Mountain Biking - What do people mean when they say...

..."freeride"? Is that another word for downhill? If XC means cross country, and there are hills that slope downwards across the country, is XC the same as downhill?

Im confused.

blal.

:confused:

With the "freeride" thing it depends on who you ask. It means different things to different people.
XC is cross country racing.
Downhill is either shutling or riding a lift to the top of the mountain to ride down.
To me "freeride" is a combination of all types of mountain biking into one but without competing.

I am sure other people will have different answers but those are mine.:)

Ah, makes sense. So freeriding could also mean leisure trail riding?

Thats pretty close Kevin as per my definition. Freeriding uses a combination of all riding styles. Initially it was defined by pushing limits (steep, big drops etc) as well as the need for uphill/xc, dh and trials. When using all of these skills on your trails you are freeriding. But Kevin is right, it depends on where you live. Freeriding in Moab is ENTIRELY different than freeriding in BC for example :)

DH is shuttle run to the top of long steep hills/mountains. You come down trying to go as quick as humanly possible while there are obstacles placed along the trail. Rockgardens, steeps, drops tight technical are all part of dh. And yes dh is sometimes confused with freeriding but they are a little different :)

Originally posted by troie
Ah, makes sense. So freeriding could also mean leisure trail riding?

No.... Freeriding requires more than that. Progression of style and technique is required for sure. As well as an 'extreme' push. Scare yourself every day type of thing :)

Originally posted by troie
Ah, makes sense. So freeriding could also mean leisure trail riding?

To me yes. To other people if it doesnt include huge drops and crazy stunts its not freeriding.
For me freeriding is riding however you want, wherever you want. Not feeling like you have to do this many miles, at this heart rate, at this speed. You know just riding your mountain bike. Maybe trying new lines nobody has tried before? Maybe hitting some jumps? Maybe riding down some stairs?

I always thought of freeriding as anything. You were into it all and wanted a bike that would work with all types of riding. Learn something new everyday.

HEre are some really detailed definitions of each riding style

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27184&highlight=freeride+or+freeriding

Originally posted by Maelstrom
Initially it was defined by pushing limits (steep, big drops etc) as well as the need for uphill/xc, dh and trials.

All riding is about pushing limits. But freeriding orginally was about being free from the structure of the race scene that was dominating MTBing in the early to mid 90's.

Originally posted by KevinG
All riding is about pushing limits. But freeriding orginally was about being free from the structure of the race scene that was dominating MTBing in the early to mid 90's.

But I still can't bring myself to think of trailriding as freeriding. In the context of how it is used here it defines an extremeness (god I hate that word) of the rider. I do agree with what you say though

1 - trying different lines
2 - not measuring the miles, hr or anything else

Those are the keys but you need some degree of fear factor in that. Regular trail riding doesn't do that is all I was saying.

It took me a while to figure out what people ment by freeriding, but I was looking at wheels and thats where I got my definition. XC wheels are narrow and very light weight, down hill rims are big fat and heavy, Freeride rims are somwhere in the middle of the two. So from that I took it that freeriding means all the riding that is somwhere between the definition of XC and downhill.

I really don't like the fact that in mountain biking everyone must fit into some genre or label. I do like the progression of the all-mountain bikes, though. A majority of riders out there are all-mountain riders, which i guess is what freeriders are supposed to be, although i've always taken the term freerider to mean more of the cliff dropping and such. The hills around here are steep, and some of the bikes labeled freeride now would never make it up some of these. I like A2's self-description as an "agressive cross country rider". We need to come up with a term that describes the majority of us that like to ride up and down hill hard, always lookin for air, stunts, etc. and don't necessarily race. Trail rider? Mountain biker?

The term "freeride" is also used in snowboarding.

A snowboarder that freerides carves up the slope, shreds the halfpipe, and can launch off the big fun box and land into a big rail slide. All of this possibly in the same run!!

In my opinion, a freerider is someone who can be seen doing all of these things.

A freerider mountain bike can be seen climbing a serious uphill then rippen all the way down hitting some north shore stuff in there and a bit of Urban assault on the ride home.

How about this one...

If roadies are called, well....roadies. Then what are we called? Monty's? Aggros? Do-the-dewers? Mtbies?

:)

what the heck is a monty? And...

mtber is what I call myself if you really want a short form :)

XCer, Freerider, DHer etc.
Or, in general, mtber indeed. :)

Try searching the forums. There have been several past threads regardingt these questions.

-Moab

Originally posted by Maelstrom
what the heck is a monty? And...

mtber is what I call myself if you really want a short form :)

Monty = short for mountain biker type person :)

Did you make that up?...I have never heard on Monty used like that...:D

I think we should collectively take back the name "Dirt Bikers". The MX guys have enough terms to describe their sport. Dirt Bikers to me, makes sense for what we do!

L8R

"Dirt bikers" sounds good- definitely describes us....

I dont think "trail riding" accurately describes "freeriding''. "trail riding" means only one thing...riding trails, where freeriding may not even be anywhere near a trail.
I know when i do drops off of the roofs of churches and whatnot, that i am freeriding, not trail riding.

As for the statement about DH parts being too heavy for freeride...i dont think so, at least in my definition of the sport. People also seem to think that if you freeride, you must also pedal up hills. This is not always so. Shuttling up to do long runs, with a mostly downhill trend, but covered with stunts, jumps and other obstacles are also included in freeriding. Urban riding is free riding as well.

So, what is freeriding? Whatever you want it to be.

Um, we ran into this and it still is a "thing" in skiing, now they consider themselves "free skiers" or New School if they go in the terain park.
Back in the day, we were just *holds thumb and forefinger 1mm apart* that close to loosing our lift pass. Now, these kids are heroes!!

oh and we called it "givvin 'er".

We still do, and Im still a skiier, just like I guess Im a cyclist. I have to ride the road to get to the trailhead.

Ok I have to rest now, phillosiphy takes alot out of me.

Scoob