The Moment is a documentary on the beginnings of British Colombian free ride mountain biking. As mountain biking grew in the 90’s, it had been heading towards more racing rather than style of riding. Several groups of riders from British Columbia had felt that this was the wrong direction for the sport as it pushed riders towards the formal racing scene rather than just having fun on their bikes. Initially these riders fought to change this by just having fun on their bikes by challenging each other to ride even larger lines that they had found amongst friends. Some of the riders began experimenting with building their own trails with their own sketchy lines constructed out of the cedar from the forest. At this point, cinematographers had become to pick up on this new sport of free ride taking place in British Columbia of riders riding down what many would believe to be unrideable. The newfound fame for the sport was not without its hurdles as it faced nearly total rejection from the existing mountain bike communities for they were doing as well as facing challenges from many who just felt this new sport was too dangerous.

     The Moment had sought to recapture the birth of Free ride mountain biking in British Columbia. The Moment was comprised mainly of a collection of interviews with B-roll detailing the events that had happened. To prevent jump cuts during the interviews the scene would change either to a different  camera that had been filming the interview simultaneously or B-roll would be over layed over the jump cut. The B-roll itself had been comprised mainly of archival riding footage with some original photographs put into collages to further the story. Some of the B-roll had been filmed during the filming of the documentary with scenes such as a log being chainsawed. One thing I liked in particular was that between some of the interviews they would let the archival footage keep playing to allow the audience to experience the riding they had been doing uninterrupted by the interview.

      I would recommend The Moment as a definite must see for all mountain bikers. Although we may not all be freeriders hucking off sketchy ladders in the woods, free ride as a whole has most definitely impacted all aspects of mountain biking. The film dives deep into the beginnings of free ride which has now spread its influence across the entire sport of mountain biking. For a non mountain biker, this could still be a good watch for you. Although much of it is intended for people with prior knowledge of the sport of mountain biking, the story of a small group of renegades shifting an entire sporting culture in a new direction will still be worth the watch. It will also provide the non mountain biker an insight into mountain biking culture. As a mountain biker myself, I can say with certain that much of the riding documented in the film, has evolved its way into mainstream mountain biking. After the events in the film had taken place and movies had been being made on free ride, it began to spread into something that people actually did. Once brands had begun to recognize free ride and build products that could endure the additional stress it created while riding this new discipline, it had become popular. Free ride had been successful enough for ski resorts such as Whistler Blackcomb began offering lift served free ride mountain biking outside of the ski season. Now today, the original riding that was done back then has mainly fallen out of favor since it had simply been too dangerous, but it remains as part of mountain bike culture descended from what the early British Colombian free riders had started. The mindset of just riding your bike doing what you think is cool has remained as an ever important piece of mountain biking today. Now we just push each other as friends to push our riding forward while having fun doing so, just as had been done by these early pioneers. We now have bike parks which were created on the demand that people would want to have fun pushing themselves on what they were riding just as the early free riders had done. Now today, us as riders will "session" certain features or sections of trail, just for the sake of trying to push what we are capable of to ride it cleanly or possibly stylishly. Not only does The Moment go over how free ride influenced the sport of mountain biking today, but also what new challenges had arisen from it. While free ride may have been better suited for riders that just wanted to have fun and show off what was possible, its increased risks as well as potentially damaging riding styles featured. If you are a mountain biker looking to learn a bit about the sports history or someone who doesn't mountain bike and just wants to learn of a story of a small group of renegades trying to change the direction of a sport, then The Moment is a definite movie to watch if you get the chance.