Wise Words | Emma Whitaker.

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 none other than Emma Whitaker.

Emma Whitaker is a human of many talents, by day, she’s Marketing and Web Manager for Stif Mountain Bikes, by… well… other days, she’s a handy photographer and founder of the Reyt Good Bike Club.

How would your closest riding buddies describe you to someone who has never met you?

So I went and asked 2 of my pals this questions cause I had no idea what to put, here are their answers…

“Proper legend… Conscientious is a word that springs to mind, you do seem to put others before yourself both professionally and personally. But it comes across in the Reyt Good Rides. Clearly capable but you lower your own potential for fun for the good of the group.”

“When you meet Emm you’re met with a big ol’ grin, similar to the one you’d give your oldest friend. If you can imagine crossing a Hobbit with a golden retriever, you’d have something related to Emm. Not far off needing special driving blocks and a booster seat means she’ll get ID’ed everywhere. I wouldn’t fight her.”

How nice is that ey? I’ll go with it…

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?

Prepare for the onslaught that’s about to hit me… My ‘gravel’ bike (gravel as in a bit of a do it all adventure/road/unsuitable for most bike). My Juliana Quincy brought me back to basics. Learning to love exploring, chilling out and overall taking everything at a slower pace.

What unusual habits do you have as a bike rider?

I’m not too fussed about bike set ups and tinkering with them. I understand it and will do a basic set up for myself, but I’d just rather ride than getting into the nitty gritty details comparing 0.8psi in my rear shock to the 0.7 degree difference in head angle. Can you really tell the difference between those grip compounds…?

What piece of advice do you think every mountain bike rider should hear? And what piece should they ignore?

Always be snacking. But seriously, you don’t need to always be improving. You don’t always need to be bettering you riding or your skills. Ignore the people that tell you that you have to ride hard, wear this kit, and ride this bike to be a mountain biker. If you enjoy those flowy blues on your 26” 10 year old bike the most, you stay with it. Ain’t nothing wrong with being happy and comfortable.

Fox Purevue advert Leaderboard 2024

‘Just send it’ is a shit mentality. There’s more to life than riding bikes, sometimes it’s just not worth the possible injuries.

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?

I struggled so hard with this one. My partner and I used to live out of our van and travel around Europe riding. Carly had only picked up riding whilst we were in the van. There was one day where we were riding up in Norway in Hafjell bike park.

Nothing epic and I just remember watching her clear these huge tables and start to do bar turns and become really comfortable on the bike, I was just so stoked for her on every single run that day. It was sick to watch everything fall into place after such a short time riding. The thing I’d change; whack the heating up in September, Norway, and bring the beer prices down.

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?

Caring too much about what people think, what I’m riding (trails and bike), how I’m riding, what I’m wearing, blah, blah, blah. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter. As long as you and everyone you’re with is having a good time nothing else matters. If you end up riding with people that put you down and make you feel shit, they’re not worth your time.

How do you motivate yourself when you’re struggling or lacking inspiration?

I’m actually awful at motivation, I tend to be really bad over winter. I find making plans helps, forcing myself to get out and move and having others rely on me. Getting a dog helped that, he forces me to get out on walks over winter, taking my camera with me helps, slows me down and appreciate getting out and makes me want to do it more often. Even it is just a memory card full of dog pictures.

What single and specific thing about riding bicycles do you gain the most happiness from?

Riding with like-minded people, who just want to have a good time, explore and eat snacks.

What single thing would you like to erase from cycling history from the last year?

British cycling and all their bullshit. Including banning trans and non-binary athletes from participating in competition. Also, their partnership with Shell is bullshit.

What single thing would you like to make happen in the cycling world in the next year?

More people just having a reyt good time on bikes. It’s sort of what I’m doing with a bike club (Reyt Good Rides) I run up here in the Yorkshire Dales. We don’t care what bike you’re on, what you’re wearing, how you ride or your kit. As long as you’re having a good time and enjoying being on the bike that’s all that matters to me. More people riding like this will open up off road cycling to a lot more people, keep the aggro at bay and the dick swinging away.

Who else should we ask these questions to?

Rach Walker, Aneela McKenna and Vicky Balfour, some absolute legends that are doing some amazing work in the cycling world right now.

You can keep tabs on Emma’s adventures on her Instagram feed here.

You can catch all our previous Wise Words interviews with the likes of Sven Martin, Manon Carpenter, Ric McLaughlin and plenty more here.


css.php