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 Nils Amelinckx.
Another of the many-hat-wearers of Lyon Cycle Equipment, Nils Amelinckx is also the man behind the Rider Resilience, a community interest company aimed at bringing riders together to ride through hardship.
How would your closest riding buddies describe you to someone who has never met you?
Someone who gets over excited at the mention of a sunrise or sunset, and who will meticulously plan entire rides around this daily phenomenon.
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?
There are two things that spring to mind. My Orbea Rise and professional grade camera. I reluctantly embraced the world of motor assisted bikes, but they have made a huge difference to my speed of recovery post-surgery and general wellbeing throughout the shitstorm that is cancer. With it being “semi-fat” in terms of power output and weight, it gives me enough assistance to keep up with my fit and healthy peers whilst still allowing the occasional hike-a-bike.
Whilst people often say “having the eye” is more important than having the latest gear when it comes to photography, better autofocus tracking and low light shooting abilities have allowed me to get shots that would have been far trickier with previous cameras. It has allowed me to document far more of my adventures in more depth which to me has become increasingly important as I try to leave a legacy of inspiration for my children.
What unusual habits do you have as a bike rider?
I will shit myself on most rides, literally. Various surgeries have left me with a bag, or stoma, which collects stools on the outside of your abdomen. The trouble is that your bowels work non-stop and you cannot control output, so sometimes I have to whip out a trowel mid ride to empty the bag. In fairness it sounds a lot worse than it is.
What piece of advice do you think every mountain bike rider should hear? And what piece should they ignore?
I would say don’t take your ability to ride bikes for granted. I hadn’t realised how much bikes helped my general wellbeing until I wasn’t able to ride for significant periods of time. Before that I saw the bike as a tool to help milk my adrenal gland and to free up some feel good hormones.
In the same vein, I would encourage people to keep riding when life gets a bit shit, as even just pedaling into your local woods for a coffee outside will give enough mental real estate to help rationalise the trials and tribulations of life.
Ignore anyone who says you can get away with a bum bag when riding in proper mountains. It can take a long time for mountain rescue to reach you by which point a relatively minor injury can have major consequences. It puts lives at risk and gives mountain bikers a bad name so come prepared.
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?
There are a fair few I would like to re-ride but the most prominent one that springs to mind is a dawn raid on Helvellyn back in March 2021. Various weather reports suggested an amazing inversion, so we were rather disappointed not to see any mist on the way to Patterdale. When we reached Lower Man (which forms part of one of the ridges that spiral out of Helvellyn) we could see the other side of the ridge was blanketed under a thick layer of fog.
As the fog started to lift in line with the rising sun, it started to cascade over the ridge, diffusing the light and spitting out brockenspectres left, right and centre. We were in a frantic race against the rising sun, continuously sprinting back up the ridge to bag as many shots as we could, so the only thing I would change is to get out of bed earlier to be better prepared for the incredibly atmospheric light show we were about to witness.
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?
Can I say social media? As much as it is a useful tool for work and can act as a source of inspiration as a rider, I would hate to think how many hours of our lives myself and my peers are wasting on scrolling through mind-numbing fodder. I am as guilty of it as anyone else, but sometimes I do wish it simply did not exist, particularly now that it is getting so bloated wit adverts and posts about laughing goats or memes of cats that, to the best of your knowledge, I never asked for in the first place. Just imagine your riding ability if all that time had instead been spent on two wheels.
How do you motivate yourself when you’re struggling or lacking inspiration?
Plan an adventure or weekend away. I love discovering new areas and poring over maps, piecing together bits of trail that I think will make up an amazing ride, gathering local knowledge and, obviously, figuring out what time we need to set off to be at the top for sunrise. Looking back over photos from previous adventures always helps too as it reminds me that you really have to be “in it to win it”, and that the efforts more often than not pay off.
What single and specific thing about riding bicycles do you gain the most happiness from?
Being able to switch off. I am terrible at multitasking so when I am riding a trail, picking my line between rocks, controlling body position and speed I am completely unable to think about anything but the trail ahead. It allows me to temporarily forget about whatever has been keeping me preoccupied and somehow recharges me with the resilience to deal with that.
What single thing would you like to erase from cycling history from the last year?
The government unashamedly slashing the walking and cycling infrastructure budget by two thirds because they spent too much money helping their mates during the pandemic.
What single thing would you like to make happen in the cycling world in the next year?
It would be amazing for Rider Resilience to become more of a global movement with riders around the world supporting each other during times of hardship and proudly affiliating themselves with the brand, but if we use a bike analogy for the saying of learning to walk before you can run, we are still very much scooting around on our balance bikes.
Who else should we ask these questions to?
Huw Oliver.
