Video: Tomomi Nishikubo in “Ride to Survive 2”

Everyone knows that the cradle of humankind lies along the Great Rift Valley in Africa.

The cradle of mountain biking, on the other hand, is said to be Marin County, California. Or is it? Tomomi Nishikubo’s latest adventure in Ride to Survive 2 suggests that MTB history might go back thousands of years earlier – in the mountain forests of Japan. Or… was it all just a dream?

After a crash on his home trails in Japan, Tomomi opens his eyes – and nothing is the same. Instead of his usual riding buddies Ayato Kimura, Yuki Kishi, and crew, the Japanese trials ninja finds himself surrounded by members of a prehistoric MTB tribe. Dressed in loincloths made of inner tubes and accessorized with chains and chainrings, these ancient riders even have their own prototype mountain bike. Luckily, Tomomi’s Canyon Spectral all-rounder made it through the time warp in one piece, so communicating with his prehistoric ancestors is no problem. But to be accepted into the tribe, he’s got to prove his skills. 

What follows is four minutes of pure freeride-trials magic, with a nostalgic Northshore twist. On hand-built trails and obstacles, Tomomi once again proves he’s one of the most creative riders – of both the Stone Age and modern times. With insane precision, he takes on super skinny lines, throws down a 180 on a high and ultra-narrow Northshore, and nails a fakie nose-manual drop to fakie landing. The grand finale? A seesaw-to-front-flip-drop that sends him straight back to the present.

When Tomomi wakes up a second time, everything is back to normal. Ayato, Yuki, and the crew give him puzzled looks. Was it all just a dream? Or… wasn't it? 

Ride to Survive 2 was filmed on specially built trails in the Forest Bike Park, which are set to become part of a public trail network for the local MTB community after the shoot. Building the course took Tomomi approximately 1.5 years, as he refused to use heavy machinery and everything was done by hand. More details will be shown in the soon-to-be-released behind-the-scenes video.

Supporting Tomomi as Stone Age shredders were Japanese MTB pros Ayato Kimura, Yuki Kishi, Shuichi Hirasa, and Rintarou Yasu.

“I am super happy with the video. To bring this project to life took me quite some time. But not only the filming, especially the course bulding was hard work. The most difficult trick to film was the fakie drop, that took us three days. It was 2.5 meters high and ten meters long to the half cab. Heavy impact and balance. Never done such a weird trick before. The seesaw front flip on the other hand was a spontaneous idea, as we had originally planned something different. It was realized within just 24 hours.” – Tomomi Nishikubo