I would love to see a separate video titled "chicks that the CG has bedded". What a pimp and total stand up guy. Not many pros out there can captivate you with such charisma, personality, and sage ass wisdom. OH and sendin it on the reg.
i met him once in the lift line at crankworx in whistler, by the time we got halfway up the hill on the chair, he'd fully described the girl who gave him head last night. i was laughing so unbelievably hard. he's an awesome dude though, just stoked on everything around him.
Advertisement is the same shit every day. That's not really the point here. Cedric is a f***ing legend! He's done more for the whole mountainbiking scene than any other rider within the last 10 years! He's been riding four cross, downhill, freeride ... all at the same time. Achieved amazing results considering all the different disciplines he's attended! I take my hat off for this guy, - I've been a big fan since he started racing for Cannondale!
A legend - an icon - a benchmark - a rolemodel ...
"He's done more for the whole mountainbiking scene than any other rider within the last 10 years!"
Bit of a rash statement there. Yeh he is one of the most influential riders ever, but you comment is a bit disrespectful to a lot of riders out there. Hans Ray, Steve Peat, Brian Lopes to name a few. Even though Brett Tippie isnt riding as much he is a huge part of the mountain bike scene along with the other pioneers.
^^ You're forgetting about Bender who not only pushed MTB suspension years ahead but also is one of the masterminds behind the most influential event in free riding- the Rampage. Like him or hate him, you cannot deny the level of impact he's had on this sport.
I hadnt forgotten about him, didnt mention him as he is a bit controversial in terms of pushing the sport. In my opinion at the time he made a difference, however reflecting back, he hasnt influenced anything that is done on a bike now. He was a man who was willing to be a passenger on a bike that was riding off huge cliffs, nothing more, nothing less. He wasnt a creative rider, he didnt have a huge trick bag, he wasnt fast and to be brutally honest he wasnt even that good at riding a bike.
^ And that's where people need to get educated. Bender used to be a highly talented DH racer but because of all his famous drops, that's all people know him for. As for the creative part, you have to realize the state of freeriding when he was at the top of his game. He was only one of few riders doing anything off cliffs (no-footers) and as for having a deep bag of tricks, no one had that. Even the DJers of the time barely had anything themselves compared to today. And really, you're not giving him any credit for what he was doing at the time or what he did in terms of pushing the technology of our sport ahead by years, the magnitude of the event that wouldn't be here today without him or even him being the first to show everyone the gloriousness of Southern Utah as a freeriding mecca. Anyone who's been paying attention since the beginning would agree and it's sad to see so many people forget about that.
So what results did he get when he was a highly talented downhiller? Infact what results did he get when he he was a the top of his game in the freeride scene?
Heres the results of the 2002 redbull rampage, a comp that although based around cliff drops he didnt qualify for.
1. Tyler Klassen 79.6 2. Cédric Gracia 76.2 3. Darren Berrecloth 75.4 4. Shaums March 75.0 5. Dave Watson 73.0 6. Kyle Strait 72.2 7. Richey Schley 71.4 8. Lance Canfield 70.8 9. Thomas Vanderham 66.4 10. Robbie Bourdon 63.2 11. Andrew Mills 61.4 12. Chris O'Driscoll
And its the same for all the other years, yet riders who are truly talented and innovative are still getting top results, riders like Strait, Vanderham, Berrecloth and Gracia. I dont think you give credit to the other riders around that time that genuinely were pushing the limits of the sport and are still successful professional riders now.
And of course Bender was so good at pushing technology that we all ride 12" freeride bikes with super monster t's.
I will admit some of his drops were incredibly, especially when you take into consideration when he did them. But there is a lot more to freeride than just jumping of huge cliffs and hoping that you stick it, evolution of mountain biking has proved this.
So because I give one guy credit, I'm taking it away from the other riders? Is that the point you're trying to make here? Or is it that because he wasn't a comp. rider and isn't really on the "scene" any more makes him inferior toward contributing to the progression of MTBing? I think it's time you reevaluated where MTBing came from and give respect where it's due.
My point is that there are hundreds of riders who have contributed a lot more to the sport, why push them all to the side and choose Bender? And yes I do, he would be on the scene if he had something to contribute, which he doesnt, where is he now?
Time I reevaluated were mountain biking came from? Your joking right? So are you telling me that Bender can be compared to the "Fro Riders" of the late 90's, or to Lopes, Tomac, Giove and Rockwell who were at the beginning of downhill racing or does he rank alongside Gary Fisher, Mike Sinyard or Joe Breeze at the begining of everything.
Josh Bender hasnt contributed much more to MTB than Evel Knieval did to MX.
haha yeah. i think it was Champery last year. boost, out of ditch giving a massive speed boost, goes off the next jump and lands off the track, almost falls off his bike, just gets back on and drifts the next corner with one foot just back on the bike.
He was a great athlete had bad luck because he born in the same era that Nico V(in DH), being number 2 always is underated specially in high performace sports, despite his detractors he has a solid a well divercified career and yes he is an auntentic MTB ICON. Now he'is a mature pilot that is picking up all the work done taking advantage of all exposure earned because his athetics merits, even though his sponsors are trying to exaggerate his rockstar lifestyle,(that works with kids) in order to keep the performance en th WC circuit showed you must to have a diciplined rutine. His carisma did'nt make him the principal concern of E.T.
For me this was rather the man who changed the world of downhill and if they think they're old enganadinhos are very well, this man still have much to give, you never know what he can do is indescutible but for me this is and will the best rider I ever met so CEDRIC GRACIA 4EVER. . . . . ..
My favourite biking character of all time! To the guys bitchin about too much advertisement, the vid was more about him than the product to be fair, not Once did I see a long clip or close up of an Oakley goggle etc, it was all Cedric. Plus if we had no advertising we would have a sport with no money and crap coverage so advertising is a good thing, especially when its about a product that actually works and has as much R&D as Oakley put in.
This guy is a legend, up there with Peaty and the great Nico, there is not many of these old schoolers left now so we should savour watching these amazingly skilled riders.
Haha yeah, exactly. I dont know anyone who doesnt know, but im sure there were some people. If you want a laugh btw, look up the cedric gracia cribs parody on here
The first line in the description is "Oakley uploaded this video" so obviously it's a promotional ad for Oakley... Name one ad for anything wherein the person isn't paid to say great things about the product... Cedric Gracia isn't the kind of sell out that's gonna use a truly garbage product and say great things about it, he probably does like his Oakley's, so to him getting paid to talk about how likes them is just an added bonus...
Don't you think that considering he's been riding with oakleys since 1991 that he might actually like them? he could probably choose just about any brand of goggles to ride for but he's stayed with oakley, I'm sure they have money but if they were making crappy product I'm sure he'd go somewhere else.
20 years is a long to be with a company. They must have something good. Just saying.
Really? All ad's promote their given product. Oakley makes some really good products, sure they dressed up the ads,but like I said every other company does as well.
So how is it everything wrong with mountain biking?
That clip made me stoked on riding, and especially on Cedric, who is more or less a personification of what everyone wants riding to be, challenging and fun. Sure they mentioned Oakley but that's not a bad thing.
For a guy who goes by counterpoint as a name you sure didn't make one.
They can mention Oakley as much as they want. I don't care about it being an ad. That wasn't my point. I had issue with the continuous repeated shots and bad editing. Not to mention the evolution of the video hasn't moved since the bad marzocchi ads of a few years ago. The "look at how awesome these superstars are" image has been played out years ago. Look at snowboarding and skateboarding ads. Far more evolved, creative and not directed at 12 year olds. It's like Oakley said, "what would extreme mountain bikers like? And let's ad some lighting bolts!" all I'm saying is Cedric deserves better than that and his personality far outweighs that video. Enough points for you, DAN?
Such a charismatic guy, and a BEAST on track !
