Lou Ferguson was at the Saddleback House Show with her bike, freshly cleaned from Loudenville. We had a good long chat about her season so far, what next year might look like, plus some of the details on her bike. She’s very bright and chatty to talk to, and definitely seems to look on the sunny side of life – I hope that comes across in the transcript.
Let’s start with way back at the beginning of the year, Hardline Tasmania. How was that?
Yeah, it was great actually. I didn’t know what to expect with Hardline Tassie because it was a new event. And I was, to be honest, just super nervous about what we were getting ourselves in for. I’m super glad I went. The track was incredible and the whole week was really good fun for me. We had a bit of a challenge with the wind trying to complete the track, but I got there in the end with Gracie. And then I ended up doing a full run. Unfortunately, I had a couple of big crashes during my run.
Yeah, pretty epic crashes. But you just got back up!
And it’s funny because I was so embarrassed afterwards about crashing, but I think I’m really proud of myself for getting back up and finishing the run. It meant a lot to me. I just felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders a little bit. I just wanted to do so well for women and just represent everyone so well, when in reality nobody thinks like that! And it’s such a bad thing to carry on your shoulders! Especially going into a run – the best race runs I’ve had are just being super present and focusing on my breathing or what I’m looking at.
When you’ve got any kind of distractions, I guess it just manifests in something like that – like having a bit of a crash. And the funny thing is that I had no issues with those sections at all. They weren’t even hard features. They’re just a couple of corners. But, that’s how it goes. I’ve learned a lot from that and how I just need to focus on my race runs and just pushing out all the so-called external factors I’ve got in my mind when I drop in.
Not feeling like you have to represent all women all the time!
Yeah! I just want to do well! It’s so easy to put pressure on yourself in that kind of situation.
I think it’s similar to the women getting invited to Red Bull Rampage right now. Just getting the invite is such a big win that they shouldn’t feel any pressure to beat the men or compete with the men. Because we’re so far behind in actually getting invited to these events. The progression can only start really once we get the invitation, and then we can build on that. But I know and they know that the internet and people who don’t ride bikes, it’s so easy to judge our performances. And it is a scary thing putting yourself out there to get judged.
So fair play to everyone competing in Red Bull Rampage! It’s about balancing your own motivation and opportunities and doing the best with what you can. And that’s why I’m really excited for Hardline next year. So I’m just trying to balance racing and Hardline. Racing World Cups and then doing Hardline for myself. Which I’m going to do. I’m going to figure out. But this [race] year didn’t really work with Hardline Wales. So I didn’t get to go to that unfortunately.
So it wasn’t that you went to Tasmania and then thought, actually I’m going to focus on World Cups. It was already part of the plan?
I really couldn’t say no to Hardline Tasmania because it was before the season and I wanted to go so much! I just joined a new team this year, Intense Factory Racing. And they obviously prioritise World Cups and the sponsors want results and to be represented well there. So it’s kind of hard when I’ve signed a contract to race downhill World Cups to then prioritise Hardline! Which they just see as more of a risk. They do get a lot of exposure out of it, but for me it’s more than just exposure. It’s developing my own riding and developing it for other women. It just means a lot more. But I had a word with the team and we kind of compromised.
So Wales, they thought it was super risky so I didn’t do that. We had a lot of racing coming up, it was the middle of the season. But next year I’m going to race Hardline!
Excellent! So was Rampage part of that compromise? I guess at the start of the season you wouldn’t have known that it was definitely coming?
I had no idea. I genuinely thought it was going to go the other way because women weren’t invited last year and there was a lot of talk about it. So it’s not something I’ve been preparing for.
It clashes with Mont-Saint-Anne, the last World Cup. So at the moment it’s just not possible for me. But I would love to go and watch it and be part of it and keep it on my radar to see if it’s something I can balance with racing and Hardline. I just love the idea of it. I love freeride and the women who are going are just perfect. They’re going to do so well.
It’s definitely on my mind but I don’t know if I can do it all. It’s just trying to figure out what’s the most important to me. I actually really regret not doing Hardline Wales!
But because there’s so many changes from World Cup racing at the moment and going into next year, every single point from the results this year can make a difference to whether you’re an elite team next year, or whether you’re allowed to race. We don’t actually know. So it’s a big unknown and that has to take priority.
So there’s some rumours around for what’s happening next year. Do you have anything more than rumours for what the structure is going to look like?
I would love to know what’s actually going to happen. I can’t believe we don’t. The riders don’t know. A lot of the teams don’t know. I think elite teams do get a bit more information than non-elite teams. All I’ve heard is rumours that potentially there will be more women in finals. But it will be a lot harder if teams don’t have enough points. I’m not really sure. They’re trying to reduce the numbers. But I can’t really confirm or deny anything!
I wish I did know. I basically just really want to be part of it and keep racing and keep progressing. I just hope that the people in charge are making the right calls for the sport, as well as to make money out of it and promote it.
So we’ve just had Loudenville, which was a kind of classic DH race in terms of the weather. Although come race day it wasn’t as bad as practice really, was it? How was that whole weekend? The dynamic of that mud bath and then the cancellation of semis. What does that do to your race game?
It’s kind of tricky to be honest, mentally, when you’re going into a race like that. You do feel like you kind of have to just be happy putting things on the line and taking a bit of risk, just to get down the track even. I love it. I love the contrast between say Andorra where it’s super dusty, it’s flat out. You just have to be so confident and go so hard and charge in Andorra. Then literally the next week we go to somewhere like Loudenville where trying to get down the track is really tricky. You need to approach it with a bit of caution almost. Come in, be happy to take risks to go fast and get down the track in a safe way. But not put too much on the line and end your weekend before it’s even started. I think it’s two different approaches. I love downhill racing for that. There’s a bit of variety. It’s not just one type of riding.
You need to be a really good racer to win a world cup overall. I really enjoy that. But the torrential rain we had just messed up with the logistics of it. In the practice there were quite a lot of cancellations. So we didn’t get a lot of practice before we went into our qualifying. Then semis was cancelled so the women had to get top 10 and men had to get top 30 to get to the final.
It was such a fun track and such a sick race but I didn’t make it to the top 10. I got P12 in the end. A lot of the women’s field got a red flag, they ended up riding a couple of hours later to when we rode, and the conditions had massively changed. The track was a lot drier.
It was really tough to compete with that. If I got P12 on the same conditions I’d be completely satisfied with my week. But I feel like I’m left wanting more. I wasn’t competing on the same conditions as everyone else. There’s always races like that where the weather changes and it’s not quite fair. But it is really tough for the organisers to manage that and try and make it as fair as possible.
I feel like sometimes it just doesn’t get done. This time me and some of the other girls were on the negative side of that. But one day we’ll be on the positive so it’ll all come around.
But I think maybe with the changes they’re making next year if they reduce the numbers… I’m trying to be positive and hope that they’re going to just work on that. I think a lot of World Cup racing is designed around the men, and also the product – which is making money from the live stream. So that’s their top priority. We’ll just keep working on it and giving feedback, and hopefully it just gets better and better for us as racers. And then also the viewers.
It sounds quite hard to have your job be like a moving feast. The goalposts are moving, you’re going into the last race of the season not knowing quite what your points target might be in order to have a season next year. You don’t know what your off-season training might look like, because you don’t know what next year is going to look like. That sounds like it could be quite mentally tough?
I really feel for a lot of privateers or people who are at the end of their contracts. Especially because you don’t know how much value you bring, or whether you have a job, or if it’s even possible [to be a privateer].
It’s quite a rollercoaster of emotions. And that’s what racing is in a way. It’s already quite tough. It’s such a good challenge and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But I’m really lucky at the moment that I’ve got a team for next year. And even with that team, there’s a lot of unknowns whether that team will exist because of the potential changes. It would just be nice to have a bit of certainty and believe that everything is going to be alright for the next couple of years.
There’s so much good racing to be had and so many stories to tell through our amazing sport, that I just hope to see the light of day. I’m just hoping that it’s going to be good. I’m not really sure what I can personally do to change it. It doesn’t feel like we’ve got a proper union in the riding community to make big changes. It’s more that we’re just along for the ride. Literally! And in our jobs as well.
The next race, there is a degree of certainty about that. It’s Mont-Saint-Anne after, with American Nationals first. Why are you racing that, how does that fit into the scheme of things?
I really wanted to do it last year… It kind of explains this year a little bit as well. Last year was my second season racing World Cups, my first full season, and I tried to do way too much. I really struggle to say no when I’ve got the opportunity for literally anything! So I did the full Crankworx series, which is all over the world. I did the full World Cup series. I did Hardline. I tried to do Mega Avalanche. I honestly couldn’t say no. Anytime there was a race or an event, I was just always saying yes, yes, yes. And I don’t regret any of it.
But it’s hard when you spread yourself so thin. And last year, at World Champs, I was really sick. It ended up being one of my best results, but it was really hard going home to Fort William to race one of the biggest races of my life, and being a bit under the weather. And it came down to me traveling so much and putting so much into racing.
So this year, I decided to cut back a little bit. And one of the things last year I didn’t do was the US Open because of that. So this year, I talked to my team manager, Ollie, and he was like, ‘you get this many races. You’re not allowed to do any more!’. I can’t remember how many races I put forward at the start of the season, but he was like, ‘you can do half of that, basically. And you can choose. But outside of World Cups, you’re not allowed any more than this’.
And I was like, well, last year I didn’t get to do the US Open. So I’d love to go. And it ties in really well with MSA. I can go over to Mont-Saint-Anne, drive down, and come back up.
I love Crankworx. But the schedule didn’t really work this season. But I’d love to try one of the Monster Cups and see what the vibe is. And see how they do their racing. I think World Cups are great, but they’re super different to everything else. And I like some of the races that have a bit more of a relaxed feel, but then also they prioritise the riders and the quality of the event instead of the scale. So yeah, it’ll be really interesting to see what the track’s like at the US Open, and to go somewhere different. I’ve never been to Kellington. So that’ll also be quite cool. Getting to travel all these new places is quite nice!
And then to Mont-Saint-Anne. Any particular goal there?
Podium! If I talk about results and goals, I definitely want a podium. I haven’t got one this year. I’ve got pretty close, like a millisecond off in Les Gets. Which is amazing and frustrating at the same time! But yeah, I really want to end on a high. And it’s nice knowing that there’s nothing to save myself for! So Mont-Saint-Anne, I’m definitely going to give it everything and see what happens, because you never know. World Cup racing is so fun that way. You can put everything into it – and you can just not come out with the result you want.
But I can go home back to New Zealand feeling happy, as long as I gave it everything.
We’ll see, because last year, I felt really good – and then in my quali run I got a puncture, and it just ended so soon. So I definitely have unfinished business there. In terms of the season, one of my goals was just to keep learning every race. Another goal was consistent top 10 – and I have been in that ballpark, apart from some outside unwanted assistance like at the last race. I feel like I’ve been consistently in the top 10. And definitely learning. It’s always a learning curve.
And then the bike that we have here in front of us. Who painted this one up for you?
So it was a combination of Lee Morgan, and Joe Breeden’s dad, Keith Breeden, who’s incredible. He’s an amazing artist. And they did a really good job. I gave the team a mood board at the start of the season of things that I really liked, and this is what they came up with. It’s a combination of a beautiful yellow, and some daisies, and the old Intense logo – it’s almost like a sunset, from yellow to grey, grey to white. I love it.
There’s a couple of special details on it. Up on the top tube I’ve got some Gaelic. I went to Gaelic school when I was growing up in Scotland, and I just love it. I really miss home sometimes when I’m in New Zealand. And it says Alba Gu Brath, which is ‘Scotland forever.’ So it’s a little bit of Scotland that I take with me to my races.
I’ve got Lou Ferguson World Champs 2024 as well, further down. That’s going to be a nice reminder just how special the race was. And all the kit that I got done – Troy Lee really killed it with some Moto kit which matches my bike really well. And the yellow is kind of… because I go from summer to summer, from New Zealand to Europe. So it’s like a bit of sunshine.
Because you need more reminding of sunshine!
Honestly, I think with Vitamin D we’re so deficient in Scotland! That it does make you so much happier. Genuinely. Missing that winter in Scotland, is very, very good. And long days. That’s what I think of a lot of the time – sunshine, and flowers. And just being alive and being happy.
So that’s what you think of as you throw yourself down Hardline? ‘Sunshine and flowers. It’ll all be fine’.
That’s what I should be thinking of! Instead of other things, before I drop in. I just love having a look around. Especially, say, Andorra, where we did World Champs, looking at the view. Looking at all the beautiful scenery. And just thinking, ‘wow, I’m so lucky to be here’.
It really helps me forget about all the pressure I put on myself. Or whether I crashed in practice. Or whether I’m scared about my result not being good enough. Or not meeting my own expectations. I think looking up and looking around is good! And now looking down at my bike, it’s going to remind me of that.
Now I can see you’ve got some very knurled grippy additions to your shifters here. What are they?
My friend Casey is my mechanic this season,so we’ve been having a really good year of just figuring it all out together. And basically I wanted my shifter a bit closer to my grip, so it was easier to reach. So he just sanded down the levers, so they can get closer, but they don’t actually hit my thumb. Then the little grip tape makes it easier to find them, and then not slip off.
So you have that all the time? That’s not just a Loudenville special?
No, that’s all the time. But it’s good for when, like Loudenville, there’s so much mud all over our bikes. So it does help. Say I crash – which I did – and you get muddy grips, it’s just so easy to shift gears and find them. But we keep them on all year.
Okay. And then is there anything else then that’s been cut down and glued on? Extra things?!
Well, I’ve got grips glued on. So that’s pretty unusual. But it’s because I’ve got quite small hands, and I find that a lot of grips are quite thick. But if they’re thinner, because they’ve got the plastic insert – the sheath – they’re quite firm. But I just want thin grips that are nice and soft. So my grips are actually glued on so that there’s no plastic insert. It’s straight to the bars, kind of like BMX grips in a way. And then my top cap’s custom, that’s just got my name on it.
I’m not familiar with the Lewis brakes. Obviously, I know they exist, but I have never actually ridden them. What are they like?
Genuinely really good. Yeah, I didn’t think I would like them as much as this. I’d never heard of them, and the team said that they might get sponsored by them, and I was super nervous. But they’re super light to pull, really powerful. The levers are adjustable, which is so good because I don’t have the biggest hands. I’ve always struggled with that, getting the bite point good for where the lever sits.
So have they got reach adjust and bite point adjust?
Both, yeah. And you can change the position of the lever, the angle that it sits at. It’s super adjustable. I can’t tell you how easy they are to bleed because I have a mechanic this year, so I have no idea! I have watched a YouTube video on it, and I think it’s like any other brake, really. They’re mineral oil, so easy enough to buy. And yeah, overall, really happy with them. They’re not very well known, I think, yet, but they will be soon.
And can you kind of describe the feel?
Casey bleeds them so that they are not super on-off. I’d say they’re a mix between… they’re not as bitey as Shimano, but they don’t have as much of a throw as SRAM. So it’s like somewhere in the middle, I think. They have a light lever feel, and you can beed them so that they’re more on-off. Just really adjustable, and they don’t really fade. I feel like when I’m riding on a long downhill track, like in Fort William, Val de Sol, or wherever, the brake stays pretty consistent.
Is there anything else on here we should know about?
I’ve got E13 wheels, and I think they’re in production now! With the sidekick hub, it disengages, so when you’re not pedalling, it just spins freely. It’s meant to stop the pedal kickback under braking, so it makes it a bit smoother and easier. And then that combined with the high pivot is meant to help with the rougher tracks. I really like it. I had an O-chain in the past, whereas now I don’t run it. So I just have the hub and the high pivot.
I run the shock in the linear position, in case people want to know that. I’m on a mullet, and I have a reach adjust headset, so it’s 6mm forwards. I’m on a medium frame, but I felt like I wanted a little bit of extra space for my position on the track when I’m riding downhill.
Do you adjust your bar position at all for steeper tracks or anything, or do you keep it pretty much the same?
I do not change that. But I think this off-season I’m going to try a lot of different things. I’m going to try loads of different positions on the bike and see what I like and what I don’t like because I’ve only ever ridden a Nukeproof downhill bike, really, and then this, so I’ve got a lot of learning to do and a lot of time to figure out what I actually like.
I’m one of those people who goes off feel, but then half the team is super analytical, and I think I need to take a little bit of what they’re doing. It should help me get a bit of confidence if I test everything, even putting a couple spacers in or changing the rise on the bars, or maybe even changing the reach again. I feel like I overlook all that stuff when I just go off – I’m happy to ride whatever! I should really test those things, and I’m going to try and get into that.
I’ve got every opportunity, so it’s something I can put my time into. And Casey, my mechanic, is super lovely, so we can do it together. I feel like everyone else would love to do it, and I’m the one that’s like, ‘oh, yeah, I don’t mind’. But now I’m going to do it.
Well, in that case, I hope that all those millimetres translate into seconds on the track next year, all the best. Thanks so much.
Thanks. I’ll give it a good go!
