This autumn sees mountain bike legend Steve Peat step out of his comfort zone on his Bikes and Beers tour with Speakers from the Edge.
After an illustrious World Cup downhill career, Steve Peat is heading around the UK with his Bikes and Beers tour as part of the Speakers from the Edge setup.
Pete had a chat with the Big Man to see where the idea cam from and what we can expect from the tour.
Was it your idea to run the series of talks?
I actually got approached 2 years ago by Dion from Speakers from the Edge, but to be honest have always been scared of doing a talk. I don’t mind getting up and doing some Q and A stuff but never really had chance to put down a talk.
He obviously got me thinking and then when he got Hans Rey in and I went along to a talk I thought my story would be OK and started to come round to the idea a little more.
Why now? Why did you decide to do a tour? Is there a plan to do more maybe elsewhere in Europe?
I chose this year as I thought after retiring from World Cups I would have more time. Turns out I’m busier than ever but I still believe the off season is a great time to do something like this. I guess I just think “in for a penny in for a pound”.
Once we announced some tour dates we had loads of people saying why are you not coming to my local town or this theatre, so a few more dates did get added. I like the idea of a tour, do some rides in the day time and talks at night. I am happy to focus on this tour before trying to do anything else where, see how this goes first.
Are you any less busy since you retired from World Cup racing, or is it just a different kind of busy?
Its certainly a different kind of busy, as well as being at the World cups and helping the Syndicate guys on track I always have quite a few commitments with Santa Cruz, like dealer days, bike shows and filming projects so all this combined makes it a little hectic.
That’s before I count in my business commitments, my SPS crew and British nationals and most importantly my family.
Bikes and Beers will seem a fairly obvious title to anyone who’s paid attention to your career, did you sweat over that title or was it the only thing it could ever have been called?
We certainly sweated and went back and forth with loads of different ideas. I want the talks to be fun and something that people can relate to, so I just think if we can have a beer together on the night it will be good fun.
You’ve been a professional mountain biker for the majority of your life, is there any race you’d love to have done, or still go and do, and anywhere you’ve not ridden that’s on the list?
Loads of places mate, and there is a few races to still tick off, the Mega just happened last week and I have not had chance to do that yet, one day hopefully.
Are you looking forward to the shows, or is the prospect of standing up and talking for an hour or so a daunting prospect?
Its definitely daunting for me, kind of out of my comfort zone a little bit, but once I get going I think they will be fun.
Hans Rey did a series of talks last winter, covering some seriously bad ponytails, to going up Kilimanjaro… What can people expect beyond the obvious at Bikes and Beers?
I can’t let too much out of the bag mate, but I feel I have plenty of fun stories from my time racing the fastest guys in the World, on and off the bike.
We asked Hans Rey the same question before his talks… And he said a good single malt. What’s the one thing you always carry one a big ride?
I’ve been on some of those rides with Hans, my hip flask is usually rum. There was once a ride with Danny Mac and Hans, we were cold and got tot he top of a rather large hill. I started to unpack the disposable BBQ, pack of sausages, fireworks and beers. Not sure what i would have done if I got a puncture or mechanical!
