Issue 143 Hans Rey: Lasting Legacies

Hans Rey learns from new hotshots and old legends to work out his place in mountain biking’s legacy.

Words & Photography Carmen Freeman-Rey

Looking back on life can be a funny thing, thankfully we have a knack for forgetting the bad and our recollections are sometimes viewed through rose-tinted spectacles. Sometimes we had a solid plan, sometimes we winged it.

Talking to Hans Rey, it becomes apparent that his long-spanning career was never just down to luck, there was plenty of forethought – mostly he had a plan, but sometimes he had to wing it too. An example was when he embarked on the most challenging adventure of his life. Hans had turned 50 in 2016 and in terms of being a professional mountain bike rider he was getting on. 

Coincidentally, that year they were finally allowing bikes beyond the gates of Kilimanjaro park. Hans’ opinion was, and is, that Kilimanjaro is the mountain biker’s Everest, the highest ridable mountain in the world. The change in rules made an ambitious dream possible for Hans and fellow rider, Gerhard Czerner, to mark this quinquagenarian milestone by taking on Africa’s two greatest behemoths, Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro, back-to-back. What he was proposing was even more remarkable considering his age.

Months earlier Hans invited Danny MacAskill to come along as well. “This trip will be epic and fun,” he said. Danny accepted. Safe to say, this extreme adventure was beyond anything they imagined, not just the sheer physicality of it, or the test of mental stamina, but also the reality that no amount of planning can cover every possibility. The mission was ultimately a success, but disaster was close. (See issue 112 of Singletrack for the full story.)

I wondered, was this the highlight of his career? “No, it’s not, but it’s definitely my greatest adventure,” Hans explained. “It would be impossible to choose the number one highlight when there have been so many over the years.” 

Welcoming the next generation

Hans is 20 years older than Danny, and back in 2016 Danny was the hottest thing in mountain biking. You could be forgiven for wondering what possessed Danny to put himself through such a punishing ordeal with some old dude who just might have lost the plot. For Hans, he had always wanted to do it and he was happy to prove that the old dog still had a few new tricks. They were both embracers of challenge and the two between them could claim quite a few ‘firsts’… there is more to it though. 

Despite the two decades that separated their birth, the two were good friends, having already shared adventures and more than a few wee drams. As a kid Danny was a fan, with Hans’ poster stuck to his bedroom wall, and Hans had admired Danny ever since watching his first YouTube video. He considered him to be his successor and saw parallels between them. 

Hans and Danny had similar beginnings; Hans was a freshling when he appeared on a German TV show where he was challenged to ride a series of skinnies at 90-degree angles. The show was called Wetten Dass, the UK equivalent of You Bet, and that night he had an audience of 41 million. Danny’s first video was the YouTube equivalent, which went viral. 

Danny isn’t just a trials rider; he entertains spectators outside of competitions. Hans was excited by Danny as he saw someone with a skill set and imagination that was on a higher level than anyone else at that time. Danny’s stunts hadn’t been seen before; he put incredible thought and work into his films, and really inspired people, not just kids watching his videos, but also his peers. Even though Hans hadn’t a hope of replicating his moves, there was no jealousy or envy on his part; likewise Danny never looked at Hans with anything less than admiration. Once Hans was number one showman, then it was Danny’s turn.

Over the years, Hans has embraced new talent if they deserved it, and he has enjoyed his place in this constantly changing mountain bike world. Working with the next generations of riders has kept Hans fresh and relevant – collaborations, whether with Steve Peat, Dan Atherton, Martin Maes, Jackson Goldstone or Danny – have brought him a new, younger, extended audience. Likewise, these younger stars, then and now, could learn from Hans’ media savvy and ability to transform. They knew that whether their year was good or bad, they could be sure of excellent media coverage after an adventure with Hans.

Creaky joints

But how long could he keep this up? “I have been asked this question many times and sometimes I ask myself that too,” explained Hans. “I had been thinking about retiring since I was 16; I would always give myself another one or two years. Never thought that I would still be at it in my fifties. But somehow I keep finding ways to stay relevant in this ever-growing sport that has gone way beyond racing. More and more people want a piece of the cake that, in the beginning, I only shared with a few. Nowadays everybody from racers, freeriders, trials riders, adventurers, influencers and many more, including myself, are fighting for the crumbs.”

Trials is tough on the body, it takes endless hours of training and by the late ’90s, competitions and racing didn’t hold much appeal anymore. Results only counted until the next race, often the same handful of riders would podium and these were the ones focused on by the media. Hans was a realist – he knew that sponsors didn’t pay him for being the fastest or the fittest. He was sponsored because he was drawing more attention. For him, now was the time to reinvent and focus more on a different tack. He would take his skills, the stunts, a camera crew, a guest and, of course, his bikes to incredible places around the world. “I created content and told stories for TV and print media way before it was a thing,” said Hans, and so, the Hans Rey Adventure Team was born.

With this came some sceptics; a few doubters speculated whether Hans was finished. Competition back then was like a high-octane travelling club full of rarefied elite athletes treated like rock stars. If Hans wasn’t competing, then surely, he must be giving up and, if so, did he still deserve club membership? Without medals, how long could he keep on having a career as a pro athlete? He didn’t have an answer back then, nor did anyone else, but now he does. “As long as I keep on inspiring others to ride, have fun and live their dreams.” Happily, he didn’t take the advice whispered by some that perhaps it was time to give up and get a desk job. “As a pioneer I had it easier in some ways because there were only a few others that I had to share the limelight with,” Hans tells me. “But don’t be fooled that being a pioneer was simple. Convincing others about my new ideas could be very hard and could take years. There were constant uphill battles, including the stigma attached to age, which I chose to ignore. 

“Challengers and sceptics didn’t always come just from fellow competitors or trials dudes, but also from marketing departments and especially from CEOs hired to run bike companies from outside the industry, ones that don’t necessarily understand that this was built on heart and soul, not just numbers. I have seen many hired and fired, I’ve seen mountain bike stars come and go, I have prevailed for a multitude of reasons, I have been a visionary and a hard worker, both on and off the bike. My job description goes far beyond professional cyclist and I understood that if I wanted to keep the fire burning, I had to keep throwing wood on it.”

Anyone want to buy a bike rider?

In any sport, talent alone is not enough to achieve longevity. It helps to be professional, respectful, creative, sometimes humble, at times self-promoting. Being tough and competitive go hand in hand with grace and generosity and it’s hard work. A professional athlete is a business, a commodity. While most pro riders probably start out as kids who just love to ride their bikes all day long and nothing else, making the transition from hobbyist to professional has a few harsh realities. One of them being that it helps to understand that if you are a pro rider, you are also a product, one for sale. As Hans says: “This doesn’t make you a sell-out, it makes you smart. If you want to keep living your dream, you have to earn it. This is a tough world to be in and nothing is for free. The broken bones, stitched wounds, training in all weathers and conditions, fear, discipline, time away from family and friends, are all part of the cost. Be sure of your value, your contribution and your status, but also, be willing to rein in your ego and be resilient when your feelings take a slapping, or you feel unappreciated. Understand that evolution is part of it, nothing stays the same – the industry, the athletes, trends and technology all change. People you report to come and go, some you will miss, don’t want to see leave, some you will be happy to see the back of. There will be frustrations and you will be tired of justifying your worth yet again. You have to get over it, it happens to everyone at some point.”

Now 35 years on, Hans is no longer the lean machine he once was; the blond hair is tinged with grey, but the muscles and skills are still there, and he still rides extremely technical trails and features better than many. Riders have evolved to a previously unimaginable level, and not just the pros. Any town around the world where kids have access to mountain bikes will have 13-year-old shredders able to do things Hans never learned to do. How does he feel when it’s hard for him to keep up with some of these rippers? “It triggers a multitude of emotions, it can be a little depressing to feel old or slow,” he says. “But mostly I’m stoked seeing what these kids can do; I’m still out there doing it, I’m still part of it and have my place. I always knew that this would happen, when I wouldn’t be the best anymore. I learned to park my ego and be happy there are still things I am better at than they are.”

Hans’ model stood the test of time and has since been copied – the words of doubters have been muted over the years. The generations that came next grew up with his results, the films, the media and much more, they don’t expect him to be a better rider than them. He sets an example – Hans has their respect and admiration not only because of all that he has done, but also because, after all these years, he is still a sponsored rider. Hans has proven that the older and newer riders don’t always have to compete against each other, they can complement each other.

Crossing boundaries

 “Most of today’s stars shine mostly in a particular subculture or discipline and via a specific media platform. I’ve managed to build myself a solid foundation, my roots run deep and I mingle with most of today’s biking subcultures,” explains Hans. “I am not only challenged by people outperforming me on a bike, but also in the virtual world that has opened doors for a whole new rider career path. I haven’t missed out on this trend; my roots have continued to stretch into all media platforms and networks. Years ago, it was about print media and TV, I have 450 front covers and today my films are seen all over global TV networks, streaming and online platforms, all this shores up my foundation and keeps me relevant.” 

A classic example of this was when in a recent podcast, the reigning junior downhill world champion Jackson Goldstone was asked “Who would you most like to spend a training day with?” His answer: “Hans Rey.” A month later Jackson joined Hans on his latest urban mountain bike adventure ‘Slay the Bay’ in the San Francisco Bay area. 

This is the fourth film in a series that includes Los Angeles, Naples, Italy and Hong Kong; Hans, with guests riding through the urban jungles of iconic conurbations and the mountains that surround them. Over a few days, they explore lesser-known treasures, city and big mountain trails, local culture and world-famous sites.

Photos, or it didn’t happen

Thankfully there have been writers, photographers and videographers to give faces and personality to our sporting heroes, helping to make some of them stars; some of these creatives go back decades and can take credit for chronicling a movement that began in the early 1970s in Marin County, California. If not for them, we would have no record of the beginning of something that grew into a multi-billion pound industry.

Mountain biking as a mainstream sport is relatively new, but riding bikes on dirt goes back to the invention of bicycles before roads were paved. Although there were pockets of brave folk all over, riding their rickety bikes down dusty, marbled tracks rather than tame flats, it is generally agreed that modern mountain biking was born in Marin County, California.

A posse of friends, dressed in jeans, plaid shirts and no helmets took their bikes to the fire roads of Mount Tam. The bikes they rode were primitive cruisers from the 1930s and ’40s, heavy duty and once deployed to deliver newspapers. Over time they modified their bikes, taking components from this and that to perfect their ‘klunkers’. For the steep climbs, the addition of gears helped, as did drum brakes for the downhill, and raised BMX- style handlebars for control and positioning. Then came the race… Repack, the first-ever recorded downhill bicycle race on dirt – steep, slippery, off-camber, rutted California fire road dirt. The fastest time was held by Gary Fisher until fairly recently. And, when it was finally beaten, it was with a modern-day mountain bike, not a Klunker. 

Charlie Kelly, one of the OGs, sums it up: “I believe that if I didn’t have the greatest bicycle adventure of the 21st century, I don’t really much care who did; riding Repack top to bottom knowing nobody’s going to be in your way, is one of the greatest thrills I’ve had in my life.” Repack was only one of many firsts kick-started by these pioneers. The friends became collaborators, inventors, creators and documented this new trend as it was embraced and grew.

When Charlie Kelly approached Joe Breeze with $300 and asked him to design a new kind of bike, one specifically for riding on dirt, I doubt they could have imagined how much the technology would advance nearly five decades later. Joe’s first bike from 1978 is displayed at the Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC. Charlie Kelly teamed up with fellow originators, Gary Fisher and Tom Ritchey, to make the first semi-production frames. Charlie also published the first mountain bike magazine, The Fat Tire Flyer, and Wende Cragg who captured this iconic time was the first mountain biking photographer.

Spending time with these originators is special, these are innovators, historians and early influencers… in the truest sense. They are still passionate about the sport and proud of their place in the creation of mountain biking. Joe Breeze, never one to blow his own horn, said: “We didn’t invent mountain biking, that has been around as long as bicycles, what we did was invent a bike for this kind of riding and we gave it a name ‘Mountain Biking’, which wasn’t a thing back then.” 

Such humility is refreshing in a world where plenty tend to want credit, applause and recognition. Perhaps this lack of ego is in part down to the fact that it started with, and remains all about, fun, and because there are no other contenders for this mantle, they don’t have to boast because they are the real deal, they can be sure of their place in history. 

Hans rides Repack

These innovators started something incredible and embraced what came next. Sure, they will have had their share of frustrations and even battles, but they created a legacy, there might be tit for tat disagreements on a forum, but that is just chatter. Even Hans had to allow himself a moment of awe when riding Repack with those pioneers.

“I was so humbled to ride the Repack with some of the OG crew; they are in the history books forever,” stated Hans. “They started this movement – their mission was to have fun, but their destiny was to develop, invent and build bikes so this sport could be enjoyed by others. Me and my generation and the generations that followed, built and formed cultures and helped spread the word about these new fat tyre bikes. The latest generation of riders continues to build and craft the future of our sport as it continues to spread in many directions. The one thing we all have in common is the continued desire to have fun.”

Just as the OGs can be sure of their legacy, so can Hans. But don’t consign him to the history books just yet, there is plenty left in the ‘Grandfather of Freeride’. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of GT Bicycles, we also celebrate 35 years of Hans’ partnership with the brand; he is as excited now as he has ever been. 

So back to that question: “Hans, how long will you keep doing this for?” Maybe the answer is forever. I don’t think he will ever stop; I don’t think we ever want him to.