Brian Lopes out to win at the World Cup

THERE are risks involved requesting an interview slot with the all-round bike god of the downhill scene.

Will you swoon when he picks up his cell? Will you ask a ‘dumb ass’ question? Or worse. Will anecdotes about Uncle Joes mint balls and Earl Gray simply fail to cut the mustard of a yawning time-zone difference.

Luckily for me, I was interviewing Brian Lopes (that’s Lopes as in slopes not the Jennifer kind) and the man who is described as 'the best all around world class cycling athlete' is generally too cool to worry about funny tasting mints or tea.

He knows what he does best: biking. And apart from a cranky skewer dropping off mid-way through the first World Cup event of 2008, this mega star of the biking world is generally riding high…

But here I was doing a Brian Lopes interview - a man famous enough to justify a part in the SONY PlayStation "Downhill Domination" as himself.

So what is the key skill for every biker to learn: ‘Wow, man. I think being really the best rider out there is being able to do all the skills in different ways.

'I’m always amazed when I see someone who can’t bunny hop or can’t do a little step off a curb. Even hardcore girls on the downhill scene who can’t do a wheelie - it’s just something that seems so easy to me - it’s the kind of thing you’ve been doing since you were a little kid.’

skid and slips

Not that everything goes so smoothly all of the time. Last week, Brian took up the starting gate for his first heat at the UCI World Cup in Maribor, Slvenia, and found a totally new obstacle to overcome.
And sadly he didn’t have a Hamilton-esque pit-stop crew half way down the gravel grid.

"I was in my first heat and slipped a little into one of the gates. I saved it and was jumping back straight onto my pedals but my skewer in the rear wheel came loose. It was totally freak. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before."

determination

So he’s down in 33rd with ground to cover. But he is as determined as ever and not in the slightest bit phased that something could go wrong again ahead of the next round on May 30.

"It doesn’t really affect me. It actually really makes me hungry to do better at the next one. But stuff happens and I can’t be too pissed off - it’s not like I was really bad or slow or anything."

Indeed slow is not really in Brian’s make-up.

always the man to beat

Brian Lopes, current 4X World Champion has had an unprecedented career since becoming a professional cyclist at the age of 17. He has been labelled by USA Today 'Undisputedly the best all around world class cycling athlete'.

Having raced BMX for most of childhood, he learned how to ride a bike at the tender age of four, turning pro at the age of 17 and competing in the BMX circuit for seven years before channelling all his efforts in 1993 to mountain biking.

The 36-year-old has won more than 19 titles in his MTB career, nine of which on the NORBA National circuit, eight on the UCI World Cup and four prestigious World Championships.

The most recent win was this past September, 2007 in Fort William, Scotland. After an excellent and healthy race year Brian went on to win his 4th World Championship title. He has more UCI World Cup career wins than any other male mountain biker in the history of the sport.

turning the page

And that’s a pretty good reason why mountain bikers listen when Brian Lopes talks skills. In his only written offering so far, Brian became a published author when he co-wrote a book with long time friend Lee McCormack titled 'Mastering Mountain Biking Skills' in 2005. It has been printed in six different languages.

"My partner in the book I’ve known since I was like 18 and he came to me with the idea of doing it.

"He was the great writer so he was a good partner - he’s really good at putting it into words and putting it down in a way that people can understand it.

"Sometime it’s easy when you are a pro to not really see how you do stuff any more. And it’s hard to explain.’

For pros like Brian, natural talent and a whole heap of practice help make a star but for the rest of us, we’ll probably have to make do with purpose-built trails, a jolly outing with our mates and a circus-style belly flop every once in a while when the going gets tough.

"One of the many things that have changed since I have been on the scene is there is a whole heap of new talent and faster kids coming up into the competition.

"The scene in Europe is getting bigger and bigger. It’s great to see. When I first started, biking was really huge with loads of television time then it dropped off. But now it’s gone full circle and is coming back again. It’s re-emerging especially in the downhill."

As long as they’ve fixed their rear skewer and the kettle's on…

With special thanks to Brian and Paula for finding time for this interview. Pictures and more info at www.brianlopes.com