Princess of Dirt

The Crooked Cog Network (Goal: "world domination") announces the launch of HannahSteffens.com. Hannah Steffens is one of the very few females in the world of freeride. Although she's only been riding for three years, she can peform an amazing variety of stunts including backflips and nohanders. Before doing freeride for Gary Fisher, this young Coloradan tried downhilling for two years. This tiny woman rides 12 inch MTB frames.

Speaking of freeride and downhill, I discovered that many cyclists don't know about these sports after GT announced their IT-1 DH bike, with smarmy comments that the IT-1 is too heavy and too overengineered for mountain biking. Freeride is sort of like BMX stunt riding, except on 26" wheel mountain bikes. Big drops, big jumps, and big stunts are freeride. Freeride bikes are heavier than regular MTB bikes to stand up to the abuse.

If you see guys in full face helmets and body armor on heavy bikes falling off of 20 foot cliffs, you're watching downhill or DH riding. Their bikes can weigh 50 pounds or more. Freeride and DH are the stuff you see on the x-treme sports videos they show at Wahoo's Fish Tacos.

Tags: freeride, hannah, cycling, gary+fisher