Downhill cycling

Downhill biking (DH) is a gravity-assisted time trial mountain biking event. Riders race against the clock, usually starting at intervals of 30 seconds (seeded from slowest to fastest), on courses which typically take two to five minutes to complete. Riders are timed with equipment similar to that used in Downhill skiing. The placing is determined by the fastest times to complete the course; races are often won by margins of under a second. As the name of this discipline implies, downhill races are held on steep, downhill terrain with no extended climbing sections, resulting in high speed descents with extended air time off jumps and other obstacles. The 2008 Downhill World Champion is Gee Atherton from UK^[1]. The 2008 Women's Downhill World Champion is Rachel Atherton (Gee's Sister).

Downhill biking without any pads or protectors might be dangerous.

The first downhill time-trial race took place in Fairfax, California on October 22, 1976 on a fireroad now referred to as Repack Road, due to the need to repack hub bearings after a descent (the hub brakes used at the time would overheat, causing the grease within the hub to break down). Ten riders descended 1300 feet of Repack in about 5 minutes; the winner, Alan Bonds, was also the only one to make it to the finish line.^[2] The first bikes used for descending were known as "clunkers" or "paperboy bikes": coaster brake cruisers using balloon tires first imported to America by Ignatz Schwinn.^[3] By 1979, two organizers and competitors of the Repack downhill, Charlie Kelley and Gary Fisher founded the company which named the sport, MountainBikes.^[4] As mountain biking grew enormously during the 80's, downhill riders continued to use either rigid or limited suspension travel (under 2 inches) bicycles, and purpose made downhill bikes were not made until the 90's. Some of these innovations included dual crown suspension forks and disc brakes, as well as very elaborate frame suspension designs.

Later, riders from all disciplines of cycling began focusing on downhill. Particularly, many BMX racers made the crossover, including champions such as John Tomac(Team Tomac Bikes), Micheal Crawley (Team Giant/Marzocchi Bikes), James Palmer (WHHFL Bikes), Woosub Song (Team Yeti/Fox Bikes) and Brian Lopes.Their influence is seen in the increased difficulty of many courses, especially in the "big air/ Hucking (biker term for big jumps and drops)" aspect of downhill.

The coming of age for downhill biking was its inclusion at the first UCI Mountain Bike Championship, held in 1990 in Durango, Colorado. This inaugural event was won by Hall of Fame racer Greg Herbold.