Red Bull Hardline is coming up this weekend. This year’s course has a number of changes, but there’s one that is getting all the attention: the new canyon river gap. For the video above, Matt Jones called it the scariest jump of his life. While that may be a bit of hyperbole for Youtube attention, there is no doubt that this jump is massive with extreme consequences.
Claimed to be 75′ long, the gap is only 3′ longer than the Canyon Gap at Red Bull Rampage that Kelly McGarry famously backflipped. Yet, the Hardline gap just looks gnarlier likely due to the imposing nature of the scaffolding used for the takeoff and landing coupled with the death drop below.
During testing of the gap, Bernard Kerr was the first to guinnea pig the jump landing it cleanly. Matt Jones followed Bernard with a sucessful attempt. But on the third try, Jim Monro bailed midair – fortunately making it to the landing without his bike. While he took a big slam to the head, Jones says that Jim is OK and without any broken bones. It sounds like there will be some changes made to the jump before now and race day, so hopefully Jim’s crash will be the first and only on the new feature!
Update:
First reported by Singletrackworld, Matt Jones’ latest video has officially confirmed that the river canyon gap will no longer be a part of the Red Bull Hardline course. Matt states that in spite of making the gap a meter shorter and changing the lip, “the decision has been made to remove it from the course and create a plan for the future to make it work better for all riders.” Matt’s course walk video gives a look at the (still) updated course which is still packed with scary features. Even though Matt had no problem clearing the gap on the first try, even he says he has a “huge sense of relief” that the gap is no longer in play.
For more on the new course, check out the post from Red Bull here.
