Pinkbike Awards: Male Athlete of the Year Nominations
Every year at Pinkbike we reflect back on the season gone by and decide that it was unmistakably bigger and better than it's predecessor. Of course, with 2015 freshest in our minds, it seems all too easy to conclude that it was the best yet. Biased by recency, perhaps, but it's also a logical conclusion when you consider the immense rate of two wheeled progression happening everywhere around us. And, who is it pushing us all along, driving the industry towards such exciting, uncharted territory? The riders of course. They're the heroes at the helm. Time to show our appreciation with some more nominations - time to announce Pinkbike's best of the best male riders in the realm. Here are our three top performers, the golden boys...
Aaron Gwin
What do 2011, 2012 and 2015 all have in common? Gwin domination of course. That's not to say warning shots weren't fired during his 'off years.' but last season, the quiet American came back with absolute a vengeance to stomp four of the eight rounds and let's see... win one of them without spinning the pedals so far as the first turn. It is difficult to exaggerate the unfathomable excellence of that particular chainless run, the significance of which likely still hasn't impacted on us in the way it fully deserved to; exploding our little heads all over our drive-trains. Suffice to say, with or without pedal power, Aaron 'The Wizard' Gwin carries speed like no one else, threatening at more than a few points to break into some distant class of his own. Opening and closing the season with decisive wins and filling the middle with generous helpings of bicycle genius makes for one hell of a sandwich.
Richie Rude
Few surprises that the Pinkbike poll brought out a nomination for the clean-shaven Yeti that took the EWS by storm... It would have been Rude not to. Yes, young Richie grabbed the enduro bull by the horns in 2015 like never before and took authoritative wins in Samoens, Whistler and Ainsa, and then clinched the EWS overall title at Finale Liguri. The 2013 Junior DH World Champion is an unlikely enduro racer (almost twice the size of Jerome Clementz), and when he announced his intentions to switch to enduro in 2014, he was heckled by the press and DH community. Admittedly, Rude was too muscular to run with the svelte bodied EWS racers in '14, but after teammate Jared Graves pipped him for the win at Winter Park, Colorado, Rude started to show his potential. Building momentum from the start of the 2015 season, after his first win at Samoens, Rude became unstoppable, sweeping all before him at Whistler and then Ainsa. By the season ender at Finale, all he needed was 22nd or better to earn the overall. No rider has won as many enduros in one season. Richie proved he could win the physical races like Ainsa, as well as downhill-oriented enduros, like Whistler and Samoens, where we would expect a DH champion to dominate.
Loic Bruni
What kind of nominations would these be without the World Champ himself in the mix? After a strong 2014 on the rise, Bruni's brilliance began last spring with a convincing win at the opener, Crankworx Rotorua. Four second place finishes then followed over the course of the World Cup season, which although demonstrated superb consistency, are not the usual hallmarks of a 'winner' per se; first place being the more typical requirement. However, every time Loic got so close and was denied he won over another shed-load of fans as his incredible tenacity shone through. Of course the story didn't end there and by the time he struck gold in Andorra, he wasn't just the new World Champion, he was also the people's champion with all manner of grown men confused as to why their eyes were malfunctioning during the French national anthem. It was a massive win on arguably the most challenging track, in the toughest conditions... a truly epic performance and sure to stand out as a highlight of the history books. Famed for his friendly, modest persona and now rainbow-striped bicycle apparel, the young Frenchman is undoubtedly set to become a significant chunk of the backbone of downhill racing in the years to come.
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brandon semenuk.
there i said it. a 'freerider'.
not only did this dude absolutely destroy every event and film he was in/did, but his 'in front of mic/camera skills' went through the freakin roof.
never before had i seen semenuk handle himself on the mic and infront of the camera the way he did during the last 2/3's of the season.
if he didn't win before he seemed to 'close down' and have no interest in promoting the sport or himself. then, whamo, something happened. there seemed to be a joy and happiness that came thru during interviews and media pieces.
and, did any male mtb er have more mainstream coverage than this guy? i say no.
scoring media pieces on mtb websites and mags and blogs is one thing, but your only preaching to the choir when your media coverage only stays in the industry media outlets.
brandon transcended the sport of mtb, and even cycling in general, and reached a media audience that is not involved in the sport itself. his rampage interviews, the rampage run, the revel piece, the one shot piece all blew up in/on mainstream media , introducing and exposing the sport to the people who have no connection to mtb at all.
that's how ya grow a sport, and sell products, and get people active on bikes and away from the x box,by reaching new and ready markets.
brandon made mtb arty, and cool and rad and mainstream all at once this year.
he didn't win all the contests this year, but he sure represented the sport really, really well.
Thank you Semenuk, Mr. Do-it-all!
we need more riders wearing jeans and with no strava app on their phones!!
*spoils ballot slip*
Any of the guys I listed would be a valid pick, but I think Paul Basagoitia would have to get my vote for his sheer will and determination to get back on his bike after his horrific crash at Rampage. No, he didn't win any contests, but his recovery shows both strength of character and love for the sport that are without measure.
And let me guess, you ride a lawyer?
In my opinion there's 3 things to make XC "cool":
- ban lycra
- ban helmets without visor (mtb helmets need a visor, period.)
- dropper post on all bikes (riding downhill with skyhigh seat post just looks.... ugly)
Don't worry about Nino and Julien being left out, they have plenty of accolades and awards of their own!
Maybe I'm wrong but I think the reality is that Enduro/DH are a closer reflection of what the recreational mountain bike rider enjoys. To me XC feels disconnected from regular riding, it doesn't seem representative of what people I meet on the trails aspire to as riders. This is why Enduro has been such a hit right, because XC and all it's bikes/equipment was disconnected from regular riders?
I think a lot of people dream that they want to be the next DH star but in reality know that will never happen and settle for a more enduro style bike. I saw a lot of friends when I lived near Pisgah get big burly bikes for the downhills that were everywhere and they would start to trade those bikes in for shorter and shorter travel rigs because they were having just as much fun climbing and also realizing they weren't fully utilizing the full extent of the suspension on those bigger rigs.
It's also accessibility for most people I live in New York now about an hour from Mountain Creek and I see just as many guys if not more at the local trails rocking short travel XC style rides over the enduro bikes. For my region there are many more XC riding opportunities that are accessible during the week than big hit opportunities which leaves many to choose the bike for the style of riding they do most often.
I go up to Kingdom Trails/Burke a lot during the summer and there are just as many if not more riders on shorter travel XC rigs than enduro and DH rigs. A lot in part because the majority of the trails suit those bikes better. Granted the guys riding the Burke Bike Park are going to be on big hit bikes.
When I lived in the Carolinas I saw the same pretty even divide between the two styles as well.
Now on the other hand if I lived on the North Shore I'm sure I would notice a lot more riders choosing larger travel bikes and a smaller XC contingency.I'm sure there are many other regions that are similar in this aspect too.
I split my rides at home evenly between my XC hardtail and my 160mm enduro bike. My enduro is my go to bike for new places and when I want to let it all hang out. I have a much more realistic chance of racing XC and Enduro in the future than DH strictly because of accessibility of both region and finances. I think a lot of riders fit the same bill
Next Rampage: three equally weighted judging platforms to provide some checks and balances: 1) crowd voting via social media 2) peer voting from all other competitors and 3) a panel of judges (all ex-competitors if possible, Shaums, Spangler, Cedric, Bourdo, Romaniuk, etc. etc. etc.)
OR:
Just get a panel of the greats around a big desk, Sportscenter style, let them commentate AND judge: I'm thinking Palmer, Peaty, Warner, Cedric, Claudio, McCaul, and Voreis.
You're welcome, Red Bull.
My question is should the judges walk the lines before the competition?
Also I feel like they should ditch qualifiers and just do a 2 run final with all invited riders. I think the invite to rampage it enough to be sent to the finals.
Anyway, think about it... everything always looks different in person than it does on video. I thought Zink and Semenuk offered the best interpretations of a winning run at Rampage, but I've never been to Virgin, never walked the lines or anything like that. Maybe the Sorge/Aggy/Lacondeguy line was more impressive to the judges that were right there watching in person, but I can't agree with their choices at all. It seemed like the points escalation as the contest went on was... a bit too orchestrated. Something was fishy about the judging and it just rubbed me the wrong way.
Headwind makes or breaks runs in all gravity sports, especially those where skinsuits aren't worn.
Personally, I put more stock in how he won the rest of the races, staring with Lourdes.
But Neko didn't win did he? He was in the hot seat for ages but ultimately came 4th if I recall, which isn't the hallmark of a winner.
You can't look past Danny Mac.
But you are pinkbike... so of course you can.
I suppose when he looks at the figures and at the bank account. Danny knows he is the winner.
Must be very difficult to pick for the guys in pinkbike.
I know I could not do it....
My 1,2,3
1. Danny - that video impact.
2. Semenuk - competition and thst video segment
3. Gwin - that chain less run.
Although Akrig is still my personal favourite, he just does not have the impact of others.
1.Danny.
2.Semenuk
3.Gwin
Pretty much spot on. For "racer of the year" PB nailed it.
Feel so bad with it.
It's got forums of course, but I used to think of it as a 'journalistic' site too, but seems it only likes to promote, uhhh, I mean 'report' the company line.
I bring this up now, 'cuz here we are, what.... two weeks after they reported that Gwinn separated from Specialized, but had all but signed with another team.
Despite something obviously not quite right about that last statement, PB has chosen NOT to follow up to see what happened.
Then there's also the mysterious disappearance of Kona's 'new' 27.5" Operator, after reported here last Spirng/early Summer that it was about to be released.
So here we have another 'yay team', everybody's happy, hippy love-child' story. Everything's so good we can only bring you press releases(with their headers removed so our readership thinks they're actual stories), or make up our own feel-good crapola 'cuz something, ANYTHING going wrong in our industry would be damaging to our impressionable reader's delicate sensibilities.
Well I sold my fricken 26" Operator to make way for the new 27.5", and I wanna KNOW WTF happened, and I like Gwinn, thus feel it would be nothing but BAD for the sport if he were left without a [competitive] team this year.
WTF Pink Bike?!?
Oh, Gee.... You f@&#Ken rock too!
FEST = not competition
Athlete definiton:
a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise.