Wise Words is our new interview series talking to some of mountain biking’s most switched on people.
We’ll ask our short list of questions to a heap of influential, inspiring and outspoken people that we feel are driving the direct of mountain biking today. Some will make you think, some will make you laugh, some will be plain dumb, some will inspire you to better yourself and your riding. We hope!
Next up is Sven Martin. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you can’t have missed his handiwork behind a camera.
Beyond travelling the World Cup and Enduro World Series as the chief squid of the squids, Sven is the man behind Whip Off Worlds, part of the NZ Enduro organisation, a former skater and World Cup racer, to name but a few, there’s not many pies Sven hasn’t had his fingers in.
How would your closest riding buddies describe you to someone who has never met you?
Loud and screaming, stressed but calm. Its funny I’m more known for short one-off outbursts when in reality I’m quite laid back and chilled. So sometimes I have to play up to the stereotype. And if it’s riding buddies they would probably say sweaty and tired and, hopefully fast and loose too. Haha.
What thing or things have you bought in the last year that had the biggest effect on your life as a mountain biker / cyclist / person that works in the bike industry?
Well about a year ago was the first time I’ve owned a 29er as my main trail bike and I haven’t looked back since. Helps on the uphills and the downhills especially when you are rusty and tired. That and maybe a smaller (thus lighter) camera (Sony a6500) for more back-country adventure shooting.
What unusual habits do you have as a bike rider?
I’m pretty anal about checking tire pressure to the half PSI with a digital tyre gauge each and every ride. I like to squeeze sweat out my helmet padding so it makes a waterfall down my face at the top of each climb. I like to adjust others incorrectly-positioned visors. I stop and take a lot of iPhone POV fake wheelie shots when I’m in new scenic locations around the world. #doyouevenbikeleanbro? I also like my brake lever angle, reach and pad contact point to be pretty precise, especially for those Euro nose turns.
Photo by Duncan Philpott.
What piece of advice do you think every mountain bike rider should hear? And what piece should they ignore?
Confidence and momentum (as apposed to fear and hesitation) will get you through, over, up or down nearly every “obstacle” or “feature” in mountain biking. Also be wary of any man-made trail features, especially wooden features, drops or jumps. This warning can be doubled in Europe. Natural is nearly always safer and better.
Steer away from most online forum advice or comments on articles, get out and ride with mates who are better than you, its the only way to improve fast and safely.
If you could go back and re-ride one day from your life so far, where/what/when/who would it be? Would you change anything?
August 5th 2005, No Joke Whistler when I broke my neck, I was going too slow and because of traffic, and I wasn’t concentrating and barely rolling (see above). I rode through a hole that at speed I would have jumped over or manually through, went OTB and broke C3-5 compression fracture that had to, and is still, be stabilised by two titanium rods and six screws. Despite slowing me down and ending my racing career it did put me on the path I’m now on, so no regrets.
I’d also like to re-run my World Champs race run in Rotorua (well actually every World Cup race run I’ve ever had seemed to be filled with a crash or a flat). I had three horrific crashes all in the one run and all in front of the live TV. Of the five crashes featured on the TV news “highlight” footage three of them were mine, all from that one run. Schhhhheeeeeeeze!
What have you wasted the most time on in your life as a rider or bike industry career that you wished you’d given up years ago?
Staring, scrolling and tapping pointlessly at an iPhone screen.
Photo by Irmo Keizer.
How do you motivate yourself when you’re struggling or lacking inspiration?
Try something new and different. Experiment without fear in failure. Most of the time it is those around me or the subject matter (locations, racers or co-workers work) that motivate me, so make conscious efforts to surround yourself with a good combo of all of the above is key.
We (Anka and I) always pick at least one or two major new (to us) places to visit for a bit of a riding adventure. This keeps the stoke high each year. Mini breaks to make the work worthwhile.
What single and specific thing about riding bicycles do you gain the most happiness from?
Seeing the outdoors, more specifically being immersed with it.
A barely held on drifting exit to a loamy turn following someone way to fast down a trail blind for the first time and outside of your comfort zone just a little is also quite a risky but an addictive rush.
Photo by Duncan Philpott.
What single thing would you like to erase from cycling history from the last year?
There were too many tragic deaths and big injuries from years before in our small industry so in a way I guess we were lucky last year.
Maybe erase all the untimely rain that affected a lot of the EWS and World Cup events in 2017. It makes for great drama and often photos but it also just breaks you working and i suppose racing in those conditions all of the time.
What single thing would you like to make happen in the cycling world in the next year?
More DH World Cup rounds. Minimum ten round series. Possibly 12 rounds with two throw aways? And it goes without say new and better venues and locations.
For Enduro I’d like to see the return of an Enduro des Nations. Country vs Country. Stronger countries to field multiple teams.
Who else should we ask these questions to?
Anka. Haha.
People with history but still connected to the sport: Tracy Moseley, Peat, Clementz, Chris Ball, Gary Perkin. etc….
