Videos of the Week
What a week. Mountain bike edits continue to drop, Crankworx Rotorua is just around the corner, and Clay Porter has shot and directed a video in the top three (for the third or fourth week in a row?). This year is off to such a strong start!
Brandon Semenuk - In The Know
Any video with Brandon Semenuk is an instant yes for this newsletter. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t love his mix of creativity and style on the bike. Come for the big drops and tricks, stick around for a scrub so low that he drags his bar across the trail. This video has an incredible mix of impossibly technical riding and massive banger tricks.
Finn Isles - Lost Files: Coronet Peak
If you’ve been reading the past few weeks, you’ve seen more than a handful of videos filmed by Clay Porter and Rupert Walker. They’re all from the same time frame in New Zealand, and it just makes me wonder how insane of a month those two must’ve had with all the riders and spots that they filmed. Finn Isles absolutely delivers on this video at one of the best downhill tracks in NZ.
Sam Pilgrim - Power Hour
I met Sam Pilgrim ages ago when he was first coming up in slopestyle (and I think I was lead judge for his Adidas Slopestyle win, back in the day), and it’s been fun watching his rise to TWO MILLION subscribers on YouTube. In this video, he’s preparing for a slopestyle contest and brushing off a ton of tricks in rapid succession. Fun one!
Did You See This?
There was another mega freeride event in Chile called Todo O Nada and Kaidan Ingersoll dropped this 50-foot flip-whip to take home Best Trick. Whoa.
Newsworthy
👀 Watch Crankworx Rotorua Slopestyle live this Saturday! Full send
🔥 YT released a video with Erik Fedko, who is one of the top slopestyle riders in the world. You can follow along with his life on the Crankworx World Tour. Along For The Ride
😳 Have a look at the muddy conditions on the Crankworx Rotorua downhill track from George Brannigan and Tegan Cruz. Let’s hope it clears up for the rest of the event. Slip-n-slide downhill
🤘 Darkfest released a greatest hits video from the event, and the intro of the video is…interesting.
🌵 Sedona MTB Festival went down this past week, Big Brain Party captured some of the mayhem here: Sedona x Big Brain
🚵♂️ Cape Epic, one of the toughest XC races on the planet, is going down right now. It’s a big stage race where you have two-rider teams that have to stick together through some seriously heavy stages. Pin it to win it.
😬 I would almost feel bad riding my mountain bike on this. Rideable piece of art.
I Can’t Stop Thinking About
Malcolm Gladwell got a ton of credit for the “10,000 Hour Rule” - which actually came from a psychologist by the name of Anders Ericsson. Deliberate practice was his focus, and the main gripe that Anders had with Malcolm’s portrayal of his work was that it generalized his research. Malcolm’s explanation made people think that if they just did something for 10,000 hours, they’d automatically be good at it.
Take riding mountain bikes, for example. Many people are cranking toward a goal of 10,000 hours of riding…but they’re not becoming experts. There’s a reason for that: they’re missing the “deliberate practice” piece. It's not enough to ride and ride and ride, expecting to turn pro somehow at the end of it. You have to get focused with your skills, take time away from ripping laps down the trail, and actually develop your riding. You’ve likely heard me talk about pre-ride parking lot drills, which is just one example of how you can focus in on your progression.
Ryan Leech wrote an article that absolutely nails the best ways to think about progression on your bike. It’s from a few years back, but I still think about it almost every single day.
Switchback Basics
I figured out a way to practice switchbacks WITHOUT switchbacks. You can learn the basics of switchbacks on flat ground with one single drill. This is definitely one of the more basic ways to do it, maybe not the “fastest cornering advice ever”, but it gets you around tight switchbacks without putting your foot down - which is what most people seem to be looking for. Oh, and it was my birthday this week, so I had to attempt my birthday tradition in the back half of this video (jumping as high as my age)!
I Ditched My XC Tires
I made a questionable upgrade decision on my original bike build, specifically with the front tire I put on the bike (Maxxis Ardent). I remedied that tire choice this past week with a set of Continental Kryptotal 2.4 tires, which was absolutely the right call. When we got to the trail, it was relatively muddy - I definitely would have slid out with the Ardent tread pattern. I think I’m going to stick with these for a while.
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Thank You
Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday this week on Instagram and YouTube, it meant a lot to hear from you all and totally made my day. I had an epic day of bike riding, both outside on the trail and in the Shred Spot. Let’s hope the rain and snow is behind us, so I can keep riding and filming outside!
If you’re not already subscribed to the YouTube channel, it would mean a lot to have your support over there. Here’s the link. We are in the home stretch to 100k, which is a huge sign that we’re on the right track with this type of content.
If you are already subscribed to Super Rider on YouTube and you’re enjoying the weekly newsletter, it would mean a lot if you sent this to a riding buddy who is just as stoked about bikes as you are.
Thank you again for all of your support - I hope that you enjoy all of the content that I’m putting together (both here and on YouTube). I love doing it and I can’t wait for the year ahead!