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 comes to you from none other than, the Redcar Rocket himself, Mr. Danny Hart.
Does Danny Hart need any introductions? The Redcar Rocket is best known for that run in Champery in 2011, taking another Worlds title in 2016 and almost again in 2024 by a whisker. A man with more body English on a bike than most, definitely let’s the riding do the talking.
Photos by Cam MacKenzie.
How would your closest riding buddies describe you to someone who has never met you?
Oh my god… I don’t know. I don’t really ride with many people… No one can keep up! (laughs)
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 moved house, and didn’t have a home gym setup when I moved. So a home gym is definitely up there.
What unusual habits do you have as a bike rider?
Tim Tams are a myth…
Once I get into a track, I ride the same track all day every day. I also time every lap so I know exactly what I’ve done.
What piece of advice do you think every mountain bike rider should hear? And what piece should they ignore?
Don’t adhere to all the silly fashion things… I’m just coming home from Queenstown and there’s a lot of baggy jeans. They are not for riding your bicycle in.
Going back to the answer to the last question. If you’re doing an uplift or lift day, I would focus on one or two tracks and get to know that track and work on getting fast, as opposed to being sh*t on all the tracks.
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 would love to do my Champery World Champs win again, not necessarily relive that day but recreate it somehow. Any day you win a World Cup is a good day. When you’re driving home though, it is just another day though…
There’s also days in the bike park, Whistler or Queenstown or whatever… I’d love to do them again. I went up to Queenstown. I got there at 5pm, the lift shut at 7 and I just didn’t want that two hour session to end.
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 gave up Twitter, tried it again and it lasted three days… I reckon in about fifteen years, I would say Instagram. There will come a day where you just stop doing it.
How do you motivate yourself when you’re struggling or lacking inspiration?
These questions are too deep for me… (Laughs). When I do what I do, and I don’t know anything else, it’s hard to really see what I do from any other perspective.
When I ride my bike, there isn’t many days I’m struggling. It never feels like I’m going to work and I don’t want to do it. Training days can be a little like that. Any day where you have to go out on the road bike and it’s pouring with rain or you have to sit on the Wattbike, but I don’t know how I deal with that, I just get on with it.
What single and specific thing about riding bicycles do you gain the most happiness from?
I just like riding my bike. A good day’s riding is good, but a good race… It’s all gone according to plan.
What single thing would you like to erase from cycling history from the last year?
Probably not getting paid…
What single thing would you like to make happen in the cycling world in the next year?
I think they need to take the £30 WBD fee to watch downhill away.
Who else should we ask these questions to?
I dunno…I think we should reevaluate these questions, hahaha!
