DH Racing: It Doesn't Get Better Than This

I’m going to go out on a limb and say downhill mountain bike World Cup racing may just be the most exciting sport in modern times. I say “modern times,” simply because during the gladiator days, guys were fighting to the death, and while that’s not my cup of tea, I imagine it was pretty damn exciting. I also realize I’m speaking to a biased audience, but at least we can all agree on something.

But, back to current day. In one easy morning of entertainment I screamed at my laptop so much my neighbors were knocking on the wall probably wondering what the hell was going on in my room. I’d say I was freaking out about Aaron Gwin’s race run, but I was freaking out about that, Loic’s crash, Brycland’s perfect run, Stevie’s dabs, Gee’s dabs, and… seriously where do I even stop?


I’ve grown up a fan of many major American sports. I’ve spent too much time watching the NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, WTA, and all that crap on TV. I played soccer for 12 years and dabbled in many other team sports. They’ve all got their places I suppose, whether that’s for actual athletic proweress or commercial purposes, is up for you to decide.

But there’s something different about mountain biking. There’s this amazing blend of hope and agony that seems to hang in the balance every race weekend. The current state of the sport makes it even more compelling: we simply cannot predict who is going to win from week to week. Our sport has had its eras. There was Vouilloz. There was Peaty. There was (and who am I kidding, still is) the Athertons. Minnar, Gwin – there was a time when we knew it would be one of two or three contenders.


As we stand today on both men and women’s downhill racing, we really can’t predict the outcome, and that makes things so much more fascinating. The domination shown by Aaron Gwin a few years ago seemed impenetrable. He was simply that good and, call me crazy, it became almost numbing to watch him win every week. The same thing happened with Rachel last season. If she wasn’t up by five seconds, she was off pace. While our sport needs its heroes and icons, what it needs even more is the nail-biting excitement that 2014 is serving up.


We’ve had four races and four different winners in the men’s elite division. Over on the women’s side, Manon, Emmeline, and Pom Pon, are not only keeping Rachel on her toes, but also making her play catch up. The women are hitting hard, riding more brazen, and learning to strategize better than ever. The men have had two of four races won by first-time winners in Brosnan and Bryceland. The drama and build up throughout the week between track walks, timed training (yeah, yeah, it doesn’t mean anything), qualies, and finals is so intense that it makes waking up at the crack of dawn to watch the live streams seem like a totally rational thing to do.

The quality of event coverage is also top-notch. Red Bull has done an incredible job of bringing us great angles, even better personalities, and excellent storylines each week. Claudio’s course previews? Awesome. Rob Warner’s entire broadcast? The best. Who will ever forget his commentary during Danny Hart’s 2011 World Championship run? It was the best call in sports I’ve ever heard. DH racing is packed with some serious characters and hearing/seeing them each race is icing on an already exciting cake.


Lastly, the racers themselves make this sport, and this series, something to appreciate. We have crazy guys like Josh Bryceland. We have the balls-out riding of Stevie and Danny. We have the camaraderie of the women’s podium hugging and high-fiving each other every time the hot seat changes. We have class acts like Minnar and Gwin. Gwin’s tire-less ride at Leogang was so impressive, that he was the highlight of the day. He was still hauling ass on nothing but rim and a hope and still managed a time that would have placed him ahead of a decent chunk of the men’s qualifying round. Simply awesome. And when he finished? A smile and a wave. No bad words. No slinking over his bike in dejection. A smile, a wave, and maybe a shrug. Hat tip to you, Gwin. You may have lost the race, but you won the people’s choice award for the most entertaining race run of the year. And that, is what this sport is all about.