Checking in With Sam Hill - Crankworx Rotorua
Sam Hill's a man of few words, an incredible athlete who'd rather let his riding do the talking than wax poetic for hours about every little detail of his life. Even so, we were still able to catch up with Hill for a brief moment before today's Crankworx downhill begins.
How long have you been here in New Zealand?We've been in New Zealand for two weeks - we did some filming on the South Island for Mavic. I'm getting excited to get home again. After this I'll have a week at home, and then the first World Cup.
You're competing in the Enduro World Series opener – have you done many enduro races before?Just local stuff at home; the SRAM Gravity Enduro that we raced in January would be the biggest one. It's a bit of a challenge, something different.
How much pre-riding have you done of the course? (There are seven stages for Saturday's race – Ed.) Me and Mike have done pretty much one run on all of them. There's some good trails – don't really have any idea where I'm going. I'll ride it as if it's the first time, try to push and stay smooth and upright I guess.
Did you think at all about clipping in since there's so much more pedaling than a DH race?Nah.
Do you have any expectations as far as results go?I don't really see a win happening. I don't know – it's the first one, I'll probably learn a lot from this week. Tomorrow I'll try to get through all the stages clean and smooth, and then wherever I end up, if I'm not far back at the end of each stage I'll be happy with it.
Do you have plans to do more EWS events this season? Yeah, I'm scheduled to do Ireland and then the last two rounds as well.
The Crankworx Rotorua downhill race is later today – what do you think of the track?The track's good. I'm probably running a bit low on track time trying to do both events. Again, just trying to get time on my bike, have a good time and get through the weekend.
You have a new prototype bike for the downhill too – how's that treating you? Were there any major geometry changes from the previous Pulse? It's a prototype – it's really good. I can't really tell you much more about it.
Mike Jones' prototype Nukeproof. As far as specifics go, so far the team is keeping tight lipped about any details.
It looks like you've got a nice rat tail going - what's the plan? Keep growing it until World Champs? Yeah, it's been going for a while. We'll see how it goes.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
"Nah"
If I were going to do an EWS race I'd over-train my ass off and when I got to the starting gate I'd be like, "if I don't win this thing I will forever think of myself as a loser! My friends will laugh at me and I will have to relocate! Fuuuuugh me!"
But a pro like Sam approaches it like, "I'm gonna check this thing out and do my best, but I'm not gonna get wigged out or expect a podium. It's a learning experience. "
This is what separates the pros from schmucks like me.
Whoops forgot the link
.............Nah!!