GREG MINNAAR
WE CATCH UP WITH THE GREATEST DOWNHILLER OF ALL TIME TO FIND OUT HOW HE MANAGES TO STILL STICK IT TO THE NEW SCHOOL
We chat to the greatest downhiller of all time, to discover his secret to staying at the top and how he manages to still stick it to the new school
LONGEVITY IN ANY SPORT IS HARD TO COME BY.
It’s difficult to remain motivated and at the top of your game when you’ve achieved all that there is to be achieved. And that’s before you factor in a mass of young, hungry competitors, all vying to dethrone you and prove themselves. In the sport of downhill, there’s no rider still racing today who’s more deserving of ‘legend’ status than Greg Minnaar. The South African has been competing at the highest level since 1997 and now, at the age of 36, is regarded as the elder statesman of the discipline. In the 17 years since his first World Cup win, he’s transformed from Nicolas Vouilloz’s precocious young challenger to the man we now refer to as ‘The GOAT’ (greatest of all time). With a tally of 21 World Cup wins and three World Championships gold medals, Greg’s ability to win on any day, any track and against any odds is staggering. That consistency has seen him mount the World Cup podium 70 times since his first win. Raw talent and dedication are two factors in his success, but they don’t explain his ability to remain for so long at the pinnacle of an ever-evolving sport. Curious to piece together the rest of the puzzle and get a glimpse into the mind of Minnaar, we headed to his South
African homeland.
Mr versatile
“I think my competitiveness is the biggest factor,” answers Greg, when we put the question to him about his consistency. “Regardless of whether a track suits me or not, my aim is to win. A lot of racers get too caught up with wanting tracks a certain way, but I think the key is to just focus on the racing.” The proof that this mindset works is in the race results. While track records may show Greg to favour the flat-out nature of places like Fort William, he’s won everywhere from the mud-soaked slopes of Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, to the dusty bike park berms of Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
These victories are even more impressive when you consider the trails that Greg grew up riding. We’re out riding in the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve today, just outside of Cape Town, and there’s not a hint of the slick, root-infested steeps encountered at the North American and European races. Even in Greg’s hometown of Pietermaritzburg – a venue that’s hosted multiple worldclass events – there’s no chairlift, or really much terrain to challenge a top-level racer. Herein lies another reason for Greg’s longevity, though. “Living where I do, I’m quite out of the scene in the off season,” he explains. “But I see that as a positive. We travel and race so intensely throughout the summer that I feel like I need a break from it all. I’ll go home for the winter and barely ride downhill, but that stops me getting burnt out and means that, when race season comes around, I’m fresh, excited to ride and excited to see everyone on the circuit.”
split-second precision
Even though Greg has barely ridden his Santa Cruz V10 leading up to today, you wouldn’t know it. He exhibits that effortless yet calculated speed we’ve come to expect from him. Neither of us know the trail we’re riding and the loose, rocky, flat turns are unpredictable, but from run one, Greg is going flat out. It’s amazing the way he reads the terrain, processes the line options and executes the fastest one, all within a millisecond, his tyres cutting loose and finding grip at exactly the right moment. Disillusioned with our own efforts, we have to remind ourselves there’s a reason why he’s a multiple-time world champ.
Greg comments that it always takes him a few runs to get back up to speed on the big rig after a period off, which prompts us to ask how he approaches a race weekend, balancing the need to learn a track with managing fatigue. “Walking the track is key,” confides the downhill veteran. “All the top guys walk the track a lot these days, to study the line options. Sometimes, lines can be super-tight and just a matter of inches either way can make all the difference between getting out of the rough and being on a better line through the rocks. You don’t see that stuff by riding.”
“My weakness is that I don’t ride quick enough in practice,” Greg admits. “The gap between my practice
"I THINK MY COMPETITIVENESS IS THE BIGGEST FACTOR. REGARDLESS OF WHETHER A TRACK SUITS ME OR NOT, MY AIM IS TO WIN"
"YOU MAKE A COUPLE OF MISTAKES NOW AND YOU'RE NOT THIRD OR FOURTH, YOU'RE TENTH OR LOWER - IT'S TIGHT!"
pace on day one and my race run is too big. I need to start getting up to speed quicker. I always see guys and think: ‘Shit, they’re going super-quick, I need to up my game!’ Never feeling like I’m the fastest on track makes me work really hard in practice. It’s part of what’s kept me competitive, I think, so maybe my weakness is my strength?” This is surprising to hear from such a successful rider – that he doesn’t have complete self-confidence and that his approach to racing could still be refined.
No more cruising
For this reason, Greg says, he doesn’t feel like he has a target on his back, but he acknowledges the pressure that comes from having such depth of talent in the World Cup field. “You make a couple of mistakes now and you’re not third or fourth, you’re tenth or lower – it’s tight!” The challenge, Greg reckons, doesn’t come from wildcards willing to lay it on the line, but from an overall improvement in the calibre of the riders. “I’ve noticed that the young guys don’t necessarily do the crazy lines they used to,” he says. “They’re actually quite reserved. Back in the day, we’d attack a technical section, cruise a bit, then attack again, but now you’ve got to be flat out from top to bottom. The Gwin era, if you like, has made guys ride harder and take a more calculated and less crazy approach to racing.”
We suggest that this is a product of the tracks evolving and getting faster but easier, but Greg doesn’t fully agree. “Everyone whines about the tracks, but I think things in general have just got quicker,” he says. “If you think back to Sam Hill’s heyday in 2007, the bikes were nowhere near what they are today. The bikes now can handle the terrain so much better, which means we can carry more speed, smooth out those awkward sections and ride faster.” Greg acknowledges that a bit more technicality wouldn’t go amiss, but points out that a race series should test different styles of riding. “Fort William last year threw in a technical section and the riders complained!” he exclaims. “Yeah, it was hard and the rain made it super-slippery, but you’ve just got to get on and ride it. Take Leogang, for example. The track isn’t the gnarliest, but the whole field is separated by a matter of seconds, and to me that’s harder than any technical section.”
Spicing things up
Greg explains that one of the hardest things is to plan your run so you finish with nothing left in the tank. With over two decades of World Cup experience to draw upon, it’s a skill the South African has honed to a tee. We’re all familiar with that classic Minnaar style of calculated precision, but in 2017 we saw the mistakes creep in, as the
usually unruffled pro pushed things to the limit. A crash in Mont-Sainte-Anne and a destroyed wheel in Val di Sole, Italy, dashed his hopes of another series title. But Greg says that’s a risk you have to take these days. “In the past I’ve ridden really smooth, which is something my dad taught me when I was racing motocross, but I’ve found that I need to spice things up if I’m going to hold the pace of the race. Guys like [Loïc] Bruni and [Aaron] Gwin are so quick, it means I need to get out of my comfort zone. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t, as you saw last year!”
Accepting these risks must require some serious mental composure. Something we’ve heard Greg’s teammates say on a number of occasions is that he performs better under pressure. “I’ve no idea how I deal with it,” he laughs. “I had a bad start to the season one year and Rob [Roskopp, founder of Santa Cruz Bicycles] told me to see a sports psychologist. I said: ‘I’m not going to go, because I don’t know what I do to start with. If this psychologist tells me to do something else, when I’m not sure what I currently do, it could really screw me up!’ Luckily, Rob gave me one race’s grace and I pulled things around, so I didn’t have to go!”
win or lose, we’re on the booze!
Asked whether he has any race-day rituals, Greg says he just focuses. “I have a routine, but I try not to be too strict, because if there’s a schedule delay, then it can really throw you. I pick out a set of gloves and goggles for my race run, but that’s about it.” The next day, we’re shadowing Greg at DarkFEST, the South African FEST Series round, and it’s intriguing to see his nerves manifest themselves in little idiosyncrasies, like resetting his goggles several times and adjusting his brake levers before dropping in.
When he’s not hitting massive jumps, Greg seems relaxed away from the races – never one to shy away from a bit of mucking around and the odd beer or five. This ‘ride hard, play hard’ attitude has long been the mantra of the Santa Cruz Syndicate, and we recall tales we’ve been told about pre-season testing trips – of Greg, Steve Peat and Josh Bryceland getting hammered every night and somehow still getting up each morning and riding their bikes at warp speed. Greg attributes much of his
"IN THE PAST I'VE RIDDEN REALLY SMOOTH, BUT GUYS LIKE BRUNI AND GWIN ARE SO QUICK, I NEED TO GET OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE"
longevity to this sort of behaviour. “You’ve got to have a bit of both,” he smiles. “If you’re not having fun, your time is limited.”
To downhill fans, it felt like a bit of a turning point when Steve and Josh retired from World Cup racing at the end of 2016 – two of the last few of an original breed, leaving an increasingly professional sport. “It did feel like the end of an era,” admits Greg, “but I reckon Luca [Shaw] and Loris [Vergier] uphold the values of the Syndicate pretty well. You can’t try to replicate the old days, but we still have a lot of fun. World Cup parties aren’t like they used to be, though. These days, the pubs are barely full after the race. Seven years ago, the boozing was the main attraction!”
Last man standing
As one of the last remaining contemporaries of the likes of Fabien Barel, Peaty and Nathan Rennie, we ask Greg if he’s planning on hanging up his Five Tens any time soon. “I’d planned to just race this year,” he admits, “but I had such a good start to last season and the bike is feeling so good that Rob Roskopp and I agreed that I’ll definitely do another two.” Greg recognises that it’s important to go out on a high, though. “I’d hate to be in a position where I’m just riding off my name and my past achievements. It’s not fair on the younger guys who deserve a shot at being on a big team. If I stop being competitive, I’ll stop racing. At 36, you never know when that might be, but right now I feel pretty good and I’m enjoying the racing. I’m just a very mature kid, I think!”
After hanging out with Greg for the past few days, we’d fully agree with that. While he may joke around away from the races and enjoy a few beers with his mates, when it’s go time he can flick that switch and perform at the highest level. When you’re still winning races and battling for overall titles, why would you bow out?
"THESE DAYS, THE PUBS ARE BARELY FULL AFTER THE RACE. SEVEN YEARS AGO, THE BOOZING WAS THE MAIN ATTRACTION!"