World Cup Downhill racing…
definitely not for the faint-hearted.
I was doing it for a long time and I still remember the feeling,
winning, standing on top of the podium. I remember all the hard work I put in there,
but when it all came together, it was such a big payoff. I’ve been out of the World Cup game
for a long time now, but this new crop of riders are playing it
really well So that’s what these guys do,
week in, week out, all summer long. But what do they get up to
when there aren’t any races to go to? No podiums to stand on… Well, that’s a little different for everyone Why don’t we go find out what happens
Between The Races… Now, for the lucky few,
off-season doesn’t mean rain and cold, like it usually does for me. They get to chase summer,
all year-round. So, let’s pop down under. Australia’s a fairly big place, but it’s no coincidence that two of the country’s fastest crop of young racers grew up down the road from each other. Both totally different styles: Connor is raging, flat-out, flat pedals,
corners like a beast. Troy, on the other hand, way more serious,
more results focused. But at the end of the day, he’s so consistent. He’s not been outside of the top 5 in the last 3 years. Adelaide, it’s kind of like a small city.
It’s got like nice hills around it and a really, really good beach Pretty hot in summer,
pretty rainy in winter, But luckily, I don’t get to see much of the rain, because I’m overseas racing. But, no it’s awesome, I love it. It’s got beaches, hills for riding on…
What more could you want? If there’s more than two- or three-weeks break,
I’ll come home. But, if it’s less than that,
I won’t really be bothered, dealing with the jetlag,
flying from the other side of the world. I usually come home once or twice during the season We don’t have insane downhill tracks to
ride. I guess we’re good enough to produce a couple of World Cup riders at the moment. Couple of downhill tracks at Fox Creek, which
is about half an hour to the city. And I’ve been riding there,
since I started Mountain biking, so when I was like ten. Went there for the first time and it just keeps
getting bigger and bigger, more tracks are going on every year. The hill
is not massive, but it’s got enough terrain,to have some
pretty sweet downhill tracks. I have a little bit of routine,like, I go
to the gym routinely, a few times a week. Got my friend Ben training
me. He’s been training me for the last couple of years,
so, I just go down to the local fully equipped gym, where he works out and hit it a few hours a week. and yeah, it just…It doesn’t really
feel like I’m working that hard there, cause you kind of just chilling with your mate and
laughing around and whatever, but we are training hard there for sure! We are in Kangarilla Forest, South
of Adelaide. It’s pretty much the only pine forest you can ride in, anywhere around here. Yeah, fun steep tracks, which is pretty rare in Adelaide. I just love riding my bike, that’s kinda what I enjoy in the races. If I didn’t enjoy
it, I wouldn’t be doing it. Like, I’m not doing it, just to get results or get money
or whatever. This is what I want to do, so… I don’t know, just kinda taking a more fun
aspect to it,and just ride fast, really. I probably get up behind my house maybe once
a week and ride, Like, it’s so easy and so convenient. If I’m bored at home,
then I just go ‘alright I’m just gonna go for a quick hour,’ and just go for an hour on dirt and ride. It’s a super easy pedal up, and you’ve got like 3 to 4 tracks to choose
from on the way down It brings me back to when I was way younger and starting out downhilling. Yeah I mean, there’s probably too many things
to fit into one day, but you’ve got like road riding for instance Dad has raced road his whole life, so it’s pretty fun to go out and enjoy that. Yeah good day, sun’s out, not too much wind, just those bloody hills that might cause a few dramas! There’s always a bit of BMX round there, that’s where I grew up racing,
so it’s kinda fun just to go back and keep those pretty good and enjoy chilling
out. I’ve got the dogs and I take them for runs every day, when you see them happy, it makes me happy and it’s just a good reason
to get outside. Even if I’m on the e-bike, they’re still pulling me along, so it’s
good. I don’t think anything we did was wrong this year, we just had a really good chance to maybe take a win or two,
but we were just a little bit off of it So, I know one day we’ll go out and almost win every World Cup, I’m just putting all the hard work in and I’ll wait until that happens and hopefully
it does! I always feel like you’re not learning, unless you’re actually racing. Yeah, my history with the Canadian race has
been really good. I’ve won it the last 4 times, 4 years in
a row, which has been sweet.
For me, it’s a track that I really enjoy
riding And have fun with. I guess it’s another race,
but it’s also a fun race So, you don’t have the pressure of a World Cup, you can kind of chill. You can go do laps on a jump line, and then go and do your race run straight
away So, it’s pretty nice and easy and fun. Yeah, I guess right from the start, it’s been Luic, Danny and a bit of Amaury Like, the first two World Cups,
all 4 of us were on the podium each time, I’m pretty sure So, this year everyone seemed to step it up Like, I stepped it up immensely from last year,
but then, so did they as well! Like, Danny getting 2nd at the first World Cup, you know, I was getting 3rd, but we were like 0.2 or something off of each
other, maybe not even that,
maybe a lot less than that. So, the times were a real tight this year, and it kind of kept just going
all the way down to the wire. And Danny got his first win in the season that year So, it was a big race that turned out to be, like,
probably one of the best races of the year. So they are pretty close at the races, at least in terms of times, but let’s get back home to the UK, And head up the road to Redcar, where… you guessed it…
Dany Hart lives. I remember seeing him win his first race, 15 years ago. But he’s come a long way since then, including plenty of World Cup wins and rainbow stripes. To be honest, I rode with Danny recently,
and, for me, he’s one of those riders.. He rides all year round, whatever the weather, wherever he is in the world,
He’s riding his bike.
Some guys take a little bit of time off, they don’t ride for a month or 2,
because they’ve had a solid season. Danny carries on riding the whole time, through the winter,
and he’s having fun, whenever he’s on his bike. So... I guess,
Redcar is more known for the steel and fishing industry. Not far from the hills and the North Yorkshire
Moors and then you’ve got the coast there.
It’s just a cool little town, really.
I’ve been here all my life, so I love it, but
some people… we get a bit of bad rep sometimes, but from people who clearly haven’t been here. No, it’s been quite difficult, I guess,
for me as a downhill Mountain Biker
to locally source tracks to ride and stuff like that. A couple of years ago,
my parents and I took over a bike park, over in Hamsterley,
which is somewhere I’ve ridden downhill since I started, that was like the first place
I went. So, it was really cool for that opportunity to come up,
and for us to take it over, and put back into the sport. Because the sport has given me so much,
and allowed me to have the life I have. So, it’s really cool for us to take over
the bike park. And that’s been really good and hopefully that’s something I can go
into, as I finish my racing,
whenever that time comes around. Yeah, I have a few friends who I’ll train at the gym with. We’ve got Alex, who I went to school with,
and he’s been a long-time friend of mine, and he likes his fitness and stuff
so, we can push one another in the gym. And then I’ll be out on the road, on my road bike,
just try and stay round local. When it comes to life at home, there’s pretty much me and Sofia
here in my house. And then, my mechanic, he’s one hour away. So, if I need anything done to the bike,
or anything to do with “work,” if you like,
with riding, then he’s always there to help. And my parents are just round the corner as well So, that works well. My coach, Phil, came and watched me ride motocross a few weeks ago, and he saw how physical it was,
and how demanding on the body it was, so he incorporated that into my training, yeah But I do my best to be out every Wednesday,
and one day on a weekend hopefully. But I really enjoy it so it’s like training,
but it’s really good fun to me. For 2020 I hope I have a good winter’s training, a good off-season. I’ve come off of the end of a good season in 2019, so that gave me good fuel in my belly for training
and working really hard, cause I know how hard everybody else is working
as well. You should be fit enough to be able to go
like hell, From start to finish. And when I watch Amaury, especially, I can see that’s what he’s doing. And I’m going to have to take from that and really work hard this winter. I’d love to put a British rider back on the top! Now, from one hard worker to another, But this time, over the pond on Vancouver
Island. Quiet, nice guy, Mark Wallace. While he may be polite and softly spoken,
his riding is shouting a different story. Definitely has the skills and also the work ethic
to go out there, train himself up, do what it takes,
to be the fastest guy in the world. We are in Duncan, British Columbia, On Vancouver Island.
So, I've lived here in Maple Bay in this house,
actually for my whole life yeah, I always look forward to coming home after races it's a place that I grew up in, and you know all my friends
and family are here, so, I feel like when I come home, I just come
home to like
almost a second team, like between my parents
and friends and my trainer, Clay. It’s amazing, to feel like they’re all supporting my racing
and want to be involved, and are happy to be involved. So, I feel really lucky
and it's always been very, very helpful to me. I owe a lot to them. So, the trail riding you can actually access from the backyard, like, I don't need to go on the roads to get there. There's two mountains on either side of it,
both with good trail riding so we're in a pretty ideal place to ride bikes. Yeah, I think just having riding around
has made it really, really easy for me just to ride lots. And once racing kinda came into my focus, it just kinda shifted the focus to racing a little bit. I feel super lucky,
I can just, you know, come out the door, go through the gate into the back yard
and I’m on the trails. You can access the whole mountain from there, so, I’m super lucky. We’re at Mount Prevost.
Yeah, this is the local downhill spot And I’m here anywhere from 1 to 3,
maybe 4 days a week. Tracks are fast, they’re reasonably steep and kinda tight. Yeah you just spend a lotta time going really fast,
really close to trees. It’s a lotta fun! Last season it was pretty good actually,
I ended up with 8th overall, which I'm super happy with, the goal was being in the top 10,
so that’s good. But the way I got there, wasn’t exactly how I’d hoped. I kinda got there just by being very very consistent. I didn’t really have one great weekend I was just kind of, like, ok every weekend. So, gonna try and keep the consistency,
and just pump up the top speed a little bit. 2020 ideally, like, top five overall, Think if I can keep the consistency I had
last year, And ride as fast as I should be able to,
Then, I think it can be done. So, I’m going to aim high And try and make it happen Proving myself right,
or other people wrong, is pretty motivating.
(laughs) Coming from Vancouver Island, With massive hills
And the trails on the doorstep, Back to the UK.
Surrey Hills, not quite the same as Vancouver
Island, but there’s one guy that’s doing pretty
good coming from the Surrey Hills. Brendan Fairclough.
Brendog is definitely one of those guys that could probably
leave his Downhill bike for a couple of months, jump back on it and still be good on it. I think when he’s not riding his Downhill
bike, He’s probably stuck in a bog in Mid-Wales
somewhere It’s a good indication here, of how you’re riding in the day. When it’s too wet to ride bikes,
we come up here. We end up here probably once a week. I just think it’s such good training, your heart rate’s up full pelt, like, you’re wiggling in between trees at like 30-40mph.. Getting stuck, it’s such a fun vibe. Already, we’ve been helping each other out of bogs, I reckon that’s such good training. “I was just revving it til it blew up! So Angry!”
For someone that’s never been here,
I’d say.. Real bad weather, rubbish tracks, horrible food, don’t bother coming here! I’ve travelled around the world the last
10 years, I’ve been to some amazing places,
seen some cool stuff. But, homes home. I think we
do alright here. I’m pretty happy
with where we live. The word freeracer, yeah, it’s a funny one, it’s sort of been stapled on my back
over the years, which I don’t actually really care. Still, my main goal is racing.
That’s what gets me up in the morning, that’s what gets me to the gym,
that’s what keeps me motivated. Doing rampage every year doesn’t help my freeracer nickname. Do you know what, I don’t think of myself as that, I just think of myself as loving riding my bike. Whether it’s down a hill,
down a little loamy bank on my trail bike, or over huge jumps.
Yeah, I’ve actually been heading to South
Africa, pretty much, every winter,
for the last 5 or 6 years. Good friend of mine as well,
Andrew Neethling, lives there, so it’s a good little spot,
when it’s snowing or rainy in the UK, head over there for 2- or 3-weeks training,
get on the downhill bike early season. DarkFEST is good friend of mine,
Sam Reynolds and Ryan Franklin’s, little
baby. Oversize jumpline they’ve built in South
Africa, Super excited to go there every year and jump some huge jumps. So, 2019 was a pretty hectic year,
pretty proud achievements for me, you know, 6th at a World Cup, 5th at Hardline,
got married, 4th at Rampage. Really pushed a big web series called ‘A Dog’s Life,’ Been pushing super hard, really proud of that. Jesus, it’s been action packed, I’m really stoked with how it’s been. Just want to keep the ball rolling into 2020! So, from one freeracer to another, we got a young kid from South Africa. Loves to be having fun on his bike,
Not sure whether he’s a racer, Or a freerider, jumper.
But, I guess when you come from
a place like Cape Town, there’s so much more going on
than just training for Downhill. My name’s Theo Erlangsen, I’m 24 years old,
even though I feel about 17 years old and I’m from Cape Town, South Africa. I think I was riding a bicycle
without fairy wheels, at 2 and a half years old.
And then by about 3 years old,
my dad put fairy wheels on a PW50 and then I was riding that up and down the
road. Then, by about 4 or 5, I just started doing PW50 motocross races. Obviously, you can’t ride a motorcycle bike
in your residential area, so, I was always just riding
bicycles in the road with my neighbours and my older brother. Literally never stopped riding bikes. I tried a lot of sports,
Like rugby and hockey and cricket and all of that stuff. It would always just become so repetitive
and training just becomes a chore, because you just go to the same place
and do the same thing every day. Whereas bikes, you can ride all over the world. A new track, which brings you as much enjoyment
As the next Like, training is just a pleasure, it’s literally the most fun thing ever.
You just ride up the hill and then you get to enjoy going down the hill. Newly refreshed basement,
where the mom kicks the little kid, who’s still staying at home. And I didn’t really sort out cupboards
and stuff yet, all my stuff is just on the pool table. And I don’t have a place to park my 125,
so, I just sleep next to it. This is a magazine article about me, but they didn’t know how much
of a reprobate I was, and just how good Greg Minaar is! As far as the most admirable World Cup riders
go, I’d have to start with Greg Minaar.
Not many people understand how much of a legend he is… Literally, he should be in a retirement home,
and he’s kicking these 17-year-old French Kids’ asses I can’t call up a whole bunch of mates
and go for rides, because usually they’re all at work. Like, there’s only 2 other guys I know,
who are in Stellenbosch, and are trying to ride professionally,
which is Ike and Nico Valasco. Ike is actually… I met him years ago, when he was about ‘yay’ big, and he’s basically just an ex-motocross kid,
who got into Mountain Bikes, and has obviously displayed an insane amount
of talent. So Between the Races, I’m not from Europe or the UK,
where I can just pop back home. For me, to fly back to South Africa is a huge spiel, so, I just go straight and spend the 3 months there. If I ever have gaps between the races,
I’ll go to Morzine. And then when I come back to South Africa, it goes straight into South African summer There’s a whole bunch of huge parties,
with all my friends. I can take a bit of an ‘off-season’ and yeah.. go live the Cape Town dream. DarkFEST is like... the best thing
to ever happen in my life. I literally, can’t even tell you.. I used to watch Fest series videos
and be like “ohmygod, that looks so, so cool!” Now, I’m just involved
and it’s now so huge every year. And every year, I’m so scared
and every year, I’m too deep in it, that I can’t back out now! “Focus on one thing, you can’t do it all,
focus on racing, or focus on freeride, you can’t do everything!” I don’t really agree with them,
I think if I can just ride my bike and have as much fun as possible,
I think people will understand that. Like, I don’t even race Enduro, but I’ve made qualifications, so I’m gonna do some Enduro World Series as well,
Just because, why not?! If I’ve got an open weekend, I’m not gonna go just sit on the couch, I’d rather go, kinda just have fun, test my abilities. I think this year,
the goal would have maybe been to the Mountain Bike world’s first Triathlete; and do Enduro, Downhill racing and Fest series,
all in one year. I think that’d be quite cool. So, from one rookie, to another fast, young rider. But this one already has a bunch
of top World Cup results under his belt.
Let’s head to Nice, in the South of France and catch up with Loris Vergier. Hello, I’m Loris Vergier, I’m 24.We are currently in the South of France, where I grew up. So, we are in Cagnes Sur Mer,
10km from Nice. A tiny region with a lot of stuff,
so sea and mountains. In Between the races, I come back and we wanna reset. Have a good time for us. Just, like, having our mind off racing. You just wanna go see the beach,
have some fun. But you obviously have to train,
so, yeah, downhill. We have to back at it and have fun on the downhill bike, so… In between the races, you’re often burnt out from riding downhill, racing, so, obviously just do whatever I want
for a bit. We have a pretty big region and my focus was downhill,
but I always regret not exploring much. I feel it’s a great way to see landscape and discover the region a bit more. So, basically when I have a week of training, a gym session in the morning and late at night, I go to the BMX track,
just to have fun. It’s in my training programme, but I go now and just have fun
and hang out and do jumps and tryna do wheelies. And then, second time I go and do
the hardest thing you can do on a BMX track. Like, 4 laps straight, and you’re like... In the region, we have close to the sea,
3 or 4 tracks. If you wanna ride more normal dirt, berm,
more alpine, you can drive like an hour and be in 3 different
areas and have a chairlift. So, it’s quite easy and convenient,
during summer, to ride downhill. Racing is amazing, cos it’s never finished. It’s always changing and it’s never the
same. Like, you could be good one year
and be really slow the next year. And I feel like it’s in constant movement, and that makes it feel like you can’t stop. Just cos it’s always moving and evolving,
and you like “yeah, ok so we go again..” So, obviously now the goal is to go faster than last year and tryna do as good as I can be and as fast as I can go So, that would be winning some races
and be, yeah, in the top 3 more often. Ok, let’s jump back over the pond. USA, North Carolina to be more specific. My teammate, Luca Shaw. He’s still young,
he’s got a big head on his shoulders. And, last year was a tough season for him, he came into it with an injury. Missed the first race, and was playing catch-up all year. I know, for a fact,
he’s had a way better off season this year. He’s come back strong,
he’s looking really good on his bike. And, we’ve got plenty more to come out of Luca Shaw. So, I live in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. It’s about 10 minutes outside Vervard, North
Carolina. another super small town. It’s a pretty quiet place,
no big city, that’s for sure. But, really good for riding
and any outdoor kinda thing. Growing up around here, I was always excited to leave. When I was going to school here as a kid, and the more I travelled,
the more I love home, so, it’s good.
When I’m home, I like to do my training,
have fun on the bike, ride every day
and just spend time with my family, my brother and my friends. So, yeah, living the dream though.
I love it. We’re at the Riveter, new spot to ride. Big bro works here, so, indoor jumps. So, yeah, just checking it out. We live together, and he’s 1 year older
than me and we’ve ridden together my whole life. He’s my number 1 training partner, I would say. The riding around here is pretty diverse
and it’s got a bit of everything.
So, we get 4 seasons a year and different terrain and conditions year-round. So, for sure, tryna to have all my bases covered. If you wanna achieve the best results you can, you have to, you know, put all the work in. And I don’t feel like there’s anything I can’t do to prepare, being home. We are about an hour away from my house,
at Bailey Mountain. Yeah, a local Downhill spot. It’s good to get on the bike and not have to drive too far. 2019 was my toughest year yet, I’d say.
Started off with an injury, it’s kinda like, if I could combine my last
2 years, and take the good from both of them,
that would be great. In 2018, I really had the speed to win, like all year,
I felt like I was, a lotta times, the fastest guy. In 2019, I was super consistent.
So, If I can combine those 2, I’d be really happy. Yeah, for sure, I wanna be on the podium.
I wanna be fighting for wins. So, from the smooth, consistent Luca Shaw,
we’re now jumping to a wildman, Amaury Pierron, from France. He definitely looks solid on the bike.
He’s one of the new crop, he’s buff in the gym,
he’s strong. He muscles his bike down that hill and definitely takes a lot of chances. My name is Amaury Pierron, I live in Brioude, in the middle of France. There’s no big mountains, the biggest track we have is 2:20 seconds,
just long enough to have fun and enjoy with friends. Just at our own spot,
like 200 metres from our house. We built it to enjoy moments with friends,
also with my brother. My brother rode mountain bikes before me, so, you know when you’re a kid,
you want to be like your big brother.
I tried to not follow him, too young, I was like “no, I don’t want to do like
you..” so, I try a lot of stuff, and then finally, I saw that mountain bikes are the best way to enjoy sports. The whole family is riding bikes and motos,
so, we’re on the same vibes, you know. My mother has a big garden, so, we can eat good vegetables My father likes to be here
and work on the bikes and the motorbikes. When I don’t ride bikes, the best thing ever is Moto. It’s just like Downhill bikes,
it’s the same feeling, but you can ride, like, 2 hours non-stop. Typically, I train twice a day.
I have a programme, but I do want I want in between training. I just enjoy and chill. When I have a long ride to do, Enduro or road bike,
if I have 1 hour and a half, it’s ok. But when I see 2 hours and half..rfff! I prefer short. I did just an insane result in the overall. I want to win again,
to prove that it was not a fluke. I just want to have a great fight. A fair fight, with everybody. There is a way of life, you have.
Enjoy time with friends, eat what you want. Just be you…
and it’s enough to still enjoy the life huh? And we ride bikes! It’s difficult to find that balance, for me, I have that balance. It’s not easy, but I still like it. So, that’s what the world’s fastest
get up to in Between the Races. There’s no right or wrong way to prepare themselves for a World Cup season. They jump on all kinds of bikes,
they have fun doing all kinds of other things. But, when it comes down to it, they’re preparing for those races. The World Cup Season kicks off pretty soon,
for them lot, obviously, not me!
