Full Interview:

	20/01/2006
	Steve Jones of Dirt Magazine
	Oh dear. This could get messy I said. They however were adamant; I wasn’t going to gainsay them - especially not on Hellspath, at night. That ride, while cold, damp and having to watch the seemingly endless darkness being broken only by the incandescent burn of Cat Eyes was a little lively. Just it wasn’t the ride that scared me. It was the gnawing thought of being put to it- interviewing a fellow man of the hills and not an ordinary one at that. I was plagued by doubt. We all know he is fast, we all know he can can write and we all know he resides to the west of Offer’s dike. That’s where it all falls dark though. Who is “Steve Jones?” TW. Hi Steve. Many people will know you from Dirt Magazine and you''re fantastic articles, yet what others may not know is that you were once (and still might be) a rider of Elite standard. Yet you don''t seem to race that much now, is there a reason behind this? SJ. Elite you say? Strong words. Well the last race I competed in was Mynydd Du last year. I think Pontang and myself beat half the elite class and all the experts. I’ll do a massive amount of downhill in the year, very often against my own clock for bike tests, at press camps and with mates. More than I ever have done. There’s a fair amount of hanging about to do at races and the last national I went to the local pub only had locals in it! TW. This year you raced a few events on that smaller travel Specialized, a conscious decision? I think you shocked a few folk at Mynydd Du. SJ. The Enduro is a six-inch travel bike that works very well. There are a lot of eight inch travel bikes that are rubbish. The magazine had got a lot of grief for running a six inch bike test. Some racers said they were for old men to jump off kerbs. Which is right I suppose. I’m an old man so I decided to ride an old mans bike -and take on the bastards that were taking the piss out of me. Twisted I know but like I said that I beat the young elite riders on a tough track was quite funny. But then the mud and root of Mynydd Du is what I ride for. Also there seems to be some image going on that downhillers don’t ride these kind of bikes. The photo of Lopes and Peaty on five inch travel bikes in Dirt 55 kind of lays that one to rest I think. TW. You were always a bit wild on race weekends, (I seem to remember you being the only other person awake at Ae NPS 2003 watching party-boy!!!) . SJ. It’s not really true. I enjoy drinking red wine and Guinness but began to find that even though I thought I was on it, more often it turned out I’d be ten seconds slower. The day after the hangover however is a great time for good results. There are many theories on this. Meeting friends was always the big attraction at races and by the Sunday of what were three day national events the track was learned, the head had cleared and time to focus and going like fuck. TW. And you often talk about the psychological side of racing, was that ever something you struggled with, winning or losing? SJ. Not really. Never really struggled in getting super keyed up for racing, I’m really passionate about it. It’s a fine line controlled aggro though. TW. So you get to chat to some of the best bike handlers on the planet on a regular basis, all normal chappies/chappesses? SJ. Yes the best riders on the planet have great humility if that’s the right word. It’s the riders just underneath that level that I find can be very deluded sometimes. All great riders are able to talk about things other than bikes comfortably, they are rounded individuals and in that respect Peaty is almost unreal. They also seem to be able to know the enemy pretty well. I remember asking Vouilloz about the future of many young French riders some years ago. He said then that they would never make it because of their attitude. He was right. It’s no coincidence that Steve has chosen riders such as Marc and Brendan, he can see the same qualities that allowed him to succeed. Whatever they might be, most of us will never know what’s in the mind of people like him. Fundamentals..... TW. Do you still look up to them or does it become a bit blasé? SJ. Well it’s weird, I don’t look up to them in a hero way, because the top racers are so normal in many ways, well, most of them. Yes I do think ‘wow’ its incredible how fast you can ride a bike, they are on another planet compared to how I can ride, and I just know that the only way they ride down certain hills will primarily be off the brakes in most places which the onlooker will not know. And how much effort they have put into their profession because when I interview people like Kovarik, Peaty, Gracia etc it does come into my mind the immense pressures they are under at World Cup level and I wonder what I’d be like in their position. There’s so much at stake at World level and they seem to walk a tightrope like no other, so yes all the time I’m thinking ‘how the fuck?’ when I’m talking to them. It’s never blasé. In the mountainbike business there are also so many other characters. You could say I look up to people like Malcolm Fearon, Paul Bliss, Sterling Lorence. Only hero’s I’ve really got would be people like Roger De Coster, Hakan Carqvist (motocrossers) Steve Saunders (trials) and the likes of Tana Umaga, Neil Back, Abdelatif Benazzi and Scott Gibbs (rugby) TW. Sticking with the racing, and I''m sure you''re bored to death about talking about it but the Megavalanche looked amazing. Its not something you can really prepare for, is it? SJ. Not really, I turned up expecting a twenty minute blast down a mountain that would take about twenty minutes. When I got there and Rankin told me it was 38km I was pretty shocked. “but Alex I haven’t ridden 38km for years” I know I ramble on on earthed, he must have been short of stuff, but the key parts are the start, which is a brawl (fantastic) the race which is brutal (even better) and the fact that you will learn things about yourself that you probably didn’t know (well enough of that). Riding it is very simple, racing it, if you’ve got a competitive spirit brings danger. It’s extremely painful. Do not underestimate that. Preparation? Well be prepared to be violent, prepare for the pain and to realize how completely immense the people are who win these events. TW. Is it something you would have considered doing in your younger days? SJ. Never TW. And it often comes through how much you love the Welsh valleys, born and bred was it? SJ. I am very Welsh I suppose, I speak it. My Gran spoke nothing else. I was not brought up in the valleys but in the west. I’m not a flag flyer and I don’t go spraying ‘wales is not for sale’ around the place. TW. We reckon that up here the hills and open spaces are incredibly similar to parts of Wales, just a bit more sparsely populated round here I reckon. Seems to make for good biking though. I guess you get spend a fair bit of time in the hills for work? SJ. I used to be a stock fencer out in the fields and spend most of the time by myself. A sheltered hole digger Dai Jones calls it. When I got to go to races it was the most people I’d seen all week. Same now I suppose but its to do with bikes. Steve Kicking ass at Mynydd Du. Folwphotography.co.uk TW. Many people may be envious of what you get to do for work, is it all cushy or do people have it wrong? SJ. I am very lucky, I work with a great people, Mike Rose who is very level headed and real. The hard part of the job can be photographs, which I am new to, where you have to bring the weather, a skilled rider and the right location all together. There is also tremendous pressure to take photographs at World Cup events that are different. Head-ons are pretty straightforward but catching the top riders in a good position when they might go past you ten times a weekend is tricky. I love everything about the job though. It’s very hard to avoid people talking bikes to you though. TW. And work itself, how did that come about? Were you always into a bit of journalism or did the mountain biking spark it off? SJ. Did well in English I suppose, got a degree in Geography which was mostly writing and used to write walking guides! I completely love bikes and racing and so talking about that is easy. Journalism is another pretty hefty word! TW. And your writing style is totally unique but seems to flow effortlessly and bring a bit of a different perspective to the whole genre of "gnarly" and "sick". Is that something you aim to do? SJ. No TW. What I also find quite brilliant is the way you can write so descriptively but still make it straight to the point. Marvelous that is. SJ. You really are crazy TW. And I noticed that you''ve recently started getting more and more photos in the mag''s articles, was that something you were pushed into or something you wanted to do, the photography I mean? SJ. They forced me to. TW. Ok, enough chin wagging I reckon. Who would win in a log chopping contest between you and Mike Rose? SJ. Hey, come on. But he’s a bloody strong chap old Mickey. He’s had me around the throat many times. I wouldn’t want to fight him sometimes. TW. Reckon you could survive on the "Lost" Island? SJ. I am currently ‘lost’ but that’s a massive story. TW. You did some bike skill weekends in Les Gets. Is that something you enjoy doing, as you featured in Fundamentals a fair bit too? SJ. Yes I love doing these and still do them, recently there’s been a group of guys from the midlands, a guy called Steve Walker is the ring leader, the funniest bunch you will ever meet. He’s a butcher and brings us some steaks and sausages in exchange for some riding tips. Les Gets was good but I think the alchohol that was forced into me by the Surrey pose did damage me. I swear to god. The Australian team were not too chuffed me being sick outside their rooms. And it wasn’t too clever lying in a field of cows with five grand of camera equipment on top of me completely fucked up Not all jumps...... TW. And you''re renowned for not liking jumps, any particular reason? SJ. Yes I don’t like them and I’m contrary. One of my favourite races was Combe Sydenham national 2002. This had all the ingredients of a total race I reckon. Firstly on the Friday night went down the pub with Jason Carpenter and got completely annihilated. Jason woke up in the flowerbed being told off by the landlady. He was doing the timing that weekend (extremely pro guy) and he ended up putting on a film on the plasma screen in the farmyard at about 3am. My mate Spag came along for the trip and cooked us sausage and eggs in the morning before the race. The jumps in the field were stressing me out because people were winding me up and I genuinely thought it would be quicker to avoid doing them (another reason to avoid heavy drinking because there was no way it was quicker). Anyway I won the race (masters) by going around all the jumps. At the finish Warner took my trophy off me jumped up and down on it (well I suppose he was getting me back for when I wrecked his national champions cup) and then threw it in the lake. The organizers and British cycling cringed, we laughed. TW. Carrying on with the jumps, along with French-meister (Paul French) I think downhill racing needs to go a bit more natural, any opinion on this? SJ. Huge opinions on this. Tracks need to change all the time. That is the great thing about racing, learning the optimum line for a race weekend. It’s a strategy. New challenges blah, blah, blah. Jumps should be fun for everyone to do not just there for the top hundred riders. After all the difference in speed between that lot over a jump will be miniscule. Build the jump so that racers can go ten foot or fifty foot. And anyway all the ballsy moves are in the woods. Many riders can only associate danger with jumps most of the time when watching Kovarik pile drive a pile of stumps might just change your view of this. Totally. Whistler manages to combine some truly gnarly man-made tracks with some awesome man-made jump tracks, yet they also keep the natural ones in there, Original Sin etc.... It seems that the natural tracks they build get harder and harder each year in a kind of even keel with the jumpy flowy ones whereas even the natural tracks that are built over here now are getting tamer. I think many racers are kind of retreating to their own hills and building some crazy shit to get on and ride. SJ. When I went to Whistler this year I went to learn jumps and did back to back runs on A-line for almost a week. Yes I’m a total root and rock and mud lover but there is nowhere like Whistler in this country where I can learn to jump. So I made use of it fully. Cwmcarn, don’t like it, it lacks the facility for a rider to build up his or her jump skills. Lets find the biggest, steepest hill and build a track ACROSS it. Crazy. Rowan and Phil are some of the finest track builders in the World. They were just given the wrong hill to build a world class track on. A-line gradient is so shallow and even the best technical tracks in the World such as Nevegal for example are a fraction of the gradient. I have not yet seen any truly intimidating technical tracks in this country that would ask real questions of a bike and really show who can ride a bicycle and who cannot. And hey, when it comes to mud and roots Steve Peat was simply the only rider able to get over the section before the last road crossing at Rheola in total control. Take a slow run on Earthed 3. It’s a pretty simple game to wow the fans and I think those gathered on that section appreciated something special that day. TW. I hear that there are some hidden gems down your way. SJ. I don’t know who the hell you’ve been talking to. No seriously, building tracks is something I love doing. Conifer woods will always be the lowest maintenance. TW. Do you do any other sports or hobbies outside mountain biking? SJ. Dancing on the streets of Hawick, pretending I can drink, bike talk avoidance TW. Veteran National champs next year? SJ. Doubt it. I bought a national race licence for eight years and the moment I forgot it a couple of years ago some part time officious err, person, decided not to let me race. TW. Ok, I normally ask people for a funny story to round up, so if it’s possible without breaking any contract, let one rip. SJ. What, like the one where ten Spanish police arrived at my hotel room door at 3am last week? Gracia, his mechanic Sebastian and myself were marched out and…. Funny stories? There are loads and not always alchohol related. There’s a time for seriousness and a time for going nuts. TW. Wicked, shout outs etc... SJ. Vera, Maureen, Dooogie, Andy…oh and Vera’s dog Allan for keeping us warm. Well, I tried to open him up. He’s just too good. All that time in the hills you see, he’s learned to go covert, not to stray into the headlights. Well he’s stuck there now, and good job too. Quiet yet loud doesn’t make sense but that’s how I’d describe Steven. I’d say more John Smiths than Absinthe - but you never can tell come closing time.

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