Whoa... this'll be my 3rd post ever, and 1st one ever without any kind of purpose other than to express personal opinion. I'm becoming such a message-board-er, no?
Anyways, sorry to disagree with you, Bill, but I felt I absolutely NEEDED to say something in defense of street riding (in this case, Monkey Style/Aaron Chase-type movies)
Bill said:
The movie thing doesn't sound bad, but seriously can't stand watching kranked type movies any more.
Bill
Although the riding in Kranked-style freeride movies is typically sick in its own skewed way (seeing how big one can inflate his balls and point his bike off the tallest drop he can find, or as Josh so often eloquently describes these people, "hucker-fuckers"), the style of riding I see in the more street-focused (MS/AC-type) videos is WAY more impressive and fun to watch in my opinion, showcasing really TECH street, dirt, and park moves/riders and less of the adrenaline-associated "big stuff." I'm not saying that either of these types of videos don't contain elements of the other's focus, but I can tell you that I find myself fast-forwarding through the bulk of most freeride videos to see no more than 10 minutes of sick street footage (and in some cases, 3 minutes of Ryan Leech) while watching the entirety of any street videos, bearing through the minimal freeride-ish sections. All the same, I try to keep an open mind about things, and still have a HUGE amount of respect for the seemingly few freeride guys who complement their testosterone with skill (Tyler Klaussen, Darren Berrecloth, etc.).
To put it simply, freeride and street are definitely NOT the same thing, and shouldn't be categorized as such. I'm guessing that, because there aren't very many street-MTB videos out (I don't think JIB is very representative... except for Von, Chris Stewart, and Julien), you haven't really seen any, and hence shouldn't be tired of watching them. But what do I know?? Maybe you have and actually are tired of watching them, or would be once you DO see a couple. It's definitely not trials, either, and tames in comparison to what they're doing in BMX. And who knows... maybe a year ago I would've had NO interest whatsoever in any kind of video NOT trials-related.
Sorry for the painfully long rant... maybe it's a good thing I hardly ever post. Anyways, I'm not trying to convince people to come down for the movie premier who initially wouldn't have any interest (you should anyways), but I know I'm going solely to see the new Monkey Style... as much as I've seen that worthy follow-up to Milton's Paradise Lost. If it's anywhere near as good a Kevin says (WAY better than the first, which was pretty sick already), then it should be a jolly-swell flick!! As for the ride before-hand, I'm down as well (which I told you already last night, Kev.), although I have a feeling it might be unaccommodating for either street or trials riders... I've found it's really hard to have a group of both, but that's another topic altogether. Kevin, I'm guessing you'll be riding the Koxx? Man... I really need to get a trials bike together again (CATS last night really made me realize that).
-Theo
