Wise Words is our 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 direction 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!
Wise Words this week come to you from Mr. Connor Fearon.
Widely regarded as the fastest person around a corner on a bicycle, Connor Fearon is one of the few riders to have podiumed at both World Cup downhill and Enduro World Series races. Definitely one to let the riding to the talking, and boy does the riding talk.
Photos by Jack Fletcher.
How would your closest riding buddies describe you to someone who has never met you?
Hmm… Probably a 28 year old guy who acts like a 15 year old kid who just wants to ride their bike all day.
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?
I didn’t exactly buy it, but getting a Forbidden has just about changed my life. I can ride faster and in more control than ever before so it makes me happy every time I get to ride one of their bikes.
What unusual habits do you have as a bike rider?
Not really a habit but I love gardening, I always get side tracked walking from my house to the shed by watering some plants, pulling out weeds or planting new things.
What piece of advice do you think every mountain bike rider should hear? And what piece should they ignore?
One piece of advice would be to learn how your suspension works and play around with your suspension settings & pressures to find what works. I see a lot of people with expensive bikes that have good suspension on it but no idea how to tune them into a good ball park for them. Just one or two PSI or a click of compression makes a huge difference for me so I couldn’t imagine the effect if your suspension was really far off.
One piece I would ignore is the idea that you need to switch to clip pedals to progress in mountain biking. If you’re running flat pedals and enjoy it, why change?
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?
Leogang World Cup 2015. I would try my run again because I was so close to the win.
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?
I wasted a lot of time being extremely stressed out in my early years of World Cup racing. It took me a lot of years to mature as a rider and just finally realise that you truly can only do the best that you can do. If you’ve done all you can to prepare for the race there’s no point being worried about not doing well or crashing out.
How do you motivate yourself when you’re struggling or lacking inspiration?
This is something I do struggle with at home when I’m riding and training by myself most of the time. When I’m feeling super flat I’m happy to take the day off training for mountain biking and go surfing or take my moto out for a burn and usually come back swinging the next day.
What single and specific thing about riding bicycles do you gain the most happiness from?
Cruising down a good track playing around with riding all the inside lines, boosting the jumps and just flowing and having fun. Its even better if I’m training it with my mates.
What single thing would you like to erase from cycling history from the last year?
Definitely stage 3 of the first EWS last year, besides already being a very physical stage it had a crippling uphill section in it. I’ve never quite felt physical exhaustion like that before and would love to erase it from my memory.
What single thing would you like to make happen in the cycling world in the next year?
A huge double after every finish line of downhill races, so you can throw huge whips without it affecting your time.
Who else should we ask these questions to?
Luca Shaw.
