[greg447]

Now a lot of people here are gonna give me flak for this thread buti want to know what people here really think about guys like Wade Simmons and Dave Watson and then guys like Darren who is kinda a veteran with new school style. Now i have major respect for any of these riders but i get kind of weary when i think about where the sport will be going in the next 10 years becuase i dont think ill every be able to do some of the insane things these riders are thinking of doing.


thanks, Greg

 

[OGRipper]

Just ride your bike and enjoy it. Unless you are trying to compete at the highest level, the fact that there are some people doing insane things somewhere shouldn't matter.

 

[greg447]

Okay thats your opinion, i respect that but doesnt anyone get a little envious about kids pushing the envelop so far you could probably never get there?

 

[bballboy388]

I know what you mean... im only 16 but i look at what kyle strait was doing when he was 16 and it makes me think it will be impossible for me to even reach that level. It doesnt so much get me envious though as make me want to ride.

 

[greg447]

Yea, thats what im talking about, and people with style and whatnot like wade richie and dave get short half ass parts in the new world disorder 6, which pissed me off.

 

[OGRipper]

Okay thats your opinion, i respect that but doesnt anyone get a little envious about kids pushing the envelop so far you could probably never get there?

Dude, I am 36 years old. Every time I go to whistler or any other riding mecca I see kids half my age riding at a level I will probably never reach. I KNOW I will never be as good as the pros are today, and even if I get there, they will also have improved as much if not more and I will still be off the back.

Seeing better riders inspires me to be a better rider but it doesn't bum me out at all. Maybe that's because when I started riding, there were no comps, no contracts, no videos, and we all rode for nothing more than the pure joy of it. That was and always will be enough for me.

Now excuse me while I go lube my walker and charge my hearing aid.

 

[luelling]

I've been racing mountain bikes a long time and I'm only 24 now...but I do feel old. Its kinda sad....I was an "up and comer" racer when I was 16 and did well, but last year I got my butt handed to me a couple of times. Does that mean I'm a has been? (not like I was some super pro in the first place)

 

[SCABRIDER]

old school riders have really smooth flowy style and do epic rides and sick lines. new school guys aren't as smooth and do bigger, badder, gnarlier stuff...

 

[tlproject7]

bearclaw is kinda a bad example off new school, cause hes to good, he can ride anything freeride, big or tech. but people more in the dirt jump area, to me its a whole different mentality, when i go to ride some tech stunt compared to when i go ride dh. i feel completely different. or another example, in slopestyle thomas V's run is sooo different then aaron chases. i dont know where this is goin, kinda a ramble, but those are some thoughts

 

[BIGHIT8989]

Just watch them and think of their riding as a motivation to go ride, try new stuff, and push your own envelop. You may never be as good as Darren B will be or as fast as steve peat. but that doesn;t mean you can push your self to achive goals and increase your skill level

Its all about your attitude. Think Positive and Ride for life !

 

[kail]

I'd actually rather watch guys like Simmons, Vanderham, and Watson, because they actually know how to ride a mountain bike with flow, unlike most of the new school guys. Bearclaw is the exception because he's actually smooth when he does a 360 off something. I'm sorry, but Paul Basagoita just doesn't do it for me. If you can't land a trick smoothly, then don't do a trick. It seems like all the new slopestyle competitions favor people who can do tricks. It doesn't matter how those tricks look, or even how smoothly they're landed, just as long as the rider does lots of 'em. The top 200 bmx pros would absolutely school guys like Cameron Zinc, Paul B., etc., probably on the same course, too. They're not doing anything new. I'd like to see a return of events like the Redbull Rampage, where people are actually mountain biking.

 

[rigidhack]

Do you think the difference has to do with the new school guys learning on fully suspended bikes, where a lot of the old guard spent time on little to no suspension? (Thus the need to learn how to flow and land?)

I agree that the BMX guys could easily school most MTB riders on how to control a bike. Suspension can cover up SOOOOO much bad riding. (Even though it can also open up possibilities that simply are not there without it.)

 

[kail]

Do you think the difference has to do with the new school guys learning on fully suspended bikes, where a lot of the old guard spent time on little to no suspension? (Thus the need to learn how to flow and land?)

I agree that the BMX guys could easily school most MTB riders on how to control a bike. Suspension can cover up SOOOOO much bad riding. (Even though it can also open up possibilities that simply are not there without it.)

I think that might have a lot to do with it. Just watch the old Kranked videos. Simmons and Dangerous Dan are riding the Shore on hardtails and 4" travel full suspension bikes. I've had the privelage to meet Wade and see him ride several times, and let me tell you, that guy can RIP! If you put him against any of the new school riders on a DH course he would easily beat them, because he's so smooth and pins it all the time. I think all the new school guys are practicing is tricks, not technical trail riding.

About the BMX thing, guys like Mike Aitken and Chris Doyle are doing things like double tailwhips with a 360 thrown in for good measure. I've also seen lots of BMXers doing flip-whips. In Road Fools 14, Morgan Wade does a tailwhip off a 15' high wall, onto a grass tranny. Thats as big as the Giro trailer at Crankworx, but he's on a fully rigid 20" bmx bike.

 

[spacemanspiff06]

I know what you mean... im only 16 but i look at what kyle strait was doing when he was 16 and it makes me think it will be impossible for me to even reach that level. It doesnt so much get me envious though as make me want to ride.

i definitely get envious, i would glady sell my soul for their talent/reckless abandon(i was about to say balls, but thought better of it.), but watching people who are better riders then me ride, and riding with them, makes me in turn ride better. it's cool for me that i'm in the middle of all my friends as far as talent, so i alternate observing/feeling like i suck and leading/feeling like i ride like a god.

 

[budgetrider]

Smoothness is highly overrated. It's for old toothless people who can't chew their peanut butter.

 

[tlproject7]

excuse me?

 

[renorider40]

As far a smoothness and flow being over rated, thats a joke. For many people it is just as important as the tricks. As far as watching some of the people in videos today, it doesn't make me feel bad about myself because i just kind of accepted that i will probably never be as good as them. For me. i am motivated the most and i push my self when i am actually riding with someone who is better than me.

 

[OGRipper]

Do you think the difference has to do with the new school guys learning on fully suspended bikes, where a lot of the old guard spent time on little to no suspension? (Thus the need to learn how to flow and land?)

I agree that the BMX guys could easily school most MTB riders on how to control a bike. Suspension can cover up SOOOOO much bad riding. (Even though it can also open up possibilities that simply are not there without it.)

Well, since the new school involves lots of cross-over riders from BMX I'm not sure I agree. Most of them probably didn't learn on a suspended bike, they learned (and still ride) on a BMX bike.

But the whole thing is an endless debate because there are no objective answers. This kind of riding is like art, one style appeals to some people, another to others.

So, is Wade a better rider for laying out a totally styled flatty over a huge gap with a technical run in than Paul B is for dropping a tailwhip off a drop on a groomed course?

I don't know, does a shark swim better than a cheeta runs?

 

[Muuqi]

Smoothness is highly overrated. It's for old toothless people who can't chew their peanut butter.

Quite. And bike handling skills are overrated as well. I personally would rather see Wade Simmons kill it like he always does, rather than a bmx cross over sort of wander across a slopstyle course to find a jump to do a flip or whip on. But then again Wade was the reason I really got into mountain biking, so I'm a little biased. I think Bearclaw is the perfect combination of "nu-skool" and "old-skool." If you're gonna do BMX tricks, why not do them out in the woods, rather than over the same stuff BMXers are doin' em over.

 

[dexter]

new age guys hit the smae big stuff just with mew tricks and also hit more techy lines with more flow

 

[mtbikermark]

I'm 38 and I don't ride with all that much flow or do insane drops... But, being older, I do have money to buy nice bikes. Does that count for anything?

Seriously, though, I ride because I love to ride. I like to watch very talented riders pull stuff that I'd never do and just enjoy their athletic ability and creativity in line selection. I get inspired by it all and go ride some more.