My rant

[mccall]

There was a couple threads on this board a couple days ago defining freeriding, so I figured I would throw in my 2 cents to the fire and explaine why I freeride, and why I just plain Bike.

Biking has an extreme risk factor that puts itself above normal sports. It is a hard comparasin to compare any extreme sport to something comparitivly mellow like hockey or lacrosse, the rush is just not there in those lesser sports.

It is a do or die lifestyle in biking that I like, once I go to far, I will be dead, or crippled, and you justy don't get that feeling outa other lesser sports.

Biking is full of injuries, I know the risks and choose to do it anyways. I fear the injuries, but am not letting myself be controled by the fear, eventually I will get hurt, that is life, but intell then I will be pushing myself harder and harder


anyways, that is my 2 cents, enjoy

-Alex-

[corey@nsmb.com]

Originally posted by mccall
It is a hard comparasin to compare any extreme sport to something comparitivly mellow like hockey or lacrosse, the rush is just not there in those lesser sports.



..I think your first mistake is here. Have you ever played competitive Lacrosse and or Hockey at the level where you play against 200 lb men who are solid muscle and hitting is fair game?

Some of the toughest people I know are hockey/lacrosse players...to call those sports mellow in comparison to biking is not the best parrallel.

Besides, I don't know what kind of riding you are doing, but if you stay on your bike you get a lot less beat up than one of our Adanac guys would in one game. Accidents happen in biking, as they do in hockey and lacrosse. I have seen far more carnage, stiches and broken bones in guys who play these sports than the majority of the people I know who ride.

Sensisble and gradual progression will get you skills and talent and the experience to throw down. Coming out of the gate trying to ride like the guys in the movies will get you broken and bound for a life of injuries and more time on the couch than on your bike.

[mccall]

I play both competetive lacrosse and competetive hockey, I know what both are like and I know what a 200 pound man bearing down on you means for I am one myself, IMO hockey and lacrosse is comparitivly mellow compared to Biking. I understand the risk of injurey is high in all sports, I just find that the ammount of injuries in hockey and lacrosse are not as serious or as frequent as those in biking.
I have been playing hockey since I was 4 years old (I am 16 now) and the worst injury I have seen is a concusion (SP?) or a broken coller bone. Where I have seen broken arms, legs, ribs, cracked skulls, permenent brain damage biking (all of which was to the same person)
This is still my opinion that Biking is more extreme a sport then alot of others

[fr33k]

So your saying bike riding is way more dangerous a sport than hockey and other contact sport's ? Like Cory explained.try playing any contact sport at a senior level then go back to your mountain bike, then report back to us. I have played senior rugby for many years and can assure you without a dout it is a way tougher and the injury risk's are greater.

[mccall]

Again, as I said, I do play senior/ competetive sports, I play both Hockey and Lacrosse. I have come back to my bike, and YES! I still believe it to be more dangerous

[corey@nsmb.com]

OK....thats your opinion. Is the point of your thread not intended to start a discussion? You make it difficult when you dismiss someone's "differing" opinion because it does not line up with yours.

Your opinion is yours and its great, but if you are not going to hear anyone else's, whats the point of this thread? You could just put it in your signature and save us all from getting shot down! :lol: :) :P

[corey@nsmb.com]

Originally posted by mccall
Again, as I said, I do play senior/ competetive sports, I play both Hockey and Lacrosse. I have come back to my bike, and YES! I still believe it to be more dangerous

..at 16, you don't have nearly as many players with the muscle mass, weight and strength than you would and do see in senior level sports (try playing against guys in their 20's).

Biking is only as dangerous as you make it. Progress using your head and with experience and you are far less likely to get hurt than if you pick up biking at 15 and expect to be hucking 20 foot drops in a year. That is a recipe for disaster.

[mccall]

I am not trying to shoot you guys down. At all. All I am getting is play this or that before I post, and I am trying to tell you that I have played, and I am basing my opinion on that

[mccall]

Originally posted by Mulletron
..at 16, you don't have nearly as many players with the muscle mass, weight and strength than you would and do see in senior level sports (try playing against guys in their 20's).


Just to let you know, my idea of competetive hockey is Junior B, which extends between ages 16-21. So I am not all just hot air

[wickedmcdougle]

Any sport that gives players sticks is a lot more violent than biking. In competitive mountain biking, guys don't hit each other. Sure when you crash it hurts, but in lacrosse guys are getting cranked over and over again.

[Keefer]

I think they relate totally. Playing top level Hockey (AAA, or somewhere around those lines) has a high chance of injury, just like top level of biking does.

For me, Biking is more dangerous. I play Midget C (House) Hockey, so my injury odds of that are fairly slim. Going out and jumping some big rhythm set is way more dangerous IMO.

I know I hurt myself a lot more biking than I do playing hockey, but once again, the different levels of sport I'm at are the main difference.

[Valo]

To me freeriding is a escape from the norm, Risking your life and challenging yourself. I don't like organised sports I love the freedom of freeriding, Its a natuarl high that can't be surpassed by anything i can think of. I will love it untill I'm unable to do it anymore either do to finacial resons or health. I don't compete well against other it just frustrates me and puts a lot of strain on me, Freeriding is all about freedom, If it means an empty wallet or a some broken bones, Bring it On

[corey@nsmb.com]

Originally posted by Dirt For Breakfast
Risking your life and challenging yourself.

:lol: :lol: I love this kind of stuff. Risking your life?? What kind of riding are you doing that puts your life in jeopardy?

You could also say walking downtown crossing the street is "risking your life", it makes it sound "extreme" too. Everything we do in life has some degree of risk. It isn't like mtb riders are falling down killing themselves on a daily basis. The sport has suffered a few casualties, which are all very tragic and sad for all of us, but it is not something that is common, nor does it paint our sport as something that brings you to the edge of life each ride.

[WBC]

So being MAXXX Xtreme is the only reason why you all ride :???:

shit, I thought it was because it's fun to learn new things!

Well, I guess I'm out of the game then :(

[theoriginalhardcore]

i play football and rugby and i have been hurt way more biking, but i still think that there is way more of a chance that im gona get hurt playing football or rugby then biking.

[usa_hucker]

I played Lacrosse for 4 years. I broke my thumb three times. Twice in once state tournement. Lacrosse can definately be brutal and it is more exhausting but hard core biking is definately more dangerous. I never hit the ground going 45 mph playing lacrosse....

More and more I am thiking about just selling the DH bike and buying a complete kite boarding rig. No more shuttles, 8 hour drives to whistler, sitting home on my free weekend when my buddies can't ride. I have progressed to the level where the next tier of stunts are really really dangerous. Huge road gaps, 20+ drops, etc. etc. I love that stuff but when you go down, you go down HARD. Bruised ego or bruised body..lately i'm thinking of going with the bruised ego.

[corey@nsmb.com]

...Because your skill set is improving, you don't need to feel that the "next level" is too dangerous.

There is a lot of focus on going big and defining skill based on the size of gap, drop etc that you hit.

Skill can be developed in other ways than throwing yourself off of cliffs and road gaps. Just watch any Wade Simmons segment or Shandro segment in a video where they are just flowing a trail. You can go to the next level through becoming insanely fluid, smooth and stylie!

I think it takes more pure skill to flow a trail and make knarl look easy, throw in some manuals and other cool flowish moves than it does to man-up and blow off a 20 foot drop.

That being said, there is big skill involved in big tricks. But, there are a lot of guys out there who can throw down huge, but couldn't wheelie, nose wheelie, manual etc. to save their life, and those are just built off of basic bike handling skills.

I think a lot more people are able to control their fear and brave-up to huck big stuff and land it with the help of their bike. I think less people take the time to perfect bike handling skills enough to ride a trail like Wade would.

Point: Don't give up biking for fear of the next level you feel you must reach is too risky. The next level could just as easily be perfecting bike handling skills and making your favourite trail a whole new ball game.

[fr33k]

Originally posted by Mulletron
...Because your skill set is improving, you don't need to feel that the "next level" is too dangerous.

There is a lot of focus on going big and defining skill based on the size of gap, drop etc that you hit.

Skill can be developed in other ways than throwing yourself off of cliffs and road gaps. Just watch any Wade Simmons segment or Shandro segment in a video where they are just flowing a trail. You can go to the next level through becoming insanely fluid, smooth and stylie!

I think it takes more pure skill to flow a trail and make knarl look easy, throw in some manuals and other cool flowish moves than it does to man-up and blow off a 20 foot drop.

That being said, there is big skill involved in big tricks. But, there are a lot of guys out there who can throw down huge, but couldn't wheelie, nose wheelie, manual etc. to save their life, and those are just built off of basic bike handling skills.

I think a lot more people are able to control their fear and brave-up to huck big stuff and land it with the help of their bike. I think less people take the time to perfect bike handling skills enough to ride a trail like Wade would.

Point: Don't give up biking for fear of the next level you feel you must reach is too risky. The next level could just as easily be perfecting bike handling skills and making your favourite trail a whole new ball game. Probably the best thought out response yet. All it takes is ball's , practice, and a lack of respect for your bike to do big huck's. To learn to flow a trail, like Corey say's is a world away in talent than hucking "20 feet" What a joke to think that riding to the next level means you have to do even bigger drops. Try dropping of a log which is say only 5 feet in the air while doing a nose manual. Now thats taking it to the next level.

[patrolskid]

usa hucker : i went down to squish the other day to watch the kite guys . looks like fun , however : expensive gear ( that gets damaged ) no wind days , need other people to launch, land , jet skis for rescue , hassles in the water ( other people ) , parking issues , cars to transport to site ....... get my point ?
cycling is huge in it's variety . try road , track , hell go for a tour and really see the country and your bike in a completely different way , and you'll start to see your freeride bike in a different way as well .
what mulletron said makes sense .
mccall : you are comparing apples and oranges . lacross and hockey and cycling are all sports . the first two are team competitive sports and cycling is an individual sport . you don't have some guy beating on you just because he wants to ride the bike ......

[BAC5.2]

I ride because it's fun. It's a thrill.

When I was younger, I would watch movies and TV shows and read magazines. I would see the guys dropping 10 feet, watch the bikes progress as the sport did. I always wondered what they felt like when they could do that. What they felt about themselves after they could do that. What it was like to actually be doing it. I always kept biking on my sidelines for a sport. I've ridden XC for 8 years.

I wanted to be all about BMX riding, doing backflips and insane combos. All the while I had a MTB sitting in my garage being used 2 days a week.

Finally, 2 years ago, I started working in a shop. I stopped riding BMX, and got into riding MTB more and more because I worked with them on a nearly daily basis.

15 years after I first threw my legs over a top tube, and 8 years after I first mountain biked, I have become the person I used to think only existed in the magazines. While I have no real desire to race pro downhill, and I don't care to make any money off of riding, I still do it. I used to wonder what it was like to drop bigger than I am tall. I wondered what it felt like to be that guy. I turned into that guy, and there is no where to go from here but up.

I don't ride because it's "hardcore" or because people think it's "cool". I don't ride to impress people. I don't ride to get chicks. I don't ride for money. I don't ride so I can say "Watch This." I don't ride for any of those reasons. I don't care if companies like how I ride. I don't care if anyone else likes how I ride. I ride for me. I ride because it makes me happy. I ride because of that feeling I get in the pit of my stomach mid-air. I ride because on the trail, there is only one thing on my mind, and it isn't women, it isn't school, it isn't life. The only thing I am thinking about is right then and right there.

I ride because it makes me feel better. I don't identify myself with riding, I identify my riding with myself.

[WBC]

Mulletron and Bac! :woot: :woot:

Lately, I haven't been going any bigger but I have had so much fun. It's more fun, IMO, to hit a smaller jump with style and smoothness than it is to ride balls out towards a huge lip and soar, the entire time hoping to god you don't die.

I used to be all about showing off and one-upping...now I just don't care :) Riding is hellla fun! My favorite feeling is ripping down some cool, damp trail hitting some stunts and jumps and linking it all up. That's what I find fun :)

It's also cool to lay style and smoothness over something you once considered super hardcore and you held on with deathgrip to hit.

:)

[looneyman]

I play hockey, snowboard, and bike. I think that snowboarding is just as dangerous as biking. If you look at the high levels of snowboarding, there are also many injuries and many deaths. For example, Craig Kelly, one of snowboarding's most respected riders perished in an avalanche. I know that it is easier to clear 40 foot tabletops and do tricks on a snowboard, but the risk is still there. Especially if you go backcountry (which I do a lot). I can get the same adrenaline rush I get from biking from snowboarding, and it works out well because I snowboard when theres snow, then bike when there isn't.

[DangerBoy]

I bike to have fun?

[Valo]

Originally posted by Mulletron
:lol: :lol: I love this kind of stuff. Risking your life?? What kind of riding are you doing that puts your life in jeopardy?

You could also say walking downtown crossing the street is "risking your life", it makes it sound "extreme" too. Everything we do in life has some degree of risk. It isn't like mtb riders are falling down killing themselves on a daily basis. The sport has suffered a few casualties, which are all very tragic and sad for all of us, but it is not something that is common, nor does it paint our sport as something that brings you to the edge of life each ride.

that is true, but there is a more risk in mtb or anything then anything else i do in life, I know the chaces of death are slim to none, but its the thought of that in the back of my head that contributes to my adrenilin rush

[jro]

Originally posted by patrolskid
you don't have some guy beating on you just because he wants to ride the bike ......


Only if you live in Surrey or PoCo

[Zu]

yah! MAXXX XXXXTREME!!!!:D :D :rolleyes: