Pinkbike Poll: How Far Away Are Your Closest DH Trails?
Some mountain bike folk have the privilege of living within rolling distance of their local trailhead. It might be a leisurely meander, where gloves are applied en-route and the pup is in tow on the leash, or it might be a 20 minute warm-up spent dashing across back streets and short cuts before the real mountain biking begins, but nevertheless, terrain is readily accessible. Then there are those who need to throw the bike on the rack after work or on the weekend and drive to their local spot. It might not be every day, but it's not the end of the world to make it happen, and there might even be some friends or co-workers who are eager to make it happen too. Then there are those of us who live in a world where mountain biking is more thought about than experienced, and lengthy measures are undertaken to ensure they are traveling to mountain biking destinations when schedules and pocketbooks allow it. But of all of the all-mountain and trail biking that is within reach, how many of us out there are travelling the distance to go downhilling?
![Gwin chair]()
It might seem a funny notion, living within riding distance of accessible downhilling, but it exists. Plane loads of eager young (and not so young) mountain bikers throw their steady jobs and university educations to the curb in return for spending a season riding the bike parks of the world. These people put their pocketbooks on the line in return for diets rich with cheap beer and 2am pizza, and will spend day in, day out, commuting their big rigs to the local chairlift for a swift uplift and an even swifter descent. Uplift, descend, repeat. There's something to be said of living this dream of chalking up miles, brake pads, cut off shirts and injuries.
For some, the local shuttle is not dead. There are plenty of riding locations that can be both pedaled up to and also driven to. Driving means that logistics are required; particular numbers must be met, retrieval trucks may be a necessity, 4x4 capabilities? Potentially. Steve Smith grew up with the luxury of his mother shuttling him up to his local trails in Cassidy, BC. Turns out, shuttling was pretty important for Stevie. Many local mountains offer shuttle services, not only on race days but on weekends, and if you've ever been to the Coast Gravity Park, you will have experienced shuttling at its logistical peak, plus you might just happen to score a ride with one of the Coastal Crew. It's like a Hollywood sighting, but better.
Some may say there's no real need to bother with effort of organizing shuttles or trips to the bike parks when you can earn your ride and descend pretty much anything with the plethora of one-bike-to-do-it-all options currently on the market. But there are plenty of mountain bikers out there who, despite the fact they probably do own pedal bikes, just can't get past the thrill of the hot lap, and they are the ones who will keep the DH sled in their quiver, push to the top, drive the highways to the uplifts, and pack the planes to satiate their downhill desires.
It might seem a funny notion, living within riding distance of accessible downhilling, but it exists. Plane loads of eager young (and not so young) mountain bikers throw their steady jobs and university educations to the curb in return for spending a season riding the bike parks of the world. These people put their pocketbooks on the line in return for diets rich with cheap beer and 2am pizza, and will spend day in, day out, commuting their big rigs to the local chairlift for a swift uplift and an even swifter descent. Uplift, descend, repeat. There's something to be said of living this dream of chalking up miles, brake pads, cut off shirts and injuries.
For some, the local shuttle is not dead. There are plenty of riding locations that can be both pedaled up to and also driven to. Driving means that logistics are required; particular numbers must be met, retrieval trucks may be a necessity, 4x4 capabilities? Potentially. Steve Smith grew up with the luxury of his mother shuttling him up to his local trails in Cassidy, BC. Turns out, shuttling was pretty important for Stevie. Many local mountains offer shuttle services, not only on race days but on weekends, and if you've ever been to the Coast Gravity Park, you will have experienced shuttling at its logistical peak, plus you might just happen to score a ride with one of the Coastal Crew. It's like a Hollywood sighting, but better.
Some may say there's no real need to bother with effort of organizing shuttles or trips to the bike parks when you can earn your ride and descend pretty much anything with the plethora of one-bike-to-do-it-all options currently on the market. But there are plenty of mountain bikers out there who, despite the fact they probably do own pedal bikes, just can't get past the thrill of the hot lap, and they are the ones who will keep the DH sled in their quiver, push to the top, drive the highways to the uplifts, and pack the planes to satiate their downhill desires.
How Far Away is Your Closest DH Riding?
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Member since Jul 20, 2010
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props +1
i live 20km form dh track, (12 milse) and if i don;t have to work that day or do anything more special than downhill (there are not much things) i take an 1h 30min ride to the track, if needed every day, to practice, and to have fun!!
you wanna ride you xc bike ride it on the way to work not in a mountain haha xD
"@markunit10 "get a real bike"
you wanna ride you xc bike ride it on the way to work not in a mountain"
Hahaha, I want to see you riding on a real bike around Stockholm, ahah, Do you shuttle to the top of Hagakullen or you are having skärgårds mys on your DH rig
Hahaha! never been in Hagakullen but i see that you have been there xD you go and take pics of yourself in hagakullen or do you go to the nearest skärgård and just ride your xc bike there?
good luck with your riding fella!
well, at least my Uzzi will last forever in these riding conditions.
2hr drive (obeying the speed limits)
£30 f*cking quid in fuel, the worst part of it
I guess the price of fuel here makes it sting a little less. We dropped down to $0.99/L recently.
www.pinkbike.com/video/361250
bet you run high pressures, just a little bit of rock on those trails huh :-)
FYI:http://www.ccbike.cc/race/news/2014/0211/1612.html
and you mentioned an important factor....community. at the end of the day thats what matters... happiness only when shared....right?
Thanks guys
Some people might think driving back and forth 300 miles and 5 hours every week is hard but that's how good riding DH is. f*ck, is it May yet?
it's pretty f*ckin awesome there. the trails are well maintained and there is something for all levels of riding. Plus the people that work there and ride there are very cool. always a good day when you ride there.
We do have quite a big DJ/DH community though, and as Denmark is such a small country, you will never have to drive more than 4 hours to get to a(n) race/event.
also, without being too harsh, the dyed in the wool ramblers are literally dying out and the 40 something generation who will become the establishment are either MTBers or don't see MTBing as the devils work so hope for the future in the lakes
www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/2246/NAMBS-DH-MTB-Series-Round-1#results
Now in the months of February and March are visited by British who see the Portugal make the pre-season.
a video with some of the three tracks, the shortest is 1.900 meters and the longest is 2.400 meters
www.pinkbike.com/video/389644
My nearest proper DH trails are 1 hour away. Push up for a 2 minute descent.
Once or twice per month I usually get there for a Sat or Sun AM morning session for 5 hours riding. Sometimes afterwork I can squeeze a few runs in :-)
3-4 hours and I am in the uplift zone (BPW/Revolution etc) Maybe do 3-4 of these per year
12 hours (Plane/Ferry/RoadTrip) and I can be in the Alps/Spain or further afield. Once a year for 1 week. 2 weeks if I am very lucky.
Otherwise its hit the local tracks just to get out and ride
Troy Brosnan and Connor Fearon are from here, so it's little wonder they're killing it now I think of it.
Have they added to the DH trails (other than WC, Pan Coaster and the easier one with all the berms?)
Living In Whistler would beat the shit outa that though !
Sadly can't afford to run a dh bike all year round so we tend to do a 10 day pilgrimage in July winterberg, Alps even as far down as fenasosa.
Ideally I would dh more but real life gets in the way
This way real downhill biking in non professional edition is more like skiinng or snowboarding. Seasonal. Having in mind it is quite dangerous, the first few attempts of a season are risky. New trail and practicly new bike, if you want to have a different bike for a different job there are not so many occassions to get used to a dh bike in its natural situations. This is mostly the main reason why most people ride trail/enduro like bikes that can do some downhill, but what is more important, are more universal.
This is a good question. I always thought dh bikes are too specialised to be any serious option for me. Time showed that I own a heavy dh bike and push it everywhere and in most cases far from what it is meant to do. Concluding. In my opinion mtb industry is running blind for years not seeing the facts. I don't like the idea of having several very specialised bikes for different jobs, because I am not any professional racer. There are many ideas and changes of plans while cycling so why should I resign from anything. A bike should be more universal and do it all in at least 80 percent of a racing bike performance. There are no bikes like this on the market. The closest thing is something between a dh and enduro bike with extreme emphasis on pedaling performance and efficiency to transfer energy into movement.
There are also endless other trails throughout the basin within a 45 min of drive from my house and Downieville is about 1.5 hours away. The epic Clint Eastwood* trial is about 5 min from my house as well, but that's not it's real name because we wouldn't want any barbar's finding that trail. If you live and ride in north lake you know what trail I am talking about.
www.trailforks.com/trails/bear-mountain-dh
, and directly across the road is Red Mtn which also has a Double Diamond DH course
www.trailforks.com/trails/arduum-guns-and-rotors
www.hellobc.com/kootenay-rockies/things-to-do/outdoor-activities/biking.aspx
Check it
Awesome.