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 come at you this week via none other than Tanja Naber.
Despite being a relative newcomer to racing, Tanja Naber is at the sharp end of the new wave of very fast German bike handlers, and proved her penchant for massive days out in the hills by almost taking a clean sweep of the stages at the inaugural Stone King Rally in 2022.
Photos by Sven Martin.
How would your closest riding buddies describe you to someone who has never met you?
A person who is always keen to hop on the bike, to discover new places in the mountains, to learn new things on and off the bike, to avoid doing mainstream things… Someone who never feared facing big challenges and most of the time aware of the many impacts we have as mountain biker but also as earthlings to our environment including the nature and so living a quite simple life in that term, at least she tries.
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?
As I try to buy as less material things as I can I would transfer this question more to the experiences I kind of put my money in. So one of the most impressive adventures I did the last year was the first edition of the Stone King Rally, the new version of the Trans Provence. At the event you get kind of everything my mountain biker’s heart is keen on. A big mountain adventure in alpine terrain, long days of suffering with big hikes but long and mind-blowing descents too, stunning views and all together with open minded and interesting people who are as bike enthusiastic as you and have great stories to tell and just enjoy the joint venture.
Those kind of bought impressions influenced my mindset again made me more appreciating our MTB life, people and life in general. But of course its great to have a new mountain bike with great working parts under your butt.
What unusual habits do you have as a bike rider?
What does an ‘usual bike rider’ actually do? I don’t know. Maybe an unusual habit compared to the average bike rider is that I never can stop being active weather physically or mentally. Or let me say I just can’t chill. I always need to do something. So when I’m not at the office where I work as a construction engineer and plan energy efficient buildings I need to do something physical and therefor riding MTB or training is just perfect.
I like big challenges and suffering too, getting to know my limits whether it is on a big mountain mission with hours of hike a bike stuff, just hours and hours in the saddle up and down or sometimes also on a big road bike ride is fine to process all my thoughts and impressions of the last days. So yeah, my most unusual habit is probably my restlessness.
What piece of advice do you think every mountain bike rider should hear? And what piece should they ignore?
Puh, general advices are always super hard to give because it depends so much on the situation or just on the person itself, but as a mountain bike rider I would recommend these three points:
- Mountain: Take care of your environment including trails, don’t damage it because it’s the base of your sports and passion.
- Bike: As much as you love to play on your bike it deserves some love, too. So run it smooth and maintain it properly if it needs it.
- Rider: If you want to improve your skills identify your weaknesses, find a training buddy and do some funny challenges to train.
And in terms of what riders should ignore… Don’t follow every trend when it comes to new bikes and bike parts inventions. It’s more about your skills to handle your bike than the other way around. Just buy stuff if you are really convinced of it and you need it.
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?
Every day out on the bike was and always will be a good day because of the trails, the people, the views, the flow, the things you learnt or just the whole experience you made. So actually I wouldn’t re-ride any ot those days because it was already the day for it. Just maybe the days where I had a stupid crash resulting in a six weeks break would be an exception.
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?
Wasting time is something I always try to avoid. Imagine, plan, choose the right equipment, get friends involved, do it with passion, enjoy. If you want to just relax, do it with the same passion because it’s not wasting time.
How do you motivate yourself when you’re struggling or lacking inspiration?
When I’m struggling I try to remember my superior goal and what’s the worth of the puzzle piece which I just need to put in position. Sometimes a little break or step back helps, too. So if it’s super hard for you for example do that interval training today just remember why you want to do it or just remember that good feeling you have outside on the bike after it.
My key to gain some inspiration again is also that kind of time out or also a view inside other disciplines or topics. Understanding how different people think, what they experienced and which methods they use makes me more sensitive for different approaches and ideas.
What single and specific thing about riding bicycles do you gain the most happiness from?
That’s a hard question, because riding bikes is so much more a bigger puzzle than only just one piece. Being outside, best case in the mountains, doing sports up and down, following or being followed by friends, riding a technical or in different kind challenging track smooth, fast or playful.
So yeah, It’s hard to say what I gain the most happiness from. But when I think about as a single rider on my bike it’s probably the feeling of riding a corner or a rocky section smooth, controlled as fast AF.
What single thing would you like to erase from cycling history from the last year?
As history is history and normally it leads to understanding and improvement I wouldn’t change anything. You learn the most from mistakes. Just don’t forget about them.
What single thing would you like to make happen in the cycling world in the next year?
It would be awesome to get more awareness to the enduro bike sports in general as it is best and most versatile sport of the MTB world in my opinion. At the same moment enduro racing should get back a little bit more to it’s adventure roots. Racing the same venues and sometimes even the same trails on just one and a half day isn’t that “wild” anymore as some years ago.
We often did four days in a row: two full days training, two full days racing, without any shuttling. I personally liked that a lot. But maybe that also leads the sport into the more professional direction. We will see. Trial and error, as we don’t have historical experiences I guess.
Who else should we ask these questions to?
Paulhette (aka Romain Paulhan), Texi (aka Christian Textor) or Raphaela Richter as all of them are just super honest, true people and great bike riders.