More Than a Sport - Video
Member since Jan 16, 2002
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Definitely missed "Utah"... well now I sure look stupid
Great vid. Its insane how well organized and big the NICA north and south HS race programs are in Utah. Not to mention Cam McCaul showed up randomly at a stop and so many kids were stoked that you wouldn't think followed the freeride scene.
washingtonleague.org
I encourage any Middle School or High School kids to check it out. These programs are awesome and I wish I had this when I was in High School. I loved collegiate racing, it got me through college.
Theres a local trail system i like where these turds go to do their practice laps and i have had more than several rides ruined by them and their inconsiderate bike manners. But yeah lets all cheer for every high school having a bike team and increasing the people on trails ten times then see how happy you are when they use your local trails to practice...just saying, i know a lot of PC people wont like m,y comment but it's true
I showed up to my local trail system and realized NICA was there and respectfully followed them at a snails pace leaving plenty of distance. After one lap of the park, I was called aside by the NICA leader, who told me I had to leave the *public park* because I was endangering the group or they would call the police (not saying if it was a male or female because they are probably reading this). I told them go ahead, they aren't going to kick me out of a public park. They then told all the NICA students that I didn't know how to ride a bike which is why I didn't pass, and to this day whenever they see me they make fun of me. How in the heck do you pass over 20 people wobbling side to side on a narrow singletrack trail? That would be a d*** move. SOOO, I was not only disrespected by the coach, but they broke the rule of positivity in NICA. I'm not saying all NICA leagues are bad, but the one in my county (not going to mention it) is absolute s***.
If they taught kids to ride correctly I wouldn't hate the group so much, but one of this groups rules is that your wheels should never leave the ground. Sure, this is the midwest. In other areas of the world, that could be downright dangerous! Practice by yourself will teach you how to ride a trail at a snails pace, the whole point of NICA is to teach correct bike handling and skills that you will need anywhere am I right? I've seen kids that were taught to brake with their middle finger.
Enough armchair MTB. This must be a grassroots effort. Introduce young MTBers this season to DH racing, freeride, BMX, and dirt jumps before they get sucked in by the world of gram/carb counting (don't let them drill speed holes in their water bottle), calorie shaving, Strava loving, cyclocross junkies. Offer to start a club with a local school or youth group, and teach them how to jump and shred tech trails well. Teach kids how to maintain their bikes, not just handing it to the shops, to you, or their parents. Most of all, teach them how to have fun. Build trails, not XC or flow, but tech MTB trails which reward good bike handling and require skill. Encourage jumping on club rides. Organize some (relaxed) jump comps - FEST style (except maybe a bit smaller)
May the best rider win (or the one with the biggest whips)...FREERIDE MTB FOR LIFE
Cheesy hashtag section
#freeridenotfixies #cyclocrosscantcutit #justhuckit #justsaynotonica
The problem isn't with introducing new people to the sport - that's great. The problem is when NICA denounces entire segments of MTB (based on their official stances-ie. freeride, DH, dirt jumping), not only are they alienating many potential MTBers, but are delegitimizing a vital part of the MTB scene worldwide. NICA should work on outreach to these types of bikers and stay true to the sport. If a sense of cooperation is shared between genres of MTB, that would be great. Otherwise, less and less people will do DH and freeride MTB - NICA should feature and encourage DH and freeride to broaden their base, and just get more people into the sport in general. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I bet there are others who feel just the same way.
I totally agree that many of the regulations around NICA are quite strict (coming from a NICA racer), but you need to keep in mins that the vast majority of these regulations are to encourage the schools to adopt MTB as a school sport. If these were not in place, many of the schools would think of the stereotypical mountain biker getting high and ringing off some huge cliff and landing paralyzed in the hospital. That is the last thing a school would promote. Also, my team (Monticello High School Mustangs) not only races in NICA, but we take frequent trips to other big mountain riding locations (one of my personal favorites: Torrey Ridge s77.photobucket.com/user/firstbornbikes/media/SWEET/Torrey_Garden-03.jpg.html ) we ride plenty of technical stuff.
btw: A-Line isn't technical.