Q & A: Making Freeriding Work

IMBA Trail News
Volume 17, Number 1
Spring 2004

An interview with Daina Charmichael, marketing director of Rocky Mountain Bicycles.

What is freeriding to you?
Freeriding is mountain biking. Anytime you are on a trail, trying to push your riding limits, without the organization of a race per se, you are freeriding.

How is freeriding affecting the mountain bike industry?
Freeriding has injected a cool factor. Freeriding touches the younger consumer as well as the everyman consumer. Although sponsored freeride athletes are particularly extreme, freeriding also easily translates to the general enthusiast hitting the trail.

Mountain biking films and the public image of our sport have a strong freeride component. On one end of the spectrum, this image generates excitement for the sport. On the other end, it's caused backlash against mountain biking. What's your take on this?
The freeride image is one that promotes an outdoor, active lifestyle, usually in an accepted and socially responsible way. Yet there is always the question of responsible land usage. There is an onus on communities, riders and manufacturers to be proactive, to ensure the issues are handled to everyone's satisfaction. Local, national and international organizations such as IMBA are invaluable in this pursuit.

Freeriding is very popular in British Columbia. How do you explain this success?
A combination of many things: the terrain, a world-class resort looking for a summer infusion of profitable activity, the infrastructure and organization already in place, the attention to providing trails for all riding levels, the operators of the park being enthusiasts themselves, the popularity of the riding style, the culture that has arisen around the sport and the resort, the number of mountain biking manufacturers located in the general vicinity and organizations such as Sprockids and Kids on the Shore constantly promoting cycling to the youth in the area. Conversely, the U.S. has been slower to embrace authorized freeriding.Why? What can be done to alleviate any concerns? The U.S. has much more limited land access, and many more liability issues. However, the exponential growth of Whistler Mountain Bike Park shows demand for such venues. Championing freeriding, as IMBA is doing, is a great way of educating to alleviate concerns.