downhill

Photos by Caleb Smith and the author. Let me start this out with some honesty. The last time I was on a downhill hike was almost two years ago, and even then I was nursing a torn rotator cuff. While I’ve always enjoyed true DH riding, it doesn’t happen very often, so keep that in ...

Words and photos: Brice Shirbach Originally published in Issue #191 For most of us, the UCI World Cup downhill series is a somewhat nebulous arrangement, largely unfolding by means of online media, live video streams and an assortment of social-media posts from the athletes themselves. While fans of the sport are well aware of what ...

Words: Hailey Elise Photos: Mark Mackay Originally featured in Issue #190 She’s elusive. Cheeky, only showing glimpses of her true nature the farther in you find yourself. And by farther in think of an hour climb. Whistler’s trail systems are easily accessed by those who are looking for them, but outside of the bike park ...

Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt 790 MSL BC Edition How far can a short-travel trail bike take you? From Issue #187 We are at an interesting point in the technological advances in mountain bikes. For years the idea was always more. More travel, more gears, more bigger wheels. But now we’ve started to dial things back: Single ...

(Waterloo, WI) — Trek and Trek Factory Racing announced today the creation of a marquee World Cup-level Downhill racing program for the 2016 season. The new team will take on the full UCI World Cup series as well as select regional Red Bull events. Joining Trek Factory Racing Downhill for its inaugural season will be ...

The final World Cup race of the year capped a very successful year for the Syndicate riders! Greg finished 4th overall and Josh 5th. Despite early-season injuries for both, consistent, solid results (including 3 wins out of 7 races) kept them both on the series podium for 2015. Only the Syndicate and Aaron Gwin won ...

Morpheus is proudly displaying an all-new downhill bike here at Crankworx and we caught up with company founder Michael Schwartz to get the lowdown. This full carbon fiber rig is the first project where Morpheus sought expertise from outside the company to assist in frame design and suspension kinematics, “to make [the Conspiracy] a bike that goes against ...

There are a lot of bad bike videos out there. This is not one of them. Good music, not too much slow-mo, good job capturing the feel of just how fast this bike is movings, and Vanderham isn’t dressed like a toddler who didn’t get out of his PJs. Bravo. Below is the bike in the ...

Photo by Eric Lenseth, Windham Mountain Resort On July 10 Windham Mountain Resort celebrated the grand opening of its lift-serviced Mountain Bike Park of downhill trails for pro and intermediate- level riders, a skills park,  and a pump track. The park was officially opened when New York State Assemblyman Peter Lopez, Elite U.S. Downhill Racer Neko ...

The World Cup’s first trip to Lenzerheide, Switzerland, was a smashing success. Making it look easy on the Steve Peat-designed track, Greg Minnaar stepped to the top of the box once again, taking his record-setting 18th World Cup win! Greg’s won two of the four World Cups so far this season, and sits in third ...

Riding high after Greg Minnaar’s victory at the Ft. William World Cup, the Santa Cruz Syndicate heads to the second of back-to-back races in Leogang, Austria.   Rayboy’s race run What’s it like to go warp speed? Check out Josh Bryceland’s helmet cam from his race run.   Keep watching Catch up on all the ...

While Aaron Gwin is getting all the headlines this week about his jaw-dropping chainless win, the weekend prior there was some big news as well, as Greg Minnaar matched his Santa Cruz Syndicate teammate Steve Peat for the most all-time World Cup wins with number 17 coming at Fort William, Scotland. In the meantime, Peaty ...

It’s been a wild and fast-paced year here at Dirt Rag, and we have put in some serious miles and have experienced a lot of changes. New website, new editors, new events, new trails, new contributors, and most importantly new friends. As we close out the year we’d like to take a look back at ...

Renthal was founded in 1969, with 50 years associated with the World’s fastest riders. To celebrate this anniversary, we have made a short film, taking a look back at the company, from the early days, through to the present day. Jeremy McGrath, Mitch Payton, and Rachel and Dan Atherton all feature, to give their experience ...

Like us, a lot of you probably noticed a distinct gathering of Red Bull’s female athletes in the Utah desert in the weeks running up to the annual Red Bull Rampage event. At the site of one of the original Rampage courses, some of the top women of freeride got a chance to showcase their ...

Photos by Brian Lorence Well, its that time of the year again when a large portion of the mountain bike community drops everything to watch an elite few push the boundaries of what is possible on a bike. Red Bull Rampage has gone down in the deserts of Utah since 2001 and the amount of ...

After a decade of unicycling and three years of planning this attempt, Lutz Eichholz succeeded in the first unicycle descent from the 18,000-foot Mount Damavand in Iran. Despite problems with the elevation, injuries to the crew and temperatures that ranged from the teens to more than 100 degrees, the team achieved its goal.

We saw it make its debut under the Syndicate riders back in July, and now it can be yours — the sixth generation of what is likely the winningest downhill bike ever is now on sale. Now you can ride what Ratboy rode to a World Cup overall championship and bone-crunching second place at the World ...

I think it’s safe to say that Specialized has created an instant icon. Simply put, the new Demo 8 is unlike any downhill bike we’ve ever seen. While it retains the classic FSR suspension layout, the pivot points were all moved as far down as possible, with the main pivot finding itself concentric with the ...

The UCI released the 2015 schedule today and it includes six cross-country events, seven downhill events and zero cross-country eliminator events. The season will kick off on April 11-12 with round one of downhill in the new venue of Lourdes (France). Although new to the World Cup calendar, Lourdes has already hosted the French Cup, and ...

After a bit of a summer vacation, World Cup downhill racing returns this weekend with the first of two North American stops at Mont Sainte Anne in Quebec, Canada. As always, the one and only Claudio Caluori shows us the track.

Despite the continued success of athletes Troy Bronson and Aaron Gwin on the UCI World Cup circuit, Specialized’s top-tier Demo downhill bike has been around for quite some time. Advancements in carbon fiber and shock technology—not to mention those bigger wheels—meant it was time for a new bike. Specialized took advantage of the long layover between races on ...

The POC Eastern States Cup is offering a full plate of Gravity Racing in its fifth season. With the growth of the series it has become apparent that East Coast mountain bike racers want more racing. The POC ESC is stepping up to supply the demand with two Downhill Series, an Enduro Series and a ...

With the drive forward to stuff ever more gears onto rear hubs, it is nice to see SRAM take a step back and create a group with less gears simply because that is what makes the most sense for the application. The real key to this system is the new 7-speed X-Dome mini-block cassette in ...

Just a month ago we previewed the build up of our Intense 951 EVO test bike. Now with some hours on this boundary-pushing machine, it’s time to weigh in with a First Impression. Aside from this being a very slick and purposeful looking, US-made bike, two characteristics really stand out; one, 27.5-inch wheels, and, two, ...

It’s October and in the mountain bike world, which means Red Bull Rampage, the most iconic freeride event of the year. Marzocchi riders have been Rampage frontrunners ever since the godfather, Wade Simmons won the very first edition in 2001. Beginning on Monday, October 21st, in an ode to Marzocchi’s heritage, all team riders will ...

Sometimes an edit is so dang good you want everyone to see it. The latest from Commencal Bikes is just that and a little more. Introducing the latest version of the Furious, this video takes viewers to epic landscapes and even more epic riding. Sit back and enjoy!

The YT Mob welcomed 22 racers from America, Brazil and Canada to Windrock Bike Park located 161 Miles east of Tennessee’s state Capital Nashville. Built by Whiteley’s protégé Neko Mulally, Windrock hosted the fifth of six Young Talent Camps. The young racers had three days to soak up as much knowledge as possible passed on ...

There was speculation day long on how many people actually showed up for yesterday’s Downhill Finals at Snowshoe mountain. As the riders began plummeting down the mountain at warp speed the cascade of cheers, horns, cowbells, and chainsaws sounded like a tsunami barreling through the woods. Based off of intense scientific research of maximum decibel ...

The stage is set for a monumental showdown tomorrow for the final of this year’s Downhill World Cup. Tracey Hannah set the fastest time for the woman during qualifying with her closest rival Marine Cabirou coming in second and newly crowned world champ Myriam Nicole finishing with the third-fastest time today. In the men’s field, ...

Whatever concerns that may have been floating around the internet about the track at Snowshoe being to tame or to buff were completely dispelled after yesterday’s walkthrough and today’s practice laps. Holding to West Virginia’s theme of ‘Wild and Wonderful’ the course for Saturday’s World Cup Final is more than worthy of this year’s final ...

In less than a week the UCI mountain bike World Cup will descend upon Snowshoe Mountain, West Virginia. The resort sits virtually secluded in the Appalachian mountains but is no stranger to big-time mountain bike events. Snowshoe had been a regular stop on the once-massive NORBA series and just last year hosted the US mountain ...

It’s been a fruitful season at the bike park on Mammoth Mountain. Get your Friday dose of stoke featuring Aaron Gwin, Payson McCelveen and Carson Storch tearing up the trails at Mammoth. Enjoy the show!

Editor’s note: This story originally ran in issue 210 of Dirt Rag Magazine for our Fast and Loose segment. Like what you see? Subscribe today to catch issue 212 before it flies off the shelves. By Zach White Tucked away in an unassuming, moderately industrial cul-de-sac in Loveland, Colorado, sits the purpose-built, 7,300-square-foot headquarters of ...

By Brett Rothmeyer The sun is just cracking over the Uintas in Park City, Utah. Main Street is starting to chatter as the doors to cafés open; the wisp of a broom on the sidewalk is overtaken only by the occasional slow-moving vehicle headed up the hill. I had long daydreamed about riding Park City ...

Editors Note: This story originally appeared in issue 210. Now that the riding season is fully upon us we would like to share our experience from the Windrock Bikepark located in Oliver Springs, TN. Consider becoming a subscriber and keeping independent mountain bike journalism like this alive and well.  Words and photos by Brett Rothmeyer ...

  The season opener for the Big Mountain Enduro series took place last weekend outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Glorieta Camps in Glorieta, New Mexico, has pristine trails located on a Christian-run, adventure-focused campground. The trails here range from beginner/intermediate to advanced, and the race course is no joke with serious drops and lots of ...

In a recent issue of Dirt Rag, we went to some bike parks to check out what new developments are happening in the world of designated bike trails and downhill riding. Windrock in January scared the goggles off me, but I took another stab at downhill bike parks when I visited Spider Mountain outside Austin, ...

The latest evolution of the Phoenix from Pivot Cycles is a 29er downhill machine built to handle all that the World Cup courses can throw at them The Phoenix 29 is quite possibly the worst kept secret on the World Cup Downhill circuit.  Riders have been seen testing this ultra-fast unicorn in various incarnations over ...

The Unior Devinci Factory Racing team just got back from their annual team camp in beautiful Italy. Like all racing fans, we can’t wait for the UCI World Cup / EWS seasons to officially get rolling. Along with testing out the new bikes, the Unior Devinci Factory Racing caught up with their riders to see how they ...

YT has just recently released the latest version of their downhill sled in the TUES29. To help usher the latest machine out into the world Angel Saurez pummels some good looking track into submission. Enjoy the video and see more about the new TUES29 below. For years YT is best known for their downhill bike ...

Miranda Miller will headline Kona’s Global Enduro program alongside Rhys Verner, Connor Fearon, Shelly Flood, and Hannah Bergemann. She’ll be racing the Process 153 CR DL 29 and the Operator CR for select downhill races. While her official joining of the team is breaking news, her relationship with Kona isn’t. Team Manager Mathieu Dupelle has been in her life ...

Just in time for when the bulk of the country is grasped tightly by the claws of winter, Spider Mountain will open its doors to be the first lift-served downhill mountain bike park in Texas and the first year-round mountain bike park with lift service in the United States. With a variety of trails for ...

Winter blues settling in? Case of the Mondays turned into a case of the Tuesdays? Check out this video of Brendan Howey and Quinn Hanley playing cat & mouse in Kootenay Bay, British Columbia. Dirt Rag Magazine will have a feature on riding in B.C. coming out in #209, at the start of the new year, ...

Need some mid-week motivation? Check out this sick video of Elite DH racer Ella Skalwald riding her local trail network. Lucky for her, those trails happen to be the iconic Victory Hill Sector of the Victory Hill State Forest,  that has become an East Coast destination spot. Check out more photos here, courtesy Transition Bikes.

Time to get stoked for the next season of downhill. Santa Cruz has just released the latest version of their V10 model and the new Reserve wheels for DH.  The latest version was a project two years in the making, the newest V10 has arrived—but wait, there are two! As Santa Cruz developed the 29er race ...

There are a few things better than a day with friends on amazing trails. Deer Valley Resort in Park City, UT has some of the finest bike park trails in the United States and Reece and K.C. revel in the flow and jumps in this latest edit. Sit back relax and get stoked to hit the trails with ...

If you have been paying attention to the world of downhill and enduro racing then you have no doubt heard the name, Martin Maes. In 6 years with GT, Martin Maes has gone from rookie to the potential to become one of the world’s best mountain bikers. 2018 was a wild ride for Maes full of 2nd places, ...

Dirt Rag is officially in the throes of Interbike, the annual expo of the bike industry where companies show off their latest developments and newcomers have a chance to put their product in front of the eyes of purchasers and reviewers. Monday was Dirt Demo, the day to check out some of the latest mountain ...

Photographer Jason Barker of Roots and Rain headed out to Scotland to catch Round 2 of the UCI World Cup at Fort William, which took place June 2-3, 2018. Tahnée Seagrave took home the women’s win for this round, meanwhile, Amaury Pierron locked in a victory in the men’s division. Check out these select highlights of the ...

France isn’t just home to good cheese and great wine. It’s got its share of amazing riding too. Follow Kona riders Jordan Regnier and Alexander Kangas on a journey to the Tignes and Val D’ Isere bike parks in the French Alps this past September.