When photos first emerged of the canyon gap at Red Bull Hardline over the weekend we all gulped. Since then, quite a lot has happened. Here’s a round up of what’s what so far:
What Is That Canyon Gap?
For those who have been under a rock this weekend, here’s what the fuss is about.
Who Is Riding At Hardline Wales 2024?
Who is lined up to tackle the course, and that gap? Here’s the men’s start list for Red Bull Hardline, Wales 2024:
Adam Brayton
UK
Alex Storr
UK
Bernard Kerr
UK
Brendan Fairclough
UK
Brook MacDonald
NZL
Charlie Hatton
UK
Craig Evans
UK
Dennis Luffman
UK
Edgar Briole
FRA
Gaetan Vige
FRA
George Brannigan
NZ
Harry Molloy
UK
Jim Monro
UK
Jono Jones
UK
Josh Bryceland
UK
Josh Lowe
UK
Juanfer Velez
COL
Matt Jones
UK
Matteo Iniguez
FRA
Matteo Iniguez
FRA
Ronan Dunne
IRL
Sam Blenkinsop
NZ
Sam Gale
NZ
Sam Hockenhull
UK
Sebastian Holguin
COL
Szymon Godziek
POL
Taylor Vernon
UK
Theo Erlangsen
SA
Thibault Laly
FRA
Thomas Genon
BEL
Vincent Tupin
FRA
Tahnée Seagrave, Cami Nogueira, Hannah Bergmann, Louise-Anna Ferguson and Vaea Verbeeck began training on Monday.
Sam Reynolds didn’t like how it looked, and he wasn’t wrong:
Sam does the ‘OK’ in inverted commas, and indeed, is a concussion OK? Yes, it’s better than falling into the actual canyon, but a brain injury is still an injury.
Got spat out of this one pretty hard but somehow came away with just a concussion, thanks everyone for the help off the hill
Jim Monro – Instagram
Brendan Fairclough is apparently less worried:
Dean Lucas thinks it’s all gone too far:
There’s a bit of debate over on the Forum about what’s driving this. Is it progression or attention seeking? Will people do this stuff anyway, or is it pressure for attention and sponsors? What’s the difference between this and Red Bull Rampage?
2p From Me
For me, the key difference between Red Bull Hardline and Red Bull Rampage is twofold. One: Nothing at Rampage is mandatory – even the built features that are provided don’t have to be ridden. You dig and build your own thing, to your own tune, to your own strengths. There’s no ‘here’s a thing if you think you’re hard enough’ pressure to add into the mix. Two: Hardline is a race. Riders aren’t just aiming to clear the features, they’re aiming to do it at speed. I’m unconvinced that switching between red-mist race brain and Nitro-Circus level feature clearing is a great combination.
I’ve have many debates with people before about the ways in which I think Red Bull Rampage manages to tread just the right side of controlled risk taking vs glorifying self destruction. I don’t think I can step to the defence of this feature in the context of Hardline.
2p From Mark
He’s lucky to be alive and the problem I have is that the cost of entry to trying something like this is a bike, some wood and a massively dangerous drop. The first death from this is probably likely to be someone copying it in their local quarry.
Caveat: I’m 53 years old.
Back in the ‘olden’ days impressive stunts like this were common on the tellybox. Saturday night TV was full of it. But there was always a big fat notice or a presenter who said, ‘Don’t try this at home…. professional this and that blah’. Not that this made any difference to whether kids went into the park and spannered themselves but it at least showed that the producers were aware of the risks and the danger that showing it could cause. Red Bull don’t seem to care at all as long as it gets the clicks and engagement. I have a moral issue with this stuff and the fact the driving force is weighted too much towards commercial interests with questionable care given to the consequences. The policy seems to be, go bigger than we did last time, which is kind of how it’s always been in all endeavors but at some point there’s going to be a limiting line and the price of crossing that line was almost paid in full by Jim here. If they really cared there would have been a net up right from the start, although it would not have helped Jim. They got really lucky. The Risk Asessement doc must be interesting read, if there is one.
I know, I know. I sound just like my dad.
2p From Benji
Maybe the riders like doing things like this? I imagine they’ve been doing stupid shit since young, which is how they got where they are. That’s my Devil’s Advocate mode. Not sure if I’m fussed either way tbh!
Add your 2p… head to the comments and/or vote in this poll:
How To Watch Hardline
If you’ve still got the stomach to watch it, Hardline will be broadcastlive globally on Red Bull TV on Sunday 2nd June at 2.30pm GMT. Ahead of the event, the week’s best action from course walk and practice will be on the Red Bull Bike YouTube.
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From memory of the site that’s below the cliff drop so at least a third of the course will be different. Perhaps they’ve got fed up of people falling off near the top.
That’s a pretty aggressive kick, considering you’ll be going at a million miles an hour when you hit it
That was my first thought, admittedly I don’t know the first thing about building jumps like that so I hope they’ve got it right.
At the Tasmania one they had Bernard kerr and a couple of other guys out beforehand to test everything but I don’t know if that’s the case here .
I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting old but looking at that makes me a bit uneasy. I love watching downhill racing but I’m not sure that’s what i think should be in a course, hardline or any other race .
There are a few videos on instragram from Bernard and Matt Jones looking at the ramp down to the kicker. No jumps yet but it looks like getting enough speed won’t be a problem!
I’m looking forwards to watching it but I’m a bit gutted for the women who were probably hoping for the old course to finally clear all the features. It doesn’t look like there can be a ride-around line for this canyon jump so we might not get a full run by a woman. I hope I’m proved wrong though and they hit it – bus just seen that Lou Ferguson isn’t riding as her sponsors want her to focus on the WC races (which is the danger of having this mid-season).
Gee Athertons latest post on IG is good… a great qualifier in that there is a gap at the top that would ensure I only fell a little way rather than a long way 😀
Well of course you can’t just ride onto the thing, that’d be like a chicken line.
I like that it seems to be painted in some sort of grip paint but also it’s all falling off up the steps they’ve had to build up the side everywhere it’s been touched, that’s a nice addition. You couldn’t get me to <stand> on that thing. Barking.
It’s a really long video but it had me smiling constantly, just really nicely done, informative but funny too, especially every time Gee’s on camera “What’s this called. Do you even know?” “Have you measured this?” “Yep” “With a tape?” “No”. Definitely worth watching if you’re going to watch any of the race I think.
That’s a pretty aggressive kick, considering you’ll be going at a million miles an hour when you hit it
That was my first thought too.
I noticed in BK and Matt Jones videos that there’s a guy from ‘Monalith Curved Surface Specialists’ there (he is holding the crash pad at the bottom of the ramp during some of the test run ins).
The have worked with red bull on some projects before, and they also build skate parks and BMX stuff, so I wonder if they’ve built that feature.
BMX and park ramps tend to have a tighter radius and kickier lips.
Matt Jones video just shows how close the last rider came to potentially being killed
I didn’t like the comment at the end of the vid where they said they are now going to put safety nets up. Maybe put the safety nets up first , and then remove them once all riders have cleared ? Rather than risk life changing injuries or death first .
Does just confirm it’s getting in to dangerous territory of being a spectacle of crashing being part of it or if there are safety nets that’s makes it a bit full to watch
BK ‘s crash last year must have attracted more views to the event than anything else. At least one rider has already helped on that front this year.
Also may as just cover the hillside in concrete berms and ski jumps from how it’s starting to look
Why hasn’t Brendan Fairclough been asked to test the gap jump, he’s clearly the king of gap jumps, does he sponsorship profile not fit with red bull ?
Interesting that 3 of them tried that gap but none tried the smaller one further back up the hill, Bernard Kerr did say on his vid that they wouldn’t have enough speed to clear it so possibly more track changes before the race. It definitely needs a safety net below that scaffold jump though
Part of me thinks that mountain biking YouTube is going through the same thing that “extreme” skiing videos went through about 15 years ago, where athletes were pushing the boundaries to the point that some of the big names in the sport started dying.
However I’m also aware that when I was skiing off piste I was also skiing lines that could (and did) look unnecessarily risky to less experienced skiers, when in reality it wasn’t that dangerous for my skill level at the time. The same applies to mountain biking, I ride stuff now that when I started I would have thought unrideable. These guys are just riding at a different level to us mortals, so I suspect the danger may not be as bad as it seems.
Kramer – kind of agree. They are people at the peak of their sport and they enjoy pushing the limits.
However what was interesting was that these jumps don’t appear to have been designed/built by the riders, which imo makes a big difference.
G didn’t ride it, Matt said himself on camera that he’s got more in life now to worry about than just messing around on bikes.
BK still is a big kid so less to loose
Yes they should push the boundaries and I fully get why they want to, but when a company is making money from it , they should act as the grown up in the room.
There was a lady with the riders who appeared to be the safety advisor, which appeared to extend to don’t do anything silly until we have a paramedic . A paramedic can’t do much if you have already paralysed or killed yourself
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