Freeride Biking’s Triumphant Return to the U.S.
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Not long ago, the Fox U.S. Open of Mountain Biking hosted the CLIF Slopestyle competition at New Hampshire’s Highland Mountain Bike Park. The event was a big deal, not only because it featured some of the biggest names in freeride mountain biking ripping down an incredible course, but also because it was the first Freeride Mountain Bike Association Gold-level event held in the U.S. in years. The field was stacked, and the riders were throwing down their biggest tricks. When all was said and done, it wasn’t Brett Rheeder, Emil Johansson, DJ Brandt, or Nicholi Rogatkin who took the victory, though. Instead, David Lieb, a relative newcomer, stood atop the podium. He might be a new name for many, but Lieb didn’t come entirely out of left field; he’s been making waves in the discipline for years, but this was his first FMBA Gold win.
Lieb is a Highland Park local, currently living out of his van as he coaches the local freeride program, a fact which made his victory all the more impactful. “Competing at my home mountain was the best thing imaginable,” he said. “I knew I had a large portion of the crowd cheering me on and I wanted to make them proud—their support gave me the confidence I have lacked at other events.” As a local coach, Lieb knew the course like few others, but that didn’t guarantee him a win, not by a long shot: “I dug deep,” he said. “I had only done three triple whips ever before finals day, and only one flip-whip to barspin before finals day. I didn’t get to ride the course too much prior to the official event practices though because it was under a massive re-vamp.”
When asked about the event as a whole, Lieb was stoked. “I think this event was the best event of the year for Slopestyle, especially with the addition of the kids’ race and whip-off. Slopestyle might not be the most local-competitor-friendly event but it’s definitely fun for spectators and overall the event got everyone hyped on dirt jumps and slopestyle again!”
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In 2010 there were only two Gold-level Slopestyle events on the tour, both held in the United States. By 2018, there were five Gold-level and three Diamond-level events, all held outside of the U.S. With a massive, highly engaged audience and countless potential venues, one might quite reasonably wonder why there haven’t been aren’t more events of this kind being held in the U.S. We were curious too, so we asked Clay Harper, who owns the USOMTB organization. “Getting a top-level FMBA Slopestyle event back in the U.S. has been a multi-year process,” he said. “It’s not easy to put on any big freeride event, but Slopestyle in particular is a different animal.”
He’s not wrong. Downhill courses are practically ready-made, and dirt-jump courses don’t take much to build either. Slopestyle courses, on the other hand, require custom-built features like boner logs, whale tails, and a varied selection of jumps. The man-hours and equipment required for such a major project don’t come cheap. “We lucked out with both our sponsor and venue,” said Harper. “CLIF was excited to get on board with the event, and Highland is a three-season bike park with trails which required little work to bring up to FMBA standards.”
When asked about the future of American freeride, Harper was optimistic: “We’ve definitely got more coming down the line,” he said. The next big USOMTB event is the U.S. Open Race Festival in September, being held this year at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, CA. It won’t have any FMBA-level freeride contests, but the schedule is so stacked that it’s hard to be disappointed. On top of the open-class downhill event (with a $10,000 purse), the final race of the EWS North American Series will be held during the Festival, as will a best whip competition, a USO Next Gen Youth Downhill race, and an Adaptive Downhill race.
