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Gravity Mountain Biking
Posted on 2/15/24 at 1:06 pm
Posted on 2/15/24 at 1:06 pm
I thought I'd test the waters on this sport and see if there's any interest. I already participate in a bunch of other forums for this, but I dig the culture here at TD... so why not. 
First big global event of the year is going to be Red Bull Hardline in Tazmania which will take place February 23-24.
Here is the presser:
(Thursday 15th February 2024) – The sold-out Red Bull Hardline Australia will take place 23-24th February, a few months before the event returns again to Wales’ Dyfi Valley on the 1st & 2nd June. For those watching from home, the event will be broadcast on Red Bull TV at 6pm AEDT time (which translates to 11pm PST).
unnamed-7
In the rugged terrain of Maydena Bike Park in Tasmania, over 30 riders from all over the world will tackle some of the most challenging mountain bike trails Australia has to offer. The course has been built over the past three months, using a team of 15 predominantly Tasmanian staff.
Course Fun Facts:
Track Length - 2.3km
Vertical elevation - 575m
Largest gap jump - 75ft / 23m
Largest vertical drop - 10m+
Estimated course race time - 3.5min
Highest elevation point - 925m above sea level
Geology on the course changes three times, resulting in different rock and soil types throughout the course.
Local flora includes; Eucalyptus Regnans (the world’s tallest flowering plant, and one of the world’s tallest trees- they grow up to and above 100m tall).
Simon French from Maydena Bike Park says ‘On the edge of Tasmania’s South West Wilderness, Maydena Bike Park has provided a perfect canvas for developing a course that is befitting of the Red Bull Hardline legacy. Using nearly 600m of vertical elevation, the all-new course takes in a huge diversity of forest types, terrain and trail features. After a massive few months of construction, we look forward to welcoming riders on course soon.’
2024 RIDER LIST
New additions to the rider list include Edgar Briole (FRA), Vincent Tupin (FRA), Thibault Laly (FRA) and Jim Monro from the UK. And in the wild cards, Dennis Luffman will be added from the UK. Unfortunately, Gee Atherton will not attend and will continue to focus on his recovery in the UK.
Ronan Dunne (IRL)
Thomas Genon (BEL)
Jackson Goldstone (CAN)
Reed Boggs (USA)
Bernard Kerr (UK)
Juan Diego ‘Johnny’ Salido (MEX)
Laurie Greenland (UK)
Tahnee Seagrave (UK)
Kade Edwards (UK)
Louise-Anna Ferguson (UK)
Brook MacDonald (NZL)
Cami Nogueira (ARG)
Thibault Laly (FRA)
Hannah Bergmann (US)
Kaos Seagrave (UK)
Jim Monro (UK)
Adam Brayton (UK)
Theo Erlangsen (SA)
Edgar Briole (FRA)
Matteo Iniguez (FRA)
Camillo Sanchez (COL)
Josh Bryceland (UK)
Vincet Tupin (FRA)
Gaetan Vige (FRA)
TASMANIA WILD CARD RIDERS
Baxter Maiwald (AUS)
Dan Booker (AUS)
Sam Gale (NZL)
Ed Masters (NZL)
Sam Blenkinsop (NZL)
Remy Morton (AUS)
George Branningan (NZL)
Gracey Hemstreet (CAN)
Connor Fearon (AUS)
Darcy Coutts (AUS)
Harriet Burbidge-Smith (AUS)
Remy Meier-Smith (AUS)
Dennis Luffman (UK)
Red Bull Hardline will be on Red Bull TV at 6pm AEDT. To keep up to date on all the latest information on Red Bull Hardline visit Redbull.com/hardline and join the conversation @RedBullAU using #RedBullHardline.
Here's an instagram of first hits on one of the big jumps to wet the appetite:
LINK
First big global event of the year is going to be Red Bull Hardline in Tazmania which will take place February 23-24.
Here is the presser:
(Thursday 15th February 2024) – The sold-out Red Bull Hardline Australia will take place 23-24th February, a few months before the event returns again to Wales’ Dyfi Valley on the 1st & 2nd June. For those watching from home, the event will be broadcast on Red Bull TV at 6pm AEDT time (which translates to 11pm PST).
unnamed-7
In the rugged terrain of Maydena Bike Park in Tasmania, over 30 riders from all over the world will tackle some of the most challenging mountain bike trails Australia has to offer. The course has been built over the past three months, using a team of 15 predominantly Tasmanian staff.
Course Fun Facts:
Track Length - 2.3km
Vertical elevation - 575m
Largest gap jump - 75ft / 23m
Largest vertical drop - 10m+
Estimated course race time - 3.5min
Highest elevation point - 925m above sea level
Geology on the course changes three times, resulting in different rock and soil types throughout the course.
Local flora includes; Eucalyptus Regnans (the world’s tallest flowering plant, and one of the world’s tallest trees- they grow up to and above 100m tall).
Simon French from Maydena Bike Park says ‘On the edge of Tasmania’s South West Wilderness, Maydena Bike Park has provided a perfect canvas for developing a course that is befitting of the Red Bull Hardline legacy. Using nearly 600m of vertical elevation, the all-new course takes in a huge diversity of forest types, terrain and trail features. After a massive few months of construction, we look forward to welcoming riders on course soon.’
2024 RIDER LIST
New additions to the rider list include Edgar Briole (FRA), Vincent Tupin (FRA), Thibault Laly (FRA) and Jim Monro from the UK. And in the wild cards, Dennis Luffman will be added from the UK. Unfortunately, Gee Atherton will not attend and will continue to focus on his recovery in the UK.
Ronan Dunne (IRL)
Thomas Genon (BEL)
Jackson Goldstone (CAN)
Reed Boggs (USA)
Bernard Kerr (UK)
Juan Diego ‘Johnny’ Salido (MEX)
Laurie Greenland (UK)
Tahnee Seagrave (UK)
Kade Edwards (UK)
Louise-Anna Ferguson (UK)
Brook MacDonald (NZL)
Cami Nogueira (ARG)
Thibault Laly (FRA)
Hannah Bergmann (US)
Kaos Seagrave (UK)
Jim Monro (UK)
Adam Brayton (UK)
Theo Erlangsen (SA)
Edgar Briole (FRA)
Matteo Iniguez (FRA)
Camillo Sanchez (COL)
Josh Bryceland (UK)
Vincet Tupin (FRA)
Gaetan Vige (FRA)
TASMANIA WILD CARD RIDERS
Baxter Maiwald (AUS)
Dan Booker (AUS)
Sam Gale (NZL)
Ed Masters (NZL)
Sam Blenkinsop (NZL)
Remy Morton (AUS)
George Branningan (NZL)
Gracey Hemstreet (CAN)
Connor Fearon (AUS)
Darcy Coutts (AUS)
Harriet Burbidge-Smith (AUS)
Remy Meier-Smith (AUS)
Dennis Luffman (UK)
Red Bull Hardline will be on Red Bull TV at 6pm AEDT. To keep up to date on all the latest information on Red Bull Hardline visit Redbull.com/hardline and join the conversation @RedBullAU using #RedBullHardline.
Here's an instagram of first hits on one of the big jumps to wet the appetite:
LINK
This post was edited on 2/15/24 at 1:10 pm
4
Posted on 2/15/24 at 1:57 pm to hogfly
And I’ll probably just update this thread with various videos and results as the season goes on. I am pretty fanatical about the sport (I have a son who is pretty competitive nationally) so I’m happy to answer any questions or provide any information if anyone is curious.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 2:06 pm to hogfly
quote:
pretty competitive nationally
They have age groups and differing events, like straight timed or 100% trick…or combinations of both? Ive watched the Redbull runs, but i just thought it was a collection of their sponsored riders.
Your son want to go pro? Any schools, like Western Colorado, have programs?
This post was edited on 2/15/24 at 2:07 pm
Posted on 2/15/24 at 2:44 pm to Gaston
Yeah. The basic rundown of events:
Pure Racing/Timed Events:
Downhill: 1 run for time on a single track.
Enduro: basically downhill stage racing. You might do 5-10 tracks in a day. You might be "on course" for 8 hours but only put down 30 minutes of "timed runs" as you pedal/transition to the different stages.
Dual Slalom: just like in skiing. Side-by-side courses with two people racing head to head. This isn't really very popular any longer.
Four Cross: like boardercross or motocross. 4 riders racing on the same course against each other at same time. This is really only popular in certain parts of Europe now.
Judged Events (tricks and such):
Slopestyle: This is on a designed course with all the flips and whips and such. Redbull Crankwork or Redbull Joyride are examples of this. Basically like BMX but on a course that descends a hill/mountain with lots of jumps and drops and such.
Freeride: This is like Redbull Rampage. It's descending extremely technical terrain with some built features on it. It's usually "judged" based on combination of difficulty of the line the riders choose/build and tricks.
The thing I posted above of Redbull Hardline is really just a downhill race, but it's a downhill race with much larger jumps and drops than are usually found on downhill courses.
My son races enduro currently, but he's looking at doing some downhill this year as well if his sponsors can get him a downhill bike. There are definitely schools with big cycling programs. Fort Lewis in Durango is one of the best. Colorado Mesa is another one. There are also quite a few schools out East that have cycling programs, such as Brevard. For those programs, they usually want you racing multiple disciplines: XC, DH, BMX, etc.. to get the most value out of their athletes.
He's definitely looking into cycling programs for college (he's 16). His ideal situation would be to get picked up by a team and paid to race in Europe, but it's a pretty difficult path right now for US racers (for a variety of reasons). Our family loves it, though, so it's whatever... no real expectations. He's learned a ton about life and business and such through the sport. Every sponsor he has, he met and cultivated on his own without my assistance. I've had to come in on occasion for communications on the back end, but he's really managed to put himself into this position through his own hard work and dedication.
Pure Racing/Timed Events:
Downhill: 1 run for time on a single track.
Enduro: basically downhill stage racing. You might do 5-10 tracks in a day. You might be "on course" for 8 hours but only put down 30 minutes of "timed runs" as you pedal/transition to the different stages.
Dual Slalom: just like in skiing. Side-by-side courses with two people racing head to head. This isn't really very popular any longer.
Four Cross: like boardercross or motocross. 4 riders racing on the same course against each other at same time. This is really only popular in certain parts of Europe now.
Judged Events (tricks and such):
Slopestyle: This is on a designed course with all the flips and whips and such. Redbull Crankwork or Redbull Joyride are examples of this. Basically like BMX but on a course that descends a hill/mountain with lots of jumps and drops and such.
Freeride: This is like Redbull Rampage. It's descending extremely technical terrain with some built features on it. It's usually "judged" based on combination of difficulty of the line the riders choose/build and tricks.
The thing I posted above of Redbull Hardline is really just a downhill race, but it's a downhill race with much larger jumps and drops than are usually found on downhill courses.
My son races enduro currently, but he's looking at doing some downhill this year as well if his sponsors can get him a downhill bike. There are definitely schools with big cycling programs. Fort Lewis in Durango is one of the best. Colorado Mesa is another one. There are also quite a few schools out East that have cycling programs, such as Brevard. For those programs, they usually want you racing multiple disciplines: XC, DH, BMX, etc.. to get the most value out of their athletes.
He's definitely looking into cycling programs for college (he's 16). His ideal situation would be to get picked up by a team and paid to race in Europe, but it's a pretty difficult path right now for US racers (for a variety of reasons). Our family loves it, though, so it's whatever... no real expectations. He's learned a ton about life and business and such through the sport. Every sponsor he has, he met and cultivated on his own without my assistance. I've had to come in on occasion for communications on the back end, but he's really managed to put himself into this position through his own hard work and dedication.
This post was edited on 2/15/24 at 2:46 pm
Posted on 2/15/24 at 2:52 pm to hogfly
Thats pretty cool…it’s definitely nice to have a motivated son. Just have to hope that they pick up enough knowledge along the way that they can transition to something they love when their competition days are over. Developing relationships with sponsors is s great way to start.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 2:55 pm to Gaston
quote:
Thats pretty cool…it’s definitely nice to have a motivated son. Just have to hope that they pick up enough knowledge along the way that they can transition to something they love when their competition days are over. Developing relationships with sponsors is s great way to start.
For sure. He's good with networking and social media and is extremely outgoing in person at events. He and his friends are all pretty heavily into filming/editing as well which is an adjacent hobby that developed out of the love of biking.
Posted on 2/15/24 at 5:04 pm to hogfly
Do they have to ride over roots and rocks? It's not mountain biking without roots and rocks, IMO.
Posted on 2/20/24 at 10:53 am to East Coast Band
Everyone has arrived, and the riders are starting to check off the big features for Hardline this coming weekend. Here's a pinkbike compilation of a few riders hitting features on Instagram.
Posted on 2/20/24 at 11:47 am to hogfly
quote:
so I’m happy to answer any questions or provide any information if anyone is curious.
Does this sport void your life insurance policy?
Posted on 2/20/24 at 11:54 am to elposter
quote:
Does this sport void your life insurance policy?
It doesn't, though it's definitely caused some major medical issues for some riders, especially European ones when they come to the US and other countries without national healthcare, and they don't carry private insurance. There are actually supplemental policies you can pick up (Spot is a pretty well known one) on your insurance policy that covers anything extra out of pocket from cycling related injries that insurance doesn't cover, including deductible.
This post was edited on 2/20/24 at 11:55 am
Posted on 2/21/24 at 10:06 am to hogfly
First top to bottom POV run released from the Hardline Tasmania course. It's Jackson Goldstone and Laurie Greenland of the Santa Cruz Syndicate. Jackson is leading and talking through the run but it flashes back to Laurie's POV cam occasionally to get a better perspective. Insane that Goldstone can just casually talk like that while riding this track.
Redbull Youtube
Redbull Youtube
This post was edited on 2/21/24 at 10:07 am
Posted on 2/21/24 at 1:17 pm to hogfly
quote:
Gravity Mountain Biking
As opposed to Antigravity Mountain Biking?
Posted on 2/21/24 at 1:34 pm to TheTideMustRoll
It’s usually as opposed to XC (cross country) and other disciplines that emphasize pedaling fast uphill. Basically MTB focused on going downhill is usually lumped together under “gravity” disciplined.
Posted on 2/21/24 at 1:35 pm to hogfly
That's badass
Posted on 2/22/24 at 1:54 pm to Sao
Redbull just put out another video, mainly following Matt Jones as he learns the various features on the course. Their camera angles and such really allow you to see some of the scale of the features which tend to get swallowed up by the "gopro effect" in helmet cam vides.
Redbull Vide "Racing Hard Line"
Redbull Vide "Racing Hard Line"
Posted on 2/22/24 at 1:58 pm to hogfly
quote:
Enduro: basically downhill stage racing. You might do 5-10 tracks in a day. You might be "on course" for 8 hours but only put down 30 minutes of "timed runs" as you pedal/transition to the different stages.
I've did some Enduro races before Covid. Lots of fun. I was riding a specialized stumpjumper for it when I really needed an Enduro bike that was slacked out more.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 2:45 pm to b-rab2
quote:
I've did some Enduro races before Covid. Lots of fun. I was riding a specialized stumpjumper for it when I really needed an Enduro bike that was slacked out more.
I rode (and raced amateur age class) a 2019 Stumpy for a couple of years. I upforked it to a 36 and put burly parts on it. I agree that the geometry isn't ideal, though.
Because of that, I was looking at a Stumpy Evo alloy frame to "upgrade" to but I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. Then my kid won a race that just so happened to have a SJ Evo alloy frame as the prize
Swapped all my old stumpy parts over. It's a great rig and pretty ideal for enduro on all but the gnarliest of courses.
Posted on 2/22/24 at 3:34 pm to hogfly
I’ve just stuck with the SJ since I’m not doing enduro anymore. I am planning a trip to Northstar, California this summer to do some downhilling. Except I’ll be taking the ski lift up instead of peddling
Posted on 2/22/24 at 5:25 pm to b-rab2
Awesome! Northstar looks sick. I love a good day of downhill with uplift (whether chairlift or shuttles). We usually get to Angelfire a couple of times a year for the same and also do a lot of bike parks with shuttles.
More and more ski mountains will start to offer mountain biking, imo, especially on the east coast and Midwest where ski season seems to get shorter and shorter.
More and more ski mountains will start to offer mountain biking, imo, especially on the east coast and Midwest where ski season seems to get shorter and shorter.
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