Here's what he had to say...PB: Shaums, most of us know about Mad March Racing, and the Chumba Wumba team, did you want to give us your vitals? Age, residence….
SM: 29, living up in Canada, married to Aleisha Kline. I’ve won one Norba National and came top 5 in a couple and been around for almost 10 years now racing .
PB: You’ve been around through the good and the bad.
SM: Yeah, a little bit of the good I feel like I got in right as it was getting good and you know I missed a couple of boats as I came up but I jumped on a couple here and I’ve been doing pretty well.
PB: Excellent. Would you like to compare racing since we mentioned it’s heyday, Would you like to compare racing then to what we see now with things like the lack of a prize purse and major sponsor for the Norba?
SM: I mean I see basically the industry now is kind of hurting for the industry health, you know, for itself basically. You know, to get sponsors to pay you for basically anything now is getting tough, so you’ve really got to be diverse. So instead of having a race contracted, your contracts now are not just for the race summer, they’re for year-round. So they want to know you’re going to be doing a lot more than just racing.
PB: Do you attribute that change to a lack of industry money, fewer races or do you attribute it to sponsor whore riders coming in and saying "hey I’ll ride, just give me some free stuff?"
SM: Um, I definitely a little bit of each but I think what’s going on is the marketing that the mountain bike companies have done um in mountain bike magazines has pretty much covered all of their marketing that they need to do in advertising. They, they’ve hit their maximum marketing, you know, capabilities so by sponsoring racers they’re not benefiting anymore. So what they’ve done they’ve found out in the last year, talking to a few companies, is that they’ve actually done the whole survey of we don’t need to sponsor racers, we don’t get our turnout and our sales from race sponsorship, we get it from OEM and we get it from magazine sales. And there’s videos now, so that’s why you really need to be diverse to make sure that you can fit in all of these areas before a sponsor is going to take a look at you to with a money contract.
PB: OK. Do you think it is difficult to get into the movie industry as a rider?
SM: Yes, it is. It’s definitely difficult but I think it, as well, if you’re talented um you can definitely get into some videos. I think to have major spots in video now it is tough, you know, especially because a lot of the video people are wanting your sponsors to kick into the video to put you in. So it’s not even that riders are getting paid for it like everybody thinks, it’s your sponsors who are paying them to get in there.
PB: Sometimes it’s as much who you ride for as how much talent you’ve got. You’ve got a bit of a unique perspective, obviously your wife Aleisha is a is a top pro skier. Would you compare the two sports - are they sort of similar? Is this a common issue or is this a mountain bike specific thing?
SM: No. Well right now I think its mountain biking has kinda hit that plateau for a little bit where, you know, technology has come out and it can’t really get any better and we’ve pretty much sold as much top of the line gear to all the racers and people who are in the industry and now we’re stuck with people not wanting to buy new bikes, they just wanna upgrade the parts, otherwise they’re buying used bikes. And so you’re getting a lot of people that are, or a lot of companies that are trying to sell these new top of the line bikes that have nobody to sell them to because we already have all the bikes
PB: So you’re saying there’s a bit of a glut on the market?
SM: Exactly. So it’s pretty flooded and we’re trying to find new avenues to bring people into cycling ‘cuz people love it once they get into it. I mean skiing was the same way. You had the big ski era and then it kind of died off and became snowboarding but skiing is on it’s way back So I think mountain biking, once it gets established and people can see that it’s not just huckers and it’s not just about video but it’s about great riding and just being on your own, it’s a good way to venture and do whatever you want. It’s like freeing or something.
PB: I agree. I agree.
SM: Yeah I was comparing it to the other day the only other vehicle that’s as versatile as a mountain bike would be a trials motorcycle.
PB: The motorcycle being a bit more expensive and a little tougher to find venues, too.
SM: Well, yeah, then you’ve got gas and you’ve got and it is a heavy thing usually you have to put it in your truck or something. But a mountain bike you can leave from your house and you can ride anywhere. So it’s something for kids and adults that they can get into very easily and really make use of it rather than just using on the weekend.
PB: You’re a bit of a pioneer. Not only have you been around for a while, but you’re one of the first professional athletes in the mountain bike industry that I know of to start schools - Mad March racing and Shaums March training camps. Did you want to give us a little background?
SM: Well basically the companies that I’ve started have been just based off of my own personality that are really friend related that are more of a social gathering as well but learning some fun stuff that you can take with you not a full on you know you need to sit down and read this book and you need to work on these skills its not a training program it’s more of a riding program and so we get a lot of people that are looking for trainers but that’s not what I do we do more riding so we get a lot of women and kids and people that are basic riders otherwise they’re actually junior expert riders that are wanting to get to that next level of a pro level otherwise they’re thinking you know I can’t keep up to my friends you know I’m scared of the 4 foot drops but they’re already doing 8 foot drops. We do different things like that so you could get people into it.
PB: So you custom tailor to each student’s sort of…
SM: Yeah. And we do a lot of private coaching and that’s pretty much we get a lot of people emailing and doing one on ones otherwise they bring just 2 of their friends, groups that are smaller that we don’t actually advertise for but once we have people that are interested we let them know what we can do and it becomes really easy to put a camp together for yourself. We do a lot of traveling around with the Nationals to show people that it’s a basic way to learn and get better so one of the things that we like to say is if we can help you 5 % on a 5 minute course that’s 15 seconds. So if people can grasp that idea and they go to race and they can say Jeez I’m in eighth place by only 5 seconds well if you can get 5 % better you’re going to win.
PB: Exactly.
SM: That’s the thing, and we can almost guarantee a 5 %. You know, it’s that easy that if I can show you, look you’re doing this wrong and this wrong and let me show you how you’re turning and how you’re braking and you know all of these things could be better. And all we have to do is really work on one thing that their lacking and that’s what I work with all the guys that I’m doing now is I don’t try to make them work harder I just try to work on their weak points.
PB: OK. You’re definitely one of the most personable riders in the industry that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I think that would probably come off well with the Training Camps and the unique thing is that you travel throughout North America. People can be anywhere and be a part of your “school”.
SM: Yeah. What we’re doing with the school as well is a lot of people think of a pro racer are not really great teachers. They’re great riders but my background is actually teaching.
PB: Interesting, I never knew you taught
SM: Yeah, I taught college for a few years. So you know teaching was something I like to do but I love riding bikes and why not get into that? And so what I was doing I was finding a lot of people at the Nationals that as you walk a course the groups that I was walking with would become 5, 6 and 7 people wanting to find out what would be the best way to ride this. So then we just started doing little things, you know, how about for 20 bucks everybody come ride and we’ll do a couple rounds and we’ll work on stuff. So now we have standard race clinics at the U.S. Nationals that we can go to and for $100 you can come hang out and we show you the lines, we ride with you for the afternoon and we do bike setups. Yeah, we do a lot of things like that which are really cool and the traveling makes it a good rounded organization. We’re based out of Squamish now and we can actually do 3 or 4 locations and go to those locations and do 3 or 4 camps at each one. So we’re still getting ourselves established and making sure we’re going about it correctly with the right and proper insurance and making sure all of our instructors are very personable and able to talk with people and not just give grunts and make braap sounds. You’ve got to be able to explain these things not just you know make noises.
PB: Did you want to mention some of the instructors that you bring on to the camps?
SM: Yeah, actually right now we’ve got Lisa Sher, the U.S. National champion. We’ve got Todd Bosch from the east coast, and he was 22nd last year, and then Lars Tribus from the east coast as well. And both those guys are really personable people and really into riding just ‘cuz they love to ride. And I think our whole team is kind of like that. We’re not in it because we’re trying to make a million dollars we’re probably right in the middle of the class with everybody making money. It’s not that we’re rich and we just want to go out there and make more money, we’re just happy to be out here. We just want to help people get into it.
PB: We talked about pay a little bit before the interview – you’ve got a few major sponsors – Chumba Wumba, Red Bull – you’re one of the few sponsored Red Bull riders - and did you want to mention any of your other sponsors?
SM: We’ve got a few other sponsors. Like we’ve got an off road truck company Camber and Camber helps us set up our vehicles so that we can do shuttle runs up whatever kind of terrain we need to go on. So our van has been set so that it’s got almost 10 inches of wheel travel. And then we’ve got a trailer. We’ve got different sponsors all over from the logos to shoes to clothing that we wear to glasses and the best way for people to get into it is definitely to get the industry sponsors. By getting product here and there but for people to make money you’ve got to be doing it really well. You’ve got to have a good name but it’s to grab the outside sponsors just like any industry you see out there. Nascar and IRL you always see Tide soap and things like that so that’s a lot of things that we do work is bringing those in to whatever sponsor or whatever program we have and right we probably are doing 50 % maybe even a little more that’s outside the industry. A lot of people are saying you can’t make money, no you can’t make money in the industry, it’s about bringing the outside industry into your industry. We can’t eat off of our own industry and feed off of it, it’s just going to get smaller that way. I think that’s what happened for a few years as well. Is that we had big GT that ran their company and the Cannondale Volvo was on the right track with Volvo but I think they just didn’t do enough return to keep that whole thing rolling. If they would have come out with some sort of a program earlier, the SOBE ride clinics or camps would probably have held onto their sponsorships. I think the marketing of the whole industry as well has been not on par with the extreme television stuff that’s out there. And that’s what we are. So I think that our cycling program and the U.S.A. cycling head people there are basically not understanding where we are. They’re thinking that they are traditional road cycling, cross-country and now downhill. No, no. Downhill’s not just a traditional – it’s an extreme sport and they need to sell it as that. They need to excite it and throw lights on it and make it flash like a big billboard and then you bring road and you bring cross-country as well. That’s my opinion and I think that for mountain biking and our free-riding thing that we might need something new to be our governing body because I don’t think that we’re going to get it where we are.
PB: Do you think the Red Bull events and the new Jeep King of Mountain series are a good start?
SM: I think that a lot of these events are a good start. You know the Jeep King of the Mountain, the Red Bull Ride, the Red Bull Rampage. Right now as I see it we basically have Red Bull supporting our industry. They’re one of my sponsors and I love them but it is tough talking with them. They’re like yes we’ve got riders and we support your industry. You know, thanks, but we were trying to get other stuff out there. Yeah, I would definitely like to be part of one of these programs that does come out and makes a whole new federation then maybe or something like that that we could start doing and not be tied in with cross-country or road and limited to their coaching books things like that. Start our own.
PB: The unfortunate thing is to make a living in this industry goes beyond just being fast and throwing races, it’s a lot of marketing there as well and I think that we’ve got to start piggy-backing on a lot of these companies like Honda and Nissan that are already poaching our industry some of their exposure we’ve got to start getting them to pony up and giving back to the industry as well
SM: Exactly. And we shouldn’t have to trick them into it. We need to think of good smart marketing ways to pull them in. So they’re excited and not disappointed at the end. So they can say that it was worth it, that it was exciting, they’re excited to do it again. But I think a lot of the sponsorship deals that I’ve seen go down are one-year deals because they can’t pull their weight and the marketing that they’re promising just doesn’t happen. For whatever reason. TV not showing up, or their athletes not doing well or whatever but we’ve got to have something that can bring in the people to get the return that your looking for.
PB: Good insight, that could go a long way. Beyond the marketing that you’ve got to do for yourself, what else do you have to do to earn that paycheque and make a living solely through the industry?
SM: Well, I think I’m definitely a special case out there because I’ve been here for so long, I’m a good established name, people know that I am doing this program, the Mad March Racing Program, and that it works and it sells. I’ve had bike shops order product just from talking to me and I’ve had my sponsors thank me – call me up and say thank- you, you know we got a call from so and so, they mentioned your name and we want to order whatever. So I get a lot of that but I think as well it’s being an all around person – traveling around, making sure that whatever I do I’m representing our sport. I don’t walk away from the job when I’m not at a race. My life is mountain bikes and I am Shaums March - pro mountain bike racer. Everything I do is about bikes and my camps and growing the program and our sport. But I think that’s where people have to turn is to understand that’s the lifestyle you have got live to make it work. You can’t just do this as a job and think you can go home and it’s going to be different.
PB: It goes beyond just being fast?
SM: Definitely. It’s beyond being fast and thinking how big you can go and what kind of gear you have. I have down times as well when I’m broke and I have nothing but you keep going and it all turns around. It goes up and down, that’s the cycle. Since 9/11 things are down and we’re going to have to make everybody buckle down and live thin on the wallet and see how it goes for a year or 2 and make sure we get al of our sponsors back again. And keep our heads up and know that the industry is going to do well because if we don’t think the industry is going to do well why should anybody else.
PB: We have to stick it through and it’s going pay off in the long run.
SM: Right now we have a good backing of top pro riders that are just on the verge of their last years. Already Lee Donovan and Myles Rockwell. So I’m hoping we’ll see them back doing something for the sport. We’ll have to see and maybe we’ll have to approach them and ask them to help out but I think a few of them would be ready and are willing.
PB: Anyone you wanted to thank…
SM: Basically I want to thank all of our sponsors and we’ve got Red Bull, Chumba Wumba, Dragon, Maxxis Tires, Sun Ringle, Time Pedals – actually I’m riding clips too – that’s a new thing for me,
PB: Clipless? Can you still pull a nac-nac clipped in?
SM: Haven’t tried yet. Then there's Fox, Azonic, Magura and Freestyle Watches.
PB: Can we look for you in anything coming up outside the races?
SM: A few videos , we’ve got the Rise video that I’ve been shooting with and hopefully I’ll do some more. There’s a couple other people that I’ve shot with. The Ride Guide – I should have a segment on the ride guide. Drop –In ‘s going to be stopping by soon. And hopefully everybody will see the Camp sign around soon so check out madmarchracing.com and anybody interested in any kind of lessons send an email and we can usually work something out.
PB: Thanks Shaums, it’s been a pleasure talking with you. Good Luck this season!
SM: :Thanks Mike!
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