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A quick chat with the World Downhill Champion One of the true pioneers of our beloved sport, Pete Tatham, is a pretty darn well known figure. Anyone who's seen him in action will know how easy & effortless he makes going hella-fast look, and his dedication to mountainboarding extends way beyond riding. Roger S caught up with him for a post-race natter...
How long have you been mountainboarding? Since 1992, so that’s eighteen years What titles have you won (in competition) in that time? Ten UK titles; five Downhill, four Overall and one in Freestyle. Three European Downhill titles, and I’ve been World Downhill Champion four times. The World Downhill is always the one, you’d give up just about everything else all season for the that. Do you have a favourite place to ride? I love Le Pleney in Morzine for showing off to mountainbikers, and in Italy, Lavinio for fifteen minute long runs is brilliant, and Bardonecchia would also make it into my top three for its super nice track. What NoSno set-up are you rolling on? Always snowboard bindings because I have a bad ankle. I use a Downhill stance of 6 degrees on the back and 18 to 21 on the front. I use a Pro DH 280 deck (with brakes). If its rough I’ll use 10 inch tyres at about 10psi, sometimes down to about 5 or 6 psi, and on nines I usually ride at about 18 psi. I’m not a fan of high pressure tyres, they go slower over rougher terrain.
Who did you think you had to beat coming into the comp? Well, the aim is everybody, but obviously JC (Fellow NoSno rider). I thought he would beat me this year as he has age on his side. And it’s always worth watching out for the Polish riders. They’re brilliant, and haven’t been riding all that long so in the future they’ll be amazing riders. They’re what we call ‘proper’ NoSno riders: they like to tackle the hard stuff. Did you do anything special to your board for this comp? No, I’ve been injured so I haven’t ridden much recently. I took my usual board, put the nines on and away I went! Did you have a game plan? I always want my first run to be clean. I’ll push the easy stuff but on the first run I never take the difficult corners fast, always steady. And then for a combined times comp like the Worlds I’ll do the same again to make sure I get in two solid runs. After that I can go for it a bit, and that’s where JC made his mistake, I think. He got two good runs but then on his third went too fast rather than just edging up a little each time. I don’t believe you should go gung-ho. If you do things like go into a corner too fast you come out slower. It’s all about smoothness, it’s amazing how much quicker a smooth clean run can be. We like smooth... What was your favourite part of the track? The single track switchbacks were brilliant, without a shadow of a doubt. It’s the first time we’ve seen anything like that in competitions, and everyone loved it because it’s a challenge. And to race on it was great, because although I freeride on that kind of stuff all the time, racing adds an extra element. The European DH Tour is growing every year... Do you think that is why Downhill is becoming more popular, or is it the riders getting into Downhill that is driving the need for competitions? It’s a bit of both. People have done a lot of Boarder-X and they want something new to compete in. Downhill is a very different discipline in that it’s you against the track, no other variables. You get a lot more riding for your money. And there are a lot of people who want to ride long tracks in the mountains, so it really suits a lot of people. Freeriding in the mountains is also growing along with the competitions, with riders tackling longer more difficult tracks.
I hope it goes into more technical singletrack courses so riders develop real skills rather than just taking a gung-ho point-and-go approach. This year’s World Downhill track is a good start; it’s going the right way with more technically difficult sections. For those who ‘don’t get it’, what’s so great about rocks? The challenge! I’ve just ridden a mountainbike track in Pila, which is just about the rockiest I’ve ever done, and there is something about people saying you can’t do that that makes you think ‘Yes. I can and I’ll show you how, and I’ll make it look good.’ Also riding rocks makes the smoother single track stuff look easy. It pushes your comfort zone up, and I like to ride in a comfort zone at least ninety per cent of the time. If you’re edging your comfort zone up a bit all the time then everyone thinks you’re riding really fast but you still in your comfort zone. What would you say to anyone thinking of taking part next year? Do it! Bardonecchia is brilliant. The Swiss event was great, especially as it was their first ever, and the French know how to organise competitions, they’re great at it. The atmosphere is incredible, there is a real sense of adventure and camaraderie. Don’t think about it, just do it. And now some quick fire questions: Red tyres or blue? Black Mbs or nosno (lol)? Nosno Scrub or Bluearth? Scrub Do the pizzas taste better in Italy? Ermmm, no, yeah, sometimes, I’ve had better, I’ve had worse, but they are nice. Andy Murray got knocked out of Wimbledon, England got knocked out of the World Cup. Any messages we can pass along? Must try harder! Any thanks & shout outs!? Yeah, thanks to JC. Thanks to the eighteen amazing people from Italy who organised the WDHC, who are all riders and all give up their riding to organise the event. That takes dedication, and it’s fantastic to see because without that we’re just a bunch of people in the mountains walking around with boards. And thanks to Emma for coming out, being here and supporting me. Thank you Pete, and congratulations!!!
For more photos from the WDHC 2010 roll over here To find out more about NoSno check out the website here |
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