EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TRACY MOSELEY
Yeah, that's right. Only Stopadoodledoo get to interview Ms Moseley and ask her these questions. The kind of questions that the rest of the UK scene are frankly too scared to ask:
Who started riding bikes competitively first, you or your brother? Ed
Did riding with Ed help you to progress, much as Rachel Atherton cites riding with her brothers to have helped her? Most definitely, we used to mess about as kidson our bikes and then when I started racing I would have someone to follow and he would help me out with lines etc.
Who is the fastest out of you and Ed and if it's you, did you laugh at him the first time you beat his time? Sadly it’s still Ed, I was hoping when he came back to do a few races this year that it might be my opportunity to beat him, but he is such a natural bike rider that he can still kick my arse, but the margin is certainly not as big as it used to be !
It looks very likely that you are going to be the World Cup Champion for 2006, a fantastic achievement. How does it feel to have progressed so much over the last few years to be where you are now, the fastest female rider in the World? It’s great to have won the world cup this year. It’s been a big goal of mine for the last few years and it’s great to have finally achieved it. I really feel like I am riding better than ever so I hope I can keep it going for 2007 !
Does it increase the pressure on you a great deal, or simplify things (from the perspective of your sponsors, etc) moving forward?
Yeah there is certainly pressure as you are expected to perform at that level consistently, but in some ways there is also a bit less pressure on my side as I have achieved one of my goals and it’s done, history and nothing will take that away, so that’s nice.
What has been the highlight and lowlight of your career so far? Highlight along with winning the world cup this year, still has to be winning my first world cup in Fort William in 2002, the atmosphere and crowd was just amazing. Apart from the obvious injuries, my lowlight was getting a silver medal at this years worlds when I really felt like I was riding well enough to win the title….you have to get it right on the day. I guess it was not a true lowlight, but just disappointment.
Do you ride for Kona because you like the colour of the bikes? I presume not as the lettering on them looks like it's been stencilled on by a simpleton using a blunt crayon. Yeah it’s not for the colour of the wheels of our kit that’s for sure, I have never been a huge fan of orange ! I ride for Kona because they have been a great support and stood by for the last 7 seasons and it feels great to have won them a title after all that time they have backed me. They are a great company and I really feel like part of the furniture now !
If you were to pick the colours for your '07 race bike, what would they be? Would you go for a vivid bumble bee design like Steve Peat had on his gigantic 224 (nicknamed Mothra, or a subtle design like that nice man Geoffrey (you know, the ones that lives at the bottom of the road. Beard, ginger sideburns. Always wears a packa-mac. Oh, you do know him.) has done to his Brompton? I’d like a baby blue bike !
That Chris Kovarik, he looks like Rocky, don't you think? I don’t know about Rocky but he looks like he really has just been let out of the bush !
If you weren't a downhill racer, do you think that you may work at the QwikSave headquarters as an AS/400 operator? If not, what do you think you would be doing, remembering that many of us have dreams but our jobs end up nothing like what we wanted to do. For instance, I wanted to work for the National Trust and instead work in Strategic Outsourcing for an international IT company. I think I would probably have been a farmer, milking cows in the green and pleasant English countryside !
Do owls live in sandcastles? Yes / No. What is your evidence to back this statement up? No – I’ve never seen any way of getting into a sandcastle to enable an owl to live inside one.
You were brought up on a farm. When you were younger, did you ever ride a cow like it was a horse, and try to pass said cow off as a pony at the local gymkana? How did the cow fare against the ponies? At least you got a drink of refreshing milk for free at the end of the gymkana, which is more than that snotty cow Helen Stringer got !! Indeed I did have a cow that I used to ride around the yard. I used to leapfrog up onto her back. She was called Tricia. I never took her to a gymkana but I did drink plenty of fresh cows milk.
What are your views on the Kona Bike Park at Les Gets? I have to tell you that I was quite unimpressed but I have to admit that I was too scared to have a go at the shed jump because I was well aware that I would crash and make a fool of myself, the result being that some big boys would point and laugh. If you were to design a bike park, what would you put in it? (for instance, dirt jumps that you can get over on a DH bike, surely a consideration in a place where 99% of the riders are on such bikes). Unfortunately I have not had chance to get over to the bike park in Les Gets yet, so I can’t comment on that. Downhill bikes aren’t designed for dirt jumping so I think I would keep the dirt jumps for jump bikes and build some big, safe downhill style jumps for all the Dhers out there.
Do you ever go on to Mountain Biking forums under a pseudonym and wind people up? If so, which ones and who do you wind up? The kids who, if they were to be believed, are good enough to be pro elite and would be signed up if only their Mum would drive them to the World Champs in her Renault Clio? I stay well away from forums, plenty better things to do with my time rather than discuss what tyre pressure I think would be best suited for a certain type of terrain !
Can you give me a backie to the shops so that I can buy a Topic and a bottle of blue pop? No shops near my house, so sorry no !
Have you got any free stickers? Loads…
So there you have it, straight from the mouth of the mighty Moseley. I think we've all learnt a lot from this:
On the other hand, there's more questions that Tracy's kind response has raised, that we'll be taking up with other top pro's.
Answers coming up, very soon...
Who started riding bikes competitively first, you or your brother? Ed
Did riding with Ed help you to progress, much as Rachel Atherton cites riding with her brothers to have helped her? Most definitely, we used to mess about as kidson our bikes and then when I started racing I would have someone to follow and he would help me out with lines etc.
Who is the fastest out of you and Ed and if it's you, did you laugh at him the first time you beat his time? Sadly it’s still Ed, I was hoping when he came back to do a few races this year that it might be my opportunity to beat him, but he is such a natural bike rider that he can still kick my arse, but the margin is certainly not as big as it used to be !
It looks very likely that you are going to be the World Cup Champion for 2006, a fantastic achievement. How does it feel to have progressed so much over the last few years to be where you are now, the fastest female rider in the World? It’s great to have won the world cup this year. It’s been a big goal of mine for the last few years and it’s great to have finally achieved it. I really feel like I am riding better than ever so I hope I can keep it going for 2007 !
Does it increase the pressure on you a great deal, or simplify things (from the perspective of your sponsors, etc) moving forward?
Yeah there is certainly pressure as you are expected to perform at that level consistently, but in some ways there is also a bit less pressure on my side as I have achieved one of my goals and it’s done, history and nothing will take that away, so that’s nice.
What has been the highlight and lowlight of your career so far? Highlight along with winning the world cup this year, still has to be winning my first world cup in Fort William in 2002, the atmosphere and crowd was just amazing. Apart from the obvious injuries, my lowlight was getting a silver medal at this years worlds when I really felt like I was riding well enough to win the title….you have to get it right on the day. I guess it was not a true lowlight, but just disappointment.
Do you ride for Kona because you like the colour of the bikes? I presume not as the lettering on them looks like it's been stencilled on by a simpleton using a blunt crayon. Yeah it’s not for the colour of the wheels of our kit that’s for sure, I have never been a huge fan of orange ! I ride for Kona because they have been a great support and stood by for the last 7 seasons and it feels great to have won them a title after all that time they have backed me. They are a great company and I really feel like part of the furniture now !
If you were to pick the colours for your '07 race bike, what would they be? Would you go for a vivid bumble bee design like Steve Peat had on his gigantic 224 (nicknamed Mothra, or a subtle design like that nice man Geoffrey (you know, the ones that lives at the bottom of the road. Beard, ginger sideburns. Always wears a packa-mac. Oh, you do know him.) has done to his Brompton? I’d like a baby blue bike !
That Chris Kovarik, he looks like Rocky, don't you think? I don’t know about Rocky but he looks like he really has just been let out of the bush !
If you weren't a downhill racer, do you think that you may work at the QwikSave headquarters as an AS/400 operator? If not, what do you think you would be doing, remembering that many of us have dreams but our jobs end up nothing like what we wanted to do. For instance, I wanted to work for the National Trust and instead work in Strategic Outsourcing for an international IT company. I think I would probably have been a farmer, milking cows in the green and pleasant English countryside !
Do owls live in sandcastles? Yes / No. What is your evidence to back this statement up? No – I’ve never seen any way of getting into a sandcastle to enable an owl to live inside one.
You were brought up on a farm. When you were younger, did you ever ride a cow like it was a horse, and try to pass said cow off as a pony at the local gymkana? How did the cow fare against the ponies? At least you got a drink of refreshing milk for free at the end of the gymkana, which is more than that snotty cow Helen Stringer got !! Indeed I did have a cow that I used to ride around the yard. I used to leapfrog up onto her back. She was called Tricia. I never took her to a gymkana but I did drink plenty of fresh cows milk.
What are your views on the Kona Bike Park at Les Gets? I have to tell you that I was quite unimpressed but I have to admit that I was too scared to have a go at the shed jump because I was well aware that I would crash and make a fool of myself, the result being that some big boys would point and laugh. If you were to design a bike park, what would you put in it? (for instance, dirt jumps that you can get over on a DH bike, surely a consideration in a place where 99% of the riders are on such bikes). Unfortunately I have not had chance to get over to the bike park in Les Gets yet, so I can’t comment on that. Downhill bikes aren’t designed for dirt jumping so I think I would keep the dirt jumps for jump bikes and build some big, safe downhill style jumps for all the Dhers out there.
Do you ever go on to Mountain Biking forums under a pseudonym and wind people up? If so, which ones and who do you wind up? The kids who, if they were to be believed, are good enough to be pro elite and would be signed up if only their Mum would drive them to the World Champs in her Renault Clio? I stay well away from forums, plenty better things to do with my time rather than discuss what tyre pressure I think would be best suited for a certain type of terrain !
Can you give me a backie to the shops so that I can buy a Topic and a bottle of blue pop? No shops near my house, so sorry no !
Have you got any free stickers? Loads…
So there you have it, straight from the mouth of the mighty Moseley. I think we've all learnt a lot from this:
- If you spend all day on an internet forum, you're a LOSER. Tracy says so. She wouldn't give us any stickers though, which is a bit mean.
- Even World Champion downhillers aren't always experts in the architecture of sand castles (as any owl keeper knows, the owls get in and out through the windows)
- Chris Kovarik looks like he's been let out of a bush
On the other hand, there's more questions that Tracy's kind response has raised, that we'll be taking up with other top pro's.
- Why would you keep Chris Kovarik in a bush anyway? Wouldn't a garage or a shed with a bag of gone-off cement be easier to restrain him, than just some foliage and a few twigs?
- Have any other top racers helped develop their skills by riding farmyard animals in their youth?
- Does Greg Minaar have a favourite Lethal Weapon film?
Answers coming up, very soon...
Labels: interview
Mr Cushtie posted this at 8:48 pm
2 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Holy Christ! You've gone and done it now! Just when internet legitimacy was right around the corner!
Did you make up the answers as well as the questions?
No stickers?
(Fauntleroy: I am going to be in Fredrick for a few days around Thanksgiving. Do you want to ride The Shed? Will we need alpine gear?)
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