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Bike Handling: Going Fast by Jimmy Kight
Jimmy
  • Two Time Dual Slalom National Champion
  • Two Time North American Dual Slalom Champion
  • 1st World Cup Finals Vail, CO
  • 1st ESPN Extreme Games Dual Slalom
  • Member of United States National Mountain Bike Team
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 If there is one thing all the fast downhillers have in common, it is their ability to remain calm at all times. Plummeting down mountainsides at high speeds is no place to start getting excited, worried or agitated. Stay mentally collected, breathe, think about what you are doing, have fun, and everything will fall into place. Here are few tips I think about when going fast:
1. 
"Stay loose and fluid on the bicycle. I want to be comfortable and feel like one with the bike. Comfort provides confidence. Even with something like my grips, if I'm uncomfortable with the feel, I change them."
2. 
"Be sure to properly warm up before your event. A lot of downhills have pedaling sections, so I want to get my heart rate up to a maximum level at least once before I head to the starting block. Racing downhill requires a 100% level of effort; in order to get my body to run at 100%, I need to do sprints on the bike and a good amount of stretching."
3. 
"Prepare mentally prior to downhilling. Putting out the kind of effort necessary to win a downhill race requires a sort of subconscious effort. At the end of the downhill run, when fatigue starts to be a factor, a clear mind is required for a safe and clean run at high speeds." 
4. 
"Practice under race-like conditions as much as possible. Most people practice going fast at 20 mph when they should really be getting up to speeds around 30 mph. There's a big difference in 10 mph on a mountain bike, and if you're not used to how the bike handles at the faster speeds, you'll never be able to be fast in the race. 
 

 
 
 
 
 

It's hard to find safe areas where you can go as fast as you need to and not have problems with hikers. I do a lot of practicing on dirt roads, where not only is there more room to accommodate other people, but it's also good in case I make any mistakes. Singletrack skills are important, but you run a greater risk of running into people and also of getting hurt yourself, since single track is less forgiving. It's always good to practice with some friends so you can have people looking out for traffic. I will talk about honing technical singletrack skills in future articles."

5. 
"I think that running good tires at the correct pressures is really important. I use a new tire for every race, no matter how worn the old one is. I like the extra confidence that a fresh tread gives me. I usually run between 40 and 42 psi, but I'll use more air on rockier courses."
6. 
"My best, though not-so-serious, tip is to eat lots of ice cream and watch lots of TV. The ice cream will help in the battle against gravity, and watching TV with a remote control helps eye-hand coordination!"
(Reprinted from Mountain Bike Action magazine) 

All for now. We'll see you soon with another bike handling skill. 

--Jimmy 

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