Is He The Future Of Slopestyle? | GMBN Meets Jake Atkinson

GMBN’s ex slopestyle and freeride pro Blake Samson meets up-and-coming UK shredder Jake Atkinson. From sweeping victories in 2022 at the UK dirt jump series Dirt Wars, to larger events such as Big White Invitational in Canada and the Red Bull Roof Ride in Poland in 2023. He’s also been crowned Red Bull Rookie Of The Year, Jake’s relentless passion and skill have propelled him to his goal of an invite to the 2024 CrankWorx World Tour!

We’d like to wish Jake all the best for Crankworx Rotorua!
Follow Jake’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jakeeatkinson/

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In the world of Free Ride man biking there are those who ride and there are those who redefine what’s possible on two [Applause] [Applause] wheels I’m here at ramble Cardiff where I’m going to meet a very special young Rider someone that’s going to move the wheel of slope style meet Jake ainson a name that’s been making waves in the mountain biking Community recently Jake grew up as a bike mechanic and has gone

From turning wrenches to tearing up Trails fulltime and he’s not just your average Rider anymore in 2023 alone Jake clenched the top spots in prestigious events like big white Invitational in Canada and Red Bull roof ride in Poland but his domination didn’t start here back in 2022 Jake made a statement

By sweeping the UK series dirt Wars with an impressive four wins under his Bel this is the same Proving Grounds where Riders like myself Sam Pilgrim Sam Reynolds and Matt Jones made their Mark and if that’s not enough Jake’s recently been crowned Red Bull Rookie of the Year

Solidifying his status as one of the sports rising stars but Jake’s journey is far from over man with a spot secured in the 2024 crank Works will World Tour he’s ready to take on the world’s biggest challenges that mountain biking has to offer so Pat up put your helmets on You

Beautiful People cuz Jake ainson is going to show us what it means to ride with heart grit and unyielding Spirit of Adventure dude that line was incredible have you R here before never never nope flapping dude look like you were born here anyway you’re career in biking did

It start in the Lake District were you born there or yeah so I’ve yeah I’ve lived in The Lakes my whole life um so I’ve always been into mountain biking because there’s so much of it where we are but I mean the first time I ever really properly rode any sort of bikes

With trials I Rod trials for four years and then straight into BMX after that hang on Trials trials yeah Mr rash would love that then into BMX yeah B yeah so four yeah four years of Trials and then 6 years of BMX okay and then been on

This for three years now that’s why your moves in the skate park look very BMXing yeah yeah I can see incredible right show us a bit more cuz I forgot my bike I actually haven’t forgotten it I haven’t got one so I can’t ride unbelievable I know sorry come to skate

Park it’s the first time I’ve come to a park no bike I’ve got a spare one have you yeah I got the kit I got a dad question for you what’s your goals in life well I mean my goal was to get to crank works and then so yeah we we’re going next month which is quite insane that happen really quick very quick yeah you going to see yourself after that now you’ve made that goal

You’ve made you’ve been there I probably just try and stay there as long as I can stay there yeah trials like I’ll be I’ll be doing that yeah I want to do some trials again I miss trials I miss it that much I turned my other jump bike

Into a trials bike that’s how into it I am I got a goal for you try and beat a meal yeah that’s that’s a big goal is a f andish yeah that’s that’s some goal is that it’s come a long way in the last year I mean well not year like the last

Two especially I think from seeing a meal it has moved on a lot since I’ve done it which is yeah ridiculous now yes unreal I wouldn’t even stand a chance not even stand you all right nah yeah n let’s see some more moves man I need learn a few Things That was good that one thanks it’s really hard to get that one isn’t it yeah it’s like the world’s biggest spy question right now you said you did BMX for 6 years after doing trials BMX is now in the Olympics do you think he would make that move into BMX cuz you

Know you can get into Olympics I don’t know I I quite enjoy to ride one again but I’m not like I don’t know I’m just I’m having so much fun on this at the the minute that like I’ve never even thought about riding anything else no it’s good mountain bikes are not good

They yeah it’s so fun well fun please I just I’ve got no bike oh little bit casy J you got it again yeah I got Again oh dude right call the shots can I call a few shots for sure yeah first Gap Gap right from that Landing to this Landing yeah do you reckon you got it yeah and then what on the box after foot jam how fast are we going oh yeah you

Will be going really fast three it okay cuz that’ll be a nice big p nice big case big case big case if you case foot jam if you don’t case three and I’ll watch out there next Nick watch out there ni Nick oh oh and a three

Oh uhoh oh what was what was that I like that nailed it yes thanks I saw you just do one flare foot jam whip on wh on that one on that one I’ll do it on that one do it on that one okay this might take all week that’s fine after you’ve seen

It first go as well after I saw it first go here they didn’t see it but I saw now it’s going to take forever isn’t it oh no oh he did actually nail it first go there but no it’s that it’s there now it’s just going to take all

Day that’s it that’s what I I need that’s you you just needed the pressure yeah that’s it yeah all right three whip okay yeah three whip what else are you thinking I was thinking three Downs I do three whip then three Downs oh yes okay

Okay okay so three whips you do a 360 you kick the bike bike goes around you catch it you land it the next one is a three Downs that means you kick the bike the opposite way and you catch it halfway and you turn it around or you do

Like what I used to do was an Oppo three to down whip here we go yes oh I love that trick I love it he’s coming back uhoh uhoh oh wait yeah you did it you did it that was on purpose if you CED it you had to foot

Jump that was on purpose or if you don’t case you threw it and she did it three whip text lovely I like it what would you draw rather do Flip or three weirdly I’d rather cash roll than flip on a big jump on a massive jump I’d rather cash

Roll I don’t know why I just it’s always been like that I don’t know it’s a really bad habit but it’s quite good that’s worse than doing a flip no it’s not this is the thing I think it goes it’s like it doesn’t feel as scary I

Don’t know why it’s cuz I don’t have to do this look then I can’t see anything you’re constantly looking at the land yeah pretty much don’t why it’s the thing don’t know why right we are okay here’s a question yeah would you do you three regular kick Oppo or do you

Oppo three kick the other way I regular three Oppo kick okay I can do them the other way but it’s a bit it’s a bit hit or miss my yeah my usual way is regular 3 opposite work yeah mine was Oppo 3 regular but I’m goofy so I have to

Switch feet to to doip switch feet when you do it I switch feet for whips so right foot forward spin right to whip I spin to left foot forward kick the bike catch it rever weird are you catching the air and switch yeah even FL kind

Impressive what you no yeah wow it’s too bad I can’t show you such a shame yeah I wish I could see that I wish I could do them still Now a yeah that was that was cleaner than the three whip it was actually yeah it felt way cleaner than the three whip your feet were like and I was like love trick it was even a shuffle what it you got a trick no I said I love that trick oh

Yeah no I did like that trick no more tricks no moreck run out You right I’m always intrigued about bikes yeah especially jump bikes because there is Tech with Within These bikes yeah there is there’s bits there’s bits that people don’t really understand like what’s going on here and I’ve noticed one thing when we put your bike up here is in there I absolutely love

That but then there’s Tech in here you think that dirt jumpers are dumb and stupid but we’re not no calculated risk and quite clever human beings when it comes to biking let’s talk through your bike because it is interesting first off you’ve just signed for GT bikes yeah

Yeah this is the laom labom yeah yeah this bike they does it come in multiple sizes yeah this it comes in a medium and a long okay um or medium and large and yeah this is the medium one this Medi small the shortest one uh cuz it’s more

Nimble exactly you can Chuck the bike around a lot better and easier now talk us through like settings within the fork yes we got suspension but you don’t really want them to work that much no not really um especially yeah coming from BMX and stuff I like my bike as

Stiff as possible so yeah the forks uh I think I’m they’ve got 250 psi and I’m running um the max volume reducers that come with the forks I think that’s five I believe pressure wise tires now when I used to ride I would run them at like 95

85 really hard I think it was a bit silly but yeah what is the tire pressures you running uh I’m running I’m running about 60 PSI okay 4 and a half bar I believe Factory maximum pressure which is 65 in these yeah that little bit of Squish child you like in case you

Find something to play on yeah exactly talk about the the squeaky brakes this GB in’s right here the whole top half is like uh BMX gyro yeah just cuz they’re just they’ve been made for a lot longer than Mountain bik Gyros have so just like the this Gyro’s got a bearon in it

So it doesn’t ever wear out really like I’ve had them on for years um and then yeah the levers and stuff with the Dual cables it’s just less friction cuz there’s two cables not one to two so all little bits that make the difference one

Last thing right is in there dude now I used to wrap in a tube around my crank and BB to stop my that does make an annoying squeaky noise it does make an annoying squeaky noise but did you do that no my uh my dad actually made that

That’s quite a lot of man hours of filing because he was persistent on we only had I think he only had a 10 mil drill bit so that’s just a that’s that’s from 10 mil to that size of that bottom bracket with a file a hand file he was

That Keen on making a crank stoer yeah fair play Dad I really like that that’s really work really well yeah really cool cuz you don’t really want your cranks spinning in the air when you’re kicking your bike around no and then yeah I’m running BMX cranks cuz they are like

Almost Invincible I say I’ve never bent a pair so one last thing that I used to be sponsored by them was Halo Halo wheels these are the Halo chaos chaos Wheels yet with a wide by front hub and a super drive on the back super drive on

The back sounds incredible but there you go that is a dream machine to stunt in perfect see if it’s up for the task of crank works oh mate 100% what a talented young dude this guy is like just watching him ride the precise movements that he has when he’s

Riding these ramps is unreal you can see there Talent there I reckon he’s the next big thing man look at that oh and your forks work yeah I know I was trying to find some rigid ones but I wanted it to be proper charie but I like the color of that you’re also

Sponsored by gussa as well yeah nice I like that stem it’s a very yeah the stem and bars and stuff all look very nice I like them so you brought this bike out yeah this is the trials rig this is yeah this is like the this is hybrid it’s

It’s definitely a hybrid man yeah it’s I wanted to be a jump bike and I said no can you do that over there yeah try yeah do it o at That Very oh this might be too outside of my pay oh Oh a that was like on the corner just F of the most what insane thing fakey down there well Gap L front wheel spare in oh almost that was like an accidental commitment I I think so nice it’s actually flipping good that one it’s actually like a full bike

Length as well it is yeah almost no it’s full bike length if you’re going from up here yeah that’s terrifying ly hell I can’t believe that works this is the best bike ever dude so good so good to hang out with you I’m gled I didn’t have my bike

But hey it hasn’t come in the post yet yeah I blame the world for that but if you want to keep on tabs with this rad dude out there in the slope style world then give him a follow on his Instagram follow him on the FMB will tour and all

Of that crank works is happening probably now is happen or is going to happen so good luck to you thank you and uh good luck in the future been an absolute banger