The Europeans are coming!

Whilst trawling through publications in the downhill press, an article championing the success of British riders during the past 2 decades is never far away. Our mountains that stand so proudly on their tiptoes struggling to reach the clouds are but foothills compared to our European counterparts, yes we have Fort William, Glencoe, Hamsterley, Antur Stiniog, Revolution, Bikepark Wales etc, but they just do not tick all the boxes when compared to those on the mainland, Leogang, Winterberg, Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, Saalbach Hinterglemm, Morzine, Le Gets etc.
It is no coincidence that when riding in Europe I often hear voices from the homeland, yet when riding in the UK downhill hotspots I rarely hear foreign languages (apart from the Welsh, the Scots and the various unrecognisable dialects from around Hamsterley). This is in contrast to our Cross-country trails which apparently are really well respected Europe wide. Whilst recently in a bar in Winterberg, my 7 year old was wearing a 7-Stanes ‘Down Hill Demon in Training’ T-shirt, consequently we were set upon by two very enthusiastic Germans (speaking excellent English of course) who essentially thought the 7-Stanes was some sort of cross-country riding utopia.

So, given our lack of ski lift assisted bike parks, why are we so good at Downhill? I have read many theories to answer this, such as, the Europeans get snowed in and ski during winter whilst the hardy Brits are sliding down steep mud soaked, rooty, knarley, moss laden trails. But here’s the thing, here’s my theory, it ain’t going to last….. The Europeans are Coming (I realise we are European too but it sounds good). The Europeans are coming!!

I have two children, Jake aged 9 and Alf aged 7, they both started riding on balance bikes aged 2 and now boast a quality bike for all occasions (20 inch full suspension bikes, bmx, trials etc). We ride at every opportunity and the boys have ridden extensively in England and Wales, quite a lot in Scotland and have spent a total of 20 weeks riding in Germany, Austria, France and Spain. There is a strong argument to suggest they are spoilt, however, in their defence, we do not have a television or PlayStation, they have never been to Disney Land, Alton Towers or any other similarly hellish place, and all our holidays or short breaks are biking ones. Essentially we ride bikes, I ride, my wife rides and the kids ride.
During the past 7 years whilst riding in the UK, I have come across only a handful of kids who are on quality bikes, and therefore are at a similar standard to Jake and Alf. Compare this to France, Germany and Austria, during the past 3 years I have seen a steady increase in kids under 12 riding at the bike parks. They are fully kitted up, on quality bikes and riding well. During the German holidays in October, Winterberg was full of kids aged 8-14 riding, and I mean riding well, a really good standard. Oh and by the way, it was cold, wet and windy, this did not deter them in the slightest. Myself and Jake shared a chairlift with Joshua, an 11 year old who resides 3 hours away from Winterberg (he too spoke excellent English). He was on his 6th straight day riding, was fully kitted up and was on a 20 inch Propain. He wore a wrist strap from a crash on day 2, he was level headed, motivated, tough, rode well and was having loads of fun. His dad was riding somewhere else in the park so Joshua was merrily charging down the trails, swiping his lift pass and loading his bike onto the chairlift all on his own. He was not the exception.

In Germany, Austria, France and Spain I can buy lift passes and ride with Jake and Alf on pretty much any trail we think suitable. Do you see some kids and parents out of their depth? Of course you do, but so what. On the next run they’ll do something a little easier. Nearly all of them have smooth freerides so kids (and adults) can hone their skills on less committing lines. Contrast this to the UK, some bike parks have age restrictions and few lines are built with kids in mind (there are a couple that buck the trend). It would appear these countries are doing more to encourage kids and families to ride, and I don’t mean bimble around Rutland Lake, I mean ride, down hills, at speed.

I must stress, there has been no hard research carried out here, it’s just a theory formed from observation and discussion, I like making theories (this is one of my more sensible ones), but the evidence would seem to suggest, more kids are riding downhill in parts of Europe than here. The Europeans are coming, I can’t yet comment on the Americans, Canadians, Australians (no offence if I haven’t mentioned your country), but unless we do more to encourage our younger generations to get riding Downhill our proud heritage may well become a thing of the past.