What was your first downhill race experience like?

I drank a bottle of wine the night before - so a bit under the weather.
Got laid, but the wife is ugly, so that's nothing to boast about.

Did really crap too as I was scared ****less, especially with everyone screaming "pedal you cunt"

I had never raced DH or seen the track before, rocked up lookin' fabulous in denim shorts, some sneakers and a tee of some description, everyone else looked like they were going to a sleepover at a child's house.

I got one practice run in on my trusty hardtail then it was race time, I have no short term memory so the practice run helped sweet FA but I ended up somewhere around mid field in a pack of about 100 riders.

Over that year I think my time came down by around 30 seconds and I had the most fun I've had riding a bike, swapped to a dually and life got **** and borin. I don't have the balls to push a decent bike anywhere near it's limit so I'm moving back to a HT as they are so much more fun, **** times, it's all about the fun.

Ok, this one is a long one and sort of old school.

1993 NORBA DH series. I lived in San Diego and one of the races out at Lake Morena. I was a 13 year old and had been racing XC, but my friend and I were obsessed with DH racing. He convinced me we needed to go do the DH race because "You don't have to climb and get to ride down hills!" We manage to convince my dad to take us out to the race, he gets us signed up and good luck!

So here we are 13 years old and stoked AND we get to take the shuttle to the top with all the older badass dudes in their DH gear. I think we both had hard tail GTs with bar ends(I swear they were cool in 93) and rockshox forks. We get to the top and I start to get nervous. There are dudes with full face helmets, full suspension bikes, no bar ends anywhere to be seen and riser bars with top clamps(OMG!). They were some of the nicest bikes we had ever seen and they're gonna drop in right behind us?!?! Anyways, practice was sketchy. There were three super steep shoots on the trail that were gnarlier than I had ever ridden in my entire(all 13 years) life. I end up getting off and walking down the first two and after my buddy shredded both of them and made fun of me, somehow managed to ride out the last one. The rest of the track was pretty fun, but I was worried about hitting those three sections wide open. Looking back now the fact that I was rocking like a 110 mm stem and my seat still up probably made them feel way worse. We got in two practice runs and I had chickened out both times and figured I was doomed to not be rad and slide/walk those steep shoots.

After a while of watching guys come down, it's time to load up into the shuttle and head for the top. The shuttle was its own experience. It was some hillbilly's beat old f-150 that was misfiring on at least one cylinder towing a flatbed trailer with makeshift wooden sides. All the riders would climb into the trailer and hang a front tire somewhere over one of those sides and then stand behind their bike and hang on. They probably jammed 15-dudes in that trailer. Both my buddy and I were really feeling like men because we were allowed to ride up in this thing and I think my dad even made us promise not to tell our moms about it. Hanging on for dear life as we're sputtering our way up a steep and twisty fire road, we hit a particularly steep section and this time it's too many guys going up at once for the truck to make it. Hillbilly downshifts twice and then lurches his truck to a stop. He leans his head out the window and yells "Get out!". There's some grumbling as we all glance around and wonder if this guy is serious and then people open the rear of the trailer and start to shuffle out. Five or six guys into unloading and hillbilly shuttle driver decides he's dropped enough weight. He fires up the truck, revs it up and dumps the clutch. The guy who was in the process of getting out falls out the back of the trailer, and my friend being the next guy starts to fall too but somehow I grab his shirt. Now we're both falling when a couple of the dudes in the trailer grab us both and haul us back in for the hairy ride to the top. Mountain bikers are a funny breed. Nice people but usually more balls than the normal public and very vocal about when they feel wronged. One of the dudes that was forced out of the trailer started yelling and hopped on his bike and chased after the truck. Because of the POS nature of the truck and the fact that most dudes back then raced both XC and DH, he managed to catch back up and grab on to the side of the shuttle trailer in a attempt to get towed the rest of the way. Unfortunately this fire road was carved out along the side of a mountain and the hillbilly shuttle driver neatly scraped him off by getting his trailer a little closer to the side of the hill. Man, to a 13 year old this was some exciting stuff!

Once at the top, we unload and get ourselves away from hillbilly shuttle maniac as fast as possible but I don't think the adrenaline stopped pumping until I crossed the finish line later on. We got put in our starting order by an official at the gate and as I looked around it started to dawn on me what class I had signed up for. Because there were not a lot of groms racing mountain bikes back in the day I had gotten used to signing up for the 18 and under category. However in an XC race I could make sure I lined up behind all the gnarly fast kids so as not to get run over. Not so for DH racing. In front of me was a kid on the coolest looking Mountain Cycle San Andreas I had ever seen. The damn thing had disc brakes like a freakin motorcycle and his last name was painted on the top tube! Behind me was this 17 year old kid with long hair and a mustache that looked like he had been hitting the gym every day of his life since puberty. He had on a dirt bike helmet and goggles... holy ****. Talking to this kid didn't make me feel any better- he was dead serious about winning and advised me that I better pull over as soon as he caught me so that I didn't get run over. In my mind I start trying to think of places that are nice to pull over on the course... there are none.

I only remember a tiny bit about my race. My heart rate had hit rabbit speed by the time I was standing in the starting gate and from go to the finish my main concern was not getting run over by the 200 lb gorilla lined up behind me. I do know I hauled hairy ass and I do know that when I got to those three steep sections that I had slid down on my butt before that I didn't even tap the brakes. I know I didn't end up last that day and I think my friend even finished on the podium. The 200 lb gorilla got first. It was the biggest confidence boost to my riding that I have ever had and after that all I wanted to do was race DH and I started dreaming about a full blown DH rig. Twenty years later and the shuttles are still sketchy and I'm still loving it.

My first downhill race was aboard a Costco-purchased Mongoose dual suspension that I'd added a dual-crown Judy and moto-ish Bontrager Crowbar handlebar to. Was stylin' in my old MX gear, which consisted of my goatskin Torsten Hallman desert pants, a sweatshirt and my Bell Moto III helmet. Well . . . and sneakers instead of my Hi-Point boots .

mount snow. no idea what the hell I was doing. scared as **** in the fog. Pretty sure I got DFL. Nothing much has changed

1999
big bear
psycle werks wild hare
qranc ogk
scary fast/rocket power parts

that should tell you enough.

i still havent raced a single event. i am so lame =(

My first race was also mid 90's, so just a similar story to the first one told!

Just make sure you get there early for practice, walk the track, don't stop ON the track during practice - if you need to look at something then pull off the track and look. When registering tell the people in rego it is your first race, they will have advice, may be able to ensure you start last in your class or have a longer time gap behind you, our club runs a mentor program and would tee you up with an older rider to give you some tips.
Don't worry too much, everyone raced for a first time once.
Once you are comfortable riding down the track try and put in full runs at race pace. The golden rule is practice how you will race, and race how you practiced. Start doing this now, always do some full length, full pace runs. Just get used to the difference between riding with your mates and racing.

You can obviously already ride, so just make sure you know when practice starts and stops, when you will race, how you will be called up and how the start gate works.

Have fun!

One and only race. Was a disaster.

Practised a bunch, and crashed my way down the hill.

Don't ride fast.

Mine was at Windham in 2012. World Cup weekend. I crashed in practice and bruised my hip pretty good, I barely survived my race run. I was basically dead last. I haven't raced since, but I plan to this year.

My first race went as almost all my races have.. I crash hard in practice, then have a terrible result on my race run. Last year after beating myself up about poor results for several years, I came to a realization that I'm not cut out for dh racing. When I ride, I ride 100 percent all the time, meaning my race run will at best be equal to a fast practice run.
I'm done with racing dh for results, maybe a couple for fun but that's gonna be it. I'm much better with the blind runs and fitness required in enduro. It's basically just a trail ride, but with prizes!

Mine was 2005, Plattekill - when they used to have 3 courses per race - beginner, sport and expert/pro. Close friend of mine and I both raced the 30+ beginner category and ended up 1/2. Rocky & loose but dry, huge crowd. Was a great intro to racing for the next 5 years.

I camped out at my sis's house down the road but my friend wanted the "Plattekill parking lot experience" - this included a distinct lack of sleep due to people playing Tenacious D at top volume until 4 am....

It was around 2003 or 2004. Not many juniors racing then. They didn't even have a jr cat for non UCI sanctioned races. There was a long gully where the track went. I was stupid enough to try to wallride all 15m of it instead of riding in it. Did it 2 times, broke my derail 2 times. The 2nd time I was set as a test rider to see if the timing system works. Didn't do a good job since I couldn't finish my run.

As for finished races. One year later. Local track that I knew quite well but I was just after a horrible injury on a jump so I decided to go around most of them. Got too excited, adrenaline dump hit me in the first 500m and I thought I would die from exhaustion there (even though I was effortlessly doing 100km trips on my xc bike). Drinking 12 red bulls on race day didn't help that either.

My first was pure awesome. 1993 Beech Mountain DUAL Downhill Eliminator. On grass starting at the midpoint and racing down the access road and across the tall grass.

They did qualifying runs with true digital timing and had my name on board as I cross and qualified in 3rd in Sport.

Raced and eliminated everybody down to round of 4. Raced an Expert XC racer Chris Brown. He outsprinted me but there was one last fast turn before the final descent. He swung wide with his seat all the way up for a graceful turn.

I never let off the gas and cut inside, seat down, one foot dragging the grass drifting in the drizzle for a textbook clean pass with no contact. (I could hear people screaming and going nuts)

Ate sh!t right in front of him. He crumpled behind me and I got up first and won. He ACTUALLY tried to protest that I "cut him off and wrecked him". The judge's condescending look at him is one of the greatest memories of MTB.


Sincerely,
Hooked on muthuhfugginrhacinyo

I noticed a split front brake line right before my race and raced anyway.

I only ate shlt once but it was spectacular. Because it was the first hard turn about 100ft from the starting gate.

bdamschen said:

Ok, this one is a long one and sort of old school.

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Good read!

Mine was at the end of last year.

I'd been riding DH for nearly 2 years at the time, almost exclusively at the same location and had slowly been customising my Scott Voltage from stock.

The race was a leg of the NZ "Southern Series", which is essentially an annual comp for all South Island riders. The weather was 4 seasons in one day and the course was an absolute muck-fest.

View attachment 115069

The track was made up of 2 sections and I got to do 2 shakey runs with a good few spills before it was time to race. I was nervous as hell coming up to the starting gate! I was the last rider away and seeing the calm, grim determination of the other riders had really amped me up. The second my race started, everything except for the course in front of me faded out. I found a complete focus that I didn't have in the practise sessions and made it through tricky sections that I hadn't been able to master during practise.

I was let down by two things. A flat tyre I got during the second section, and a lack of knowledge that if I'd gone up for a second run, my overall time would have been comprised of the fastest times through each section. I only did one run because I was so happy with the first, more technical section.

I placed 11th in my class (out of 18), 14th out of 36 entrants for my overall time, and was very happy about that!

My second and most recent race however, I fell off badly 3 times right near the bottom of a great run and placed dead last I was wrecked and didn't have it in me to try a second time.



Good luck with your first race. You will not regret that fitness training

hungover with a crash in the rockgarden at 7springs in '09. Epically fast top and middle section only to wash out coming into the rock garden before it dumps out into the lower jump section. Got up got back on it, crashed again, bars twisted.

Finished 08/13.

2nd race Snowshoe. Epically long fun and sketchy.

Both races were post rain and sloppy.

Sandwich said:

for a first race, I'd focus more on being smooth and controlled than going crazy/all out. ....

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You want him to have regrets? No way. Balls out....like a stud bull out to pasture. Bury it deep then, get knocked off and trench it again. Crumple in an exhausted heap with a story to tell.

Don't be mellow. Mellow if for Yellow dude.

Had only 2 training runs, crashed a double and was puzzled as everybody screamed at me to get back on my bike. The timing was off too. My crash-run was timed faster than my better run...

I was 19 years old when I did my first race, signed up for the quebec/canada cup in sport class after riding for like a year. It was the cool thing to do because all my buddies were doing it (I was working on the bromont trail crew back then so it was kinda fun riding a track you helped build).

At first I was super ecstatic, I remember my first day of practice like it was yesterday, I did 19 runs… I liked the track so much that I was just having fun blasting the whole way down. Then came race day, after the mandatory practice, something screwed up in my chain guide and loosened it (thanks for the bb mounted chain guide on my SWD&#8230 so after the first corner, my chain was off the ring and left me only able to coast. I still managed to pull a decent 12th place (with no chain or ability to pedal) out of 44 contestants.

I did a couple more in the 2 following years but always had **** luck with my bike so one day I just grew tired of it. Now I'm riding mostly my all-mountain bike and having lots of fun every time and just signed up for the 2014 megavalanche!

mandatory #tbt pic

First "DH" race was at a glorified mound at ESTU in Johnson City, TN. Rocking a sweet sticker festooned SC Bullit, Zoch Shiver, and some Maxxis Mobsters (which were apparently not designed for traction). Poured rain before the Sportys went down, but somehow I managed to stay upright and finished in the obligatory "mid pack" area. Been getting progressively slower ever since, despite substantial upgrades to BB height, fork flex, and tires designed with traction in mind.

Next race was at Windrock, which was essentially like going from greenway comfort riding to Champery for me. Absolutely loved it, and briefly thought the Maxxis girl was on my jock until I realized she was just trying to get the Sportys to buy the remaining Mobster stock.

Funny thing about racing (now that I'm thinking about it) has been the surprising number of mechanical issues I've had on race runs, versus just bumping around the hill. Off the top of my head, I've had a stuck chain (so I couldn't pedal), tire roll off the rim, derailleur cable break within the first 10 seconds and limit me to the smallest cog, busted pedal cage (assuming a broken Mallet even counts), and the obligatory flat tire. And for some strange reason, I keep doing it.