aS THE CURTAIN FALLS on another enthralling season of downhill mountain bike racing , South Africa ’ s threetime world champion , Greg Minnaar , has barely had time to sit back and reflect on a year that really did throw everything at him .
With the retirement of his good friend and Santa Cruz Syndicate teammate Steve Peat from world racing , the easy-going 35-year-old now suddenly finds himself as the oldest , most experienced racer in the paddock .
On top of that , the Pietermaritzburg native - who bounced back from two disastrous rounds to win the Fort William stop of the UCI World Cup this year - is looking at taking on a new mentoring-type role within the Syndicate next year . The team is actively hunting out some fresh blood to replace Peaty and former World Cup champion Josh “ Ratboy ” Bryceland , who ’ s also pulling the pin on an illustrious racing career .
With the experience of a thousand white-knuckled races pumping through his veins and so many irons currently in the fire , we thought it was high time we sat down with Minnaar to get his thoughts on 2016 , how much the scene has changed over the years , and what his plans are for the future .
Well done on yet another solid year , Greg . How are you feeling now , heading into the off-season break ?
Looking back , it was an okay season , but I would ’ ve liked some more podiums . The first two rounds at Lourdes and Cairns were off , but I managed to turn it around and ended up being fairly consistent . I don ’ t feel like it was an exceptional year , as a whole though .
Yeah your season got off to a rough start with a 16th at Lourdes then a 15th at Cairns , but you really turned things around in a hurry . What was behind those initial results and your sudden improvement ?
We were working on the suspension quite a lot this year and it was really tough , as we didn ’ t get to spend enough quality time on it before the season started . It ’ s tough to test on a World Cup track in the off-season as it ’ s completely different to the track you ’ ll find on race day . So when working on a new shock it was really hard to make sure it was working well ; it felt great in testing , but once we got to the bigger tracks , it didn ’ t feel good at all .
It ’ s just one of those things and ideally , we would ’ ve gone to somewhere like Val di Sole during the pre-season to get the bike set up . It took us some time to get it set up to a place I was happy with it , and even then you still have to find the perfect settings for each track as they gradually get steeper and steeper heading into the World Championships at Val di Sole . It ’ s a real balancing act though – we don ’ t really have enough time to set something up during the race weekend , as we ’ re consciously minimising our riding time to try and save ourselves for the finals .
Your win at Fort William this year has got to be the highlight of the season for you , though . What was it about that round that clicked for you ?
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After winning my third World Championship it was kind of hard to figure out what my next goal was
I think it was all the work that went into it . When we got back from Australia I went out with the Fox guys and we really tested a lot and I carried on training as normal , but I think that ’ s when you get the most satisfaction : when you put so much effort in and it pays off .
If you count qualifying races , the Fort William final was my fifth race of the season and I still had no results , so there was a lot of pressure going into that final . I knew I just had to make it stick and put the best I run I could together .
Do you find those pressure cooker situations help you to focus , when you need to get a top result to stay in contention ?
For sure , I think the pressure helps me perform . It helps me focus a lot harder on what I need to do and it definitely brings out the best in me .
On top of the usual pressure of needing results at Fort William , I broke a wheel in qualifying and DNF-ed . In my finals run - although I could see I was right up there in the splits - I hadn ’ t raced the bottom section before that final . The last split was a bit of an unknown really , but I was stoked it worked out for me .
Well from then on you were really consistent , and finished the season with a seventh at the World Championships at Val de Sole . I ’ ll tell you what though – that track looked bloody gnarly , even on TV .
( laughs ) Yeah it was ! The thing is I had such a fun weekend at Andorra just prior to that round . It was Peaty ’ s ( Steve Peat ’ s ) last World Cup race and we were messing about afterwards and I messed up my ankle and tore all the ligaments in it . It wasn ’ t really ideal going into Val di Sole but surprisingly , I barely noticed it when I was riding .
I mean , it was a bit sore but there were bigger things to worry about like the holes in the dust that you couldn ’ t see , the big exposed roots , the blownout berms … it was a hell of a track and for me , I think I overcooked it in practice trying to get my bike right , when I don ’ t think anyone really felt great there . That track was so brutal it was an impossible task trying to set your bike up perfectly . u