After the show, it dawned on me that we've seen a great change since the bike show was ressurected in 1999. The first Digger designed indoor race had about a hundred riders, including the likes of Dave Watson and Wade. The second year they had dirt jumps and there were about six jumpers and 70 IDNS racers. Fast forward to today and there were about 50 jumpers and an unkown (small) number of racers - maybe 30 or so.
This is very surprising if you think about it. Vancouver is the world center of shore riding, and was a relative backwater in jumping. The question is why the change? Are people just bored with the IDNS race, or people getting bored with ladder bridges in general? To what extent is dirt jumping a fad or could it really become a major component of mountain biking? What do people think?
By the way, I've watched MTB dirt jumping become a bigger and bigger deal since about 2000. I would make the following observation: while the avereage standard of MTB jumper is much higher than it was, the top people are largely the same crew of ex-BMXers. Clearly it's possible to get pretty good at tricks up to about the tailwhip, but tailwhips, turndowns, 360 tailwhips truckdrivers and invert variations are much harder. I submit to the DJ kids that the road to being Aaron Chase leads through your local BMX shop.
For the record, I beleive people are bored with the IDNS format, and put off by the price. I further think that dirt jumping is not a fad, but is probably hitting it's maximum popularity. I also beleive people might be getting a bit tired of ladder bridges, and I predict you'll see fewer stunts in future that are better integrated into the landscape. I await other opinions with enthusiam.
Robin Coope
Eminence Grise