Dirt vs Water: Comparing NST Bike to NST Ski

Natural Selection Tour's (NST) two-wheeled endeavor, NST Bike, aired yesterday after months of teasing the event, which actually took place in February.



Like NST Ski, NST Bike celebrated its debut in 2025; previously, the event had taken place in various forms under the Proving Grounds name. Despite the fact that it happens in a completely different discipline and ecosystem within the action sports realm than NST Ski or NST Snow, NST Bike has still remained fairly true to the event's overall style and certainly to its ethos.



Aside from the obvious factors that differentiate them, how do NST Ski and NST Bike compare? We had quite a few hot (and cold) takes after NST Ski last month that didn't just have to do with the actual skiing that went down during the event. Obviously, some of these takes can't be applied to biking, but here are a few thoughts on how the two events measured up overall, along with their differences and similarities.



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1. NST Bike Improved in Year Two

Biking is not nearly as dependent on conditions. Perhaps the NST Ski crew had planned to do things differently after the first year of the event, but when push came to shove, they were forced to get creative due to dangerous avalanche conditions.



In contrast, the first year of NST Bike saw many riders injured in practice as the course worked out some kinks. The course was expertly built by Elevation Trails, based out of New Zealand, and tested by riders like Matt Begg, who is a pretty steezy rider in his own right. Even so, not every build is perfect on the first try. For year two, they made a handful of important changes to the Mt. Dewar course that seemed to really elevate the competition and riding. Additionally, the event format was adjusted to give riders two days rather than having to smash out the entire competition in one.



As a result of these changes, there were far fewer rider injuries, which is a real win in freeride, at the moment. It also seemed like the course changes and adjusted format allowed riders to get a bit more creative, be a little more comfortable, and generally put on a better show. The podiums were a bit more surprising, and it really felt like a well-matched field, one that will grow in exciting ways in the future.

2. Slopestyle Riders Reign

Just like we saw at NST Ski with Colby Stevenson, riders at NST Bike with a deep bag of tricks tended to do pretty darn well. Kaidan Ingersoll, who competes in slopestyle on the FMB World Tour, took the win in the men's field with tricks like a truck driver (360 with a bar spin), and he showed off his abilities on a big bike with his road gap super flip.



Another FMB competitor who has shown the world time and time again how comfortable she is tricking big terrain, Robin Goomes, took the win on the women's side, throwing a multitude of tricks throughout both her runs.



Other riders with slopestyle backgrounds like Szymon Godziek (2nd), Tomas Lemoine (4th), and Natasha Bradley (5th) also did well. Nicholai Rogatkin earned best trick of the day, landing the world's first twister (off-axis 1080, think 1080 cork) on a big bike. Of course, there are riders from other disciplines in both Ski and Bike who have the chops, but this similarity shouldn't be overlooked.

3. Athlete Soundbites Might Be as Good as the Action

At NST Ski, it was Tanner Hall whose soundbites were cracking us up and bringing us back to the days of the Chad's Gap video. At NST Bike, it was Natasha Bradley who had me cracking up, and to no surprise. Bradley, 28, hails from Torquay, England, and is one of the funniest people around. Pretty much as soon as Bradley drops in for her first run, you can hear her chatting to herself in the mic. Highlights include: "Wow, my bike sounds heiiiiiinous"; "I did that with a bunch of sweets in my pocket!"; "Go slow as f*ck" and 'My feet are on my pedals!"



It's best to just watch for yourself. Never change, Natasha.

4. Women's Freeride MTB Is On Fire, and Everyone Knows It

Unlike NST Ski, which only included four women (who all skied incredibly well and did lots of bad*ss things, mind you), NST Bike had a much more robust women's field with seven total competitors. The previous year's champion, Cami Nogueria, was not there this year due to injury, leaving a spot open for a new champ.



There was a time not too long ago when the women's field at a freeride MTB event would barely fill a podium (or there was no women's category at all). Although the podium only saw a bit of a switch up beyond Robin Goomes taking the win (Kirsten Van Horne in 2nd vs. 3rd in 2025 and Hannah Bergemann in 3rd vs. 2nd in 2025), the women's field showed up with a bigger bag of tricks than I've ever seen them have, and with clean, fast, fluid runs, across the board.



Goomes can't seem to stop winning, but there are women out there giving her a run for her money, and to see a field that stacked appear in a sport that didn't even allow women just a few years ago is epic.

Related: Is Skiing Too Complicated in 2026? Not With These Very Serious Expert Hacks

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This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 3:47 AM.