with all my years doing downhill mountain biking, being out on the trails, going to bike parks... this is something i never even thought of, given the general demeanor of DH mtb dudes. generally they're skater types or REI types, outdoorsey, chill, probably blaze a little green, say shit like "stoked" and "brah" a lot and shit, pretty typical that this is the type of dude you meet. this year for the first time i went to Mountain Creek up in northern NJ to check out the bike park there. never in my life did i think i'd see DH mtb guidos. i didn't think that kinda shit even existed. i guess tho with it being less than an hour from the city, and all the money up there in north jersey and areas surrounding NYC, that's where they'd end up logically if you like mtbs. so a LOT of fancy ass bikes with all the best matching kit gear and shit, dudes being super pushy and chest puffy loud, to make sure that there's no way you missed them talking about how sweet they just hit those jumps (but in a casual off-hand way of course), boasting about themselves, rando dumb comments to strangers to show this is their house kinda shit, fuckin tans and gold chains and shit. it was foreal like Jersey Shore but with helmets and pads and MX gear on. all i could do was chuckle to myself, it was like a parody... thanks NYC, it had been a while haha.
I used to loooove seein the Boston version off those guys back in the day on thier kliens we with thier land cruisers with roof racks. Then just destroying them on my gt, single track passing 4 of them parading through the reservior. Me in shorts, a t shirt and hightops after work. Tpm brought a LOT of people into racing.
i can totally relate to a story like this, but, i'm not sure the correlation to track day riding is a direct one.. I've been to some track days up north on days prior to race weekends. Some with TPM, some with others. Many guys and gals are there for just the track day, and some pack up and head home after the track day. I assure you, the atmosphere is not as you describe in the mtb scene in and around NY.
It seemed to happen alot when trackdays first started, I think after a few people got a taste of humility there were lesser occurrences of it. Today it's alot more like you describe.
My thoughts exactly. I'll also add, being a descendant of Italian immigrants, it just so happens that I know a LOT of Italian folks.......not a single soul is into DH mtb'ing. Now if he had said he visited the water park and carried on with that fake story, then I might have chuckled and said maybe. Where I lost it tho, was his detail about "puffy chested" dudes.....irony much?
I agree In fact its less the guido-generation now as it is the ubiquitous "do it for the 'Gram" generation I'd venture. I was at NYST last weekend and there was a chick there on a Ducati (matching gear/helmet) pigtails flapping in the breeze, taking pictures like a professional photoshoot after each session with her iPhone.....you know the type. Also equally chuckle-worthy. Rafael DaSilva's instagram page is dedicated to making fun of these hoe is life instagram biker chicks.....I get a frequent laugh out of it https://www.instagram.com/dasilvadaracer/?hl=en To be honest it doesn't bother me so much because generally speaking in the advanced/expert group it's normally the normal folks. The fly-by-night types that are just there for the moment don't tend to last for the long haul (and even if they do they tend to normalize as their speed/skill improves), so in the meantime you can just sit back and enjoy the show from the sidelines for kicks
Dafan was also very involved in the TPM team, as a coach, a tech and their web designer. He's served many roles over the yrs with TPM and apparently got a law degree in between it all, good for him. My ONLY beef with him, ONCE, is when he cut my nose off once at Pocono and actually drew contact, it was a very close call but he apologized afterwards.
Man back in the day this would have been on page 47 already with people arguing over which track day org sucked while the white plates would be calling all the guys who do track days pussies. Then someone would unintentionally reveal something deeply troubling about themselves and the rest of the forum would attack them like they were a pork chop in an alligator pit. I miss those days.
Geez Right ! There is so much animosity amongst the Track Day organizations at New Jersey. It’s one big soap opera. Only the fly on the wall understands who’s porking who.... So much porking doing on. .