Monday, September 26, 2011

Opinion on the sport


-My opinion:

* In the last ten years the sport of mountainbiking grew exponentialy.
It isn't just a sport about riding your bikes on different terrains and over obstacles, it became a new trend for marketing, it became completly different.
In the past people showed up on competitions by themselves to have fun, nowdays they go with the same reason and many more new reasons that the marketing brought, like present companies, equipment,…
It became a job, a job some people suceed, others fail, and some move in betwen.
In the past there were a few good riders, in the age between 18 and 25, nowdays those guys can't suceed, because you have new guys, in the age 14+ like Anthony Meseere, that rides better than the guys 5 years ago.
The tricks evolved, into more than a few levels higher.
A few years ago you won a competition with a backflip a superman and a tailwhip
Nowdys you need a duble-backflip, superman to can-can and a threewhip
to be in second place.
Those days dirt parks were the holy land, now every kid with some land and a bit of love to the sport will have a crankworx course behind his house.
Nowdays there are so many disciplines, like Dirt, slopestyle, big mountain,…
Than, well than you had Dirt, Downhill, and RedBull Rampage,
which was a discipline by itselph.
* As it is about me,well I'm quite modern in my eyes, I come in the midle of everything, I do a bit of everything. Ride a bit of every discipline, do some tricks, promote my sponsors, Do different competitions, build some trails and parks, just do everything I can to stay alive in the sport. The only thing that's oldschool on me is having fun no mather what.
I have fun riding, building, lurning new stuff,… At some point I even like to crash, because that means I progress. And this days it's very important to progress.



-Sponsorship promoting:

* I promote sponsors as good as I can, put there logos in my videos, tell friends how much they support me, how good there stuff is, why I chose them,…
I make them feel like they are sponsoring him too, I get them a product by my price, so they get to love the company and see me in a better light.
Same as Cameron McCaul did for me, he gave me a Rockstar energy hat just like that.
It's al about your reputation, the bigger it is the more people like you, see you equipment and buy it because you have it.
Me, well I have a very big local reputation in my town and the sorounding, but I know that's not enough, so i try to go on international and bigger competitions for me to get the reputation of other people.
*A big part is in the looks of the products, the better it looks, the more people will like it and buy it aswell. If it's a good loking jersey someone will want to have it too.
Than comes the reputation of the company.
Bigger that is the more products it will sell, and the more people buy it, more other people will see it, and the more people will see it more other people will buy it aswell.
That's how it grows, like a tree. And a big part in this tree are the sponsored athlets, bigger their reputation is more people will buy it. And the fruit of good selling is a good big wel known company.
I think I am a very good athlete to promote stuff from my sponsors around Europe and later the world.
I spent more than a month abroad this year riding in parks all over the Europe and in every park I made a few friends interested in my equipment and clothing given to me by my sponsors, meaning I helped my sponsor sell some equipment worldwide.




Thanks to: Mah and FoxRacing.si


P.S. my english writing isn't so good.

Jaka Hartman

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The trail

So,me and my friends decided to build a fun flowy little trail in a forest.
Not telling you where(SECRET)!
The build is coming up fine, accept that the weather will be getting shi... and shi... due to winter.
So we're having problems with mud.
Currently the trail has: a drop, a bank, a few wallrides, technical trail, quarter pipe(in the making),a big booter and a speed-jump.
http://vimeo.com/29141967

So,.... that's it!