Freeride (mountain bike)
In mountain bike sport, freeride refers to the technically demanding riding on a mountain bike , which can include steep downhill passages, jumps of up to ten meters over natural obstacles and sporty maneuvers in every possible combination. Freeriding requires great body and bike control. Wearing helmet and protectors is particularly important for Freeride Extreme usual -Mountainbikern.
history
The birthplace of freeriding is in Whistler BC ( Canada ) and near Vancouver on the so-called North Shore . Here - influenced by the wooden structures of the West Coast Trail - the first wooden structures were built, which are known today as North Shore Trails and are used worldwide as artificial wooden structures in bike parks. In Whistler, where the Crankworx slopestyle event is held every year , the world's largest bike park has existed for more than 10 years . One of the most popular bike parks in Germany is located in Winterberg in the Sauerland . One of the largest bike parks in Europe is located in Leogang / Saalbach in Austria. With a gradient of over 40 °, one of the steepest bike parks in the world, the Nordkette Singletrail, can be found directly above the Olympic city of Innsbruck.
In the years 1999 to 2004, big mountain freeriding was still strongly defined by criteria such as the highest jumps (drops) and the most dangerous runs on closed competition courses. During this time, the sport was shaped and promoted by events such as the Red Bull Rampage in Utah , USA . Important representatives of this first trend were the Canadians Wade Simmons (also known as the father of freeride), Ritchie Schley, Brett Tippie, Bobby Root, Darren Berrecloth , Robbie Bourdon, Tyler Klaasen, Cédric Gracia and Thomas Vanderham. They are known for their appearances in scene films such as New World Disorder and Kranked . Then came the new school trend , technical riding with difficult BMX tricks, such as B. Tailwhip , Backflip or a 360 (Three Sixty) , and combined with drops of up to ten meters. The scene developed further and tricks in the open terrain, in the forest and on mountains etc. became established. This movement gave rise to slopestyle , which was known from snowboarding . The French Cedric Cracia was the successful freerider in Europe, and the French were the first European nation to be successful in freeriding. Cedric Gracia won the Red Bull Rampage in 2003, the most extreme competition on the scene. Next to him, Nicolas Vouilloz is the most successful downhiller in 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 European on the first Freeride Mountain Bike World Tour (FMB) in 2010, where he finished fourth behind Darren Berrecloth, Brandon Semenuk and the winner Cameron Zink .
At slopestyle contests like the Adidas -slopestyle in Saalbach-Hinterglemm ( Austria ), the field of drivers is mostly divided into exactly these categories. Fully riders like Darren Berrecloth take on the freeride part and the dirt jump part hardtail riders like Aaron Chase. The Slopestyle department thus offers the symbiosis of two very different types of freeride.
species
Enduro, all mountain
Enduro and All Mountain , describe the increasingly popular mountain bike sports that combine uphill terrain with downhill descents. These mountain bikers often undertake tours in which they cover a few meters in altitude by lift or shuttle before they continue up to the start of a downhill path on their own. In the enduro race, the focus is on going on a mountain bike tour together. On this specially selected runs are counted as races. In order to increase the fun factor, these descents are often combined with freeride elements.
Enduro and All Mountain are usually ridden with full-suspension bikes ( fully ) with suspension from 120 mm travel, which can often be blocked in order to be able to use the pedaling power more effectively when going uphill. The spring travel can be up to approx. 220 mm. Enduros and all mountain bikes usually have a 30-speed gearshift, but fewer and fewer gears are becoming increasingly popular, for example a combination of 2 chainrings with 10 sprockets, i.e. 20 gears. Freeride bikes often do not have a derailleur, but mostly a combination of a chainring with up to 12 sprockets (for example: XX1 Eagle from SRAM ). The advantages of this shift variant for freeride bikes are the reduction in the number of Bowden cables and less susceptibility to the dreaded chain suck, in which the chain slips off the chainring and jams between the chainring and the chainstay. The weight of enduros and all mountain bikes is approx. 12-15 kg and freeriders approx. 15-18 kg. Suspension forks and dampers can often be locked and suspension forks can be lowered to make driving easier on steep uphill sections. These wheels have hydraulically operated disc brakes . Advantages of this braking technology are the good braking behavior in wet conditions, the excellent controllability and the fact that on a wheel with lateral runout (colloquially "figure eight") the brake pads do not hinder the concentricity, as is the case with rim brakes .
Bike mountaineering
Bike mountaineers try to ride their bikes on alpine terrain away from well-developed paths. Carrying the bike for several hours is accepted as well as steep, exposed, blocked descents with difficult surfaces and tight turns. The focus is on the mountain experience, similar to ski mountaineering in winter. A special driving technique of bike mountaineering is the precisely dosed rear wheel offset with a turn around the front wheel in order to enable maneuvering in steep and narrow, sometimes heavily blocked downhill serpentines. Since bike mountaineers move in sensitive terrain, a corresponding code of conduct has been drawn up
Freeride Extreme
Freeride Extreme is a mountain bike sport that is all about extreme tricks. The material is stressed by daring jumps and maneuvers. A common term among athletes is the drop . This is a jump that has a straight approach and then leads the driver to free fall. Well-known representatives of this sport are Josh Bender , Darren Berrecloth , Brandon Semenuk , Kurtis Sorge and Cam McCaul . Josh Bender tried a 17 m drop with his bike, but failed due to the hard landing on the soft ground.
The freeride extreme mountain bike has to be particularly stable and usually has full suspension, like on downhill . The components must be designed for a harder pace in order to prevent injuries from the failure of parts. Nowadays, the wheels usually weigh around 17-20 kg and have up to 200 mm of travel at the front and 180 to 250 mm at the rear. The spring elements use steel spring technology with oil damping. Air suspension elements that are lighter are also becoming more and more popular in freeride / downhill sports, but these often have problems in extreme use, as the pressure of the air changes due to fluctuating temperatures. Braking is done with hydraulic disc brakes , whose discs are 203 mm in diameter at the front and usually 203 or 180 mm in diameter at the rear, in some cases even up to 230 mm (exceptions) with special "Alpine Kit" rotors and brake caliper adapters.
Urban freeride
Naming
Urban [ er ban] = Urban - urban (from Latin urbs = city) Freeride = Free Ride (vehicle or ride), so to speak, “free ride”. Urban Freeride therefore roughly means “free travel in the city”. This means that walls and stairs are only small obstacles, walls are jumped over with a jump, stairs are easily overcome by quickly descending.
Events
The biggest events in Europe so far were Ride to the Lake in September 2004 in Meersburg on Lake Constance and the District Ride in Nuremberg in September 2005.
The District Ride in Nuremberg has already taken place four times: September 2005, August 2006, September 2011 and September 2014 and is one of the most important mega sporting events in the city. A top-class field of 27 riders starts with a spectacular jump from the battlements of the Kaiserburg and drives over artificial obstacles through the middle of Nuremberg's old town. The goal is the main market , where looping jumps are shown over a hill from the town hall from the mayor's office. 40,000 - 60,000 spectators from Germany and abroad come to the event, and the trend is rising. For the drivers, the prize money is 20,000 euros; the event is free for the visitors. The next District Ride in Nuremberg will take place in September 2017.
In Meersburg 40 riders competed against each other over a distance of 1000 m and 150 meters of altitude. The prize money was 20,000 euros.
Events in which a mass start is driven downhill are also becoming increasingly popular. In addition to the professionals, amateurs are usually also allowed to start here. At the end of the season there is one of the largest freeride events in Virgin / Utah, the RedBull Rampage. Here the professionals descend the daring slopes with jumps and tricks.
| title | year | place | spectator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ride to the lake | 2004 | Meersburg | |
| District Ride | 2005 | Nuremberg | 40,000 |
| District Ride | 2006 | Nuremberg | 40,000 |
| District Ride | 2011 | Nuremberg | 60,000 |
| District Ride | 2014 | Nuremberg | 62,000 |
| District Ride | 2017 | Nuremberg | 100,000 |
literature
- Besser Biken 2 Freeride riding technique DVD by Stefan Herrmann
- Florian Haymann: Freeride. Moves, bikes and parks . 3rd edition, Delius Klasing Verlag, Bielefeld, 2014, ISBN 978-3-7688-3159-8