© 1997 Hyperactiveman
There's no doubt that off road riding will always be the ultimate riding experience, but with so many god damn trails being closed off to bikes, and so many of us are far from the open ones, it is hard to ride on dirt all the time. So come urban rides, where city dwellers take their bike out and ride the city's streets.
There are two types of urban riders, first we have the "I do this to keep fit” type where they are basically riding road bike style on a Mountain bike. Usually consist of the older age group, the age 30++ people. Then we have the urban assault riders, where the true art of urban riding comes to life. This is the younger group, usually don't give a shit about being fit, as long as they can have fun.
To truly enjoy urban assaults, you really have to be pretty skillful with your bike. Bunny hop is a must, if you want to ride true assaults, the key to assaults is style, jumps, and the ability to improvise on odd landscaping and ride it with style. I call this slalom, trials mix on pavement. Just like trails, the type of urban riding required depends on the city you are in. I have ridden in Singapore, Hong Kong, and a little in Boston. Of the three I find Singapore to be the most assault friendly.
The problem with Hong Kong and Boston, is that they lack the technicality, and the space I Singapore. H.K. and Boston are mainly high speed, car dodging in narrow roads. Fun, but not very technical. Singapore on the other hand has a safer offering of on road stuff to ride. They’ve got huge sidewalks with many build in small jumps, great for the airheads. Since the cops don’t really give a shit about people riding on the sidewalks, assaults there are at its’ best.
Urban assaults are very much like BMXer's street riding, only that we don't get as rad as they do. They concentrate on tricks; we concentrate more on speed, jumps and slaloming fat people and cars. The thing that is similar is style. Assaults without style is like Rodman without tattoos. You just can't have one without the other!
There is no specific discipline to assaults, so you can call it free riding in a way. Just ride how every the hell you feel like, catch as much air as you want, wheeli from one traffic light to another. Slalom cars, fat people, thin people, rolerbalders. Jump off steps, drops off, onto bus stops, into crowds, out of crowds, on to bridges, off bridges, flying gaps the list is endless.
Urban assaults are key to developing your skills, and how to utilize them, assaults enable you to try out just about every thing. You develop faster responds from assaults and have shit loads of fun. If you haven't had a chance to do a few urban rides, it's time you try. Saying that "there is no places to ride” is no excuses for not riding, because you will always be able find somewhere to ride.
Keith (The Hyper Active Man) Yan
Speed Zone | Wrench Zone | Breaking Zone | Hype Zone | Time Zone
© 1997 Hyperactiveman
