Most of Aaron Gwin’s life has been spent on two wheels. He is one of the best mountain bikers in the world after all.
At an incredibly young age, the California native got his first BMX bike, immediately falling in love with the activity. And then, at the age of 12, he convinced his parents to get him a dirt bike. With dreams of competing in AMA Supercross, Gwin took to the sport, despite battling a variety of injuries. Those injuries eventually forced him to ditch the dirt bike for a mountain bike – and he’s never looked back.
“I think the combination of those sports – the BMX skills on a bicycle and then the motocross skills – made the transition to downhill, I wouldn’t say easy, but definitely a lot quicker for me,” Gwin admitted.
In almost a decade, the 29-year-old became the youngest American ever to win the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, claiming the series’ top spot three times, while hailed by many as the sport’s most dominant athlete. Last year, however, didn’t quite go as Gwin would’ve liked and offseason knee-surgery left many to wonder how he’d return in 2017. Well, he ended the speculation with a win at Fontana to start the year, not far from where he grew up in Southern California – and his winning run was a beauty.
As you can see from the GoPro strapped to his helmet, Gwin bursts down the narrow course, carefully avoiding certain terrain, all while making it look incredibly simple. But, a great deal went into Gwin’s victorious return – from recovery, to extensive training six days a week and course mapping.
Gwin has been the subject of a Red Bull internet series titled Offseason, which focuses on the many facets of how he was able to prepare for the 2017 season. It was certainly a somewhat unusual path for Gwin, since injuries have been few and far between during his career, which he believes is the product of taking great care of his body and an undeniable passion for training. Gwin’s workout constantly varies, something he and his coach will switch up often throughout the calendar year, to allow him to peak at certain times and rest during others. Six days a week, Gwin is either at the gym or riding two wheels – allowing for just one off day to do whatever he sees fit, including a number of hobbies.
“I’m usually in the gym three to four days a week, on average – sometimes more, sometimes maybe a little less, if we’re traveling a lot,” Gwin recalled. “I’m on the downhill bike usually one or two days a week – more than that, obviously, if I’m at the races. I ride enduro or cross country-type rides usually twice a week and I ride my road bike once or twice a week, so that’s usually the base. When I’m home, I get to the BMX track still to do my sprints and I ride my motocross bike usually once a week.
Keeping his body fueled can be quite challenging, so Gwin makes sure to mix-in a substantial amount of protein and carbohydrates into his diet, while almost completely eliminating gluten.
Perhaps the most important aspect of Gwin’s success is his ability to assess the courses. He often does a track walkthrough several days leading up to an event. At that point, Gwin begins to piece together the line he wants to follow, deciding which exact route might be best. It’s important for him to stop and look at sections, often hiking around the area to ensure he’s pieced together the correct puzzle. Gwin focuses his attention to specific sections before moving to full laps, learning every inch of the track.
And while it typically only takes a couple of tries to master, some areas are more risky than others.
“It only takes a few tries [to reach a level of comfort on the course] but, if it’s a really difficult line or a super-sketchy line, sometimes I don’t want to do it over and over and over again because there’s kind of an element of risk,” Gwin said. “You know you can do it and you kind of just save it.”
With so much speed and so many obstacles, there’s always an increased risk of injury. Add in the fact that riders have a heavy bike to deal with and it can be a recipe for disaster. But Gwin doesn’t contemplate any of that during a crash – in fact, he’s an expert at crashing, having done so routinely.
“You kind of try and get the tuck and roll thing down and not stick your arms and fingers and hands out, especially in downhill, because there’s so many rocks and that seems to be kind of the common injury – you twist a finger, break a hand, something like that,” Gwin added.
But injuries couldn’t be further from his mind right now, with downhill mountain biking’s biggest events approaching – and Gwin is ready to once again claim the top spot. First up is the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in France on April 30, which can be seen live on the Red Bull TV app and will feature super slow-motion cameras and onscreen metrics, for a fully-immersive viewing experience.
“I think being a fan of a sport, to be able to watch it live – to see all the races, to see almost complete runs a lot of the time, I think that’s what makes downhill so exciting,” Gwin said. “I think if you’ve ever been to a live event or watched it live online, there’s really a cool aspect to it that a lot of sports maybe don’t have, or it’s just kind of unique in certain ways. There’s a lot of people I know that have gotten really into watching it and they’ll wake up at 4 a.m. to watch the races over in Europe live here in the states – it’s definitely cool and it’s cool to be able to perform live and to be on that stage.”
Ed Miller is a contributor for CraveOnline Sports, a movie quote extraordinaire and a proud Sun Devil. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
Photos via Aaron Gwin on Facebook.
