'Like riding on a cloud'

SANDPOINT - Select few things can lay claim to being the fastest in the world.

Cheetahs are the fastest land animal, reaching speeds as high as 75 miles per hour, and Peregrine falcons are the fastest bird, tearing through the sky at speeds of more than 230 miles per hour.

Usain Bolt, the Olympic gold medal winning sprinter from Jamaica, is currently considered the fastest human being.

And the fastest snowbike rider on the planet? That would be Sandpoint's Derick Driggs, who has never lost a race in a sport invented in Idaho just a few years ago. He was tested again recently at Flashpoint in McCall, billed as the world's premier snowbike snowcross event, smoking the competition for his 16th straight win.

He can also fly, having jumped 102 feet two years ago during Sled Fest at Schweitzer, and is currently working with the Guinness Book of World Records to document the feat.

Equal parts daredevil, motorcycle enthusiast and pioneer, Driggs is a driving force in a new adventure sport that could be on the verge of exploding in popularity.

"It's fun to be part of something that is new. I've been the first person to do a lot of things on snowbikes," says Driggs, 31, who works for Wells Fargo Bank in Sandpoint. "My main goal is to get the sport exposure and push the boundaries. It's been awesome to be on the streak, and be known as the guy to beat out there."

Snowbikes are motorcycles equipped with a one-ski, track-driven conversion kit, allowing them to go places a snowmobile would normally travel. The races are essentially supercross on snow, with riders jumping, passing and fighting for space around a track.

Timbersled, a Kootenai company owned by Allen Mangum, makes the conversion kits that allow the machines to rip along the snow with incredible speed and agility. Driggs likens the potential of snowbiking to snowboarding, once a fringe sport that eventually became nearly as popular as skiing.

"It has the possibility to be equally as popular as snowmobiles," says Driggs, who feels the sport will eventually grab the attention of X-Games. "Our group has been pioneering this, racing with the Mountain West Racing Series."

The Sandpoint area is a hotbed for the sport, comprising nearly half of the 24 person field in McCall, which raced in four heats based upon skill level. In the main A draw, Sandpoint's Wade Burnett finished third behind Driggs, while Mangum proved he can not only build the bikes, but ride them as well, finishing fifth. Clark Fork's Ty Oliver and Wyatt Stevens, Cocolalla's Chad Moore and Dan Wanous, and Sagle's Doug Gunter, Ray Peck and Dale Mangum were also in action on the 7/8 mile, twisty track built on a golf course.

While the racing is fun, Driggs believes the true beauty of the snowbike is the back-country places that can now be traveled. Unlike a motorcycle, which is confined to a track, trail or road, snowbikes can go anywhere the driver wants to take them.

"It's like riding on a cloud," says Driggs, lauding the soft, flotation technology heretofore only experienced on a snowmobile. "You have the freedom to go places you couldn't imagine. It allows you to experience anything you want and it's fun to push the boundaries."

Driggs will be looking to defend his fifth annual Sled Fest snowbike title at Schweitzer in April, and also might try and break his jumping record.