Happy Birthday Darren Berrecloth!

Darren celebrated his 30th birthday on October 31st; to honor the special occasion we turned this newsletter into a Bearclaw special edition.

With his 30 years Darren is now one of the veterans in the FMB World Tour and one of the trailblazers of Freeride Mountain Biking. Due to his experience as a rider as well as an event organizer, he is also a valued member of the FMBA advisory board.
In the following interview he answered some questions about the development and future of the sport, we added some personal questions and prodded him about hitting the big 30. Stay tuned and read on for Darren's answers.

You are in the singular position to influence the sport behind the scenes - where would you like to see freeriding in 10 years?
I think the sport is growing in the right direction with many lift accessed bike parks and the World Tour bringing legitimacy to our sport.

You are one of the most experienced and one of the oldest athletes in the FMB World Tour circuit. Do you think the experience overcomes the disadvantages of getting older?
It is definitely rad to compete against athletes half my age and I do think experience comes into play a lot from riding smarter to contest strategy. It plays a big factor in my opinion.

Describe yourself in three words:
*******, fun, determined

If you had the chance to meet god, what would you ask him?
What would it be like if the universe never existed?

If I would take a look into your fridge what would I find?
Beer, veggies, deer meat, steak, fish, crab, condiments, cheese and… oh I love cheese

What was the best invention in history for you?
"The wheel"

What is something that not a lot of people know about you, but you wish more people would know?
I took photography in school for four years.

What is your favorite tradition from your childhood, that you would love to pass on if you were to ever have children?
Fishing, bikes, being outdoors, camping

How many times have you been naked in public?
Ahahaha!!! Too many…

If you were candy, what would you be?
Chocolate

If I gave you an elephant, would you take it? And where would you hide it?
Yup, I'd hide it in my pond.

What will change, now that you are 30 years old?
Maybe hit the gym, pool and cardio a little harder

What would your life look like now, if you had never started biking?
Geepers, I'd probably be working on the oil rigs like all my friends

Rumours



The list of events for the 2012 FMB World Tour keeps getting longer and longer. This year, we'll see some exciting changes in the World Tour calendar; for one, a few Gold Events have been added to the list. 2 existing events in France and Germany have applied for Gold status and in Scandinavia and Southern Europe, two World Tour newcomer events are joining the exclusive Gold event circle. Darren Berrecloth has a very busy season ahead of him. The courses of the legendary Bearclaw Invitational will see some new additions and as he humbly told us: "It should be one of the best course of the year!" In addition, he is rumored to have a hand in designing the slopestyle course at Dirtmasters in Winterberg (GER).

Behind the scenes of the FMB World Tour - event judging



The FMBA judging is based on such criteria as overall precision, including the execution of the run and the routine attempted as well as sequences of tricks, the amount of risk in the routine, and how the rider uses the course form the basis of the judging.
The FMBA established the judging clinics with the goal to develop the judging standards inside the sport to an equal level at all events. The judging clinics are educating judges in a workshop to become FMBA licensed judges.
This is particularly important as the FMBA requires a minimum number of FMBA licensed judges at every event (depending on event level) to guarantee, that the judging standards will be implemented.

Facts and Figures



Source: Todd Barber