What the hell man!

Ok.
There has been this argument raging for quite some time now. If you watched the "Van Homan Will Save Us" video below, then you have a small idea of what it's about. Kids these days are learning tailwhips before they can bunny hop. Obviously there's more to it than that. This video below is a perfect example. The page I got this from had a bunch of comment below it on how awesome it is, how much skill he has, etc.

Just watch it.




Pretty good right? Not to me. Did you notice the excess amount of same trick to same trick, over and over again? Did you notice they were all done on small or mellow flat banks? Or how about that every time he hit the box jump, he never once actually jumped it. There were multiple flyouts (which is something you do when learning the trick to clear the box), which is cool and all, but hardly considered getting the trick done. Lastly there's the dirt he rode. Cool tricks for sure, but with the lip only 5' from the landing hardly makes it worth anything. Add that with him casing it very very bad each and every time.

My point to all of this is that this is becoming the trend in MTB. Kids are posting online a million videos all showcasing a gazillion cool tricks over curbs and flat banks, or 360's and 540's 3' below the coping. I just don't get it. Maybe I'm too old, or riding is just taking on a new form. In my eyes, I see this is just shitty riding. Throwing a whip up on to the deck of a box jump isn't getting it done. Throwing one over it to the landing is proper. Don't get me too wrong, these are hard tricks, I just think that doing them in flyout fashion and getting praised for it is just kind of fucked up!

Get your nuts out of your pockets kids!

Mostly I think what it is these days is that with the coming of digital video, oporating systems coming stock with editing equipment, you no longer just get what the few magazine publications give you. Every kid has a mass media outlet. Every kid has the ability to display himself in a professional manor. All the talent out there that no one would ever know about now has an outlet and means of exposure. On the same note, kids now get to compare themselves against the pros. A whole lot of these kids are better than a lot of the pros out there. That brings us to the other side of the internet age. The ability to voice themselves against the big companies, and actually be heard.

I think maybe I'm just used to the simpler age when I only knew what I red in the magazines while taking a big old shit. Things have changed. I remember growing up and waiting for the GT traveling jump show to come to town. I'd wait in line for autographs with my copies of Freestyle or what have you, be the happiest kid in the world to be shaking their hands, etc. Now though, it's a bit different. Pros get heckled by kids, bitch and whine about how much better they are than the guy in the factory jersey. Most time it is true, they are better. Sadly, they are cocky little shits about it and will most likely get nowhere.

With the amount of now discovered talent, there are thousands of kids with the ability to keep up with or outshine the pros. Unfortunately there aren't enough companies, and money in the sport to support them all. Sorry kids, but it's going to take much more to get that sponsorship than just having skill on a bike.