AARON GWIN: A WINNING FOCUS

Aaron Gwin’s move to and ownership of Intense Factory Racing

Ben Sykes catches up with Aaron Gwin ahead of the season, talking team ownership, racing and product development.

Aaron Gwin needs no introduction as one of the world’s fastest downhill racers, famous for his triumphs amongst adversity with seemingly magic podiums after broken chains, missing rear tyres and horrible weather conditions. His rise from an almost unknown name prior to 2009 to now being 5 time overall Downhill World Cup winner and with 20 World Cup wins to his name is driven by sheer determination to succeed and build upon his career. This trait has also seen him take an active role in developing his team structure and the products he races with. We had a chance to catch up with Aaron recently in California while he was gearing up for a new deal with Intense Factory Racing, where he’s setting up a new team ride joining fellow American teammate Neko Mulally and Australia’s Jack Moir to race with Intense, with Aaron also taking a bigger stake with personal ownership of the team, providing a new set of challenges for him this year.

That is huge news this year with you taking both ownership and riding duties on the Intense Factory Racing team. What were the main motivating factors behind the decision?

AG: It all pretty much started right after the World Champs in September. YT decided to go a different direction and my previous team manager followed so I was left in a position without a ride or a team. From that point, I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to take the opportunity to build my own program. I was already handling a lot of the team duties for YT so making the transition to a full-time team owner was something I felt prepared for and excited about. I’ve developed some great relationships with individuals and sponsors over my years of racing and I wanted to bring those people together under one race team.

Bringing along ex-YT Mob member Neko Mulally and keeping Jack (Moir) in the team gives the team arguably one of the best chances to win the overall team World Cup point score. How do you think you, Todd and the team will maximise the strengths of the team’s riders?

AG: For us, we just want to give the riders and staff everything that we can to perform at their best. I believe in my abilities to create a great atmosphere within a race program as well. This gives the riders and staff members an opportunity to not only perform their best but also enjoy their work, which is really important to me. Everyone on the team is already highly accomplished in some way so we’re just looking to facilitate them however is needed or wanted.

In 2017 we saw Jack Moir have his best World Cup season yet aboard a series of Jeff Steber-built prototypes, and visiting the factory recently I saw a lot of work in progress in the R&D room. Did the potential of that local prototyping and rapid development seal the deal for you?

AG: Absolutely, the owner Jeff and I are both very passionate about building/ riding fast downhill bikes. Having the Intense offices 10 minutes from my house creates a unique opportunity to be really involved with product development. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do together as the race season progresses.

You’ve now been racing mountain bikes for a little over a decade after that start way back in 2008, scoring 5 World Cup overalls in that time plus multiple wins and podiums. What’s motivated you to race over that time and now into the future?

AG: For me, it’s always just been a lot of fun. I love riding my bike and being able to race for a living is my dream job. There are so many other aspects to it but that’s really the simple truth. I love what I do so it’s not hard to find the motivation to keep doing it.

Success in racing always comes at a price, on the body and resources. What are the elements you find most important in making that success happen?

AG: My preparation is really what gives me the confidence when I get to the races. If the bike is dialled and my body is physically ready, I’m always confident that I can do well.

When it comes to the bike and components specifically, what are you looking for and what advice would you give to riders wanting to setup their bike to win races?

AG: A lot of that comes down to each rider’s own preferences but I think having a bike that fits well is the best starting point. From there I’d recommend setting the sag on your suspension for your weight. After that it’s all kind of personal preferences but I tend to keep things pretty simple. I like a set up that is well rounded and reliable. That allows me to focus on myself as a rider and not have to be making huge changes all the time when I’m riding different tracks etc.

You’ve had extensive experience in product development cycles with brands. Take us through a typical lifecycle, from new component to being available to the public?

AG: Usually, we start developing products 1-3 years before the public are able to buy them. The initial design stage often starts off with a 3D drawing so that we can see how the product will look and generally function. From there we’ll make a prototype that can fit on the bike, sometimes those are rideable and sometimes they’re for fitment purposes only. Once we have a functioning prototype, we’ll put it through some in house strength testing to make sure it’s safe to ride. After those tests are completed, I’ll usually get the product on my bike pretty quickly. From there we just continue to ride and refine until the product performs how we want it and has proven its reliability over a suitable amount of time. When I feel confident on the product locally I’ll take it to the World Cups and once it’s proven itself on that level we’re usually ready to go to market pretty quickly.

Let’s talk about 2018. A solid start with the win in Lošinj, only to suffer through the rest of the season after the thumb injury at Fort William. How hard was it working through the rest of the season and what lessons did you take away from it?

AG: Last year was really tough for sure. I felt more prepared coming into the season than I ever had. We started off the year with a win and I only believed I’d get better from there. I was on pace to win the second World Cup at Fort William when I had that little crash dislocating my thumb. It was pretty messed up, I basically just stretched all the ligaments out and kind of exploded my knuckle so I knew it was gonna be a tough injury with no time to heal. I raced the following weekend in Leogang and managed to get 2nd but that felt like a miracle. I think I maybe did 6 practice runs total all weekend and they were all really slow besides my qualifying and race run. It was pretty sketchy and painful to ride on but thankfully that’s the smoothest track of the year and I was able to limit the damage. After that race I went home and got it all checked out and the thing just kept getting worse from doing more damage to it racing in Leogang. I didn’t ride at all until a few days before the next race in Italy and it still felt really bad. I managed to kind of cruise through practice but then had a small crash the morning before qualifying and landed right on my thumb. It reinjured it all over again and from that point I wish I would have just packed it up and not raced. I was still somewhat in the points chase though so I had to try, I think I got 35th or something but it was a bad decision and ended up making my thumb even worse. From there I took some time off, I skipped the next few races and just tried to heal up for Worlds. I got a few weeks back on the bike before that race but the thumb was still pretty bad and I had just started testing that new 29er bike that we had so it was a tough task. I actually felt pretty good by the time we got to race day at World Champs and really believe I should have won that race but I just had a sloppy run and made too many mistakes. I was still finding the limits on that new bike and I think I missed out on the win by 1.5 seconds. Overall it was a tough year but I learned a lot and besides the injury, I felt really good. That’s racing, I’m just excited to be healthy now and hoping to have a better 2019.

For 2019 what’s the focus personally and with the team?

AG: The focus personally is just on doing my best, like it always is. I’ve had a great offseason and I really like the bike so I’m just excited to get back to the races and see how we stack up. For the team, I just want to be a great leader and help the other guys do their best. I think we’re gonna have a fun year and I’m hopeful for lots of success.