DOWNHILL! The utterance of the word conjures images of tattooed youth flying recklessly down steep inclines in pursuit of scant seconds and adrenaline charged victory. They ride exotic machines, show complete disdain for the beauty of suffering that is cross country, and rip around the country side on motorcycles in the off-season.

What do you care about DH’ers? You’re a died in the wool cross country machine! You watch your body fat, eat lots of carbs and protein, and max your mileage in pursuit of lactate tolerance. Besides, you say, I’m already fast downhill! Yea, I thought so too...then I started riding with a pro DH’er and I learned a lot!

Downhill techniques can be broken into several components, each of which will help you become faster and give you the edge necessary to win in any situation:

1. Vision

2. Body Position

3. Braking

4. Finding The Zone

5. Picking Lines

These and other refinements of your downhill techniques will help insure that you are maximally prepared for when the gun goes off.