Several different people left comments on one of the recent Cinema Sunday posts about how insane and straight-up dangerous freeride mountain biking is. I think RoadWarrior may have put it best: “Looking at the crashes; I think I’ll stick to my technical XC trails, let the kids break their necks.”
Point well taken: freeride mountain biking is a dangerous sport, especially at the high levels, and even if you are taking safety precautions. But I think the insanity of what they do is what makes some of these freeride movies worth watching: we can stare in awe with our jaws hanging open at what these riders are capable of on a mountain bike. The riders featured in these movies portray skills that many of us could only dream of possessing.
Personally, I enjoy getting on the downhill bike and hitting a few small jumps occasionally, but the majority of the time I spend on mountain bikes is riding plain-old XC or AM trails. But if every movie that we watched was of regular guys riding regular trails, and at every turn we muttered to ourselves, “I can do that,” ask yourself: would those movies really be worth watching?
At least, that’s my take on it! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
For now, enjoy the Utah segment of the new hit movie from Anthill Films, “Strength in Numbers“:
