Andrew Mitchell Outlook for 2010

Two Time Canadian Champion Andrew Mitchell is proud to announce his signing with Intense Bicycles and Dunbar Cycles. Drew will be piloting Intense's 951 DH bike for the 2010 race season.

Interview about the upcoming season with pics and video inside,

*You must have a sense of humor before proceeding*I called up Drew to ask him about his 2010 Season, I caught him while he was waiting in the hospital to get the stitches out of his ankle from his recent ankle surgery.



Drew, how did 2009 racing season go?
It was less than awesome. I had a good start. Good placing at the first Canadian National Cup (2nd with hitting a tree). I was kind of struggling early season cause I was still getting over a broken hand. Then at my first world cup at Mt. Saint Anne, I ended up busting my ankle, I twisted the ankle about 100 degrees to the right and broke the top of my talus bone and ripped off some cartilage in my tib-fib. Yeah, so that was pretty much the end of my season. For the rest of the season I struggled with my ankle recovery. I found out this past winter that I had a cyst on the broken bones that was preventing the bones from healing. I got surgery on it 3 weeks ago and I am already back on the bike getting ready for the season.


The other day I saw you drinking a protein shake, you then proceeded to watch 3 focus in slow motion for the following 4 hours. It seems that you have a new fire burning inside, what's up with that?
It's part of my new training program. I am going to watch every mountain bike movie in slow motion and absorb the knowledge like a sponge. Ha ha ha, nah I'm not doing that at all. What's wrong with you? Why would you ask that?

But yeah, the protein shakes I like. Protein helps my hurt ankle bulk up. I want to get my hurt ankle to bulk up to be twice the size of my other one. I'm so competitive that even my body parts have to compete against each other.

I heard that this last winter you got offered a pretty lucrative deal as a Sears Catalog Underwear model yet you turned it down to stick with mountain biking. Why?
Since I couldn't ride my bike during the winter I decided to try plan B, which like most people, is a career as a underwear model for Sears. As it turns out you have to actually be good looking to be a model, so that didn't work out either. Ha ha, but yeah luckily around the same time the surgeons came back and told me that they could fix my ankle. It worked out perfect as I would much rather be a mountain biker over a model.

Didn't you race BMX when you were like 2?
Yeah, I raced from 2-4 then got into hockey and Lacrosse for a bit. I got back into biking when I was 9 and started seriously racing when I was 12.

I heard from your personal trainer that he thinks you have the power of an Olympic weight lifter. How important do you think training in the gym is for Downhill racing now compared to 5-10 years ago?
Yeah, the freedom of information these days is letting everyone know that in order to achieve that next level, you do have to push your body to the limit. Being a natural on a bike will only take you so far as a racer. Everyone is trying to add that extra edge. I know for me, I am training a lot harder. I think all the top pros are doping though, nah I'm just kidding.


What have you done differently this winter compared to previous winters in your training?
For the first part of the winter I couldn't do much with my bum ankle so I had to look for other ways for me to get my speed fix. I bought a rally car from a chick and we stripped everything out, but we didn't put in a roll cage. On the 3rd day I rolled it and almost died. I am probably going to have a roll bar in my next rally car. Once my ankle is ready to go I will be riding tons of cross country and have been spending a few days a week with a trainer. Just can't wait to get into some racing.

How does the new bike ride compared to other race bikes you have had?
It's just more of a monster truck bike. I can just plow through anything. It feels like a big couch with air underneath it, but I can still flick it around and double up sections. I just like the inspired confidence I get from it when coming into a section and just knowing that if I get in trouble the bike is going to just mash through it for me.

Drew's 2010 Intense 951:

by dunbarcycles

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What is up with Vancouver Island producing some seriously fast racers? Yourself, Stevie Smith, Kyle Marshall, Remi Gauvin, Mike Jones, all the top XC racers?
I think that the Island has a really good race atmosphere and over the years has been getting stronger. There is going to be some new groms coming up soon as well, so look out for even more!

I can't help noticing that you have chosen to keep your handle bars under 30 inches... what's wrong with you? Haven't you gotten the memo? That's not cool anymore!
Yeah, everyone is crazy. There all so huge. I'm just gonna go fast with my little bars.

If you were a crime fighter by night, what would your Super Hero Name be?
Would I have super powers?

Of Course!
What Powers?

You can smell cheese from extremely far away distances!
I would be the Scared Squirrel!

That's a horrible name!
Okay... I would be Turbo Bot!


What's your schedule for this year looking like?
I am going to be hitting up the Canada Cups, the US Open, maybe a couple of BC cups. Providing I get on the team, I want to do World Champs. I'm going to do the New York World Cup and maybe some European World Cups. For sure Crankworx, and I want to reclaim the Canadian Champ Title.

Who else do you wanna give a shout out too?
My Family and Emily!

Andrew's Sponsors for the 2010 Race Season are:
Dunbar Cycles
Intense Bicycles
Straitline Components
Sombrio Clothing
Kali Protectives
Smith Optics
Spishacks New and approved Do It Yourself Home STD Test Kit, "Because you can't be sure until you have checked it yourself"

Words by:
Adam Mantle