Video: Yoann Barelli leaves his ego at home

Yoann Barelli loves gnarly riding so much that he’s got a whole YouTube series devoted to riding the gnarliest stuff he can find. But that doesn’t mean he’s mindlessly throwing himself down stuff. In this latest video he heads out on an especially slippery day near Vancouver with full time firefighter Steve Vanderhoek.

So, how do you look at a rock like this and think ‘that’ll go’?

Yes, Yoann Barelli finds some of the scariest lines he’s ever seen and he’s not even riding with another pro. There’s that power of the local – you ride what you know and you build up your own specialist skill set around the terrain you see the most. Yoann is pretty bemused at how Steve even looks at a rock and thinks ‘yes, there’s a line there’.

The video is well worth a watch as they scope out the lines, figure out how to do them safely, and reach the limit’s of Yoann’s comfort zone. Yes, there’s a point at which he just says no. A good lesson for all of when riding with mates who just tell us to ‘go fast and send it’.

Want to discuss this more? Hop in the comments, or go join the chat about this in the Forum.

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Hannah Dobson

Managing Editor

I came to Singletrack having decided there must be more to life than meetings. I like all bikes, but especially unusual ones. More than bikes, I like what bikes do. I think that they link people and places; that cycling creates a connection between us and our environment; bikes create communities; deliver freedom; bring joy; and improve fitness. They're environmentally friendly and create friendly environments. I try to write about all these things in the hope that others might discover the joy of bikes too.