp for this river gap since most people with a clue on how to build and ride anything like this could see from the start that the takeoff had too much pop. It's easy to be the builder of something and ignore the potential dangers by being blindsided by the fact you put so much time into it and just want to see it ridden. Every builder at this level needs to take a step back, put ego aside and discuss with others to come to the conclusion that something could be tweaked to get the safest final result. No matter whether you've made a name for yourself as a pro athlete and been a part of building a lot of successful features prior, no one builder is absolutely perfect. The best builds always come from a collaboration of minds questioning each other before tyres hit the dirt.

Hell yeah crew's holding it down! So good!

Once the FMB formed and took over slopestyle, everything seemed to go backwards. Slopestyle was all in all far more exciting to watch when every event was open and people from all over could sign up, do a qualifier and the best riders on the day made it into the big show. You would see new faces and different styles come out of nowhere and people absolutely going for it. There were more events worldwide without the barrier to entry the FMB put up with having minimum funds to be an FMB host, because if your event wasn't official in the world tour it wasn't worth it to riders to show up. I do think the FMB killed the growth of the sport by trying to make things so exclusive and professional. It didn't bring more money to the riders and it certainly didn't make it easier to follow slopestyle. Why watch a Bronze or Silver level event, it's not Gold or Diamond so it's obviously not going to be the best riding imaginable? Whereas before the tier system, any competition was exciting to watch to the general public. The exclusivity of making it into the top 14/16 in the world alone should mean the riders attendance is covered to a certain extent, otherwise what is the purpose of the ranking points system and working your way to the top at the end of the day? Crankworx Whistler was always the pinnacle of the sport, now with the whole world wide series and the FMB Diamond status, they have chosen to be the invitational exclusive end of the sport and that should entail looking after the athletes who've earned their spot. I love slopestyle, i used to ride it and it's turned into my job through course building. But it's sad to have seen it drop off from the days of different contests every week of the summer and new faces coming up every season.

@chrismac70: How do you not see that this is the exact reason they're asking for more compensation to make it to these events? This is the elite level they have to work insanely hard to reach, a number of the riders make a living doing it, but the guys that have just cracked they're way into it are struggling for enough support to even get travel budget to get to the event. Once they've shown their potential in the big show then the paying sponsors may start coming...

@loudvq: I imagine they've been trying to work this out for the last 6 months and the reason they're striking now is because they couldn't come to terms and now they need to show they're serious. Unfortunate for everyone involved. I assume Nicholi was the speaker because he's usually the representative for all the athletes, he can't take all the heat for voicing the opinion of the majority of the field. If it was only a personal opinion then sure it wouldn't be a good look but each event they need someone selected to speak for everyone when it comes to weather delays, potential course changes, any issues that come up really.

@loudvq: Because to get into the Diamond Series, riders have to earn their spot with points from travelling to all the smaller level events and doing exceptionally well, a system that has arguable shrunk the slopestyle field and event circuit from what it used to be as the smaller events aren't as widely watched anymore. These riders coming up the ranks don't have the same sponsorship opportunities as they haven't cracked it into Diamond Level. So they are generally running on nothing trying to make it, then finally rack up the points to be in the big, exclusive series yet the FMBA/Crankworx aren't helping to cover costs of making it to the events sprawled across the world. Originally the FMBA tiered set up meant that to call your event a Silver, Gold or Diamond level, there had to be a specific prize purse at each tier, and the higher up the event, the more the organizer was responsible for accommodating athletes. Now that Crankworx own the FMBA, maybe the system isn't what it used to be, that I don't know. But it's only fair the men that are required to be at the event, including Alternate riders who fill the spots of injured athletes, should be supported by the event, as they're the ones making the show possible and drawing the viewership that Crankworx is used to pulling in.