Interview: Slope Prodigy Patricia Druwen & Mentor Erik Fedko

If you follow slopestyle mountain biking, you've no doubt noticed the name Patricia Druwen. The young rider's name has become impossible to ignore in the last couple of years. She's proven that she's one to watch over and over, all while staying humble and down-to-earth, letting her riding do the talking. More familiar but just as impressive is Erik Fedko, a leader in slopestyle who lives close enough to Patricia to be her friend, mentor, and now Red Bull teammate. I had the chance to catch up with both of them to learn a bit more about how things work behind the scenes.

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Could you start by just telling me how you two met, how long you've known each other, and how your friendship is now?

Erik Fedko: We met two or three years ago. I remember we were riding, I think in Schanzenfeld. It's a spot close to Frankfurt in Germany and I used to ride there a lot. I think one day we were all riding with the boys and then Patricia and her dad showed up. I think that was the first time I saw Patricia. That must be three years ago I think. And we were all like, who's this? We never heard of her and back then she was already riding the table line and I think the small trail line, super steezy. That was when she showed up on our radar for sure.

Patricia, you're only 16 and you're already kind of making history in the bike world. Could you fill us in on the story of how you got into mountain biking and how you've made it to where you are today?

Patricia Druwen: I’d ride every day when I started to ride bikes and I learned new tricks every day. Yeah, I don't know, I just practice every day and get better. Now, I'm here.

You're here and it’s been a really quick progression. It's cool to see you at the top already.

PD: I started riding contests in 2021, yeah.

Erik, you’ve been riding contests for a little longer. What are you up to these days?

EF: I'm in Stuttgart at the moment. I was riding the spot here as the content season is over for me. It was not the best season for me, as I was injured after the first event in Rotorua and the injury took quite a long time for me to get back to 100%, which I'm still not at. With a complicated injury like I had on my foot, it's kind of scary to get back, to try new stuff or progress. It’s scary to hurt it again, right? So, right now, I'm just trying to get back to where I was before that injury. I ride almost every day. I'm going to Rampage next week to ride in Utah for a bit and see the event. But yeah, right now just riding, riding, riding.

That all sounds really exciting. Do you have any plans and goals for next season?

EF: For next season, I for sure want to be back on the podium. I mean, I always had almost good results and I just want to be back up there. And I just want to have fun. If I go to an event and I have a plan, I just want to do exactly what I was planning. I want to do that trick that I trained for, and I just want to have fun and succeed. And survive.

Patricia, what are your plans and goals for next season?

PD: I want to ride Joyride again, maybe the competition - but I'm not sure. So I’ll ride the training maybe next year. Silver and Bronze FMB events, maybe Gold. Yeah, we’ll see what happens, I’m not sure yet.

You became a Red Bull athlete at Crankworx Whistler. How's that been so far?

PD: It's such a nice feeling. It's the best. I’m so stoked about it.

EF: More attention I would say. She's such a good rider. I think there's no one that's even close to where she is. I was so stoked giving her the helmet.

What's it like being teammates now?

PD: It’s so sick.

EF: I mean, we were teammates before with our bike sponsor, but then I kind of changed super quick when she came on. So we were not teammates for a long time. But now on Red Bull, we are teammates again, which is cool.

Do you have a mentorship relationship where Patricia you get to watch what Erik does and learn from him?

PD: Yeah, definitely. I want to ride as steezy as Erik and do whips like Erik. He's riding so good.

EF: She does already.

Erik, how does it feel to mentor Patricia and see her progress?

EF: It's super sick. To be honest, we don't ride much together even though she lives, I think, only one and a half hours from me. It’s always either I'm on the road or she's on the road. And when we just see each other at events and stuff and I look from the outside, that makes it even more insane for me, because I see those big steps of progression that she makes every time. I show up to the event and see her do this and that, a flip triple bar spin, a huge whip on the spine. It’s like, ‘When did she learn that?’ It’s awesome to see. But I think in the future for sure, we will ride more together. We are building a training spot at the moment, and I think Patricia will also come there sometimes.

PD: Definitely.

EF: Because it's perfect for learning new stuff and especially doing big tricks.

Patricia, what riding accomplishments are you most proud of so far? You’ve accomplished a lot really quickly.

PD: Swatch Nines 2023 and Red Bull District Ride 2022. It was unbelievable to ride there.

Was it mostly the venues and being in those events that made them so cool?

PD: Yeah definitely, it was really so sick to ride there.

What are your goals for your riding in the future?

PD: FMB Diamond events and Gold events maybe, but yeah, we will see what happens in the next few years. I'm not sure.

Erik, what are your riding goals for the future?

EF: Just ride as much as I can, learn new tricks. I've never won a Diamond event like a Crankworx stop, so that's definitely on my list, but definitely not an easy one. I just want to keep being successful. Meet new people. I think the mountain bike community is super sick. Especially slopestyle - everyone is super nice and I just want to do it forever.

Makes sense. With contest season over for this year, what’s next for each of you?

EF: For me, it's Crankworx Rotorua. But before that, I also do freestyle shows over the winter. But then, the first event is Crankworx, in mid-March.

PD: I’m going to the Masters of Dirt shows and then I start with some FMB Bronze events. I don’t know what exactly.

Patricia, what is it like being a professional rider and also balancing that with being a teenager?

PD: It's so cool because I'm so young and my other friends go to school and I ride bikes and get some money and go to competitions.

That's really cool. You go to school too and balance that with riding bikes - how does that all work?

PD: Yeah, I don't go often to school because I'm always at competitions. But I finished school this year and as of September I go to a new school as part of year-long pre-vocational training.

That's so cool. Erik, how old were you when you started focusing full-time on riding bikes?

EF: I would say around 18 years old was when I finished my apprenticeship, which I did for three and a half years. I worked on CNC machines, you know with the metal. I finished my apprenticeship, then quit the job, and that year - I guess I was actually 19 - I just tried to ride all the shows to get money for the flights for the season. That was also my first Crankworx season. That was when I finished on two podiums, one in Les Gets and one at Joyride. I got the overall third place, I think. That was when I was really getting into that whole process. Which Patricia is doing now already, like getting sponsors, going to events, getting invited, all that stuff.

What do you each enjoy doing outside of biking?

EF: I think we both for sure enjoy partying [laughs]. I like motocross riding, but yeah for sure also holidays. Just chill at the sea, go in the water, go surf. Yeah.

Now that it’s the off-season, what does it look like for you to rest and recover?

EF: I think there's not much rest. We both still ride a lot, I guess.

PD: I can't right now - I crashed one week ago and broke my ribs, but maybe I can ride in one or two weeks again.

Patricia, we're at an interesting turning point with women's slopestyle. What do you hope to see for women's slopestyle events moving forward?

PD: More contests, more riding, especially more FMB riding.

Erik, what about you? How has the conversation around women in slopestyle changed since you've been part of that world?

EF: When I started there was really no discussion about it. I think I really never heard anything because there were not many riders, right? Four years ago, I mean, there was always Casey Brown and the freeride girls but never really slopestyle girls, I would say. Then throughout the last year, and especially this year, there’s way more riders, like Patricia’s there, Robin, Haz, Natasha, so many good riders. I think it still needs more riders to be a bigger event.

When you count it up, it's gonna be like five riders that would ride a whole course, and then in the end it's maybe one or two that do tricks on it and maybe it's only one that does a trick on every jump. I think it really just needs more time, more training. But having the girls at Joyride and District Ride, those have already been really big steps. I think it needs mostly just time and more riders.

Patricia, Caroline, Casey, all those big names now, I think they inspire a lot of girls to start riding. Yesterday I dropped my buddy at the airport and there a was super young girl, she was like, ‘Can we do a photo? I just started riding slopestyle.’ I think now having those big names in the female slopestyle is changing a lot. I mean that's how every sport grows, right? You have the good riders that have good social media and a lot of people see it and get inspired and start riding.

Patricia, what's your favorite memory from this year riding?

PD: Swatch Nines definitely, that event was so sick. And Joyride. The girls had a Joyride session. It was so cool to ride that course.

Erik, what’s your favorite memory from this year?

EF: My favorite memory, I think, was in SilverStar.

PD: Oh yeah, SilverStar was awesome.

EF: SilverStar was so sick. It was the first time I was feeling good again after my injury. Could win the event there. It was a good memory.

What are each of you most excited for in the future?

EF: Riding.

PD: Yes, riding.

That's good that that's what you get to do. Now for any rider looking to improve their slopestyle and follow in your footsteps a bit, what’s your best advice?

EF: Have fun for sure, I would say.

PD: And skatepark riding is good for bike control.

EF: For sure, actually, yeah. Skatepark riding brings a lot of bike control. Also, have fun.

PD: Exactly.

EF: I learned a lot watching videos, back when I was starting riding.

PD: Me, too.

EF: It's like, watching a trick in a video back to back 10 times, and analyzing every single move the rider did. For example, Semenuk’s videos, I watched a lot. I think you can learn a lot from watching good videos, especially from the riders you like.

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I think we all have plenty to learn from these two, even just from a short conversation about how they both approach this sport we all love. I appreciated the chance to talk with them and wish them both the best going forward! To follow along with their riding, check out Patricia's Instagram here and Erik's here.