The 2002 Red Bull Ride Video is quite different from most mountain biking videos out there.  Rather than showing a dizzying array of big air jumps with an over-the-top soundtrack, this video did a great job of trying to appease many different viewers.

The video starts by talking about the course – which is very impressive.  Located near the Snowy Mountains in Australia, Jindabyne has a look of Southern Utah.  Mike Atkins, the Chief of Course, takes you through the highlights of the course.  It would have been nice if he had taken you through each section.  There is plenty of the standard fare of rocks and jumps but this course has some unique qualities – like the teeter-totter jump and the Undertaker Jump.  You could see the apprehension of the riders when they approached the 25-foot man-made monster during warm-ups.  After the course highlights, the video begins to mix in runs of the competitors with interviews.  Of course, there are plenty of spectacular crash sequences to keep the viewer happy. 

There were two interviews that caught my attention.  The first was with Mark Johnston from New Zealand.  This dude received 20-seconds of camera time (out of a 38-minute video) and it was ugly.  The first 10-seconds were him yapping off but the next ten were of him not even getting through the first obstacle.  He went over the handlebars hard, kicked his bike a few times and the dropped out of the competition.  Although perplexed as to why he even made the video, I am very happy he did for the comedy of it.  The second was with Thierry Isnel from France.  Nothing spectacular about it other than the fact that he is around my age (30) and I could identify with him a bit.

Towards the end of the video the focus shifted to the runs of Andrew Mills (Australia) and Wade Simmons (Canada) – the #1 and #2 finishers, respectively.  I could even tell that these two were the best riders.  Their styles were quite different.  Whereas Mills was one to take his time and work on his artistic score, Simmons was smooth, aggressive and impressive.  They both took the 25-footer at the end but I think Simmons was robbed of a first place finish.  In my opinion he was the better rider – hell, he rode the second half of the course with a flat! 

All in all a good video.  I don’t think the most hardcore freerider will love this video but, as I mentioned, it will appeal to a greater audience.  It certainly worked with me as I intend on following this series more closely.