Vert week intro. Vert. By Mat Hoffman

Oct 24, 2011

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 6007 times

It's hard to start an intro story for VERT. It's a rhythm. It's a combination of building up the greatest power that you can make, flowing the energy, balancing it by the greatest finesse. In other words it's 2 to 3G's through mid tranny with weightless control off the lip while juggling 30 pounds of steal. You have to deal with a fraction of an inch "life or death" accuracy, during a 25 to 50 ft vertically drop.

Riding Vert is the closest to flying my bike. It's a best friend that turns into a religion. For me it's like the perfect harmony between mental and physical balance.

It's taught me how to follow my visions and dreams and the power I have to make them reality no matter what the odds.

It's taught me you only have to have one person to believe in you and that's yourself.

It's shown me my virtues and my faults and has given me a world to live free from having to compromise either of them.
It's taught me the value of thinking outside the obvious and conventional and dreaming without paradox or past examples.

But Vert can be tough love.

It's taught me commitment and dedication. It keeps me humble by always offering me another challenge.

It's taught me to never give up.

It's taught me if you want the best out of life, you have to be willing and able to accept all the pain and failures. If you ride vert you have to be committed. Hesitation kills and you have to trust your instinct.

It's serious fun. You have to work hard to play.

Only passion can beat you up causing 20 something operations, put you in coma a couple times and cause you so much pain and still not have an ounce of remorse or hostility for knowing and devoting your life to its pure challenging flow.

And after a lifetime I still look forward to hanging out with vert every day!

Vert's weird.

-Mat Hoffman

++++++++++++++++FAT VERT WEEK goes from 24-31 October. +++++++++++++++++++++