While wandering around Eurobike last year I found myself being introduced to Sam Pilgrim, YouTube personality and former Freeride Mountain Biking (FMB) World Champion. As you do if you’re a bike journo meeting someone (fairly?) famous, I sat him down for a quick interview. It was all going OK, until he said ‘I don’t ride with girls, I never would they’re too slow’.
Frankly, I was too shocked to think of any other questions. I wanted to stick him on a gravel bike right there and then, and rip his legs off on a long and hilly route. What the what?
Getting back from Eurobike, I wondered what on earth to do with the interview. In fairness to Sam (I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt here), there are no women’s categories on the FMB World Tour, so perhaps in his little niche of the sport there weren’t many opportunities to ride with women. The absence of women’s categories isn’t necessarily his fault (though it would be great to see male athletes calling for opportunities for female ones). Maybe he just needed to see a different corner of the world? I didn’t want to make him look like a jerk. Hmm. What to do? What to do?
And then, I wondered. He said he could teach me to do a backflip, if I could ride a roll in. He also said it’s a mind over matter thing: you have to want to do it, to jump, or do tricks. If there’s one thing that’s going to make me want to do something, it’s being told I can’t. He’d never ride with girls? Really? What if I could do the roll in…could he teach me a back flip? If I could learn to back flip, maybe Sam would reconsider his ‘no girls’ stance.
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Hmm…maybe I should see what I can do?
In this interview I call myself a ‘wheels on the ground’ rider. I categorically state that I can’t jump. I’ve never been in a foam pit, never done a roll in at a skate park, and I don’t do tricks.
Looking back, that seems a long time ago. A different me entirely. Now?
Now I can jump.
Now, I have spent hours throwing myself into a foam pit. I can roll down a roll in.
Now, I own a BMX and I’m a member of my local indoor skatepark.
Now, I can clear a table top (and I’m not talking about the one my kids have just finished eating off).
Goddammit, I can even do a few teeny tricks.
I wanted it, and I’ve done it. Better still, I love it.
So Sam, if you’re reading this, how about you teach me that back flip? I would offer to take you out on that gravel ride, but, I don’t know…do you think you’d manage?
A Note From Hannah:
This article originally appeared with the video interview, however it is clear that it could be taken out of context of the article, which was never my intention, and I’m sorry if anyone was upset by it – that’s not who I am. We had a fun chat, and following the interview Sam was impressed to see the riding skills of female friends we showed him on Instagram. The point of the article was to highlight how Sam’s comments had spurred me into acquiring some new skills, and to light heartedly suggest that maybe I could take him up on his suggestion that he could teach me to backflip in a day – not to have a go at Sam.
Thanks for the extra comments, Hannah. I admit I missed the point when first read. The piece felt like a rant at a single comment and taken too far from the context.
Regardless, would appreciate seeing more opportunities to talk about women in the sport – what they want, their opinions and what motivates them. Hopefully to drive greater inclusiveness.
And bravo for getting out there and learning.
Jesus the state of the comments here, incredible really.
That’s awesome work Hannah, it’s funny how different things spur people on to learn new skills. I’ve only been properly mountain biking for around a year so I still don’t have the confidence to do jumps, but this article has pushed me to make it a goal for this year! I think there are places near to me (Bristol) where I can practice on some easier jumps so I’ll have to look them up.
Sam seems like a lovely bloke, and I don’t want mountain bikers to undergo media training, but his remark really highlights the unconscious prejudice that still exists in the sport.
Some more examples that spring to mind without even having to think about it: Claudio and Rob saying Rachel Atherton is fast “because she rides with her brothers all the time”, and the comments that used to appear under Joey Gough’s Instagram posts, before she got sick of people assuming she was a bloke and added “Miss” to her username.
tetrode, there are great beginner-friendly tracks in Bristol at Arnos Court and Stockwood, tabletops over by the far car park in Leigh Woods, and plenty of bigger stuff to go at in Belmont/Ashton Hill.
Thanks Mr Agreeable! I’ve heard of the Belmont ones but not of arnos court or Stockwood. I’ll definitely check them out!
IMO – Put the video back up, it may help contextualise the rest of the comments .
It seems to me that there was a considerable amount of reflection and thought given to this article, and much care was taken not to read too much into what Sam said.
If I suggest that those who have taken offence, calmly re-read what Hannah has written, will I get shot down? It is all strangely perturbing to a non-social media user like me.
Great article – I’d love to see Sam take you up on that!!
Very tasteful updates based on feedback – the interview was clunky and perhaps things said on both sides didn’t come across well but being able to take criticism without pushing back on the commenters is a rare thing, especially in online journalism.
I don’t know which made me laugh more – the article or the incensed comments! Hannah, you are wonderful, keep it up!
A few comments need addressing…
1) there are different kinds of fitness – I’m not making a comment about SH here, but just because someone is fast/badass on a bike doesn’t mean they’re going to have sportive-type endurance, it wouldn’t surprise me if Hannah could rip his legs off (and I’d love to see her do it).
2) I’m not a crazy fast or rad rider, I’m probably bang on average. What is most valuable to me is that a reviewer can understand how a bike handles the kind of mid-pack manners I’m likely to show it. I’ll read PinkBike if I ever get gnarly enough to dismiss everyday riding/riders.
@snapperdan – I totally get where you’re coming from, and you would expect that bike reviewers are super skilled riders, but… sometimes having too much riding skill can work against the reviewing abilities of a person. If you’re too good on a bike, then your riding skills can compensate for any shortcomings in the bike and you just get on with riding it. Whereas a lesser skilled rider can quite often be very finely tuned in to noticing the subtle differences between different bikes, thus making them very good at actually writing about bikes. I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that Chipps isn’t the most technically capable rider in the world(!!!), but he’s a damn good journalist and bike tester, yet I don’t see people criticising his riding ability or cancelling their subscriptions because of it.
PS, please note that this last bit is really not aimed directly at you, just a general observation prompted by your comment 🙂
Blimey, there’s some real charmers, sorry riding gods, commenting. Respect to Hannah for learning new skills and, importantly, having fun. I’ve not seen the vid so can’t comment but it’s undoubtedly never easy being a woman in a male-dominated activity.
i cant for the life of me find this video, can someone post a link?
I disagree with you a bit there Dan – I can’t jump for s**t, in fact, I reckon Hannah is probably better than me in a bmx park after this year. But riding north lakes tech on a weekly basis, means jumping isn’t a priority for me – I’m more concerned about getting steep and technical where I like to think I can hold my own. Take me to a set of jumps and I ride like a rank amateur, but there aren’t too many of them round here and it doesn’t really interest me so I’m not too bothered. Does that make me any less of a rider? I would argue not.
Being honest snapperdan if you are that good and able to understand the nuances of a £5k bike I would expect you to ignore magazines and get a demo in. Or are you telling me that you just buy based on one review?
Being someone who would love to learn and be able to jump, but has a subconscious fear of imminent death that overrides everything else, I’d like to learn more about *how* Hannah learned to jump.
Having an incentive and the enthusiasm is obviously a good first step/requirement.
Snapperdan, you appear to be somewhat naïve about what mountain bike journalism involves. None of us actually ride. We just turn up at the office and sit around drinking coffee and making disparaging comments about sponsored riders until the postman arrives. Then we wander down to the bank with the large cheques that the industry sends us for promoting e-bikes, wireless shifting, or whatever tomfoolery they’re trying to foist onto their unwilling consumer base that week. Riding bikes? Oh my days…
Got any jobs going? I’d fit right in.
What biscuits for tyre reviews?
Some weird comments on this thread. You don’t need to thrash a bike to pro level to be able to understand how it handles, and where its weaknesses and strengths lie. If you think that this would help then you’re ultimately going to disappear down a hole where only Sam Hill or Loic Bruni are sufficiently fast to provide a meaningful verdict.
JP
No, don’t be like that Dan! It’s not really a sore subject, it’s just not the be all and end all of mountain biking!