wasn't that in "shit mountain bikers say?"

me 2.

Sorry in advance for the length of that comment.

Finally, I think back to Mr. Reynolds again. I hear Ratatat's Shempi playing and picture the unpopular video called April, featuring Sam Reynolds floating effortlessly over perfect dirt jumps in the UK. I then remember the summer I spent, trying to build dirt jumps that mimicked the ones from that video. I remember foolishly overshooting a jump, and protecting my face as I pivoted over the fulcrum of my front wheel which dug into the ground of a recently packed landing, and breaking my first bone - my collarbone. Today I wonder, what bikers haven't done that? Like most of us here on pinkbike, I don't personally know Sam Reynolds, Pilgrim or Semenuk, although one time I rode around Semenuk's bike at Highland's Claymore Challenge while Semenuk was being tossed into their nasty pond (with his permission of course). But the point is, our sport is not like baseball games or soccer matches. Our sport is small, and defined by independent videographers. When I think back on my entire high school experience, I think all of the bike videos I have watched, and can say, I'm not embarrassed to have "wasted" so much time staring at a screen. I think of the 14 year old's immature comments, of which I am sure I am guilty of, and couldn't care less. That's just the nature of the sport. For me, the excitement and buzz on Pinkbike perfectly captures mountain biking.

Rob Warner and Nigel Page and not perched not on the edge of their seats, but are actually suspended in mid-air as Nigel shouts, "Danny, stay on your bike!" In that moment, perhaps the most defining and memorable moment in mountain biking was created - thanks to a man with balls so large, that people question how he is able to sit down. Meanwhile, the technicians of the sport work hard for another goal: perfect execution and accuracy such as the Mr. Reynolds in the picture above. These shots are the real definition of the sport. Riders study film, takes heavy hits, and practice repeatedly to progress out of competition, as was captured perfectly in movies like Seasons. The sequence above does not quite tell the story alone, but with a group of shots like these, the picture can be painted. When I think of the name Sam in mountain biking, I honestly do not think of Sam Reynolds first. I think of that other toofless happy-go-lucky European man and his entertaining antics. Then I think of his competition, the great Semenuk, and his Canadian brother Bearclaw - who took four years to learn a tailwhip and still is one of the best in the world today. I think of his dedication and wet-suit training into frigid Canadian waters, and then I think of another man Cam McCaul, who also helped progress the sport by learning flip-whips into his warm pool in the Aptos area. And then I realize, I have only thought of the tip of the ice-berg for amazing mountain bikers.

ahh, thought it was just ignorance.