Josh Bender (born in 1974) has ushered in a new era in freeride, but he doesn't feel fully realized.
Article written and produced by bikemag. com. This is an Italian translation of that article.
Inside his helmet was dirt and sand. A mystical force made up of media and fans had just ridden his bike over a 16m drop in the sweltering desert of British Columbia. He fell violently to the ground. When his loom broke, he flew headlong into a tree that intoxicated the air with its scent of pine and dust.
The horizontal beige stripes of the sandy cliff looked like static from an old TV. So she did the inside of her head. This wasn't Josh Bender's first head injury, but it was his worst. As the crew took him to a hospital in Kamloops, he remembered nothing. Maybe that's why he would go on to try the "Jaw Drop" three more times before seemingly disappearing from the nascent freeride scene.
Bikemag searched for the most controversial man in the history of mountain biking in an impossible and quiet corner of Northern California in “far” 2018. He was the first biker against the current in history, sacrificing himself to the idea of the 90s: the steep verticals in freeride skier style were his bread. For some, he heralded the future. To others, he was a "one-trick pony," a stunt he could barely ride on singletrack.
Even his name evoked a kind of frank and invasive force: JOSH BENDER! Many directors of the time wanted him at all costs in the first MTB Freeride movies of the time: he appeared in "New World Disorder" and "Crusty Demons of Dirt", just to name 2 of the most iconic. Back then, being crazy was a virtue… and Bender was certainly on the spot!
THE BIKEMAG INTERVIEW
Date 2018 - full link in English
written by Matt Cote - Photograph: Reuben Krabbe
Bender looks barely a day older than he did on my VHS tapes. He's still wearing his clear driving glasses and a 90s Marzocchi bomber jacket. He greets us with an enthusiastic, firm handshake, his nails worn. His partner—10 years his junior—introduces us to their daughter, who's eating ice cubes from Bender's hand. The doors to conversation open.
FOREWORD OF FREERIDE
"The bottom line is he was a super fucking visionary and what people are doing now is what he believed could be done over 20 years ago.“Says Derek Westerlund, the mastermind behind Freeride Entertainment and the first films that made Bender famous. "But there were a lot of people who didn't like him very much: because he represented "evil" in a certain sense, he was a little misunderstood boy, that for sure.. "
Fifteen minutes down Georgetown's quiet, lonely street is Garden Valley, a place not even native Californians can place. The Forest Hideout is a retirement and smallholder community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, bordering the Eldorado National Forest.
Bender and his wife spent several years (from 2013 to 2018) clearing a small portion of an 18-acre lot belonging to an old mill they purchased for $45.000. They live in a two-story, 6-foot-by-6-foot off-the-grid cabin. Bender's father helped them build it so they could move out of their camper when his wife became pregnant. Electricity comes from a solar panel, and they have an outdoor propane shower.It's dreamlike and a strange contrast for a man who often spoke with phrases like "Life is too short not to get great, but it gets great". Bender is actually extraordinarily lucid and articulate, with well-collected thoughts and limitless energy. He radiates positivity and imagination. All things are still possible for him.
JOSH'S CHILDHOOD
We sip the "Yerba Mate" and we tell each other stories. Josh Bender grew up in North Pole, Alaska, a surreal village in the middle of the Arctic darkness. He's the son of a stay-at-home mom and a dad who worked on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. And he has 12 credits toward a degree in criminal psychology. He met his wife (the wife) at the Sea Otter Classic in 2007 while sleeping atop the "Drop In" tour bus from the TV series. They reunited in 2011 and shortly thereafter moved to this piece of land where they now live.
"When we got to the property” says the wife, “there was a really bad signal (phone line, ed), but I was like, “I bet if I go up that tree I could get a signal, and then maybe I could have a typewriter up there. ' Our worried friends said: "You're missing out, you're really missing out. But I still aspire to have my own blockhouse office".
"Rampage didn't spread until 2016, he says hunched over a stool in the sparsely furnished cabin. Now, finally, the knights are thinking outside the box, I think the next thing will be the fakie", He says.
THE RINASCITE
Bender and his wife launched the Rubicon Area Mountain Biking Organization (RAMBO) around 2018 to develop the trails here, and Eldorado is now a stop for Benduro. Bender's style has changed, and he no longer rides bikes that were less like bikes: heavy and unsteady, with technical features that were the envy of the motorcycle world.
In fact, he drove the mother of downhill: a Karpel Apocalypse custom by Josh Bender: all steel with 330mm of rear travel (two shocks). It had a 300mm Marzocchi Super Monster fork made just for it, and it was so tall that it needed 24-inch wheels to compensate. I sold it to Virgin when the local club needed funds to build a BMX park and donated the money.
Back at the farm, he shows us the bike he replaced it with: a 12-pound, steel, 12-inch Canfield with narrow bars and a super-small triangle: He calls it his "secret weapon" and says it's the only bike you can ride really big with. He accompanies us to the edge of the property to show us a dry stream bed filled with boulders of dimensions that seem unimaginable to drive. "Do you want me to do it for you guys?"He asks looking us in the eye ... ..
THE WILD SIDE
"He's obviously a dad now, but he's still a fool", Says Westerlund, one of the media who believed in Josh the most on the video level,"Josh continues to be a monk for the fuck, he will always be who he is, he comes from a crazy family in Alaska and is a wild man, I think he grieve and he knows he took a lot of blows to the head (head injuries, ed), but I think he did well to take these risks".
Meanwhile, Krabbe and I exchange nervous glances as Bender dumps piles of weed onto a table in a remote building at the end of a road not farther away, making sure it's absolutely legal under California medical laws.
"I just wanted to go out there and jump the biggest cliffs, drop the biggest of them all, and not worry about a thing“Says Bender. "The relationship with Westerlund was like, 'If I pay for your flight and your hospital bill, will you come to Canada to shoot videos with us?' And I was like, 'OK, man.' "
Bender often refers to himself in the third person, and the past is like a movie to him.
"I had 7 weeks of memory loss after falling on the Jaw Drop“, He explains. "Then I went to pick up my bike in Deer Valley, Utah, because it had been repaired and people were like, " Dude, you're becoming somebody, nobody turns as big as you!". And I:"For real? OK, I better do something. "
Following this severe fall, a double retaining wall jumped and hit the head again. This time, he says, no damage too bad. But what couldn't be solved was what people were starting to think. In the environment, and in the village, they began to call Bender crazy and to treat him like a court jester, a stunt man who liked to get hurt.
"He was landing on the first of 10 big jumps he had made along the way“Remembers Westerlund. "But it crashed very badly in front of a group of local media in Park City. And you know, he was starting to get teased because he was just eating shit after shit with all those falls. He was physically unable to move forward at that level. "
Benny Darko
In the morning he walks with a thundering wooden step. It has two metal plates that hold the spine together from a 2005 accident and two reconstructed ankles. But once she warms up, his posture is perfect. She doesn't recognize any pain (for now). He is still as thin and strong as a XNUMX year old. He still trains a lot to compensate for injuries and stay fit.
"He was walking into a room and his hands were already in the air, like, “I'm here, the God is here "," Recalls Randy Spangler, one of Bender's oldest and closest friends, "I think the spotlight on him came too fast and he was dazzled. People were moving away".
It was part of Bender's personality to take everything as far as possible, however, amid the confusion of his declining career, he spent the better part of the next 10 years being as bold as possible, living out of his van and partying. All time.
"There was so much pressure on me to get huge, for the progression of the sport and the progression of the industry", He says. "And it was like, 'Do it, man, because no one else will.' No one would ever give me time to rest, sponsors, movies, fans: just do it as long as you can"
Josh Bender still disassociates himself from some really crappy things he did during that time. Like alcohol abuse (he's sober since 2013). When he lost touch with reality, it wasn't Bender, it was "Benny Darko". He talks openly and cheerfully about even the darkest moments of him because he doesn't believe it was the real him but another grip, like when he bit his 3-year-old goddaughter.
"It was pretty crazy“Remembers Spangler, one of his old friends. "The year it really got dark, the real Benny Darko, he's been through this tough phase. I was at Sea Otter, I got a call from my wife and she was like, 'Yeah, she bit me and she bit your daughter and broke her bike. ' I went into dad mode and grabbed him by the neck and pushed him against the trailer and was like, 'Man, I don't care if you're Bender or if you're Darko, she's my daughter so you don't have to touch her!' "
It was then that it was finally time to put Benny Darko to bed. For him it was a shock.
"It was like, 'OK, man, you can keep drinking and still be a belligerent asshole, but nothing's getting better, so let's turn on the brain", Reports Bender,"I've been drinking since I was about 10. I was in my 30s, so it's like 'let's try not to drink for the next XNUMX years and see what happens' ".
THE BITTER LIFE
The Rubicon Trail's granite cap flows with endless options for riding. The famous Jeep trail is one of Bender's favorite spots.
"If he had support and could train, he could still send him a few more drops“, his wife tells me. Bender met his wife at the end of the “Benny Darko” days. She knows Josh above all as a kind, supportive partner and caring father. The only sticking point is his predilection for minimalism, initially refusing to buy furniture for their house and sitting on buckets.
"I never really thought I would live like this“, He laughs.
Isolated and away from friends or any kind of scene, the farm hasn't always been a dream. Bender only experiences a small event and has had to supplement his income over the years with odd jobs like manual jobs and cooking in restaurants. One year, while the couple were out for Rampage, the entire season's cannabis crop was cut down and stolen, which was devastating.
His wife intends to host riding camps and events, but there's still a lot of work to be done. With the Benduro series currently on hiatus until additional support is obtained, both seem a little disappointed not to have more help from the industry.
"From the start, I didn't have enough support", Says Bender,"I couldn't get into this twisted world of bicycle marketing". Westerlund, however, remembers the problem differently.
"He was very exuberant at first and talked a lot, he was surrounded by some people who led him in the wrong direction and nobody wanted to show Bender that breaking the bike into several pieces did not like the brands".
Westerlund's Freeride Entertainment has sold more footage of Bender than any other driver, much of it to reality TV. We have consumed it.
"Some would say so“, Bender replies softly, pedaling back to the car. "Some would say I didn't take a chance, people always ask me what I do outside of Rampage and I'm like 'Nothing'. It's kind of like the purist attitude, just do it, but I'm always looking for more support, I feel I have even more to give".
Tunnel Vision
The Confluence Trail near Auburn follows the north fork of the American River on an open, grassy slope with few trees. The trail is gentle enough for Bender and his wife to take turns carrying their daughter on their shoulders.
"I really didn't want to stop and hang the MTB until I jumped 30 meters vertical and 60 meters in length", tells me. "But I had to stop suddenly, I was not able to do it physically. Now, more than ever, the kids are stepping down, not looking for vertical walls. I've always been an old school drop guy, as they call them now."
Before his injuries accumulated, Bender made up his mind to jump 30 feet for a TV crew who didn't care about Josh's safety, but Westerlund intervened.
"These people were calling me to go, 'OK, this guy is going to make a 30m cliff on a wooden structure.' I was like, “You're going to see someone die in front of your cameras."
Filming has been canceled, and Bender complains that no one has shot on that level since: "I don't feel like I have an inheritance“, He answers when he is teased.
"But isn't Rampage your vision?”We ask him.
"It is a single tentacle“, He replies. "But Rampage has its own energy: it takes so many people to make it and you can still see the fear, you can see those frightened guys. But one thing I don't see: they are not willing to die".
