Bike History
The
first
organized
freestyle
contests
took
place
in
the
early
1980s
in
cement
skateparks
on
the
West
Coast.
In
1984,
the
Ameri-
can
Freestyle
Association
(AFA)
was
formed
and
it
held
two
major
flatland
and
ramp
events
in
California.
A
full-fledged
series
devel-
oped
in
1985
and
a
De-
cember
final
in
Manchester,
New
Hampshire
became
the
AFA's
first
truly
national
event.
The
sport
exploded
in
1986
and
while
the
AFA
was
still
going
strong,
the
2-Hip
series
began
hold-
ing
vert
halfpipe
events.
After
the
AFA
held
its
last
contest
in
1989,
the
sport
entered
a
recession,
and
street
contests
became
the
norm.
In
1992,
Mat
Hoffman
organized
the
Bicycle
Stunt
(BS)
Series,
which
included
vert,
mini-street
and
flatland
categories.
The
sport
has
been
on
the
rise
ever since.
    Sport Description
    DIRT BIKING
    Beginning
in
the
early
'70s,
the
popularity
of
dirt
jumping
has
exploded,
in
part
due
to
its
accessibility.
A
piece
of
land,
a
bike,
a
shovel,
and
you're
ready
to
ride.
Evaluated
on
over-
all
impression,
style
is
as
important as difficulty.
    
    STREET BIKING
    Riders
do
runs
through
a
skatepark-style
street
course
and
are
judged
by
an
overall
im-
pression
of
how
well
they
rode.
Street
contests
in-
corporate
skills
from
all
types
of
riding--vert,
dirt
and
flatland.
Difficulty
of
tricks
is
rewarded,
as
is
flow,
speed
and
utilizing
the
entire course.
    
    VERT BIKING
    Judged
on
overall
im-
pression,
the
athletes
ride
a
vertical
halfpipe.
Doing
huge
airs
and
burly
tricks
is
the
essence
of
vert
riding.
As
vert
riding
continues
to
evolve,
fast,
clean
riding
is
gaining
greater
importance.
Bike
vert
is
always
one
of
the
most
popular
competitions
at
every
event.
    
.