Whyte Rider Daryl Brown recently flew to Darkfest 2022 in South Africa and didn't stop flying when he arrived. Taking on some of the world biggest jumps Daryl and his custom built G-180 were together at take-off and reunited for some awesome landings.
“Fast dusty wild, discussing, insane, mind blowing” - Daryl Brown
So, how big are the jumps compared to videos and in real life?
It's really hard to describe in person what they are really like! Every year you come back and walk the course for the first time and it's still a shock every time. It takes a good 2 days of riding the jumps to get used to hitting 7m take-offs at 50mph. It then takes another 2 days to start to get comfortable with that and learning how to judge your speed on the jumps as morning speeds & afternoon are totally different speeds!
And how are the jumps riding?
The jumps are riding the best they ever had! I have had a 2-year break and they have been fine-tuned since last being here, I think this year is the safest it has ever been if you can say such a thing! Haha
What's going through your mind when you’re going through the set?
Trying to be as perfect as possible as there is no room for error everything has to be on near 100%
What bike are you on?
This year I am on a custom Whyte bike based on a G-180, 550 coil shock to take the bigger impacts with a 200mm boxer upfront. Finished off with a custom set of Hunt wheels to take the abuse all week!
From the videos it looks like there’s an incredible bond between the riders, how is that?
Think riding the gnarliest jumps in the world is quite a special thing so everyone helps each other out with speed advice and looking out for each other.
We also love that we are seeing more females involved, how’s that going down, are you all riding together?
It's amazing having Women riders for the first year at Darkfest, seeing their reactions to what we felt the first time hitting the jumps is priceless. It's been great teamwork helping them as well as towing them into the jumps to help them learn the speed for the first time. Having someone in front to reassure you aren’t going too fast is massive, first few runs you just can't believe it's that fast into this jump. By the end of the week, you are used to it and every-other jump you ride never feels the same until you go back again the next year!
It's such an incredible time in the MTB to see women ride the biggest jumps in the world!
What are you guys getting up to in the downtime?
Hanging by the pool, checking the bikes over & bolt checking every day. Relaxing in the sun.
Any other words you want to share?
Thanks to the team & Darkfest for making such an amazing event, and not forgetting the team at Whyte Bikes for building me such a sick bike in a short period of time!
Daryl riding a custom G-180 Whyte bike.
