Best Article Nominee: Man & Boy

First published in Singletrack magazine, issue 96 and winner of Best Written Article in the Singletrack Reader Awards 2015

Teenagers can be hard work. But what’s it like being Dad when the teen is a world-class downhill racer?

Words by Ed Oxley, pictures by Sim Mainey.

Everything was beautiful and then he became a teenager and I turned riding bikes into my job.

Some years ago I introduced my young son to the joys of mountain biking. I took him riding and, without trying to be pushy, showed him something that I hoped he would enjoy. These days it’s not about me taking him riding any more. He’s moved on and has made his own version of what mountain biking is all about. We still ride together some of the time but now I ride behind him, because he’s faster than me.

I discovered mountain bikes in 1991, but the bug really bit when I started taking my son Nial out with me. I’d always ridden alone and had never been into the scene. He was my first riding buddy and it was with him that I went to my first trail centre and started to progress my riding from mechanised rambling to the technical, feature-filled game we play today. I even wrote an article in Singletrack about us riding together that was voted Feature of the Year by the readers.

Everything was beautiful and then he became a teenager and I turned riding bikes into my job.

Man and boy.

As I wanted to ride more, he wanted to ride less – well, he certainly wanted to pedal less. He was still bike mad, but I suppose he wanted to find his own way of doing it. I took him on night rides but he didn’t like the dark and he wasn’t into hanging round in the pub afterwards. I’d started working as a mountain bike guide and running skills courses. My night rides became my social life and my time to ride without having to look after other people. I liked the dark and I loved hanging around in the pub. So, more or less, we stopped riding together for a few years. He rode more with his mates and got into racing in a big way.

It wasn’t an easy time for either of us. Trying to share a passion with your kid is not always a dream come true and even though we were both into bikes, we grew apart.

It wasn’t an easy time for either of us. Trying to share a passion with your kid is not always a dream come true and even though we were both into bikes, we grew apart. We acted out some of our arguments in the theatre of bikes and like two trolls on the internet, we attacked each other. I was accused of choosing the bike I had because it was all that was required of “an old man who only rides fire roads”. He was accused of spending more time on the internet than in the saddle.

While I was working on building up my business, Nial was learning to race downhill. It was what he had always said he wanted to do. The competition and the feeling of taking the best bike kit to its ragged edge is what motivates him. It’s not the kind of mountain biking that most of us do. There’s not much emphasis on finding a lovely location with views to take in, or planning in a nice pub stop at the end of the ride. I went to a couple of downhill races with him, but while I was always wanting to pedal ‘over there’ he was happy to go up and down the same track, learning the best lines and trying to work out how to ride at 100%.

My weekends were filled with running skills courses and guided trips and so it was left to others to go with Nial to the races. For his first season of racing at the age of 13, he entered the British Downhill Series in the Juvenile class. A good friend of mine, The Swede, was racing the series and he offered to take Nial and look after him. This was ideal for everyone. Swede, not yet a dad himself, got to introduce ‘downhill kid’ to the art of racing and enjoy his company and his successes. He could also give him back before having to do his washing. Nial had an adult role model who was not his dad, who would not hassle him about brushing his teeth and other such trivia, and whose advice he could actually trust. I didn’t have to get up early and stand on a muddy hill wishing I could go for a ride.

Then, in an act of selfishness, The Swede moved back to Sweden and so Nial’s mum had to take his place as driver in chief. The Swedish legacy was strong though and Nial knew how to manage himself at races: turn up on time, walk the track, eat breakfast and get on the first uplift. These are good skills which are relevant to more than just bike riding. Basically a downhill race is like warfare and to be any good you need to be organised, disciplined and then brave, as well as just a little bit lucky. You need to want success but be able to cope with failure. People don’t tend to shoot at you though.

Despite our ups and downs, Nial is about to race his first full season of World Cup downhill and I am running a successful guiding and skills business. We both still like riding bikes and we’ve even started going riding together again.

Secret ingredients.

The time that we get on the best with each other is when we’re out on bikes. I really like him out there. I love to see him go fast and flow with the trail. I love to see the lines that he conjures out of nowhere, the moves that most people wouldn’t think of or dare to do. It’s not just that though. I’m also proud of how he holds himself with the other riders and how he gets on with my friends. He still never has a spare tube, forgets to wear clothing appropriate for the conditions and usually has to eat some of my food because he doesn’t bring any of his own. On the other hand it’s often him showing me a new trail now and encouraging me to try a sketchy line that he’s seen.

I’m sure that some of you really want to know how to get your kids into riding bikes, or how you can get them to want to ride with you. There is no magic formula I’m afraid – they either like riding bikes or they don’t, and only they can make this choice. All you can do is put the opportunity in place. Take them out and try and do the kind of riding they want to do. Buying them a flash bike won’t do it on its own, because there is a difference between the idea of mountain biking and the reality of being muddy, sweaty and sometimes bloody. It’s not for everyone. My dad dragged me round golf courses because he liked doing it. All I took away from this was a love of daft-looking socks.

My daughter isn’t into mountain biking; she says it’s too bumpy and scary. The expensive mountain bike that I bought her just gets used like a normal kid’s bike and spends most of its life in the shed. I don’t try and force her to get into it. Instead we have a cheap road touring tandem that we go off on now and again, for camping trips with lots of sightseeing. We’ve had some unforgettable experiences and have both enjoyed this up to now, but it won’t be long until she’s a teenager.

Don’t fear the privateer.
We were all proud when Nial raced his first World Cups last year as a first year Junior. I was impressed at the way he just made it happen. In fact I didn’t think he’d be racing World Cups for another year or so but he just contacted British Cycling and registered himself. Next thing I know, he’s off to Fort William with everything crammed into his mum’s car. He qualified well and was tearing up the track, but in the race run he crashed. A similar thing happened at the French round in Meribel. These world-level tracks are bigger and faster than the usual UK venues; the competition is fierce and the factory-sponsored kids are training with more experienced teammates, have structured gym time and are getting experience on the big tracks in the proper mountains outside of the UK. It was clearly time to up our privateer game. To help with winter training I thought we should ride more together. It’s not easy training on your own and I thought I could help with motivation. It’s ended up being more than that though and we seem to be enjoying riding together again. We also went down to Sheffield Hallam University to get Nial some help with a structured training plan from Adela Carter. She works as part of the Blue Steel project which helps normal riders, as well as some of the top names in the sport like Steve Peat, be better riders through increased mobility and strength as well as on-bike training. The great thing with her approach is that it’s deeply based in fun as well as science. I’ve even started doing some of it myself ¬and can now put my socks on without grunting. It’s much easier to race at the top level as part of a team and so for 2015 we have joined forces with another family who live locally to us. Howard Stuttard has been riding with his sons for years after discovering mountain biking as an afternoon activity on family summer high-altitude skiing holidays. Hiring bikes turned into buying bikes, which turned into racing bikes and then father and sons had something to do together at home, as well as on holiday. Howard likes to race himself and comes from a motorcycle road racing background. At the same time as taking his lad downhill racing he jumped on a spare bike, bagging results as well as fixing mechanicals and organising everything. Now he’s concentrating on the team manager role at the downhill races and getting his kicks in enduro racing, where he has been slaying the Grand Vets category. If you’re old he will probably kick your arse!

It was fun getting together for the photo shoot for this feature. The dads were definitely in the supporting role, like extras on a film set. We were both loving it though, proud of our boys and enjoying riding our bikes with them. After the camera went away Nial led us off to ride a new super-steep trail, with rock slabs and catch berms, that requires commitment and squirrel hips to get down. One by one we dropped in, made it down and rode off into town together, full of the glorious buzz of the ride.

About the team

For 2015 Nial is racing as part of a privateer team called TwoTwo Gravity Racing along with Matt Stuttard. They will race the full World Cup series as well as the British Downhill Series and some of the PMBA and UKGE Enduro rounds.

Matt races in the Elite category and has been racing World Cups for the last three years while Nial is a second year Junior. Joining forces with another family makes sense: costs shared are costs reduced and having a teammate means you’ve got someone to train, travel and race with.

Matt’s dad Howard is the ‘team manager’ and that title is as far as the glamour goes. His job is to be the driver and the mechanic as well as doing the shopping and cooking, sorting problems and offering encouragement. People assume that with me working in the bike industry it would be easy to get free bikes for Nial to race on and free stuff for him to wear. Unfortunately this is not the case. I can get a cheap deal here and there and this is how we have afforded racing so far, along with some financial support from a family friend’s business.

This year Matt has negotiated bike, component and clothing sponsorship for the team based on his track record, which greatly reduces overheads. Expenses are not covered though and it still costs real money to pay for the costs of travel, accommodation, food, UCI registration and race entries as well as gym memberships, uplift practice days and the various other costs. It all adds up – setting up a privateer team takes a lot of time and a lot of money. How much? Well you could get a very nice car for the price…

A full list of this year’s nominations for Best Written Article can be found here

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