Interview: Justin Leov

When we pulled together our 20 riders to watch in 2014 piece the first email that arrived was from the editor of NZ's Spoke Magazine, Caleb Smith, making it very clear that we had dropped the ball in a big way by not including Justin Leov. As is very much his style, Justin showed up to the 2013 season without fanfare, he raced hard and posted some ok results reaching the back half of the top ten on a good day. Yet with the birth of the series and the huge number of relatively unknown riders and high profile crossovers it was all-too-easy for his unassuming approach to slip beneath the radar. Come round two of 2014 in Scotland he pushed Nico Lau and Joe Bares all the way to the wire, eventually for settling for second by the smallest of margins, putting himself firmly on the map. During that first season he had clearly learnt about the discipline, studied his weaknesses and spent the winter putting the hard hours in. From that race on he propelled himself to the forefront of the sport, narrowly missing out on wins more than once in 2014, denied by cruel twists of fate. It turns out Caleb was right on the money as Justin finished the season the number three rider in the world on the back of his consistently strong performances. When the series rolled back into Scotland for round three this year he finally capitalised on that potential and grabbed his first win - his first ever win on the international stage. With that win he heads into round four as the series leader, so we caught up with him to find out more about the transition from New Zealand's most successful downhiller to their most successful enduro racer.


When the times came in in Scotland was it more joy or relief for you?
It was definitely a relief, I've been so close before to winning a round and I knew I had the form and speed to do it but its bloody hard at these things to get everything to pull together for the whole weekend. These races you can't read into them to much until after you cross the finish line on the last stage. Obviously you need to be in the hunt and consistent on every stage but so much can change so quickly. I was so relieved to finally pull it together.

You've been so close a few times before, that must have been frustrating knowing you had all the elements in place to win, but it not quite coming together.

Yeah it is really frustrating, especially when you know in yourself you could have done it and then it gets out of your grasp for what ever reason. But you know that's why these EWS races are so great, they are a battle to the end and your up against tough conditions and tough dudes who don't back down. The days when it doesn't go your way pisses you off but then you regroup, get angry and push hard at the next round so its motivation. That's what keeps pushing this sport as well, there is no room for any weakness from equipment or rider.


Does coming into the next race as series leader change anything for you?

Not for me it doesn't. Every race I want to give it everything I have and that will never change while I'm racing. Having the series lead is a nice bonus and it makes me proud to holding it but it doesn't make me feel any extra pressure.

Do you feel it adds pressure or takes it away?

I feel comfortable with where I'm currently at so if I had to pick between the two it would be taking it away. I know France will be tough but in fact my favorite race format is the French system. Its also the round I'm most looking forward to of the year so yeah no added pressure.

A few years ago there was a running joke that enduro is a retirement home for old downhillers, yet if you look at the sharp end in the men's competition only you, Nico Vouilloz and Fabien Barel have successfully made the transition from downhill to consistent front runners - what do you think it is that meant you could succeed where so many others have failed?

That joke cracked me up when I read it, a typical reaction from someone who has never been to one of these events. Of course we are still racing a gravity event and the downhill skills do play a major part but were not racing one stage of three to five minutes. Its quite a different thing to be able to ride for five to seven hours and race seven stages, all full on. I think that's the main difference to why some Downhill guys can make the transition to Enduro and some can't. You need the physiology and training, when I look at what we are doing I actually think I was always more suited to enduro than downhill. I just didn't know it until enduro became a World Series sport and I got the opportunity to race some. But even then there was so much to learn, Its taken me until now to really figure out how to train and especially how to race these things.


Going into enduro Fabien and Jared very noticably changed their whole body shapes and even riding styles - to what extent have you had to adapt to the discipline?

Well a few years ago two hours was a long ride for me. I was well used to interval sessions but two hour plus rides were not in my everyday plan. Now a days a two hour ride is almost a warm up. Being able to head out for four to six hours is no problem and my body has had to adapt to that. I've kept up the strength/power and speed so its been a case of adapting to longer sessions with those elements thrown in as well. Its amazing how your body changes though, you become a lot more efficient with your energy and you learn what the important points are to training like this. One example of this is gearing. In my DH days I would muscle a nine speed trail bike with a 36 tooth up anything. My rides were shorter and I would just stand up and put extra power down on training rides. You try and do that everyday for a week climbing hour climbs and see what your knees are like after. Looking after my body long term is now much more important to me to be able to do this discipline.

Living in NZ means you can't just hop back and forth to Europe or the States, and your first child just turned one, how much harder does having a kid at home make the travelling for you?

It was really really tough last year! I was doing a lot of travel and that isn't ideal for any racing. Heading back and forth to NZ it was evident we needed to get a base in Europe for this season. With Tory and Luca based in Finale with me its a piece of cake now. I always miss those two when I'm away from them but knowing I can be back to them in a few hours ( not two days of travel to see them ) is helping a lot. I'm fortunate to have such a supportive wife, without that there would be no way to manage a home life and a racing career. Team Leov!


Can you talk about your involvement with the Trek DH squad? What do you do, how do you help the riders?

I'm currently working for Trek World Racing and that involves everything from advice on lines down the course, timing the guys through sections and being a bit of a mentor to the guys. When I was racing sometimes you never really had enough time to fully know how you were going on course in all sections. I'm basically the guy who can figure that out and allow the riders to just focus on their own riding. Its a busy week at the World Cups and can mean a lot of moving around, or hanging about watching lines. It is a super good feeling though when the guys ride well and are stoked. That makes all the effort worth it.

Does working with DH riders mean you're back on the DH bike often?

Not at all, everything I ride off road these days is on my Trail bike.

While in some countries that struggle to produce more than a handful of world-level racers there seems to be a culture of complaining about their national races, in NZ (and Aus) it seems to be accepted that if you want progress you head to Europe for the summer to gypsy it up, have a crack at some World Cups and race other series like the IXS Cup. How significant do you think this willingness to pack up and follow the races is to the number of Kiwis and Australians you see at the World Cups?

Yeah when I started DH that was the only way to do it and it seems like its rubbing off on the new generation of riders too. I see a lot of that "lifestyle" going on and I think good on them. For some its about trying to get results and on a team but for others its just a great way to enjoy racing at the highest level with your mates. Its a good way to do your OE I reckon too for a MTBer. I often refer to the gypsy life or "Van Life" as doing your apprenticeship. You need to do the hard yards to get noticed and often its too expensive to stay in hotels. Makes em tough and I tell you what, if you do crack it onto a pro deal you appreciate it so much!


By our math you're the most successful kiwi downhiller ever, while you never won a World Cup, you were consistently top-ten fast all the time, on pretty much every track. That kind of skill sounds more like a winning combination for enduro - fast everywhere in a discipline where the final one or two percent are less critical. Yet when you were coming up enduro didn't really exist as a thing, at least not outside France. Do you think if it existed in the way it does now you might have opted for enduro rather DH?

Yeah I absolutely would have! Damn it, why didn't we have an EWS ten years ago!!! Haha. To be honest though I was happy with my consistent races in DH, top tens are hard to hit every weekend but on the flip side they are not podiums or wins. With Enduro I can continue to be consistent and that puts me in with a shot to win. Racing to win is really exciting, it keeps the stoked level topped up. I feel like Enduro is home!

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