Freeride

Freeride referred to mountain biking, the technically challenging riding on a mountain bike that can contain any combination steep downhill sections, jumps of up to ten meters above natural barriers and athletic maneuvers. Freeriding requires a great body and bike control. The wearing of full-face helmet and protective gear is common especially in Freeride Extreme mountain bikers.

History

The birthplace of freeriding is located in Whistler BC ( Canada ) and Vancouver on the so-called North Shore. Were Here - influenced by the wooden structures of the West Coast Trail - the first built wooden structures, which are now considered North Shore trails known and are used as artificial wood constructions in bike parks worldwide application. In Whistler, where every year the slopestyle event Crankworx is held, has been existing for more than 10 years, the largest bike park in the world. One of the most popular bike parks in Germany is located in Winterberg in the Sauerland. One of the biggest bike parks in Europe is located in Leogang / Saalbach in Austria. With more than 40 ° slope is one of the steepest bike parks in the world, the northern chain single trail to find directly above the Olympic city of Innsbruck.

In the years 1999 to about 2004 big-mountain freeriding was still strongly influenced by criteria such as the highest jumps (drops ) and defines the most dangerous runs on a closed race course. The sport was influenced and encouraged at this time by events like the Red Bull Rampage in Utah, USA. Important representatives of this trend were the first Canadians Wade Simmons ( also known as the father of freeriding ), Ritchie Schley, Brett Tippie, Bobby Root, Darren Berrecloth, Robbie Burdon Tyler Klaasen, Cédric Gracia and Thomas Vanderham. They are known for their appearances in films such as Scene New World Disorder and Kranked. But then the new-school trend, the technical riding with difficult BMX tricks, such as tailwhip, backflip or a 360 ( Three Sixty ), and with drops of up to ten meters were combined. The scene continued to develop and tricks in the open country, in the woods and on mountains etc. became established. This movement of the slopestyle, who was known by her snowboarding originated. The Frenchman Cedric Cracia was the successful freeriders in Europe, at all the French were the first European nation which was successful in freeriding. Cedric Gracia won the 2003 Red Bull Rampage the extreme competition of the scene. Next to him, Nicolas Vouilloz is the most successful downhiller history. He was ten times overall World Cup winner. The youngest star is Yannick Granieri he set a world record with a backflip over 25 meters and was also the most successful Europeans in the first Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour ( FMB ) in 2010 where he finished 4th place behind Darren Berrecloth, Brandon Semenuk and the winner Cam Zink.

In slopestyle contests such as the Adidas Slopestyle in Saalbach -Hinterglemm ( Austria ), the driver's field tells mostly in precisely these lines. The Freeride Part take over fully- riders like Darren Berrecloth and the dirt jump Part hardtail riders like Aaron Chase. Thus, the Department Slopestyle offers a symbiosis of the two very different types Freeride to drive.

Species

Enduro, All Mountain

Enduro and All Mountain, describe increasingly popular mountain sports that combine the uphill road driving with downhill descents. This mountain bikers often do they travel with lift or shuttle some altitude before it even further up the drive under its own power for the entry of a downhill road trips where. When enduro particular, the principle focus is to work together to take a mountain bike tour. On this specially selected departures are counted as race. To increase the fun factor is often combined these runs with freeride elements.

Enduro and All Mountain is usually with full suspension bikes ( Fully) driven suspensions from 120 mm of travel, which are often locked in order to use the pedal power going uphill even more effectively. Of travel can be up to about 220 mm. Enduro and All Mountain bikes usually have a 30- speed gearbox, but more and more contact with less transitions, such as a combination of two chain rings with 10 gears, so 20 speeds. Freeride bikes often do not have a derailleur, but usually a combination of a chain ring with up to 11 gears (eg: XX1 of SRAM). Advantage of this circuit variant for freeride bikes are the reduction of the existing cables and less susceptible to the dreaded Chainsuck, in which the chain from chainring slip and become trapped between the chainring and chainstay. The weight is about 15-18 kg at enduro and all-mountain bikes about 12-15 kg and freeriders. Fork and shock are often locked and forks lowered to facilitate driving in steep uphill sections. These bikes have hydraulic disc brakes. Advantages of this technique are the good braking performance in the wet, the excellent sensitivity and the fact that at an impeller with side impact ( colloquially "roller " ) do not interfere with the brake pads concentricity, as is the case with rim brakes.

Bike Mountaineering

Bike climbers try to drive too far away from well -made paths with her bike alpine terrain. Here, the several hours wearing the bicycle is taken into account, as well as a steep and exposed, blocked downhill runs with difficult terrain and tight turns. The focus is on the mountain experience, similar to the ski touring in winter. A special driving technique of the bike mountaineering is precisely dosed rear addition of a rotation around the front wheel to allow maneuvering in steep and narrow, sometimes heavily splinted downhill switchbacks. Since moving bike climber in a sensitive area, an appropriate code of conduct has been drawn up

Freeride Extreme

Freeride, Extreme Mountain Biking is a sport for which it is all about extreme tricks. By daring jumps and maneuvers, the material is very stressed. A common term among the athletes is the drop. It is a leap that has a straight Directions and the driver then passes to the free fall. Known representatives of the sport are Josh Bender, Darren Berrecloth, Brandon Semenuk, Cam McCaul and Kurtis concern. Josh Bender tried with his bike a 17 m deep drop, but failed due to the hard landing on soft ground.

The Extreme Freeride mountain bike must be particularly stable and is usually full suspension as the downhill. The components must be designed for tougher approach to prevent injuries caused by the failure of parts. The wheels have nowadays usually a weight of about 17-20 kg and have up to 200 mm front and rear 180 to 250 mm of travel. The spring elements make use of the steel spring technology with oil damping, air spring elements which are lighter are also in the freeride / downhill sports more popular, however, these problems often working in extreme conditions have since the volume of air affected by fluctuating temperatures. This is not the only problem of the air spring elements in Downhill / Freeride, they often have lower attenuation and noise of the suspension travel, they also need to be serviced more often. The braking system with hydraulic disc brakes, the wheels have front and rear 203 mm diameter usually 203 or 180 mm, and in some cases even up to 230 mm ( exceptions) with special "Alpine Kit" rotors and caliper adapters.

Urban Freeride

Naming

Urban [ erban ] = Urban - Urban (from Latin urbs city = ) Freeride = Free ( Free) Ride (vehicle or ride ) were " free ride ". Urban Freeride means taking in about "free driving in the city ." By this is meant that walls and stairs represent only small obstacles, walls are skipped by Schanze, stairs are easily overcome by fast ramp.

Events

The biggest events in Europe were Ride to the Lake in September 2004 in Meersburg on Lake Constance, the District Ride in Nuremberg in September 2005 and the second edition in August 2006 and the third edition in September 2011, also in Nürnberg. In Meersburg were 40 riders on a distance of 1000 m and 150 m above sea level against each other, in Nuremberg as a top-class field of 27 riders. At both events, it was a total prize money of 20,000 euros. In both events in Nuremberg 40,000-60,000 spectators were present. Always popular events is also where driven with a mass start downhill. Here in addition to professionals and amateurs are usually allowed to start. At the end of the season there is every year one of the biggest freeride events in Virgin / RedBull Rampage the Utah. Here, the professionals go the more foolhardy slopes down with jumps and tricks.