A Nanaimo teen is a national champion in downhill mountain biking.
Ryder Wilson won the U17 expert division at the Canadian Downhill Mountain Bike Championships Aug. 10-11 at Sun Peaks outside Kamloops.
It was a breakthrough for Wilson, who finished third at nationals two years ago and second last year. This year, with nationals at one of his favourite courses, he was really looking forward to the race, and made the most of it, completing the five-minute course more than nine seconds faster than the runner-up.
After a lot of riding and gym work, Wilson came into nationals ready, and worked hard to memorize the long course by viewing GoPro runs and walking the track "to figure out where you can gain every inch of speed and time."
He was first in qualifiers, but race conditions changed by race day, as a downpour turned the finals into a "mud race." As the top qualifier, he was last on the start list in the final, and had a long wait as the other competitors went one by one before him.
"[It's] definitely a little bit intimidating because in your head space, you see them drop out of the start gate and you're like, holy moly, they're going really fast," he said.
Wilson knew he'd ridden well as he reached the bottom of the track. The race commentator there was sounding a siren on his megaphone to signal best times, and since Wilson was the final rider in his division, he knew that siren meant he had placed first.
"It means so much…" he said. "It was my dream since I started riding that I wanted to do downhill and I wanted to be Canadian champion and the emotions were so overwhelming coming over the line and seeing that, and the cheering. It was such an awesome feeling."
There are a few more races this summer, as Wilson will compete in the enduro Canadian nationals, even though it's not his main discipline, and will also enter his first Monster Energy Cup race in the U.S. in the fall.
Being Canadian champion has him setting his sights higher in the sport, he said, and he hopes to enter World Cup races all over the world in 2025 with the maple leaf on his sleeve.
"It's a cool feeling and it's definitely going to motivate me a lot more, especially over the winter to train hard and push for the next level," Wilson said.
Mountain bikers on the central Island are lucky to have so many riding spots, he said, and he'll continue to hurtle down Mt. Prevost in the Cowichan Valley and Doumont hill in Nanaimo close to his home. The hills aren't quite the same as the downhill circuit tracks, "but it's good just to get out and ride your bike," he said.
Wilson has always taken to two wheels, as he started as a motocross rider before following friends to competitive mountain biking and catching on quick.
"It's a feeling like no other feeling in the world, being on that race course, being the only one there, you against the clock," he said.
Nanaimo riders close at nationals
Also at downhill mountain biking nationals, two other Nanaimo racers, Westley Corrigan and Nate Kirby, finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 13-14-year-old division.
