Joe Kline / The Bulletin Slopestyle mountain biker Carson Storch stands on top of a jump in the Philís trail complex where he sometimes rides Thursday in Bend.

Whether he is rumbling on his mountain bike down a cliff side in Utah or flying off a series of massive jumps in Germany, it is crucial for Carson Storch to get his mind right before he puts his feet on the pedals.

“The mental part of all of it is … whenever I’m having fun, that’s when I do good,” Storch says. “If I’m stressed out and I’m worried about an outcome that’s not positive, and I’m scared, and I put pressure on myself, I don’t do good. For me, it’s just getting my head in the right space, and just go out and ride my bike and appreciate it.”

The professional freeride mountain biker from Bend has spent the last two years rising to the highest ranks of his sport. He recently finished the 2015 season ranked 18th in the international Freeride Mountain Biking Diamond Series standings, where he was the No. 4-ranked American.

The 22-year-old, now with sponsorship from Diamondback Bicycles and Red Bull energy drink, among many others, is making a living as a pro freeride mountain biker, traveling the world to different contests but always returning in the offseason to Bend, where he was born and raised.

The 2011 graduate of Summit High School grew up snowboarding, skateboarding and riding dirt bikes and mountain bikes in Central Oregon. By the time he was 15, he says, he knew mountain biking was his sport.

“Through high school, I rode every day with all my friends,” Storch recalls. “After high school it was just a dream of mine to ride professionally. I just kept at it for as long as I could, and as soon as I started to travel a little bit and go to some comps (competitions) along the West Coast, I really got hooked on it.”

By 2013, Storch was traveling to Europe to compete on the FMB (Freeride Mountain Bike) World Tour. His breakout season was 2014, when he finished eighth at the Red Bull Joyride in Whistler, British Columbia, and 15th at the Red Bull Rampage in Virgin, Utah.

This year, Storch finished 15th at the Crankworx Les 2 Alpes slopestyle event in July in France after finishing 19th at the Swatch Prime Line slopestyle event in June in Germany.

Storch’s specialty is slopestyle mountain biking, which — much like slopestyle in skiing and snowboarding — includes riding down a series of jumps and features and getting judged on tricks performed off those jumps. Mountain bikers often execute tricks such as flips, spins, and tailwhips.

“With the big events going on, slopestyle is going more toward mainstream,” Storch says. “It’s definitely blowing up pretty quickly. It has nothing to do with time, it’s just a set course, and every course is unique, that’s why I like it so much. I guess that’s the point where it kind of differs from the snow world. Most of those courses, they’re all kind of the same.”

Storch was set to compete in the Rampage last month in Utah, but he sprained his ankle in practice and decided to sit out the contest, which airs on NBC and is one of the most high-profile events on the FMB World Tour. In the Rampage, mountain bikers ride impossibly steep cliffs and launch off a series of jumps near Zion National Park.

“I practiced the whole time, and then the night before the qualifiers I just had a slip-up and crashed on something small and sprained my ankle pretty bad,” Storch explains. “I pulled out because of the pain, and I didn’t have very much stability. You don’t screw around at Rampage. You’ve got to be all in. It’s gnarly there. You’ve got to be on point. So I decided to pull out and play it safe, because there’ll be more of those contests in the future.”

Storch trains frequently at the Lair jump park just west of Bend, but his pet project the last couple of years has been the Hillside Terrain Park in Redmond. He has helped build progressive jump lines at the park, as well as a slopestyle course. He hopes the park will help introduce freeride mountain biking to the masses in Central Oregon.

“People can go out there with their kids and learn how to ride,” Storch says. “That’s primarily been the spot that I’ve been practicing at, because we can build what we want and there’s a little bit more clay content out there. The whole point of that is to get the community going on our whole side of the sport, because the trail bike scene in Bend is really big. That’s already here and established. The whole freeride, dirt-jump scene, it has a ton of potential. … We’re just trying to grow it as much as we can.”

He adds that he hopes to stage a slopestyle event at the Lair next year as part of the FMB World Tour.

Storch is currently home in Bend, which also is home to his parents and two younger sisters. He is still resting his injured ankle but is planning to train and practice after it is healed, and he also plans to spend some time snowboarding at Mt. Bachelor. He has some film projects coming up as well as several photo shoots for his sponsors.

“I’m just having fun riding my bike,” Storch says. “And I get to travel the world, compete, and film, and just be on a bike and experience all these different places.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com