The 32-year-old American has also lost track of the number of beautiful locations his sport has taken him to.
Queenstown is up there as one of his favourite locations.
The experienced stunt rider is in the resort town to compete in Natural Selection Bike Aotearoa today.
The mountainbike event has attracted more than 20 of the world’s best riders.
A new track has been constructed at Mt Dewar and Downs is a fan.
He has had plenty of practice runs and described the track as "really awesome".
"There's definitely a lot of technical aspects to it and a lot of big jumps.
"You need to make sure you're on point.
"It's in a prime location and it looks beautiful."
The competition features a men’s and women’s division and will combine the three most dynamic disciplines in mountainbiking — big mountain freeride, slopestyle and downhill.
Downs has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. He rides in the Nitro Circus and coming up with new tricks is part of the gig.
He has several world firsts to his name, including a back flip quad whip on a BMX.
It is one very impressive stunt. It will make you dizzy.
But the course at Mt Dewar will require a lot more caution.
"I'll probably stick with more or less stuff that I know that I'm capable of on this [track] just because it's, you know, high risk.
"You get one run on each section. So I'm just going to kind of play it safe and make sure that, you know, get a full run done."
Of course, what Downs thinks is playing it safe differs dramatically from how most people would interpret that statement.
And he is up against the cream of the cream which will help bring out the best in him.
When he is at the top of the mark and nerves and fear is bubbling to the surface, he has a very simple mantra.
"Remember to smile and have fun," he said.
"A lot of the times I just sit up there and just remind myself that you started this for fun, so go have fun on your bike.
"And you've just got to remind yourself to trust in your abilities and remember to focus and breathe and clear all the bad thoughts out."
New Zealander Robin Goomes is a strong contender in the women’s event.
The Chatham Islands rider had a breakthrough year in 2024, winning Red Bull Rampage to cement her status as the best female freerider on the planet.
