Veteran freerider Richie Schley's move to Rotwild after 10 years with Rocky Mountain (who, incidentally, have the coolest URL in the entire bike industry) reminded me of this picture from 1999.
Pemberton, British Columbia
Nikon F5, 80-200mm f/2.8, 1/500 sec f/5.6 (or thereabouts) on Fuji Provia 100
In 1999 the original 'Froride* lineup of Schley, Wade Simmons and Brett Tippie had been around just long enough to raise more than a few industry eyebrows, help bring the original North Shore both fame and notoriety and start a whole new mini-industry centred around riding bikes where they had no place being (in mid-air, mostly).
Most of the bike industry was unprepared, much of it was sceptical and some of it was outright hostile to the idea of of riders piloting bikes anywhere they damn well pleased. But the 'Froriders' easy-going nature made them a pleasure to work with, back in the days before freeride was a media circus and Kranked was little more than a mis-spelled word. Richie Schley shares the credit with his 'Fro team-mates for helping to put freeride - and BC - well and truly on the bike industry map.
* The 'Froride name, in case anyone's wondering, resulted from a well known bike company (who claimed to have trademarked the word 'freeride') threatening Rocky Mountain with a lawsuit. Neatly sidestepping a protracted court battle, RM simply changed the name of their team to 'Froride, provided Schley and co. with some comedy afro wigs to wear at events, and got themselves a heap of good-humoured publicity into the bargain. A very Canadian response, eh.
Comments