Summer Chair Time...

"Only two and one half months until opening day...only two and one half months until opening d..." For many skiers, this can be a hard time of the year. Still over 70 days until the first of the front range resorts open can leave many skiers running stir crazy.

For most skiers, summer means "second rate" activities...fun stuff but nothing that quite compares to skiing. This includes a wide variety of activies, fly fishing, golf, road cycling, mountain biking and hiking to name a few. Some of these summer activies are relaxing, like golf and fly fishing. Some are great cross training for ski season, such as mountain biking and trail running, but none quite compare.

Yes, there are a select few that are lucky enough to chase the snow all summer long in the Southern Hemisphere but most of us don't have a seven figure trust fund to help us out, so we go through summer as most people do, enjoying these activities while feeling like part of us is dead.

There is however an extremly fortunute third group who has found a viable substitute. Don't try and find something that is equals skiing, you're bound to end up insane. What I mean by "substitute" is simply something that keeps you from having a nervous breakdown in summer. After all, summer followes every winter...no matter what.

I have found one of these "substitutes" I am a downhill mountain bike racer in the summer. Before you write it off as something very "un-freeskiing-like" due to the racing part, hear me out.

For those that don't know what downhill mountain bike racing is, take downhill ski racing, put it on dirt and you some sort of an idea. Beside the obvious differences, (skis vs bikes) ski racing is traditionally rigid and lacks creativity. On the other hand, downhill mountain bike racing allows for about as much creativity as you'll ever find in any sort of race. This can be attributed to the variability you encounter in DH mountain bike racing, from mud to dust, trees to steeps, wide open ski runs to tight chutes...it is always changing. This allows for the rider to look at every course differently and constantly figure out new lines and ways to ride between the tape, much like the way you would look at terrain while skiing.


Downhill mountain bike racing has allowed for a seamless transition from skiing ending in late April/May, into the race season in late May lasting all the way through September putting me right back into ski season with just a few weeks of "down" time.

Last weekend I was in Snowmass for the National Finals. Although I didn't do as well as I would have liked, it was a great time and it gives me another excuse to ride a chairlift, which is in my opinion, one of the most influencial inventions to my life.

Nowadays you can pick a bike up a solid DH bike for under 1500 bucks and many front range resorts have lift accessed DH trails with races nearly every weeknd. Try it out...maybe you'll find that the summer doesn't suck THAT bad after all.