Singletrack

It’s 15 years since we last interviewed
you. Looking back, there were
many new things being touted – like
tubeless tyres, full suspension and
even complete wheelsets. Has the
march of progress carried on as you
expected, or has the commercial
success of some things caught you by
surprise?
There have been some surprises,
but none that really stand out. It is
important to me personally to be able to
service a bike myself in my garage with
simple hand tools and readily accessible
spares. I thought the practicality of a
bicycle would be a higher priority for
riders, but that’s going away. Electronic
integration in control systems and
proprietary hardware elsewhere is
pushing bikes in the direction of cars
and other consumer goods. In some
respects that’s not too surprising I guess.
While you’re not in the public eye very
much, you’re still very busy behind
the scenes for Trek and the Bontrager
brand that was originally yours. What
have you been up to in recent years?
It’s a long story… My partner Julie
was badly injured in London in
October 2015. She lost her leg when
she was run over by a Tesco HGV. I’ve
been supporting her since, helping
with everything I can. It’s been a full
time thing, and very challenging.
Things are going fairly well now.
We’ve moved back to California and
she is making good progress. I’ve
been working out the technicalities
required to get her riding again.
Dropper posts, magnetic pedals,
trimmed saddles – I’ve been able to
use lots of tricks that I know a bit
about. We’ve been out on a tandem
regularly (road and mountain bike)
and she just started riding a mountain
bike on her own again the other day.
Trek has been very supportive. They’ve
even helped pay for some of the
prosthetics she needs, which is over
and above by any standards. I am very
lucky to be part of that company.
Has the durability of the Bontrager
name surprised you? Or don’t you
even notice it any more?
It has to some extent I guess. I tried
to resist doing the things that would
have squandered the brand reputation
early on and kept up a push for high
technical standards. We didn’t always
manage it, but we did pretty well. In
the end it turned out to be a pretty
solid foundation for the brand.
Do you think that the media focus
on enduro as a discipline been a
positive thing for the development
of the mountain bike? While it’s a
competitive version of ‘the riding we
all do anyway’, it isn’t really – as not
many of us actually go flat out on
near downhill courses on 160mm full
suspension bikes. But is it the nearest
we’ve got to commercialising ‘normal
riding’?
The media focus is on trendy things that
look good in images in order to have
a place for the ads that go in between.
It always has been. Readers (and/or
viewers) don’t have to actually do the
things they see riders in the images
doing to consume the media. I enjoyed
seeing pictures of whippet cross-country
stars flying up mountains, though I was
never going to keep up with Frischi or
Ned on a climb. And I enjoy seeing
pictures of Rachel Atherton bombing
down a mountain, though I will never
do that myself. If enough people are
willing to buy (or click on) the media to
attract ads it will work. If not, it won’t.
Is your riding experience still valid?
After all, you’re a 60-something-yearold,
designing mountain bike (and
other) parts for 20-year-olds... who’s
to say that you know what the kids
want out of a product?
I’m not sure it matters. My riding skill
set isn’t very different than it has always
been. I am adequately speedy on a bike
in a wide variety of circumstances,
and I can get to the trails year-round
from my back door. I am able to
report on the things I experience in
tangible, accurate physical terms.
There will always be value in that.
With regards to being 62, I can
ride about as fast as I could 20 years ago
according to my Three Peaks Cyclocross
times. It’s weird, but I don’t really feel
that different. Julie and I go to the gym
and work out three times a week and
we are putting in lots of miles on a
tandem now too, road and off road. I
don’t feel slow and the rides I’ve done
with local shop folks indicate I can still
bring it on the local singletrack. (If
you doubt that, stop off for a ride…)
Having said that, most of what I
do involves keeping the tyres on the
ground. I don’t do much jumping
and haven’t for a long time. I got that
out of my system on motorcycles
long ago and a mistake will (not
‘might’) lead to the sort of injury
that could bring it all to a stop.
Also, I am not sure about your
claim about who we are selling bikes
to/designing bikes for. It seems to
me that the folks riding are definitely
spread over a wide age range. And
I don’t know too many 20-yearolds
who have enough discretionary
cash for a high-end mountain bike,
though I am sure they are around.
What three things can a regular
mountain biker do to improve their
riding enjoyment?
Get fit.
Get fitter.
Get even fitter.
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