18 Greatest Moments Of The Decade

The last 10 years have provided us with a tumult of trail highlights. Here’s our pick of the best — from brazen Red Bull Rampagers to the contentious rise of e-bikes

Mountain biking never stands still; it’s constantly changing in almost every way, from the bikes and technology we use, to the trails we ride and the events and riders that influence us. Over the last 10 years we’ve seen such flux in our sport that change has become normalised. It’s all too easy to get used to everything being new and better, be blasé about the evolution happening right under our noses. So this month we want to celebrate the end of the decade by looking back at the highlights of the last 10 years. Here’s our pick.

1 “OH GOD, DANNY STAY ON YER BIKE!”

No one who saw it will forget Danny Hart’s 2011 World Championship-winning run at Champéry in the sheeting rain. And nearly as thrilling, no one who heard it will forget Nigel Page and Rob Warner’s hysterical commentary on Freecaster. Danny’s run was a masterclass in riding in the wet, he took the most aggressive lines, inside where no one else had dared and attacked the track like it was coated in prime hero dirt. Amazing stuff, watch it again and we defy you not to get goosebumps. But there have been dozens of moments from racing that stick in the mind over the past decade — what makes Danny Hart’s run so special is what it did for mountain biking as a sport. Suddenly, nonriding friends were sending you footage asking if you’d seen it. Freecaster. tv had live rights, but the replay went viral when it was posted to YouTube and took the sport to new audiences. This was a run that genuinely changed the sport of downhill mountain biking.

2 RIGHT TO ROAM WALES