Posts Tagged ‘motorcross’

Last week we wrote about mountain biking and the varieties of mountain biking that have developed – including downhill, freeride, trial/street and finally XC. Undoubtedly extreme but our question today is whether BMX eclipses the freeride and trial/street riding of mountain bikes as the most extreme form of the sport.

We will let you decide for yourselves but there is no doubt about it – BMX has become very extreme.

The development of BMX bikes came from kids on the west coast in the 1970s wanting to emulate what their older brothers were doing on their motor cross bikes when they only had a Sting Ray to use. The sport blossomed and its development is best described in the video below from RiChArDOsZ

Times have moved on and the old Sting Ray has been replaced by purpose built BMX bikes.  In 2008, for the first time, there was BMX bike racing at the Olympic games held in Beijing, China.

We bring the very sad news that motocross star Jeremy Lusk has died of head injuries two days after crashing while trying to land a backflip in an extreme sports competition in Costa Rica.

He was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma and survived a 4 1/2-hour surgery to help remedy the problem and reduce swelling in his brain. He was then placed into a medically induced coma but never regained consciousness.

Lusk won a gold medal at the 2008 X Games. He was injured Saturday night when he failed to complete a full rotation while attempting a “Hart Attack” backflip and slammed headfirst into the dirt. Lusk crashed in almost identical fashion in the freestyle semifinals at the 2007 X Games but was unhurt.

Lush had a successful 2008 season, winning freestyle gold at the X games and silver in Best Trick when he landed the first double-grab “Hart Attack” backflip. He won a bronze helmet in freestyle at the Moto X World Championships in his hometown of San Diego.

Lusk is survived by his wife, Lauren – we send her our most sincere condolences.

Thanks go out to Marketing Week for bringing news of this new extreme sports channel which has arrived in the UK – further evidence of the interest being generated by these adrenaline pumping sports.

Factory Media, the extreme sports publisher, is launching an online sports TV channel in the UK. Mpora.tv will provide content including action documentaries and event highlights.

The channel, which launched in the UK on the 4th August, is set to extend across Europe during the year. The launch is intended to supplement the user-generated video website Mpora.com and is aimed at expanding its core audience to include mainstream viewers.

Mpora.tv will commission exclusive documentaries and stream full-length DVDs in addition to airing highlights from European events in sports such as surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, mountain biking and motocross.

The channel intends to capitalise on increasing interest in action sports from a wider audience.

Factory Media publishes 14 magazines across Europe, in English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. Titles include The Surfers Path, Surf Europe, BMXmag, Sidewalk and Moto.

Here is their promotional video courtesy of gx001 and YouTube, although quite what the punk trying to bash a skate boarder is all about I do not understand – we at www.xtremesport4u.com do not condone any kind of violence

What is this infatuation with going faster, higher and more dangerously than ever before?

Current numbers are significant. In the United States participation in baseball is down 28 percent since 1987, to 9.7 million players. Basketball participation has declined 17 percent from its 1997 peak. Since 1987, involvement in softball has dropped off 37 percent and volleyball has plunged 36 percent.

At the same time, skateboarding has surged 49 percent, to 14 million U.S. participants, and building a skate park is a growing trend in community development. Snowboarding now claims 7.2 million participants, up 51 percent from 1999. Mountain biking has an estimated 8.6 million participants, making it the second-most popular extreme sport.

Extreme sports can at times tax small local medical systems. In one study at the Fort William Mountain Bike World Championship in Scotland, 30 percent (52) of the 173 competitors in cross-country, downhill, and 4-by-4 events were injured – two seriously enough to require hospitalization.

So, are extreme sports harmful enough to be worthy of opposition?

With today’s obesity epidemic, any sport that gets kids (and adults) off the couch for some real exertion may have long-term benefits. Extreme sports offer an opportunity to challenge and express yourself. There exists an air of cooperation, without specific winning and losing that may help some children’s development of self-esteem. There is little organization into teams or leagues, and no overzealous parents screaming at their kids through the backstop fence.

While extreme motocross and base jumping may be exceptions, the true injury rate for many extreme sports is quite low. A British Journal of Sports Medicine study reported only 139 skateboard injuries requiring medical attention over four years, despite fairly significant participation in the sport. Snowboarding injury rates were even lower, with fewer than four injuries for every 1,000 boarder days. In both cases, most injuries occurred during “failed trick attempts.” Rock climbing, particularly at indoor gyms, boasts a very low injury rate of about three injuries per 1,000 hours.

Some studies indicate that most people injured while participating in extreme sports were not wearing any type of protective gear. If you’re undertaking high-risk maneuvers, wear whatever combination of helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and wrist guards is needed to keep you safe!

Despite this anything that keeps kids moving and excited about being outdoors, instead of sitting inside eating chips and playing video games is likely a very good thing.