August's Featured Rider: Britney White

Britney White is an all-around gravity ripper who started her career in while growing up in Wyoming. Britney's a quick descender, an aggressive jumper, and she rides with style no matter what she's doing. Britney recently moved to Bellingham, WA to be closer to Whistler and increase her training program. She's also in the process of getting her personal training certification, so she can help others reach their goals as well.--FF

Name: Britney White
Home: Formerly Bozeman MT, currently Bellingham WA
Age: 26
Favorite type of riding: Downhill with lots of jumps, berms, and flow.
Why you ride: For everyone reading this who rides, this is a silly question! It's so much fun!
Sponsors: RaceFace, Twenty6 Products

I've been riding bikes my whole life, but when I was younger it was just for transportation: like traveling down deep gravel roads, crossing cattle guards and avoiding coyotes (that's Wyoming for ya!). I bought a hardtail cross country bike when I was 18 to ride to school and decided to try it out on a trail one day. Best decision ever! After I got the whole front/back brake thing figured out it was all downhill from there. I haven't put the bike down since.

There definitely are not a lot of girls that ride DH in Montana. But, luckily I have a great group of guys to ride with that push me to progress and keep up of course. We all got lucky a few years ago when my family bought about 1700 acres just outside of Bozeman. Within a few years we built 3 DH shuttle trails, and a really fun freeride jump/ berm track with a bobcat. This was where I spent most weekends in the spring and fall working on trails, and riding of course. In winter, I usually stick to my skis for at least a few months. It makes me appreciate getting back on by bike that much more!

I don't think there's any one skill that makes you great at riding/racing. It's a lot of pedaling, line selection, being comfortable in the air, smooth on the bike. All these skills take lots of practice, practice, practice! I've worked the hardest to learn how to conquer just staying on the bike and not crashing!

I was in gymnastics when I was little and a coach told me something that stuck. I applied to riding my bike and believe it helped me. She said, "Spot your landing and picture executing it perfectly in your head before you go for it." That's what I do with any obstacle put in front of me and, luckily, it usually works!

The feeling of being smooth over the ground on a bike is, for me, one of the best feelings in the world. When I get on my bike and start riding a trail, I leave every other thought or problem in my life behind me. There is nothing else that matters. Being smooth and free on a bike is so liberating and the learning curve happened fast for me, since I only rode with guys who were better than me. I hated seeing them having fun and going big and not doing it with them. So I started scaring the crap out of them and hitting the same drops and jumps, obviously with a lot less style!

I am and will always be progressing on my bike and that's why I love riding bikes. The satisfaction of getting a trick down, going faster, or conquering that big stunt feels so good that I never want to stop riding bikes.