Pushing a bicycle to the edge of a grassy ramp, a young man surveys the terrain below, a cool breeze ruffling his hair. A narrow, rutted track plunges down the side of a mountain. He retreats from the edge, tugs on a helmet that protects both his head and the lower portion of his face and gets on his bike.

He runs at the ramp and sails over the edge, suspended mid-air for a few seconds before hitting the trail in a shower of dirt and rock. In seconds, he’s vanished from view leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

Somewhere far below, hidden by the lush evergreen forest, a flatbed truck waits to drive him and the other downhill bikers back up to the top of the mountain once they finish their first pre-ride. It is 9:45 am and the race won’t start until 1:00 p.m.

While mountain biking is popular with both men and women it is not a sport for the faint-hearted. The steep downhill bike track looks intimidating but there is more to the sport.
“There are hill climbing and cross-country events, too” explains Peter Krause, a resident of Smithers who has turned his long-time interest in biking into a career.