Freeride - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Freeride is a discipline of mountain biking

Mountain biking

Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...

closely related to downhill cycling

Downhill cycling

Downhill biking is a gravity-assisted time trial mountain biking event. Riders race against the clock, usually starting at intervals of 30 seconds , on courses which typically take two to five minutes to complete. Riders come from all around the world. Riders are timed with equipment similar to...

and dirt jumping

Dirt Jumping

Dirt jumping is one of the names given to the practice of riding bikes over cement type jumps of dirt or soil and becoming airborne. The idea is that after riding over the 'take off' the rider will become momentarily airborne, and aim to land on the 'landing'.Dirt jumping can be done on almost...

focused on tricks, style, and technical trail features. It is now recognized as one of the most popular disciplines within mountain biking.

The term freeriding

Freeriding

Freeriding is a discipline of snowboarding.The term "Freeriding" was coined when early snowboarders chose to break away from what they considered to be the restrictive confines of traditional ski culture and competition. The original concept of freeriding was that there was no set course, goals or...

was coined by snowboarders

Snowboarding

Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...

as riding without a set course, goals or rules. In mountain biking, it is riding trail with the most creative line possible that includes style, amplitude, control, and speed.

History

The original freeride bikes were modified downhill bikes which utilized gearing that enabled the rider to go up hills as well as down them. Modern freeride bikes are similar to downhill bikes, but feature slightly less suspension travel and are lighter - which enables them to be ridden not just downhill but through more technical sections, such as North Shore obstacles. Additionally, most freeride bikes feature slightly steeper headangles and shorter wheelbases than pure downhill bikes to facilitate maneuverability on slower, technical sections of trail.

Ski areas have started to embrace the sport of freeriding, adding bike

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

racks to chairlift

Chairlift

An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel cable loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs...

s to create "lift accessed mountain biking

Lift accessed mountain biking

Lift accessed mountain biking is a summer activity that is spreading all over the world. Using the chairlifts or gondola lifts at a ski area, mountain bikers can get up to higher altitudes quickly. The bikers don't have to ride up, and the ski area operators can keep the hill more profitable during...

". This helps ski areas operate year-round and gives the bikers the ability to ride more runs in less time.

Notable Riders

A few specialist riders have embraced the sport including:

Hans Rey
Wade Simmons
Wade Simmons
Wade Simmons is a mountain biker from Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada who has won the Red Bull Rampage Utah 2001 and placed second in the same year in the Red Bull Rampage Australia...
Richey Schley
Brett Tippie
Andrew Shandro
Andrew Shandro
Andrew Shandro is a professional mountain biker. Shandro has starred in many films and featured in mountain bike magazines worldwide. The majority of Shandro's pictures are taken by his close friend Sterling Lawrence. Andrew was born and raised on the North Shore, British Columbia...
Dave Watson
Dave Watson
David "Dave" Watson is an English former professional footballer who made 12 appearances for the English national team. He is now the youth team coach at Newcastle United.-Playing career:...
Thomas Vanderham
Darren Berrecloth
Cam Zink
Jack "Tommo" Thompson
Robbie Bourdon
Robbie Bourdon
Robbie Bourdon is a freeride mountain biker from Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. He is sponsored by Intense Cycles, Red Bull and Oakley. A former member of the Kona Clump Team, he has appeared in all the New World Disorder videos...
Jeff Lenosky
Jeff Lenosky
Jeff Lenosky is an American world class professional Freeride and Trials Mountain Bicycle Rider.Among his many athletic high points is the world record for the Bunny hop, a high jump event using a full size mountain bicycle...

Differences between downhilling and freeriding

Due to similarities with the bicycles used and often the riding locations, the divisions between downhill riding and freeriding are often overlooked. For example freeride bikes have steeper head tube angles and shorter wheelbases for low-speed stability on technical stunts, while downhill bikes have slacker headtube angles and longer wheelbases for absolute high-speed stability at the cost of low-speed maneuverability. Downhill riding is primarily concerned with descending a slope on a given course as quickly as possible. There are often many obstacles in downhill riding, including jumps, drops, and rocky sections.

Freeride is, by definition, a much broader realm of riding. For example, a freerider may often ride a very narrow wooden plank raised as many as twenty five feet above the ground, drop off of cliffs, raised platforms, or other man-made or natural objects onto a landing, or "transition" up to forty feet below. This may involve jumping over a structure below, such as a road or highway. Many aspects of freeriding are similar to downhill riding, with wide open speed and technical and very steep sections, or dirt jumping, with a series of man-made jumps and landings. Another key difference is the emphasis on performing tricks or stylish riding stances while airborne. A freeride course can be compared to a skatepark

Skatepark

A skatepark is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, aggressive inline skating and scooters. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, quarter pipes, spine transfers, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs stairsets,...

, where the purpose of the trail is to provide ample opportunities for the rider to become airborne, throw tricks, and create new and imaginative lines on and over the terrain.

Main features of freeride bikes

Frame

Bicycle frame

A bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, on to which wheels and other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consists of two triangles, a main triangle and a paired rear triangle...

: Frame is made usually of aluminium alloys and/or steel, and usually smaller build compared to a downhill bike. It is almost always equipped with rear suspension

Bicycle suspension

A bicycle suspension is the system or systems used to suspend the rider and all or part of the bicycle in order to protect them from the roughness of the terrain over which they travel...

systems, and many manufacturers still rely on simpler systems (i.e. single-pivot) in order to preserve strength and un-interrupted suspension travel. Freeride frames can also be lighter (where weight is an important consideration) than downhill frames, with these bikes being designated freeride lite and may come equipped with the new, oversized "onepointfive"(inch) head tube standard, in order to cater for increasing demand for stronger, long-travel(150-180 mm), single crown forks. There also exists a burlier breed of freeride bicycles. These bikes are designed for weight-no-object strength and reliability rather than lighter weight.

Fork

Bicycle fork

A bicycle fork is the portion of a bicycle that holds the front wheel and allows the rider to steer and balance the bicycle. A fork consists of two fork ends which hold the front wheel axle, two blades which join at a fork crown, and a steerer or steering tube to which the handlebars attach ...

: Single crown forks are now more popular. Companies such as Fox, Answer Products(Manitou), Marzocchi and RockShox, introduced them with very similar strength to their dual crown counterparts, with the immense advantage of being single crown. This enables a significantly narrower steering diameter, and, more recently, airborne tricks such as 'barspin' or 'tailwhip'

Tailwhip

The tailwhip is a bike trick typically performed on a BMX, in which the frame of the bike performs a complete rotation around the front end , which remains stationary throughout the move...

, at the expense of torsional rigidity. This enables the bike to be used in a variety of ways.

The North Shore

The sport has spread across the planet, but the widely recognized starting point for the addition of man-made obstacles for downhill trails is Vancouver, British Columbia's

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

"North Shore". This refers to three mountains across the Burrard Inlet

Burrard Inlet

Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided coastal fjord in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the low-lying Burrard Peninsula from the slopes of the North Shore Mountains, home to the communities of West...

from downtown Vancouver

Vancouver

, Mount Seymour

Mount Seymour

Mount Seymour is a mountain located in Mount Seymour Provincial Park in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a part of the North Shore Mountains, rising to the north from the shores of Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm to a summit of above the Indian River and Deep Cove neighbourhoods...

, Mt. Fromme, and Cypress Mountain

Cypress Provincial Park

Cypress Provincial Park is a Provincial Park on the North Shore of Metro Vancouver, British Columbia. The park has two sections: a 21 km² southern section which is accessible by road, and a 9 km² northern section which is only accessible by hiking trails...

.

The mountains weren't the first places to have downhill trails with natural obstacles, but they were one of the first places to have man-made obstacles such as skinny bridges and teeter totters. The trail builders often integrate many natural features, using fallen logs to ride on and rocks faces to jump or ride down.

Trails on the North Shore are mostly described as "technical". This means that the trails corners are tight and the tread strewn of natural obstacles such as rocks and roots.

Advocacy

The "shore" has seen some controversy. Most of the trails are built on private property or parkland. BC Parks has responded to growing popularity of freeriding with increased enforcement against illegal trail building and usage. A major voice in the conflict in North Vancouver District was councillor Ernie Crist, who had been lobbying for the closing of all the trails on Mt. Fromme

Grouse Mountain

Grouse Mountain is one of the North Shore Mountains of the Pacific Ranges in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Exceeding 1,200 m in altitude at its peak, is the site of an alpine ski area in the winter season overlooking Greater Vancouver with four chairlifts facilitating 26 runs...

. Housing developments at the base of the mountains complain of bikers going across their lawns etc. The expansion of the residential areas called for the destruction of some trails on Cypress Mountain

Cypress Provincial Park

. There were also cases of sabotage (such as the removal of bridge supports). Most recently, Howell at the Moon Productions partnered with IMBA to create "Pedal-Driven: a bikeumentary", a documentary film highlighting the conflicts and confrontations between freeriders and public land managers over the right to build trails and ride on public lands.

North Shore Mountain Biking Association (NSMBA)

To help promote biking and keep the trails open there is an advocacy group, the North Shore Mountain Biking Association (NSMBA). They negotiate with landowners, organize volunteers to maintain the trails and hold races.

Some of the most famous riders have gotten together and filmed their stunts, tricks, and shenanigans. The most famous of the batch including North Shore Extreme, The Collective, Kranked
Kranked (Freeride Mountain Biking Movie Series)
Kranked is a series of extreme freeride mountain biking films.Since 1997, Bjørn Enga producer/director for Radical Films has specialized in extreme mountain bike cinematography...

, and the New World Disorder series.

External links

North Shore Mountain Bike Association
BRMBA Black Rock Mountain Biking Association (Oregon trail advocacy group and builders/stewards of the Black Rock freeride trails in Falls City, Oregon)
Pinkbike.com Website featuring news, pictures, forums, videos etc of all mountain biking disciplines, particularly the extreme ones
Freeride World Tour Freeride World Tour. The organizers of the Nissan O'Neill Xtreme in Verbier, Russian Adventure Sochi, the Swatch O'Neill Tram Face Squaw Valley and the Nissan Freeride in Tignes as well as their main partners Nissan.

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