Gypsy Tales is a motocross podcast hosted by Jase MacAlpine but it has also hosted mountain bikers in the past including
Sam Hill,
Dean Lucas and now Aaron Gwin.
With nearly 4 hours of discussion on tape, there was guaranteed to be some great insight and Jase has published the above highlight on his YouTube. In it, Gwin talks about breaking into the sport, what advantages he had from his moto and BMX background and how his moto-inspired training program helped to raise the level of downhill racing.
Tune in to the full podcast for some more great insight into Gwin's process and story. Our highlights were the discussions on why Gwin thinks he was sometimes perceived negatively early in his career (2:45), how he learned to deal with the pressure of winning (3:10), how he sees the future of his career (3:38 ) and
that Val di Sole run in 2012 (3:45)
Liston to the full podcast on
iTunes or
Spotify
It takes someone very special to change the way people approach a discipline.
I saw the title and was like "damn, Gwin kind of seems full of himself". But then I watched it and had the same thoughts as you. I guess just another example of why it's so important to read, or listen in this case, beyond the headlines and tweets.
Shitty “journalism” at its worst.
Maybe you should listen to Gypsy Tales but just don't watch his clips on YouTube, all his titles will trigger you apparently. /s
This happens with every sport at some point. Back in the 70's and 80's you bought a motocross bike, an old pick up and went to the races. You could be competitive back then. My father had an AMA pro card in the 80's while working full time. He even qualified for a few mx and sx main events. This would never happen now. Now kids are bred for it. Home schooled, live on the road and the family is committed to racing. Mx is a much more developed sport than downhill racing. Most DH tech is trickle down from MX and so are the training methods.
I think American moto is the only high level Motorsport where you can still see dudes clock off on Friday and qualify for the mains on Saturday.
Even today in DH you have guys like Phil Atwill (whom I really like) who shows up and get 7th at WC. Those days are fleeting. Amazing rider but doesn’t seem like he’s on a much if any of training regiment. This is normal progression. Reminds you how young a sport it really is.
I guess Gwin being in their with the others, he knew a bit what others were doing. But as it was probably not very cool to be serious about racing, I wouldn’t be surprised if many were hiding it.
Other World Cup racers have been quoted saying Gwin 'took the fun out of the sport' because they no longer could party all week and keep up with the new pace. I think everyone knew he brought a new level of professionalism with him when he came over.
We can still see that impact today in terms of the guys that have the raw speed to be as fast of the top 5 but don't have the fitness or enough experience with the level of pressure to be able to do that for a full run - run after run.
ex. I'm sure Brendog can keep up with Bruni on most any section of trail. But doing it all run/every run - all season long is another thing all together.
Either way, I could indeed think of more than a few athletes who were working hard (physically). Gee Atherton comes to mind, but also Greg Minnaar and (though not primarily a DH athlete) Jared Graves. We had seen a couple of years of British and Australian dominance in DH racing and both scenes did have a bit of a laid back attitude yet at the same time there were more than a few from those countries who were clearly super serious and hard working. If feel that image thing (of trying to hide your hard work and not be serious) was more something of the beginning of the century (after the French dominance).
Add in to the mix that some other guys were coming back from injury too in that period and it was a very interesting time for racing for sure.
Since then the new fast Frenchies etc have come through and more competitive fields as well as some more natural/traditional sections in tracks, plus AG is older and had his own injures to deal with.
www.rootsandrain.com/rider2949/aaron-gwin/results/filters/organisers21
What becomes really interesting is if you look at 2008,9,10 Domination of Minnaar. Then he came back in 2015, 2017 with a couple of wins in each of the years.
For all the dominance of the fast Frenchies, there has still been so much dominance from a couple of riders over the years.
www.rootsandrain.com/rider926/greg-minnaar/results/filters/seriesgroups244
Then....
Put them head to head and
www.rootsandrain.com/compare926,2949/filters/seriess40,41,47,56,121,243,339,489,603,744,899,1059,1185,1319
Greg has it by 5s in over 4 hours of racing!!!
40 to Greg and 29 to Aaron in 69 UCI head to Heads. (16 o Gregs in Aarons first 3 seasons of WC's though).
So tight between the, incredible athletes.
Stick him against Greg and... Greg is miles out on top in the head to head.
www.rootsandrain.com/compare2940,926/filters/seriess40,41,47,48,49,50,56,121,134,135,136,137,243,339,489,603,744
Again this shows that he was not ground breaking, he was different, it was only the 2005,6,7 and 8 seasons where Sam was on top, they started racing head to head in 2001.
Benchmark Sam against Aaron and Greg and you can see where Enduro became Sams focus.
www.rootsandrain.com/compare2940,926,2949/filters/seriess40,41,47,56,121,243,339,489,603,744
(I love roots and rain, takes the remembering guess work out of it, just never look at my results, I wasnt trying haha)
I know from experience how tough an ankle injury can be (broken talus and a few other bones) and just feel like that is the most significant event describing his declining pace and consistency.
The media beat on Gwin for a long time and is probably the reason he doesn’t interview much. Jase is a great podcaster.
Gwin can do the same. He's also invested in his own bike company which is huge for the sport as a rider, who else does that while still competing? He's probably the first rider to show others how professional you can be in DH and how much money you can make if you truly value yourself. I'd bet that Gwin is responsible for riders earning more money now, he's really the start of the professional era. Give credit where credit is due.
In today's racing the French as a country are similarly dominant but it takes like 4 guys to hit the same level of consistency as Gwin showed on his own.
That dominance could not happen now. The level of downhill is too high, you have to be on or beyond the limit to find the podium today. That increase in the level of DH racing is due in no small part to Gwin's early 2010s performance.
A crusty, cranky hometown hero has-been, I take it?
How can Spec short change Bruni, or Trek short change Loris when they can turn around and say "Well you paid Gwin 1mill and now I am the one winning races so you need to pay me 1m too"
Raising the pay grade of the riders is the best thing to happen to the sport.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8vGxfJm_wc
2021 Gwin - Youtube noob
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQN-i9Vk4XA
Best example of this is Blue Mountain Collingwood owned by Intrawest. It was once a decent O-cup DH venue but then catered to new riders. Lift lines packed with people who had never been on a DH bike, people getting injured and trails getting smoothed out as a result. Now, due to risk and cost of insurance, it no longer has lift access. IMO this is 100% because the increased popularity of the sport and new riders.
I am with you that Gypsy people are happy to be called gypsies though - the only other term I have heard used is travellers - but its upto them what they prefer, not me / us.
I think sometimes we need to be less offended on the behalf of others, unless a term is being used obviously to insult of course.
But this does not give the right to anyone else outside to call them the same, in regard of what cultural past is connected with this.
Other example:
Coloured people calling themselves N****. No one in their right mind, that is not also born with a coloured skin, would have the idea to call them the same, or would even have the right to call them the same.
But please correct me if I am on a wrong path, here.
Do you know if they would find that a preferential term?
The N word example isnt fair to use in this sense I dont think - but again you would need to ask people involved what they think but in the UK we have a programme called 'big fat gypsy wedding' - everyone seems happy with that, you wouldnt dream of a 'big fat N word wedding' though - totally different, at least in the UK
To conclude, maybe we should ask the people how they would like to be called. Then there's nothing to be worried about.
The point is to listen to how they WANT to be referred to by everyone. So your point about the N-word could not be more off-base.
It's interesting that you have realised this and made this point in your next comment, where you have said " maybe we should ask the people how they would like to be called. Then there's nothing to be worried about."
This is exactly right, and it is exactly what I said in my initial comment.
What part of "maybe we should listen to what they want to be called." do you not understand?
And what part of that says "what they call themselves"?
Try to read comments properly and you won't embarrass yourself.
I can't turn a word into a slur simply by trying to use it as such, that simply means I'm failing to slur somebody - which is probably why knuckle-draggers try to use it as a slur.
There's an entire music genre called gypsy jazz, and it's a style of jazz. But that doesn't mean that other people can't play it and call it by its name too, and even put their own spin on it etc.
This is done day in day out - I know when I have heard someone call someone a Gypsy what they meant by it, and it most certainly was a slur, it wasnt a failure.
I think we agree really anyway - I dont consider Gypsy to be the incorrect way to refer to Gypsies - How else would I refer to them? I also dont think being offended on behalf of others is helpful unless its blatant and extreme of course.
The fact that a given group, in this case Gypsies, have embraced the word and self-identify with it perhaps means that it would take a more substantial shift to change it into a slur that was recognised as such by the group in question.
There are also some surprises out there. For example, people with dwarfism prefer to be referred to as dwarves (according to at least four advocacy organisations). I learned this recently and I think I would still be very uncomfortable doing so even though I know it is the "correct" term.
And regardless of either of our perspectives, the point remains that Gypsies (or at least some) wish to be referred to as such, and I don't think it's anyone's place other than theirs to claim that they should not be.
If context and intention are so important, then there is no issue in this instance either. There's nothing derogatory about naming a podcast Gypsy Tales when it's all about people who travel for a livelihood. There is no ill-intention at all.
@redrook: I am from and live in the UK, as I say will we have to agree to disagree, though its a commonly used word (as I said, big fat gypsy wedding) when I hear someone say 'they are gypsies' - I know exactly what they mean.
That is anecdotal but also from the working world (Im in manufacturing) - As I say, maybe you mix in different, more 'professional' circles, in my working life I spend almost zero time around office based staff or similar, I see you work to help protect heritage sites which I imagine doesnt attract the same type of people as the manufacturing world....
Anyway, this is getting off topic - in short, no using the word Gypsy isnt on its own offensive, and certainly isnt in this instance.