Nigel Page: The Interview

Anyone who has come into contact with World Cup Downhill, Dual or 4X over the last decade will undoubtedly know Nigel Page. After a super fast rise through the ranks in the late 90's Nigel became a consistent performer at World Cup level in the early 2000s. Following on from a successful pro riding career Nigel has remained at the forefront of World Cup competition as the manager of the Chain Reaction/Nukeproof World Cup team, brand ambassador at Nukeproof and co-commentator at Freecaster with Rob Warner. As a result he is certainly more in touch with the sharp end of racing than most of us. We thought we'd grab a few minutes with Nige to chat over the 2011 season, the current state of DH racing, and the future direction of the sport.

Nige shredding his local trails aboard his own designed Nukeproof Mega:


First of all, we've all heard the news of Matti Lehikoinen's awful crash at the Nordic Downhill Championships. With the crash being over a month ago now can you give us any update on his condition?

Yeah Matti had a bad crash in Sweden at the Nordic Championships on his race run. It seems like as hit the ground a rock came in the front of his helmet, breaking the mouth guard off and causing the injuries to his face. He said the crash wasn't even that bad, he just seems to have rotten luck with injuries every year! He is doing OK now and is back home eating solid foods and driving around so he is well on the way to a full recovery. He just had a really rough time of it for a couple of weeks after the crash.


As CRC/Nukeproof team manager and a personality who has been around the World Cup circuit for many years, how has the 2011 season been from your point of view?

I think the WC season has been a good one this year. Aaron Gwin has dominated this season, proving he had the speed to win on any kind of track, which I think is a good thing to push everyone else to try and stop that happening again next year. Its good to have a fresh rider come in and mix things up. I think the training and preparation Aaron must have put in last winter was the key to his success as well as being a great bike rider. The other top guys are going to have to increase their effort and training in the off season. Its not good enough now to just be a strong/fit rider for the flatter tracks and super skilled rider for the steep more technical tracks. Aaron has it all!

It has also been the year where a lot of the young riders have come thorough to the top positions, which hasn't happened for a while. Obviously Danny Harts Worlds win was one of the highlights of the year but to win the World Cup title Danny will have to put the work in to improve his performances on the flatter less technical tracks.

This is great for our sport as I think next year it could be a really close battle for the title if they all put the effort into their training and preparations. As cool as it was to see Aaron Gwin step it up a level and dominate, it is better for the fans and spectators when it is a close battle down to the last race. 2012 could be the best season in a long time!

As far as the Chain Reaction Cycles / Nukeproof team went, then it has some good moments but also was a little disappointing. We have 4 really talented DH riders who are all capable for top 10s and getting close to the podium. However it didn't quite happen for us this season. With Matt Simmonds and Lewis Buchanan getting injured right at the start of the season and Joe and Matti just not quite finding their potential. Matti got his confidence together at the end of the season and his 8th place finish at the World Cup finals in Val Di Sole showed he has the pace and skills. However, we did do a full season on our new Nukeproof Scalp bikes, which we all had input into the design. We didn't crack or break one single frame all season and they worked amazing all year, so that was a massive achievement for our first year with a new bike brand.

Matt Simmonds' broken kneecap was just one of the major injuries suffered by Team CRC in 2011.
You cut the team numbers down for 2011 and seemed to focus a lot on young UK riders, how has that been for you and is this a deliberate strategy?

Yes we had too many riders really for the staff we have at races. Also, because we were starting with a new bike brand that needed testing in the off season we thought it would be better to have more UK based riders, all fast with potential of making it to the top level over the next few years.

It has been good and had its positives and negatives. It would be best I think if we had one rider that was getting WC podiums and regular top 10 positions, but this is where Matti should be, he just hasn't had the luck or quite found that pace. Then the young riders would have something to see each week and strive to do the same. Sometimes the young riders have the speed but not the head or confidence to to achieve their potential. The other thing is, when we had Chris Kovarik on the team although Chris didn't get the results he is capable of the last few years, he still had a huge fan base which was good for the team. The younger riders don't have that yet, but they will.


You were obviously well known as a racer in the late 90's and early 2000's, how do you feel the sport of downhill has progressed (or not) since your time at the top level?

I think it has progressed like any sport, bikes have improved, riders have come through and taken things to new levels, and racing at World Cup has got closer in times for qualifying. I don't think it is harder in some ways though as the bikes and equipment are better for the job now, which makes it easier for the riders. As a sport what we need though is more TV coverage and good sponsors to achieve that. When I started and it was live on Eurosport sponsored by companies like Grundig, Tissot and Nissan, in this respect I think things have got worse.


Can you give us any insider info on the team for next year, any new sponsors or riders planned?

Ha ha, I wish I could, but that is far from sorted out yet! All I can tell you is that we will have a really cool, professional team again with great bikes.

There has been a lot of chat online recently regarding the future of the World Cup series, with a RockyRoads.net investing in title sponsorship of the series, Freecaster's live contract expiring and their new DH1 series looking like a credible alternative series. You are clearly in a more knowledgeable and educated position to comment on this than a lot of the speculation posted online, so what is your view on the future of the UCI series and the possibilities of an alternative?

Well basically a lot of the big teams had been talking and discussing the problems they encounter with the World Cup being governed by the UCI and its rules. They had all talked about other sports that create their own series that become the major series in those sports. So this year Organizers have listened to the teams and decided to try and create another kind of World series to run alongside the UCI world cup series. However, it now seems that their might be more than one other series which creates its own problems as different teams might end up supporting different series because it suits their team/sponsors/budget better? There is the DH1 series that Freecaster are doing, iXS already do a great European series and then their is talk of a 3rd series which would also be a good one. For a team, just the budget you need to do the full world cup series, some national rounds and a few other events is huge, so if you add another full series onto that it becomes a much bigger budget and a lot more time on the road, which is really hard. At the moment we haven't decided what we will be doing for 2012 but I think the UCI World Cup will still be the premiere series. i just hope the UCI listen to what the teams and riders want and maybe RockyRoads.net can help with this? I don't think anyone really knows at this point.


You were one of the riders who used to compete at the top level in DH, Duel, and 4X. What do you make of the recent decision to drop 4X from the UCI World Cup Calendar?

Yeah I just liked racing and competing in both disciplines when it was DH and Duel and then DH and 4X. I don't think it was a good decision to drop a gravity discipline from the World Cup.

I do think 4X needed a few changes to make it better in my opinion and more appealing to big bike companies to get involved in. But multi rider gravity disciplines are great for TV and spectators. From what I heard the UCI were saying the tracks cost too much money and the rider entries were not big enough etc, but to drop it all together was a bad decision. I would have liked to see the tracks made more natural that would not cost as much money and the riders on short travel suspension bikes similar to todays enduro bikes (but tweaked a little maybe) this would then appeal to the huge percentage of Mountain bikers that buy the enduro/trail bikes.

Just because the tracks may not look as impressive as a groomed 4X track with its big jumps and huge berms, it doesn't mean the racing would be any better than a more natural track with taped out flat and off camber corners, i think sometimes this would make more exciting racing. Just look at the footage from when we used to race at the Malvern's that was recently on the internet with Alex Rankins footage. Or the older duel tracks we had at Nevegal and Les Gets. Then maybe more-mid pack DH riders would race too, which would get the entry numbers up! In a perfect world I would like to see the tracks closer to 1 minute long like the Vans triple crown BMX tracks were, but with some fast flat corners to mix things up and some huge rhythm sections like MX superX. Again I think this would look better on full suspension bikes.

I hope 4X will continue on its own and grow bigger and better from now on, but it's going to be difficult at first with it not being a UCI world cup discipline. Everyone has different opinions about 4X, but that is mine.


You seem to be super busy during the season, presenting videos, managing the CRC team, and commentating on World Cup races with Rob Warner, do you ever get time to ride?

It is pretty busy doing all the different things but it's all good exposure for the team. The riders do the job of riding the bikes and I try to do what I can. CRC have been so good to us and make it possible to have the team, I try my best to get them as much exposure as possible. I believe you should work as hard as possible for the people that have been good to you. As for riding in the season - No I don't get a lot of time to do that. That is part of the reason I have started racing again at the BDS races. That is the only time I really ride DH. I get the odd ride in at some of the world cups if we are at the venue early enough but not a huge amount.

You've been very involved in the design and build of the Nukeproof frames, can you talk us through your role?

Yes, a few years ago now myself and Michael Cowan were talking about the parts that Nukeproof were making and we decided we should make frames as well. We thought with all the experience myself and mechanic Dave Garland had had over the years of riding and racing combined with the riders input between us all we could come up with a good bike. At that point I got together with Brant Richards to discuss what we wanted from the bike, geometry, sizes, suspension characteristics etc. Brant came up with a design to match that and then a prototype bike was built. I was amazed how well the bike rode straight away. All the Geometry I had asked for was spot on and felt great. I raced on the first prototype at a French DH race and it worked great and I won the race.

There were a few things with the first prototype that needed changing and tweaking, mainly linkage pieces and bearings, bolts etc. Dale and the guys at Nukeproof then got working on this adding braces in and then a few second generation prototypes were made and we took those out to San Romolo in Italy with the team riders to test and abuse them for a week. That week was really beneficial and we found a few little things that needed changing again with the frames. From this testing we altered the leverage curve a little bit on the frames, changed the design of a few linkage pieces again and bearings and then the race frames were made and this is what the team has ridden on all year! Pretty amazing really. As with all the Nukeproof frames, Scalp, Snap and Mega they are all designed around riders' input and feedback. I think this is the key to why the bikes have been so successful already. I love this stuff as much as the racing so it all ties in to make a great package. We are already looking and working on designs that Nukeproof will come out with in the future.


With so many big brands and great bikes out there, was it a scary or exciting proposition to design and build a bike from the ground up and have a top World Cup team get straight on to them?

Both. I had been with Intense bicycles for 11 years and always loved the bikes. So it was both really exciting but scary for me as the race team had to trust us that we would make them a great bike ready in time for the start of the 2011 season that would be as good as all the best bikes available. In the October before was the first time they had even rode prototype no.2 The whole team behind Nukeproof worked really hard and listened to what myself and Dave Garland had asked for and thankfully came up with a fully capable world cup race bike earlier than we have ever received bikes before the first races. The riders were super cool about everything and really liked the bike from the first test session. I think this year was the easiest job we have ever had with bikes. We have not broken or cracked one frame all year and they worked flawlessly on all the different tracks.

Dave Garland is pretty rapidly gaining a cult following of web viewers, being a strong character on the team and his popular how-to videos, how important is Dave to your operation?

Ha ha, I know, his tech vids are amazing. Mainly due to his ridiculous accent! But all joking aside, The fans really love Daves tips and I hear them coming by into the pits all over the world to thanks him. Dave is amazing at his job, he is a great friend too. He has done so much for me over the years when I was a racer and Dave is also a good rider himself so he understands how bikes should feel. Dave is 100% committed to the team and the riders and I could not do it all without him! That's about as close to a 'thanks Dave' he will probably get from me.

Dave Garland giving some tips on setup for wet races:


What is your favourite bike in the garage?

I would have to say my Nukeproof Mega at the moment, because I ride that the most and It works so well for lots of different types of rides, from epic XC rides to DH tracks.

This year has seen Aaron Gwin progress to a point of near invincibility on the World Cup circuit. What do you feel has been the main reasons that he has been able to suddenly step clear of the rest of the field?

I think Aaron has surrounded himself with great people to help him gain his maximum potential. I think the training and preparation he put in during the last off season would probably put a lot of riders to shame. His training and preparation I would imagine was for one goal only - to Win. As well as putting in the hard work he is also a very talented bike rider, but most importantly he has the fire and belief in himself to Win. I think that is where a lot of riders don't quite make it, even when they are super talented.



This year has seen Aaron Gwin progress to a point of near invincibility on the World Cup circuit. What do you feel has been the main reasons that he has been able to suddenly step clear of the rest of the field?

I think Aaron has surrounded himself with great people to help him gain his maximum potential. I think the training and preparation he put in during the last off season would probably put a lot of riders to shame. His training and preparation I would imagine was for one goal only - to Win. As well as putting in the hard work he is also a very talented bike rider but most importantly he has the fire and belief in himself to Win. I think that is where a lot of riders don't quite make it, even when they are super talented.

If you could change one thing about downhill racing as it is now, what would that be?

The TV coverage and exposure to the general public to show how good our sport is and how good the UK talent is!


What is 2012 going to hold for you personally and Team Chain Reaction/Nukeproof?

Well, for the team we are going to continue to strive for good results, gain our sponsors as much exposure as possible and be good ambassadors for them. We are also going to continue to use the team to help make the best bikes and components available from Nukeproof. Personally I am going to try and do my job to the best of my abilities and also be a good father to my new son Harrison and have enough time for my family. Which is hard sometimes in the race Season.

Thanks for taking time to answer these questions... Before we wrap it up, do you want to give any shout-outs?

No problem. Yes firstly I would like to say a huge thanks to Chain Reaction Cycles for allowing me to put this great team together and supporting us 100% I would like to thank my girlfriend Michelle for keeping it all together at home when I am away a lot in the summer.

Thanks also to all our sponsors for their continued support:

Nukeproof
Marzocchi
Mavic
Mercedes Benz
Vito Sport
Formula
Royal
THE
Schwalbe
e.thirteen
Vans
High5
Cane Creek
Muc-Off
Philip at SPY

Videos by MTBcut, pics courtesy of Sebastien Schieck/MTBcut