Video: Kali’s Rookie Marvel – Nicholi Rogatkin
Fresh from our friends at Kali Protectives, comes this video featuring young Nicholi Rogatkin. “Who?” you might be asking yourself. Nicholi started biking at the age of 5 and turned BMX pro at the age of 12. He turned to the world of mountain bikes and has competed and podiumed at various FMB World Tour events. He is currently 4th in the FMB Diamond Series and 7th in the FMB World Ranking.
Check out this video of Nicholi riding at Highland Mountain Bike Park. His style is smooth and he busts big, pulling tricks like a no-hander front flip, triple tail-whip and more. We look forward to seeing what Nicholi can do at the upcoming Crankworx Slopestyle event.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_9wnRda880
As an interesting side note, this video was produced by 11 time National Mountain Bike Trials Champion, Mike Steidley from Vision Aerial Media.
Showing that he’s tough as nails, this video shows a huge crash that Nicholi had at Crankworx Les 2 Alpes during a training run. He over jumps a bit and lands HARD. We are glad Nicholi escaped serious injury.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5kpVFW4v2E
Nicholi explains the crash in his own words:
“The jump was menacing, one of the largest ever in a slopestyle contest. A 12-foot kicker with a 67 degree angle stood before 30-plus foot gap. I needed every bit of speed I could get for the jump. I went off the jump for my frontflip, and it seemed like I flew higher than I ever have before.
I held out my lawn dart for what seemed like ages, but it wasn’t enough. As I came around and finally started to spot my landing, I realized I had estimated it to be about 10 feet higher than it actually was. I spread my arms out with all my strength to try and slow my rotation, but nothing helped. My front wheel hit and I went down.
I love sending my biggest tricks, and progressing is my favorite thing. But with progression comes a lot crashes. That means I’d crashed like this before and knew how to take the impact. I put my face almost directly into the ground and tilted my head to roll into the dirt.
One of the most fundamental reasons that I ride without a visor is that when I crash, my helmet slides much faster, smoother, and there is no chance for a visor to get clipped and stuck in the dirt.
I was super thankful to have my Kali Prana Carbon, because it takes impacts better than any other helmet. I’ve always had confidence in the Prana and it did not disappoint on my hardest slam ever. I was beyond thankful to be able to walk away from a crash like that.”
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