Selected by Nathan Hughes - You've got to be on top of your game in downhill race photography... At a world cup final, those defining moments in MTB history happen only once and in a split second. Smith strutting away from the ride of his life and landing the 2013 overall was a point in time we wouldn't want to miss...
Steve Smith, first Canadian world cup champion and the only man who's bike doesn't fall when he gets off it! Apparently thats too impressive for Gee to even look at.
Dirtworks - consider writing such things in the future without dissing Gee or any other rider. I strongly recommend everyone to get off of Gee, and remind you that it is more than certain that many people who are now cheering for Sam Hill were the same people dissing him for the way he talks, when he was at the top. I also warn all you Stevie fans that next year he will be the man to throw sht at. Screw bipolar idiots, only other morons can be interested in negative interpretations of orher peoples behaviours or face expressions. Don't like Gee's serious face? - nobody normal cares - keep it to yourself or better, don't allow yourself to develop such useless feelings.
FYI - I love seriously honest Gee, slightly mad Stevie, mummling Sam, enigmatic Gwin, tense Minnaar, messed up Ratboy, Blinky the gloveless - I like diversity, I like that DH is so small sport that they can still afford being themselves, not borox smiling faces.I don't know those people, thus I am not going to make any preconceptions who they are.
hear hear Wakidesigns well said but on the same note everyone has the right to voice there positive and negative opinions it makes for a interesting discussion and see things through other peoples eyes me personally i just love the sport in general and the people who represent I just hope the media gives these boys the coverage respect they deserve
Yeah guys, mountain biking is super serious business. But even though fans of literally every other sport do it, there should absolutely be no dissing of other race teams or riders. That's mean. I'm super serious.
To be quite fair we have to get a bit closer to the itchy truth here. Different people have different needs to express emotions in reaction to other people actions and looks. Problem is that media screw up that mechanism, because you start to experience emotions about people you don't know, you never met, who also don't know you. You have no physical or actual emotional bind to them, you just see them do something which cannot tell you anything about who they really are. Eventualy that person might be somehow related to you so you feel he is your friend (or enemy if unrelated), be it coming from same country, ride same kind of bike, wear clothes of the same brand. Whatever. So it is perfectly fine to say: "Stevie Smith is such an awesome guy", even though you have exactly same amount of arguments for him being awesome as being a too serious icehole. Why? Because you don't know him - you are just making an assumption, that happens to be the only socially acceptable one. I passed by so many pros in Hafjell and I did not say anything, I just smiled and nodded eventually. Because what should I say? Hey Greg, good luck on the race? fair engough! Maybe I hope you win? What if Sam Hill stood by? Maybe that's the fine line: good luck Stevie VS Stevie FTW? Because if you say Stevie For The Win, at the same time you mean "Sam, Gee, Greg and everyone else , I hope you don't win". But you don't say the second part, while this is exactly what you mean
So this false, but nonetheless positive and friendly mechanism of cheering for people is also a reason why we are booing other people. One that is not aware of that, can easily fall for this bipolar behavior. The more love and dedication you have for something aritifical (like a person you don't know), for something you are physically unrelated to, the more prone you are to offset hate somewhere else
Please remember what Stevie said about how he disliked the hype generated around him and Gee before Leogang...
POd isn't always meant to be a riding shot, but rather something that inspires one to ride. That can frequently be a riding shot, but every once in a while something comes along that is just as inspiring, but isn't a classic riding shot. For example, I selected a clapped out Maxxis High Roller tire tread as a POD near the end of summer--I got a lot of flack for that. But I stand by that selection for the simple reason that all of us should have a tire that looks like that, that reflects a summer of shred. Vanja's shot of Steve'd dismount here could and should serve to inspire a generation of racers to be as to what is possible if you apply yourself.