RedBull Ride + Style Competition

As a last minute, spur of the moment, 11am on a Saturday,  Brett "kidnapped" me and took me up to SF to watch this RedBull Ride + Style competition. I wasn't really sure what to expect but it was a beautiful day in the city so why not? By the time we got up there, the free style competition was just starting. There was a course set up right in front of the Ferry Building and there was artwork painted on the ramps by local SF artists - very impressive. There were about 30 riders or so who were invited to participate and it was split up into 4 heats. The judges would then pick the top 10 from each heat and let them compete again for the chance to be crowned the winner. As the heats went on, the riders became more impressive. Oh wait, I forgot to mention, this style of riding is called fixed gear, which means you are riding in only one gear and you do not have any brakes. That's right, no brakes my friends, so your feet must keep pedaling if your back tire is spinning and your feet are clipped in for "safety" {at least that's what I'm told.}

Anyway, it was extremely impressive the tricks that these guys could perform while riding fixed, one of the riders {turned out to be the winner!} even managed to do a back flip over the big ramp. Pretty impressive if you ask me. We stayed for the entire competition and were in awe of these guys. They were just all lucky that the weather was so warm and beautiful to allow this event to take place, because San Francisco weather has a mind of its own, that is for certain. I actually took about 80 pictures that day, some not so impressive and others were pretty amazing. I am sharing with you some of my favorites from the afternoon.

{note: these pictures were all taken by me and are not to be used elsewhere without any written permission, thanks!}

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