Gwin always comes across as a champion, I love it. To get to the top of any sport you always have to push yourself to be better, that's why he is where he is, and why we're laying around at home talking about it.

@No-ah Like I said below, it's been featured everywhere on the net on pro photo sites. They probably have a clue. http://gizmodo.com/justinolsen/ http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2011/11/justin-olsen-uses-chest-mounted-dslr-incredible-mountain-bike-photos http://www.petapixel.com/2011/11/17/mountain-biking-photos-captured-with-a-chest-mounted-dslr/

Being featured in Gizmodo, Petapixel and Popphoto probably didn't hurt getting voters... http://gizmodo.com/justinolsen/ http://www.popphoto.com/gear/2011/11/justin-olsen-uses-chest-mounted-dslr-incredible-mountain-bike-photos http://www.petapixel.com/2011/11/17/mountain-biking-photos-captured-with-a-chest-mounted-dslr/

This line is genius, "[29er] Once passed off as the circular battle flag of splinter-group recalcitrant XC hardtail hippies"

I don't like your odds..

yeah a great discussion. That's opinion editorial, people talk, discuss. Good stuff all around.

I think the author is absolutely correct and the comments above here support his argument perfectly. Freeride, at least as it was coined, is a genre of mountain biking. Just because the term freeride is made up of the words 'free' and 'ride' doesn't mean you get to redefine it to mean riding down a mountain in lycra yelling "I'm Freeeeeeeeee". Freeriding according to a dictionary is biking "[B]focused on tricks, style, and technical trail features[/B]". It doesn't mean free to ride your bike...All you've done is define "mountain biking". This image shows you what freeride means http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/82577/. So two things have either happened. freeride as a genre is in fact dying so much so that people don't even know what it meant. Or the term freeride has evolved to mean something completely different. Almost all genres of sport/riding have ambassadors or heroes. DH has guys, old and young, like Peaty, Hill and upcomers like Brosnan. BMX, XC all have guys who have lived the sport and new guys coming up. Who would be labeled a freerider these days in the same breath as guys like Simmons and Tippie? The youngest freeriders (Vanderham, Berrecloth etc) are all hitting 30, that's a dying breed.

I was expecting more challenged people

What graphics are you trying to compare here? http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&q=schwinn+mesa&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1515&bih=928

Same! but I wasn't drooling..

@Shandro - You've managed to transition from being a super successful racer to having a successful post racing career in MTB with Trek/Shimano/SGC. What personality traits/attributes/knowledge helped you stay in the sport after racing?