The World's Best MTB Videos (#35)
He's riding so fast, it doesn't even look real!
Let’s Ride
Every week, I feel like it can’t get any crazier…and then a new set of videos drops. This week exceeded all expectations - especially with Red Bull’s surprise Rampage announcement. Later today, the X-Games Real MTB videos are all going to drop, so if you’re looking for me - I’ll be right here, glued to my screen. Oh, and after that, I’m going on a big roadtrip across the USA. If you want to ride with me, check out my itinerary in the Newsworthy section and hit me up!
Warp Speed POV!
Someone recently wrote that we are entering the “Decade of Dunne” and I’m here for it. This was Ronan Dunne’s first race as an official Red Bull athlete, and he didn’t disappoint. Honestly he’s going so fast that it looks like the footage is sped up, but I know that’s not the case. He’s just THAT fast. This is some of the most insane POV footage I think I’ve ever seen. Warp speed!
X-Games Real MTB is BACK!
I still think about Brage Vestavik’s Real MTB edit from 2021 every couple days. I’m so stoked that this is coming back, and for good reason - this is the MOST watched out of any of the sports in the “REAL” series. If you’re not familiar with the format, it's basically a competition between insane videos instead of a live competition, like X-Games normally does. These videos always come out bonkers. This year’s lineup of riders is as follows: Tom van Steenbergen, Dylan Stark, Remy Morton, Matt MacDuff, Kade Edwards.
UPDATE: Later today, all of the edits are dropping. Right here. SWEET!
Eliot Jackson Rips!
You’re likely most familiar with Eliot Jackson as a commentator and host for World Cup racing, but hopefully you also knew that he could throw it down on two wheels. His racing background shows, ripping full blast through the trees with some effortless style in this video.
Did You See This?
Unbound Gravel is one of the gnarliest (200 mile!) races in the country, and three guys decided it would be a great idea to do the race on beach cruisers that they bought at Walmart..
Newsworthy
🤘 Red Bull Rampage is expanding to a two-day competition and women will ride in this year’s event. More on this below! Read the announcement here.
🏆 Leogang World Cup was this past weekend, but nothing will be crazier than Aaron Gwin’s chainless win at Leogang in 2015. If you haven’t seen this before, watch it now.
🔥 Hot Take: The Norco race kits hurt my eyes, but it is sort of refreshing to see them take a completely different approach to racing. I’m all for mixing it up!
🎥 This is a rad look at the women riding Red Bull Hardline in Wales. Some practice footage, scoping out and sending the big gaps, all things awesome.
🕵🏻♂️ The Pink Bike Patent Patrol strikes again! Looks like Shimano has a new braking system in the works. Respect to whoever combs through all the bike-related patent filings to hunt this stuff down!
🥳 Anyone want to ride bikes? I’m doing a roadtrip across the country - starting June 16 in North Carolina. Planning to hit the following spots: Kanuga, Howler Bike Park, Bentonville, Angelfire, Moab, Park City, Tamarack, Mt Bachelor. If you’re near any of those zones and want to ride with me, hit me up!
I Can’t Stop Thinking About
This week it was announced that women would be riding in Red Bull Rampage in 2024. I couldn’t be more excited. The opportunities that have cropped up over the past five years for women in freeriding continue to build, and this is a giant leap forward.
I was working at Red Bull when we started having serious discussions, and it was never really about skill - but the lack of opportunity to develop competition experience. Riding under the pressure of cameras, timing and crowds adds an incredibly stressful layer that most people on the sidelines wouldn’t truly understand. And if no one is investing in events and creating opportunities, how do we build up that experience for the riders?
So events like Red Bull Formation began to crop up, with the intention of building that base of experience in competition style settings. And as a result, more riders came together and the progression took off even more than it already had. Now we have a women’s category at Crankworx, and opportunities are continuing to open up for experience, exposure, and progression.
Big respect to all the riders that have worked so hard for this, not only for pushing the progression - but for the inspiration they’ll give to the next generation of riders. We are seeing the foundation (formation!) of what I expect to be the next phase of more riders getting into mountain biking. And that’s what it’s all about.
The FASTEST Way To Build MTB Skills
This video is a mix of my five best trail riding tips, plus my first ever ride on my new Marin Alpine Trail 1. This is one of my favorite trails, and I’ve been wanting to ride up it for ages. As promised, we are finally out of the warehouse and onto the trails!
My New Bike!
Wow. I ripped this bike directly out of the box and took it to the trails with zero updates, and had so much fun. For $3,200 I doubt you could get a better or more adjustable bike. If you missed the release of the new Marin Alpine Trail bike, there are 12 different configurations you can do to this bike (headset, high/low bottom bracket, wheel sizes, etc). The spec is dialed, the bike is dialed, and if you want to have an all-around bike that just smashes everything, this is the one. I’m stoked!
Anytime you click this link and buy anything, it helps me out and doesn’t cost you anything extra. I would be eternally grateful for your support! If you end up buying a bike with this link, send me an e-mail and I will personally thank you for the support. 🙏 Also, this bike genuinely rips and I’m planning to ride it all season, I’m not just saying stuff for the sake of an affiliate link.
Thank You!
If you haven’t shared this newsletter with another rider, could you do me a solid and pass it along? It helps me out, plus…who wouldn’t be stoked to get a curated list of epic bike videos every week!
Thanks so much for reading this week’s newsletter. Hopefully the trails and skies are clear and you can get for some riding. See you out there!