Martha Gill was out at Sea Otter racing Dual Slalom and Downhill. She took the gold in Dual Slalom, finally breaking Jill Kintner’s 11-year run on the top spot. I caught up with her at the Marin booth just as Martha had finished fourth in the Downhill.
Okay, hello, I’m here with Martha Gill. I guess the big news from this weekend is that Jill Kintner didn’t win the Dual Slalom and you did! How was that?
Yeah, I mean it was pretty cool. I’ve done slalom here a few times before but I’ve not been here for a few years. But I feel like slowly over the last few years I’ve been progressing in slalom and sort of learning the discipline. So… I came into this one feeling like I could potentially do it, but I mean the course was particularly hard this year. It was super loose and it was really easy to make mistakes, so I was just trying to focus on having smooth runs and not making mistakes, but it’s really hard to do that with head-to-head racing when you’re trying to push the limits.
I guess there’s a lot of tactics in it as well, isn’t there?
Yeah, in a way, yeah. I mean there’s like… little bits of line choice and throughout the week we have different practice sessions and the course slowly changes so sometimes you’re changing what lines you’re doing and how you’re approaching the track. I actually changed my setup quite a bit for this one. Usually for slalom I’ll ride a pretty stiff setup like tyres close to 30 PSI and really hard suspension but for here because it was so loose and really suited to a trail bike. pretty much have my tyres what I’d use for like trail riding, so like 20 PSI in the front and made my suspension super soft and I think that definitely helped make a difference.
I noticed when I was watching yesterday that there was a section at the top that you could either like pump or double or kind of double double. So how did you decide what approach to take there?
Yeah, I think it was like five rollers in a row, but they were super aggressive, super steep and deep, which is like iconic Kyle Straight style of building a slalom course. And usually I really struggle with those sorts of rollers, that’s one of my weaknesses I’d say. In quallies I was just pumping through them, but in one of the later practice sessions I worked out that I could do some manuals through them. So I’d like manual, pump, manual, pump sort of thing. But I never tried the double-double just because I didn’t feel like it suited me. And I know that if I could get the manuals that I’d be able to do them more consistently than jumping them. So, and it was actually really windy in the afternoon. Every afternoon it would pick up in most of our practice sessions. So it kind of put me off trying to do jumping.
Let’s talk through your bike setup a bit more. Which bike are you on for the dual slam?
I’m on the Marin Rift Zone 27.5.
So it’s 27.5 front and rear?
Yeah.
And what suspension are you running?
Marzocchi, got the Z1 on the front and the Marzocchi Bomber Air Shock. Compression’s fully on the fork. So I think on the fork I’ve got four tokens. And compression’s wide open. And what would my fork have been… where’s my phone? I do have my setup so I can tell you some numbers…. I think my pressure was 105 PSI. [with four tokens in there as well]. And my shock was, usually I’d run it with like 230. But… It was closer to 200. I think it might have actually been like 180 or 190. It was considerably lower than usual, but then I had a little bit of compression on the shock. And the shock has 1.1 tokens.
1.1?!
Well, it’s like a one. It’s a one. I don’t know how you phrase it, but. A one token and then there’s like this little 0.1 that fits inside it.
What tyres are you running?
I’ve got the Vigilante’s, WTB Vigilante High Grip on the front. And on the rear I’ve got the WTB Trail Boss, fast rolling compound.
Onto the downhill then, which is the next thing that you’ve raced.
I was on the Alpine Trail Carbon. So that’s a full 29er, longer travel, 160, 150 in the rear. It’s like my go-to trail bike.
So what was the course like?
It’s not your standard downhill course when you think of downhill. It’s more like a downhill flow, BMX track sort of thing. There’s a lot of fast jumps, a lot of fast straight sections. There’s like three dusty corners, more fast sections. There’s a rhythm section where there’s like a triple and a double, and there’s quite a few different ways you can ride it, and it’s super physical. When we practiced it the other day, I had a lot of fun just doing some party trains with friends and stuff. But then comes the racing and you’ve got to like pedal your heart out and it becomes less fun and pretty hard!
And so how did you get on in the downhill race because you’ve just been and done that?
Yeah, just racing, I got fourth. It was an early morning today after racing Slalom last night and my legs were pretty done to be honest. I really emptied the tank in Slalom.
How many runs of Slalom did you have yesterday, with all the practices and duels?
In racing we had round of 32s, round of 16s, round of 8s, semi-finals, finals? 10? So I think 10 runs racing. But obviously heaps more in practice.
Oof! Okay, so back to the set up for the downhill race. What tyres were you running for that?
Same as my slalom bike actually. Vigy on the front and the trail boss on the rear. I was running 20… I’m trying to remember. I’m going to say I had 22 PSI in the front and maybe like 26 PSI in the rear.
Okay so that’s quite high really?
Little bit, yeah, a little bit higher than normal because it’s a super fast track and there’s not much – like there’s only three corners you need grip for. So as long as I get them…
And no wet roots!
No, it’s a super dry dusty track and there’s no roots or rocks.
So what kind of track would you say suits you, what do you enjoy?
I enjoy slalom racing, that’s my favourite discipline I’d say. I enjoy doing that the most when I’m doing the Crankworx World Tour.
So in the year ahead then, are you going to go through Crankworx doing dual slalom and downhill? Or are you going to focus on one thing?
I’m doing the full Crankworx World Tour and doing all the events that count towards the overall. So that’s downhill, dual slalom, pump track, speed and style and sometimes there’s an Air DH.
Have you been working on any new tricks for this year, for the speed and style?
I’ve just been working on the same tricks I was doing last year, but just trying to do them more consistently. Speed and Style is a really tricky event. It’s really fun to spectate, but it’s pretty hectic to race. You’re trying to go as fast as you can into some big jumps. Those jumps are really at the limit of the biggest sized jumps that I’d hit anyway, so I feel like I am pushing my limits with that discipline for sure. Being able to try and trick them as well, I’m still working on that. In Rotorua last month when we raced I wasn’t super consistent, but I was trying to do tuck no handers on the first jump and Sui no handers on the second jump. But sometimes I’d do like I’d get my hands off like on a tuck but it would just be a little bit just like some little… On and off [Mimes just taking hands off the bars a little]. Yeah, like some… Dinosaur T-Rex hands!
Something I’d do into a foam pit on a BMX!
You can get extra points for like better extension and amplitude, but you can also get deducted points for doing the trick, but not as good. So I don’t always get full points for those tricks, so if I can get to the point where I can just consistently bash out those tricks and get them really good… Okay. I’ll be happy.
I was talking to Jordy Scott and she’s got a 360 that she’s hoping she’ll manage to fit in, but she’s not sure if she will in the Speed and Style. You’re not aiming for anything quite as big as that?
Jordy’s got some good tricks under her sleeve, but I don’t think she’s yet brought them out for Speed and Style, but I hope that she will do. Spinning I’ve not put much effort into – not going upside down or spinning around.
And so this feels like a big year for the women’s bike scene. Like it’s another step forward again, are you looking forward to being part of it?
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think one of the biggest things this year is that the women are now competing in the slopestyle, which is huge for the sport. It’s really cool to see. Just having the women be able to compete in that event, I feel like it’s going to inspire so many little girls out there. And in the next five years, I feel like the progression rate is just going to skyrocket. It’s taking off so much. It’s going to be an exponential growth. There’s a lot of girls around the 10 to 15 age that you see on the Instagram that are doing some crazy stuff that even the girls doing slopestyle now aren’t doing. When they come through and get their chance, I think it’s going to be really cool to see.
So then who do you think is out there that is someone to watch for the future? Who has caught your eye? Who do you think, “God, I wish I was that cool when I was that age!”?
The latest big up and comer I guess is Patricia. Patricia Druwen. She’s really cool to hang out with. I feel like she’s really starting to come into her own and we didn’t get to see her compete at Rotorua but it’s gonna be exciting to hopefully watch her throw down in Cairns and see how she goes because I feel like she’s the first… the other girls doing slopestyle have, been doing a lot of freeride, but I feel like she’s the first girl that’s like fully only about slopestyle. There’s like Robin (Goomes) and Haz (Harriet Burbidge-Smith), they can throw down in slopestyle but they also do like all the all the big bike stuff in Utah and Dark Fest and that sort of thing.
And then back to Dual Slalom, you’ve taken Jill Kinter’s crown. That scalp’s gone. Who else will you be looking beat? Who’s your rival for the season ahead?
For Crankworx… Well, in the finals I was against Kialani Hines. Kialani’s always super fast at slalom and pump track and she’s really, really skilled. She’s got that BMX background. So’s Jordy, she’s super fast as well. There’s a lot of girls that are really fast and it always changes with each slalom course because we all have different strengths and weaknesses. So I think that’s what makes it fun. Like we’ll go to one track and you’ll kind of be thinking “oh this is more their best sort of course” or you go to another one and you’ll be like “oh this is my sort of course” sort of thing, so yeah there’s good competition. It’s gonna be a fun year.
I hope you enjoy it all the best for it and thank you!
