Video: 13 Year Old Leads Yoann Barelli Off North Shore's 'Brutus' Road Gap

 That's exactly my feeling... First time on my bike and you did that to me, CJ.. What the hell !!! hahahaha

 Lol! You got me!

 @beerrun: reading comprehension

 Not gonna lie, they had us in the first half

 @beerrun: Whooooosh

 @yoannbarelli: Hey man, I have a 10yro that is on track for stuff like this tho not at Brutus yet. What do you do for freeride armor at this level?? Something hard with shoulder pads and neck brace or is something lighter? Its so far beyond my own riding, I don't have much experience with staying-in-one-piece at this level.

 I have two teenager sons that hit stuff this big both on bikes and skis.

We have a family saying "if you think you might not make it, you won't".

So they / we evaluate big sends and if they think they have it they hit it if not then you back off. This kid certainly has the skills and I imagine he knew that he had it.

The potential for injury is not any more than every jump / drop on Dirt Merchant and there is a line of teens hitting those features at speed on that all day everyday.

My kids and I also got to ride with Yoann last summer and he is one of the nicest people I have met and I don't think he would pressure anyone into anything he wasn't confident they could ride.

 @powderhoundbrr: Always an interesting conversation. I have a 9yro that was hitting similar but smaller stuff (15 &10) like this last season. He's had a mountain of coaching and experience for his age etc. But damn...I still wonder all the time if its the right thing to do lol. Kids are kind of dumb at times and make terrible decisions pretty easily. My MD buddy is quick to tell me that their prefrontal cortex (decision making) is constantly evolving...then DEvolving etc. It doesn't make me feel better. We aren't putting the brakes on it yet and he rides with a team with an ex-pro freeride coach (note...not just a racer) and that has made a world of difference. He seems to only get hurt when he rides with me lol. So while I think its amazing seeing kids go big, it's also pretty scary knowing that there are some serious consequences and decisions being made by a now 10yro brain. I still don't know what's right, thankfully he's walked away from some big spills without major injury. That being said, do you have recommendations on armor for kids in the PNW lol? What do your kids wear? (good luck keeping up with those two!...seems like yesterday my kids were hitting little plywood ramps with no shirt and crappy bikes. Goes fast sadly)

 @Svinyard: Yep no doubt they are evolving all the time. It is certainly a concern but in the end you have to trust their survival instinct.

My kids have never had an injury outside a couple of minor concussions over the years. In terms of what they wear when they 8 - 12 I had had them in full body armor.

These days though much like what you see the pros wear they will wear kneepads and that is about it. If they are racing they might add a blackguard and elbow pads. Unfortunately pads aren't cool so even getting them to wear knee pads in the bike park is tough. A tank top and jeans is their go to crash protection for bike park laps.

 Bro, he’s 13… I was doing way worse shit at that age. Trust me.

Thank you @yoannbarelli for mentoring these young ones, help them in assessing risk and giving them a reason to stay off the streets!

 So what, you gotta wait until you're "old enough", as if that's a thing.

When I was thirteen, we did all kinds of crazy stuff on BMX bikes (back before mtb existed) and I can tell you, the crashes were huge because we went big; and our parents didn't know shite!

There is no such thing as the right age, it's more about progression, and clearly this "kid" has progressed enough to do this gap.

But more importantly, as a mentor, Yoann is there to monitor the risks, and I believe he's shown us that he's responsible enough to say no.

 Go long on wheelchair futures?

 @Svinyard: Youngest brother was a sender. Got him wearing a full face all the time. He got to where he felt uncomfortable without it, even wore it for street and pump track.

For shuttle days I'd cover him head to toe in heavy armor- moto chest protector, elbow, knee shin, padded shorts, armored gloves, etc. He got used to that being normal too.

 @Svinyard: You SHOULD wear pads but don't fool yourself; there's nothing that can protect you from accidents at this level. Go with a very high quality FF helmet, and a 10-yr-old can have a weaker neck so a DH-rated enduro might be a good choice as the new ones are ridiculously light. Neck braces are... controversal. You can probably get him to wear leg pads, maybe elbows but probably not gloves... kids these days.

 @plyawn: Interested in learning what the controversy is on neck braces? My kid wears one to ride park and so do all his friends. Genuinely curious what the downside risk is.

 @gb8561: i think it has to do with the likely hood of collar bone breaks/shoulder dislocations in even smaller crashes that you would have walked away perfectly fine had you not had the neck brace.
Obviously a broken collar bones better than a broken neck though so it kinda comes down to balancing risk and priority

 @nurseben: between bmx and skateboarding (most of the time without a helmet...) between 9-15 years old I'm shocked that I didn't end up in the hospital multiple times. I remember having to use a cane for a few days in 5th grade because I got absolutely wrecked trying to bunnyhop (from a standstill...) off the top of a 4ft tall stack of pallets with a piece of plywood on top to flat ground. Pretty tough to bunnyhop those old hi ten steel Huffys with pegs and a gyro at that age hahaha

 @endurogan: Thanks. That was my assumption. For us it's a good trade off. Plus halos are a bit of a fashion statement up here!

 Hahahah

 Just a reflection: It mainly impresses us because it is a parent who encourages him. Other teenagers secretly do equally dangerous things in the street with the skateboard or the bmx and nobody is impressed because no adult knows what happens ..

 @nurseben: sarcasm

 Ha!

 A tremendous case study on people being too impatient on the internet to read an entire paragraph. People read the first sentence and started profusely sweating on their keyboards, racing to counter you with their superb intellect. Yikes.

 @powderhoundbrr: minor concussions, these are cumulative.

 @kingbike2: Totally agree and we monitor that for sure. Unfortunately kids who bike and ski at any level are going to hit their heads now and then. Same as hockey and soccer players, you are going to get a concussion occasionally. The trick is making sure that you do whatever you can to prevent them as much as possible.

 Physics homework essay prompt: Create an experiment to verify that the acceleration due to gravity is indeed 9.8m/s².

CJ: Hold my chocolate milk...

 I'd be happy with 5%

 @Biggs427: best I can do is 0%

 @Biggs427: hahaha yes, this is probably more accurate for myself as well

 @trail-governor: ok now thats too far hes a good kid

 @trail-governor: at least make it less obvious how jealous you are LOL

 @trail-governor: seems like they didnt teach you any manners. You have an outstanding "god complex" because you build trails and you would like a collective BJ from the mtb community because of it and its the reason why you dont have any friends. YOU harass people who make youtube videos. YOU harass pro riders online. Talk about lack of manners like buddy your 30 FVCKIN YEARS OLD. Embarrasing.

 @trail-governor: you build a trail... people will ride it. You dont give them respect they dont give you respect. Its not rocket science (that means its not very complicated). They also dont owe you respect and your certainly not going to get it acting like this. You say "they lost the chance" like its a privelage to have your respect... again with the god complex. Find me one video where you asked them not to film but they did anyways. Believe me the entirety of Vancouver is grumpy with you too.

 @trail-governor: First, what a lame response. Second, you cant make a spelling error and say I have a small brain. Lastly, you dont own the trails, and nobody really cares about the "flack" that you and your redneck buds give to anybody. Just makes you look bad, especially for someone who is (again) 30 FVCKIN YEARS OLD.

 @trail-governor: we’re gonna keep riding the trails you build whether you like it or not. You aren’t owed a god damn thing LOL

 @SterlingArcher: I’d say he’s owed a “thanks for your work” just not a collective bj from the mtb community as I said above.

 @deknarp: thanks for your work. Are you happy now?

 @trail-governor: nobody likes you

 @SterlingArcher: ok too far

 @deknarp: hahaha trail governor sent me a nasty private message and then blocked me so I can’t respond. What a weak little chump piece of garbage.

 @SterlingArcher: rumor has it hes a mother now

 www.aenomalyconstructs.com

cool local company

 SwitchGrade from Aenomaly, brand from Vancouver and made by NSBillet in Whistler. You can't go wrong and I play with this thing all the time, love it !!

 @yoannbarelli: Merci!

 GG is cool and all and they sponsor 46 year old Flavio Kodato wanting to progress and he will probably drop this one this year

 I'm guessing the SwitchGrade, Pinkbike did an article on it last year if you search SwitchGrade into the PB search bar

 North Shore Billet prototype

 @martins: too bad CJ wasn't wearing an NS Fvckin' B T

@Spidersanta: no quarter

 @martins: Thanks mate !

 @martins: Oh for real!!! I was asking myself the same question the other day.... can't wait to see that coming to the market then!!!

 I always do that, it's my hat hahaha

 Cypress has a no water bottle rule