Cameron Zink 2010 Crankworx Champion from Taylor Sage on Vimeo.

We doubt we’d get much argument that Zink’s ride doesn’t really hold a candle to last year’s winner Greg Watts, who pulled off a double flip whip, or even Brandon Semenuk’s runner-up rides.

By the same token, most of the riders who pushed it this year saw their day ended in crashes.

A possible partial solution: If you weight points on tricks attempted, even if they fail, Slopestyle judging might prove a bit more exciting and the results a lot closer. Both competitors and fans would benefit from that.

But the continued escalation of slopestyle challenges and gravity of injuries raises the question: Has the sport gone too far?

The bunching together of serious injuries at Crankworx competitions in Colorado and Whistler this year have served to highlight the issue. While the aerial acts continue to amaze and astound, the carnage factor is giving pause.

In Colorado, everybody’s favorite stuntster Cam McCaul took a terrible fall, shorting a front flip and breaking his femur. Cam was his usual gonzo self throughout the episode, telling concerned friends and bystanders that it was simply time to get the thing set so he could start healing and get back on the bike. But a broken femur is serious business, and none of the riders we’ve seen with this injury have come back without a far healthier respect for the damage a crash can do.

Still, Cam can thank his lucky stars he didn’t break a two C-vertebrae like downhiller Dan Atherton, who landed a jump wrong while doing practice runs in his own back yard.

At Whistler Crankworx, leading names fell like flies. Slopestyle competition favorite and hometown hero Brandon Semenuk, fresh off his third straight win at Colorado, suffered neck and collarbone injuries, fellow B.C.-er Darren Berrecloth hurt his arm and wrist on his final 360 and France’s Yannick Granieri had to be hospitalized after landing badly. To show how tough the competition was, Yannick still finished 6th and Semenuk 8th in the overall judging. Go big or go home indeed.

It’s always going to be a tough call as to when a course is just too vertical to be safe. Partly to accommodate more extreme tricks, slopestyle courses always feature variations from year to year, stepping up the drop distances, the berm angles, the jump ramps. There may also be an issue with judging. When the riders who go the biggest get hurt as a result, the ones who get rewarded with the wins are the riders who best manage to balance difficulty with getting to the finish line in one piece. That isn’t necessarily the right way to move the sport forward either.

Ultimately it’s not the public who arbitrates this issue. The public wants the scariest, gnarliest and raddest stunts possible. Instead, it’s the riders who will have to make the call. Sort of like in the Tour de France, when the difficulty factor overrides the fairness of the course and safaety of the cyclists and a rider like Fabian Cancellara or Lance Armstrong says hey, time out — that’s what will have to happen if and when course design and judging philosophy exceeds the bounds of rational wisdom.

We’d be interested in hearing from the riders on this point, as well as their fans. Whether they do it publicly or not, though, there needs to be a conversation about the dynamics of slopestyle with regard to the safety of the sport.

Is slopestyle becoming too dangerous? Click here to take survey.

There’s a cross-country tandem cyclist who rides shotgun, letting the stoker sit in front. Why, you ask? Gene Bisbee explains.

Seattle’s Jill Kintner wasn’t the dominating force at this year’s Crankworx that she was last year, but she did take top honors in the Pump Track competition. You have to be super strong to do pump track right. Jill’s progression toward World Cup downhill success continues apace. Check her blog for the full scoop.

Cam McCaul injury update.

Dan Atherton injury update.

Crankworx partial injury rundown: “Brandon Semenuk suffered a neck/collar bone with back flip on last drop. Darren Berrecloth suffered an arm/wrist injury on last jump 360. Yannick went to hospital after a crash on an odd landing.”

Every time Seattle proposes a road diet to reduce speeding cars, traffic congestion, hazardous conditions for cyclists and pedestrians and other ills of contemporary transportation management, a few people get scared.

Whistler Worx 2009: Is this Brandon's year?

Last year we thought Semenuk might’ve edged out winner Greg Watts. The guy can sky higher than anyone we’ve ever seen. Now 2010 could be his breakthrough year.

Stay tuned.

Early Christmas presents are on sale at Ric Hjertberg’s Wheel Fanatyk, especially Ghisallo wood rims!

We repeat: Brandon Semenuk is redefining the expression, “Go Big!”

Shimano sales down 21 percent in 3rd quarter. Mavic sales down 14 percent. Dismal as both sound, read the links. The issue appears to be margins. The mid-range and high-end stuff isn’t moving. That’s where the fat profits are. Otherwise, the bike business is doing better than most in this Redepression or whatever you want to call it.

In a surprise Kokanee Crankworx 2009 Slopestyle outcome Saturday, Greg Watts, a tricks specialist from the Santa Cruz-Aptos cabal in California, upset Semenuk, who was fresh off his second straight Crankworx Colorado victory and obviously hoping to kill before his B.C. homeys. Watts, who was runnerup to Semenuk at Colorado, flashed some monster moves, including a double flip whip performed by twirling the bike above you while upside down and backwards to the terrain below.

Taking nothing away from Watts, who clearly rode out of his mind, Semenuk wuz robbed. You can argue whether Semenuk’s tail whips and flips were better than Watts’ — Semenuk also did an upside-downer — or whether his run was as daring and innovative as Watts. But assuming these are arguable points, Semenuk ruled on style points.

The man — well, kid, really, at 18 — gets air like no one else. He soars so high that you almost feel the G-out in your gut. He’s like an angel floating in the clouds, only on wheels instead of wings.

By contrast (again, nothing diminished), Watts’ victorious flip whip seemed a bit rushed and incomplete. Yes he pulled it off. But did he really nail it?

Finally, Semenuk’s high-wire act had more diversity than Greg’s. It was one different move after another — back flip, tail whip, upside down whip, front flip, no-hands, reverse 360 — that left the crowd gasping and roaring at the same time.

Points are all judgment calls by the panel of experts, of course. And they took their time, presumably mulling over some of the above considerations. But in the end, they came down on the wrong side. (Some observers said Watts wuz robbed at Colorado, so this may be poetic justice.)

It might be reasoned that at his tender age, Semenuk has years to get the top Slopestyle win in the world. But slopestyle isn’t golf or tennis or even the NBA. You’re only one cracked disc or broken foot from the shelf, as the quickly forgotten stars of yesteryear (some of whom were drifting around Whistler Village the past week) can readily attest. By your mid-20s, the normal peak years for athletic prowess, you’re pretty much out of this type of competition.

Let’s hope there wasn’t a “prophet without honor” psychology going on in the voting, a subtext that says you can’t favor the hometown hero and anyway, how could someone from down the street really beat all these big names from around the world?

In any case, there’s always (or at least a good chance for) next year for Semenuk. At some point it’s going to be clear he’s the class of the competition, local boy or not.

In another surprise, first-timer Martin Soederstroem of Sweden, who must be the new Tailwhip King of the slopestyle circuit, pulled down the bronze, beating out Paul Basagoitia, the only competitor to ever win Crankworx in his first try (as a qualifier, no less). Bas is having a great year nonetheless, as a video floating around of him doing a rocket-shot flip whip proves.

All in all, another monster Monster Energy Slopestyle is in the books. Each year seems to get better, and although I hear some cavils about too many flips and whips so why bother? Crankworx never fails to amaze, delight and inspire. The magic of Crankworx is that I’ll go ride tomorrow with dreams of doing my first 360, and although at my age it will never happen, that can’t stop me from riding like it might.

Let’s start with the always reliable wakeup call, NAKED CYCLISTS! Usually naked riders in Seattle paint themselves…and this is probably why. My take: If a mother from Everett finds offense, she shouldn’t be comin’ to downtown Seattle. O my, the things you might see in the Big City! Hey, I’m offended by Everett blue-noses but you don’t see me running to KOMO News to complain…

Mountain Bike Action‘s Web site has video of Brandon Semenuk’s monster ride to win the Crankworx Colorado Slopestyle competition for the second year in a row. Now the trick is for Brandon to repeat on Aug. 15 in his home town — Whistler. A far taller order, the pressure being on…

You know those iPhone bike apps that get so much attention? Yeah, I don’t use ‘em either. BikeHugger explores why, using the Bike Your Drive app as the whipping post.

The Tyee, one of the best metro blogs around, based in Vancouver, B.C., looks at why Portland is just so kewl and finds cycling to be one of its “superiorities” to Vancouver. I’m not so sure on that point — Vancouver has gnarly biking and the Stanley Park/English Bay/West Vancouver mile-after-mile bike path, and there’s nothing anywhere in the states to compare to it — but whatever. It’s an interesting take.

BikePortland.org is cool, however, pointing out how McCain still just doesn’t get it. The butt-kicked Zona senator thinks the U.S. spends too much on bike paths.

Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance is tracking potential fire closures in the Seattle area. But rain supposedly is on the way starting Sunday! Is summer over? Statistically, we’ve had more than our share this year so yeah, get ready…

Speaking of Evergreen, regarding the turmoil in the club’s membership, a Town Hall will be held Monday, Aug. 31, at 6 p.m. in Duthie Hill Lodge near Issaquah. “Please bring an open mind, great ideas and positive energy,” the Yahoo! list invite reads. “We’ll touch on some specific pain points the community has brought to light…” They’re on the right track here but what do you say to a club ride at Duthie before the meeting!

No wonder you have cyclists and drivers mixing it up out on the roadway…

Whistler’s emerging slopestyle star Brandon Semenuk won Crankworx Colorado, so now the pressure’s on for a twofer at his home Crankworx on Aug. 15. Other surprise results: Tyler McCaul, undoubtedly rooted on by brother Cam, pulled fourth place, and Paul Basagiota showed he’s not over the hill yet with a strong bronze medal. If the weather holds and fires stay away, the upcoming Kokanee Crankworx should be the best yet!

Fire on the Mountain! Whistler/Blackcomb got tagged with a lightning blaze Thursday afternoon, causing evacuation of both mountains. No one got hurt and Whistler’s crack fire response team was on the case. With the Winter Olympics coming up next year, they’re not taking any chances on the village.

Fire in the tree farm? Popular mountain biking areas, Tokul and Griffin Creek, look closed from fire danger, according to the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. Here’s the list posting:

Hancock: Snoqualmie Tree Farm. Includes Tokuls East and West and Griffin
Creek
CLOSED
Phone number: 1-800-782-1493
Pilchuck Tree Farm: all 3 tracts (Victoria, Armstrong, Pilchuck)
Open
Webpage: Pilchuck Tree Farm
Green Crow. Ames Lake Tree Farm – includes the South part of Tolt.
Open
Webpage: Ames Lake Tree Farm

Note: These trails systems are on privately owned, working tree farms. The
land managers are being generous by allowing us to use their land for free.
Respecting the fire closures, even though not all the trails are signed, is
an important part of keeping a good relationship with the land managers so
that they continue to allow mountain biking in their land.

Bring Out Your Dead: A 60-year-old British mountain biker went for his last ride at a good place, Chamonix. No conclusive word on what happened, but one can only hope his last thoughts were, “I feel happy, I feel happy…”

Is it also the end of the road for Mr. Clucky, the bike-riding rooster? Stay tuned…