Transition to Gravity MTB Begins with Enduro
BURKE, VA — Gravity mountain biking has been an interest of mine for some time. But not many cross-country mountain bike riders understand what is involved in Gravity competitions. The skills are different, the gear is different, and even the bikes can be different. The transition from Cross-Country (XC) to Downhill (DH) involves more than just being crazy enough to literally throwing yourself off the top of a mountain. However, if you are serious about moving into this sport, your knowledge of Gravity competitions can be overcome by first understanding which Gravity event you want to transition into.
Pulling Serious G’s
The trill of speeding down a hill at Mach-three with your hair on fire has all the elements of danger, excitement, and a bit of madness that we like. The beauty behind Gravity XC is in its diversity of challenges. You can race Han-style (solo) in the Downhill (DH) that just has you roll off the top of a mountain, descend along a twisting strip of singletrack, and rocket out 500-1,000 feet below your start in less than 3-minutes. Too fast for you? Then work a little cross-country mountain biking into your Downhill event in the Supper Downhill (Super-D) that makes you work the decent in a little more gradual way. That is unless your on one of those Super-D courses that try to emulate a roller coaster in which you ride for 2-miles and more or less ride off a cliff on an e-ticket to the bottom.
Lemmings Unite
If solo Gravity events are not exciting enough for you, then maybe it’s time to find some friends. You and a racing buddy can work a shorter version of the DH by riding side-by-side in a speed-infested grudge match called the Dual Slalom (DS). All your Downhill skills are put to the test in the Dual Slalom, but with the added pressure of a competitor in the next lane combined with a need to control your bike enough to move back-and-fourth through a series of gates, moguls, and berms. This high-speed dual can be further expanding by adding two more riders in the Four Cross (4X). The 4X is the Dual Slalom with a longer course, bigger moguls, and four riders working a wide DH course while peddling at full speed. This way you and three of your closest competitors can really fly down a hill at break-neck speed without any of that pesky uphill stuff to wear you out. Yet, if the DS or 4X is just not enough companionship, you can have a whole gaggle of your buddy’s go off the cliff with with you in what the Australian’s are calling the Avalanche (AV)! With roughly 200 riders working a decent at one time, they mass start Downhill chaos often sees all sorts of face plants and wipe outs within the first 1-minute; and that is just the first heat! In the Avalanche, riders work the mountain slope for a good time so that they can gain a front-row position in the final event. What’s not to like?
Mountain Biking’s Future
But that is not end. To make your Gravity XC education complete, you must embrace what has become the King of Gravity mountain biking: The Enduro (EN). The Enduro (short for Endurance) is a Gravity competition that combines all the best parts of Downhill racing into a multi-day event, requiring racers to complete 5-8 stages to win. An Enduro is by far the most exciting event in mountain biking right now considering how it does not require riders to exhaust themselves with one of the primary parts of XC mountain biking: climbing hills (unless you have an Enduro that includes a Uphill (UH) race along side a Downhill race). The need to grind up a mean set of near vertical switchbacks is left out of most Enduro’s, replaced with the quite power of a gentle ski lift. However, not having to ride hardcore XC in an Enduro does not make it any less daunting. What it lacks in hill climbs it makes up for in multiple Downhill rides, usually over a weekend, where Gravity jockeys ride down the hillside over and over again. Some events even require riders to remove their chain in a “chainless” ride down the hill, with only pure Gravity and skill to get them to the bottom before anyone else. Other Enduro’s take all the rider’s best times over the multi-day event, rank them, add the time differences up, and then make the final race a Pursuit XC event (surprise — there IS cross-country in the Enduro) where each rider gets a head-start equal to the time difference between themselves and the next rider. These “winner take all” Enduro’s try to combine all the skills of mountain biking into one event by requiring riders to be more well-rounded.
Begin at the Top
The key to Gravity is learning how to move down the face of a mountain without killing yourself. Doing this sport safely and fast is something that could take someone years before they developed the skills and results to be competitive. Of all the Gravity events, XC riders are probably most compatible with Enduro racing. By combining the endurance of XC with the technique of DH riding, a cross-country mountain bike rider could find the Enduro format a perfect entry point into a Gravity riding future.
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