Nu-skool Jibbing and the Art of the Perfect bonk!
Jibbing seems more popular than ever in mountainboarding and this got me to thinking why?
It's always been there, riders have always popped little 180's off little kickers and bumps or 50/50'd the odd rail, but nothing like whats going on at the mo, with riders bonking, tapping and stalling on anything they can find. Things have also been getting more and more tech on the rails than ever seen before. If you can't board slide now, then you aren't going to be impressing anyone, 'less of course you are hitting hand rails out there on the street. This new fashion doesn't end with riders searching out jibs at their local centre or in their nearest riding spot.
Mountainboard Centres have also woken up to this new craze for jibbing. They are investing time and money in shifting soil about to build Jib parks, with spines, boxes, rails, benches, the odd quarter and wall rides plus a few bits of scrap, tyres and posts thrown in for good measure. All for riders to bonk, tap and grind as much as their creativety will allow.
photo (C) Theo Acworth
So why are so many riders having a bit of a jib these days?
Well for me it's hard say; It could be skating, and the popularity of buttering in snowboarding is have an effect but I think it is deeper than that. The reason is because I am a fairly averagely talented rider who doesn't skate or snowboard really and is more into freeriding than anything else, but I like to have a little jib. Like one of my favourite things is to pop a little backside 180 off the odd bank, 'cause it's fun and feels a little cheecky. Which I guess is what jibbing is all about, nothing "death defing", more riding stuff for the fun of it. After all one of the funnest sessions at last year's ATBA-UK series was at Hales Superbole in their little jib park they have got on top of the hill. Pretty much the whole weekend there was the sound of cheers and laughter coming from riders who were in there either board slidin the sunken gas bottles or givin them a cheeky nose bonk as they ollied over them. There were also mini grabs off the little kicker and all sorts going on the quarter and wall ride.
Thinking about it, it kinda makes sense why more riders are into jibbing. It's chillout riding with your mates without the hiking about the place you have with freeriding. Which if we are honest can be a bit off hassle some times especially when it's hot. Even with freestyle there's the trudge back to the drop in, queuing or waiting for somone to make their mind up on what they are going to do. Oh and if you want to be going big then you are going to need a big jump, something which doesn't fit in your back garden very easily. But then a nice little jib park might fit without too much digging or time spent, just as long as your landlord/mrs/parents don't mind you adding the odd rail or bonk post to the garden.
I thought i'd ask someone who is known for their wheelie baord jib skillz. I "pm'ed" The mighty Dave Compton (he of the BFC) to find out what he reckons.
"Jibbing. The definition of jibbing, for me, is when you do a trick which either makes people laugh, or makes them go "oooooh, hadn't thought of that". Thats why jibbing is so popular, because its fun to laugh and see things which you didn't expect. If you see a big jump, and someone who does 7's is there, you kind of expect to see a 7 - that doesn't make 7's less awesome, they're tech as f**k and they look ace - but I really like hitting a little tranny with Arno or Nicky G or any of my other BFC bois (and tons of other sick riders), because I never know what I'm gonna see until I see it.
The earliest jib I can think of would be in a quite old youtube video, of TK doing a noseroll 1, switch bs 1 out at the end of some demo run in france, and I'd never seen it done before. Now everyone is doing them, but I think they still count as a jib, but they aren't as strong a jib any more because you've seen so many. People are even doing them off drops now!, which is taking them firmly out of the jib genre in that instance. Arno does them 2sev onto rails though, and thats definitely a jib. Other jibs include most 1 footed stuff, lots of stuff involving the nose and tail, or funny stuff like when people started doing MJ's for jokes. But have they been done too much now? maybe...
And remember kids, just because you're doing something real slow doesn't make it a jib. and also just because its on a rail doesn't make it a jib. Like a slow bs boardslide on a park box isn't a jib, but then the same thing on a bin or something weird might be, especially if something falls over when youre doing it. thinking about it, its quite hard to define. I can tell you what is a jib and what isn't, but I can't tell you a general rule for them. The best kind of jib is very definitely the kind that makes people laugh - I can't think of anything more awesome than a funny trick.
I think I've jibbed this article. Its quite rambling and pointless, but its been fun doing it, and maybe it'll make people laugh. Thats jibbing."
photo (c) Crillpix
Cheers Dave, sounds like you have it about nailed. Jibbing is fun, try and define it or make rules for it and stops bein' jibbing.
Oh and just in case anyone is wondering why I haven't described what the perfect bonk is, if I did, then it wouldn't be the perfect bonk anymore, would it? Happy Jibbing
words by Smilie
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