AirDH | Whistler Crankworx A-Line Race

The AirDH is a brutal race at Crankworx Whistler. Fastest person down A-Line wins. But it's not so easy! Just listen to 13yo Elliott's breathing, yikes! We all know A-Line as one of the world's most famous trails, and that's because it has amazing jumps. It's not built for speed. Going fast on A-Line requires two things. The first challenge is PEDALING. While A-Line is perfectly sloped for jumping, going fast requires a lot of pedaling. In fact, Elliott was riding his Norco Sight trail bike instead of his Norco Aurum HSP downhill bike to be able to pedal more efficiently. The tradeoff, of course, is comfort through the massive holes that had developed. The second challenge is NOT JUMPING. It's a jump trail, but the fastest way is to stay low using a technique called scrubbing. Elliott's pretty good with his scrubs, so manages to find the landing of most jumps despite the high speed. Less capable riders would overshoot these jumps, losing speed in the process. Oh third... NO COMFORT BRAKING. Elo and I talked about where to brake during the race, and you can hear as he convinces himself to stay off the brakes during his race run. It's REALLY HARD to stay off the brakes. The tech section was ROUGH. It's packed with rocks considering how much traffic rolls down A-Line every day, but the rocks were covered with dust, making it slippery. The chicane is the hardest part, but Elo navigates it smoothly. Hard to carry speed through here, experience helps. The day prior to AirDH, Elliott raced the Garbo DH, a roughly 16 minute gnarly downhill track from the top of the Garbanzo lift all the way down to the whistler base. It's brutal, and used up much of his leg strength. He had little left in the tank on the starting line, and gave 100% of what was left during this race run. Knowing his time wasn't going to be super competitive (he finished mid-pack), Elo decided to have some fun. He no-handed the big Moon Booter jump as well as the big final jump. He finished with a smile and can't wait for next year! Elliott rides on for Sweetlines Racing, a mountain bike team for kids based near Seattle, WA. Please like and subscribe, much appreciated! #crankworx #whistler #airdh #bike #race #bikepark #sweetlines #ridenowsleeplater #mtb #dhmtb #mountainbike #trailbike #norcobikes #norcosight #downhillmtb #scrub #nohander #berm #jump #whistlermountain #gopro #pov #sports #kidsonbikes #kidswhoshred #mtbkids #grom #hero12