It’s just a solitary event.
There’s nothing like it anywhere else in the world.
It’s not a UCI race.
It’s not the World Championships.
It’s not part of some bigger series.
It’s just one weekend in one place.
What makes it special is the people
that put it on, that recognized what they had here, invited
people to come experience it the last 25 years,
and it’s a legendary place.
It changed the course of my life this bike race.
The reason we’re here, it’s actually Stephan’s idea.
He thought it would be neat to have all three
of us being double winners to come to Downieville
and just go ride together.
This is a pretty cool deal to get
to come back with two guys that dominated this place.
And just go ride for fun and not have a bunch of pressure,
and just drink beers around the fire
and enjoy each other’s company.
What year did you win?
Memory is vague, but the research
shows 2009 was the first time I showed up here with a bicycle.
It’s been 13 years since you won at Downieville.
Holy shit.
Yeah.
Yeah, that’s why I feel old.
So Adam, is he’s just a super-talented bike racer guy.
He just has this mind to make a bike work really well.
In fact, gone to the Olympics in 2008.
The next year is when he won Downieville.
He was coming off the Olympics.
He was the best American cross-country racer arguably
at the time, and he came here, and he won, and that
was like a big deal for him.
I remember he was stoked, and I was just
super excited to come see this place for myself after that.
It’s an honor to have won here, and I
think it speaks to a person’s versatility as a rider,
and I’ve always been really proud of that versatility.
What we have here is a 2009 vintage Downieville
classic first-place award seat.
Every year the seats different and this seat
has looked different every year since because I’ve
been riding and enjoying it.
It makes me think of Downieville.
There’s a lot of parallels between Steve and Adam.
These are both guys that are old school mountain-biker-type
guys.
They’re both incredibly fit dudes,
but they also just have a natural connection
with the bike.
It’s an extension of them that most people will never
approach.
In 2019, I made it a goal to win Downieville,
which I was able to pull off.
Growing up as a little kid, I always
had posters of Adam and Carl, and I saw them
as some of the two best US racers.
To have my name on the winner’s charts with those two
and a handful of other top athletes, it’s really special.
I won 2010, ’11, ’12, ’13, ’14, five times.
I was good at it for a while.
This was my place for a little while.
As much as some of the locals might have loved it
or loathed it, I was king of the county around here for a bit.
And it’s really cool to be with Stephan, who’s that new guy.
He’s the defending champ.
He’s the National champion in Marathon.
That’s why he’s on this custom red, white, and blue bike.
Steve is at the top of his game.
It’s going to be exciting to see what he can do.
So Downieville Double is to win both the cross country
on Saturday and the downhill on Sunday.
A lot of people have made a career out
of winning one or the other, but to win both is really unique.
Only four guys have done it, and Adam, Stephan, and I
are three of those four.
That’s a pretty unique situation.
[KUINKA, “PORCELAIN FRAME”] I was never one to talk about
what came before, but she kissed in a way and made me move
against the floor.
Living in the night, I held her ordinary name about the windows
out on Wall Street with the marble and the porcelain frame.
She takes me round the room.
She takes me by the hand led me through the smokey and crowd
till I could hardly stand.
Beneath the streets and city lights,
I laid her down to rest.
Laid my hand upon her chest and said I loved but merely
guessed it all away.
I think Downieville being dubbed the All Mountain World
Championships is 100% accurate.
You’ve got to have the fitness and the strength and the skill
and just kind of the mental fortitude
to be able to ride all around in these mountains.
All Mountain World Champ, for sure,
and I don’t think there’s another event that could really
lay claim to that in the way that Downieville does.
[KUINKA, “PORCELAIN FRAME”]
(SINGING) It’s the kind of consolation
that you get when you’re alone, past the skin
and past the bones, in an ordinary tone.
Ask the question, take me dancing,
take me out and take me home.
Beneath the trees, we taste the leaves.
Oh, please don’t leave.
I want to roam this earth with you.
You know–
I didn’t think I’d ever win here.
So the best win for me was the first time.
There were so many guys that had made legends of themself
by their successes here.
World Cup Downhillers and World Champions
come here, and XC guys, and roadies
and like all these people that can flex
on some part of the course.
But to really bring it all together
and to finish the thing intact with your bike
in one piece and your body, that takes something else.
For me putting my stamp on this event
is one of my proudest moments in bike racing.
[KUINKA, “PORCELAIN FRAME”] Oh, love, break my bones,
love take me home.
Love lead me astray.
Weighed me down with stones.
Love sat me afire.
I can see no more.
Love break my heart and tear down my door.
Love bring me away.
Burn down my home.
There’s an emptiness there that I can’t afford.
Love lift me up for another day.
Love leave your mark.
I am here to stay.
I am here to stay.
Winning a World Cup Cross Country or something,
I don’t know.
I’d probably take Downieville over that.
In terms of being an American rider from the West Coast,
this means a lot.
