If you’re on any kind of social media, you’ve probably seen Leo ‘Landosteezy’ Smith bringing his BMX style to the world of MTB. Now riding for Calibre, you might also have clocked him exploring the north of England by gravel bike. It’s all bikes, and it’s all good, seems to be Leo’s approach to wheels. But he is certainly a man with opinions, and particularly about the bike industry so when I saw him at the Malverns Classic I thought I’d give him the chance to issue his manifesto for where the world of bikes should be heading.
So Leo – let’s have ten, you can only have ten, commandments please!
This could be lengthy but I’m gonna go with what I think biking is, and number one is freedom. I think when you get on a bike you have to have that freedom. I meet so many people who are baffled by my job and cycling but I say to everyone ‘you just need to ride a bike’. Looking on Instagram you might think ‘oh these tricks are cool and unachievable’ but the reality is you’ve just not found the right bike. There’s road cycling, gravel, mountain biking, track cycling, there’s so much and all of them have that same element of freedom, so my number one is freedom.
Number two is what could I go for number two? I think inclusion is a massive thing for me and running back to my number one, you can literally go into a shop and choose what sport you want to do and there’s no barrier to say that you don’t deserve to have that bike or you don’t deserve to be on that bike. So I think a more inclusive industry, it’s only better for brands, it’s better for people around you, you’re always gonna have fun and people around to ride with. If the sport is more inclusive then I think everyone wins together.
Number three, I said it then, fun.
Everything has to be fun. I’m one of them people where if I don’t like something I’ll stay so far away from it. If you’re not having fun there’s something not right that you’re doing, and you need to go find it somewhere else.
I often say if you’re not having fun on a bike ride you’re doing it with the wrong person.
Exactly, well my number four: what I’m about to say is friendship. Community and friendship in this whole cycling world is key and I feel like racing, you’re kind of you against the world. I kind of get baffled when I watch racers and their parents who are like so strict on what they should be doing on the day, when really everyone knows if you ride with a group and in a pack you’re always going to progress together and get way further.
So number five, I’ll go into a bit of a manifesto tangent of what I think to diversity and inclusion in cycling.
I’m gonna run it back to 2017 when female athletes weren’t as respected as they are now. Bike brands didn’t really cater to a female market, but look what happened over COVID where brands started to invest in female cycling and female cyclists globally – not only in the UK, but globally. That’s had a snowball effect now where you can go to the bike park and I love to see just as many females as we do males. Especially at my local, female riding is equal to male riding, there’s always even numbers when you go to the bike park now.
Let’s give props to your local, which is your local?
I’m at Farmer John’s Bike Park! It’s a mega little spot in the north!
So, I’m running on from this ethos – the blueprint of what female riding had – and COVID had that snowball effect where more females bought bikes, brands made a lot more money out of that. If we took that blueprint with ethnic riders then we’d have way more people come into the sport. I feel like with mountain biking you can’t be something if you can’t see it and if I’m the only black athlete in the UK that’s actually pulling a living out of this sport, I find that super embarrassing. So if we go back to how women’s marketing came in and how the sales transferred to now having such a big market for females, I just think we can just take that blueprint, switch it to marketing towards the whole new market of black and ethnic riders – I feel like everyone will win going forward with that.
How no brand has thought of this is absolutely mind-boggling. It’s such an easy transition and we saw it with women. It took maybe three to five years for it now to be thriving the way it is.
I’ve been here for 9!
You’ve got to admit it’s the last five years where we’ve seen the boom.
It’s been a long road!
Yeah, a very long road which is embarrassing. I find it so embarrassing that it had to do that.
So we see brands now where they’re in this rut of they’ve done the same marketing tactics for the last 15 years. It’s like how can you be so dumb to see that you’re marketing to the same fans, the same people who already have bikes. They’re not gonna go buy another bike when they don’t actually need it, and even if they do need it they’ll probably just go down the warranty route, so they’re still not gonna buy a new bike! I just feel like if they marketed to this whole new market then the numbers would come back and we’d thrive.
I’d feel more validated in the industry because it is so embarrassing for me being one of the only ethnic riders that actually pull a wage from this sport. I hate it, I actually hate it. I find it so embarrassing, I can’t stand it. So that’s my manifesto for number five.
That’s number five. That’s a biggie! So you’ve got five more!
Number six. I said it kind of in my rant, but if you can’t see it you can’t be it. Like you definitely can’t, if you’re not seeing something in front of you where it’s relatable, how on earth are you ever gonna be that? So, linking it back to people of colour, you can’t see – you can’t be it.
Number seven. Do your own thing. Don’t get too blinded by what you see online, it’s all kind of fake! Like, just go out, go have fun. Go be who you want to be in this industry. Make a plan of what you want out of the sport. Some people just want to ride as a leisure activity, some people want to become professional, but if you keep doing what you’re doing and staying in your lane then people will gravitate towards that.
Number eight… go follow Calibre Bikes! A big change in my life was joining that brand. I got to see the development of bikes and how we can make biking more accessible as a firm, and I think we’re we’re definitely gonna do that towards the end of this year where we’re launching a new fleet of bikes which will definitely be affordable. Especially, like, if you’re coming out of school and on an apprentice wage, these bikes are definitely gonna be for you.
We’re on number nine now… now we’re struggling!
I can’t believe you haven’t got more opinions, or more ways to change the world!
There’s opinions, but then I feel like I’ve covered it with the last bits!
I feel number nine is ‘come on brand managers just really sort yourself out’. I feel like the marketing in this sport is so dated. If we go and compare this to football, or, you can compare it to any sport really. I just feel like it’s one way – like it’s so tunnel vision. It’s like ‘how can you not see where you’re going wrong?’. It’s mind-boggling.
Number ten: just be yourself, be happy, and keep riding bikes. Keep shredding!
That’s kind of opinions, kind of how I feel right now on the spot. But yeah that’s been me Landosteezy, and I hope you enjoy.
Thank you very much. Cheers!
