TURNS OUT PEACOCKS CAN FLY!
Sure, the avian variety may be somewhat aerially challenged, but their Berkshire-based namesake Liam Peacock is already well-known for his airborne antics on the international wakeboarding circuit, and now he’s making waves at local dirt jump spots, too. I went to check out his riding and find out more.
BIKES IN THE BLOOD
Full disclosure – I’ve known Liam’s dad, Paul, since he used to ride with the Crowthorne crew back in the early ’90s. In fact, I was there during his first date with Liam’s mum, Sarah. Over the years I’ve watched both Liam and his older brother Ryan’s rise through the wakeboarding ranks with interest. Given their sporting abilities, it’s no surprise that Liam’s picked up some of his dad’s old-school MTB skills too. What is amazing is how quickly he’s adapted and quite how big he’s going after such a short time back on two wheels.
It’s all because of the lockdowns. With no events, no travel and most wakeboarding venues – particularly cable-operated set-ups – closed, Liam and Ryan had to find other things to do. Cycling seemed like a sensible option, given the family connection; Paul is a bike mechanic, so there have always been bikes around. The restrictions forced the brothers to refocus on them as a means to stay fit and entertain themselves. Ryan chose the faster and smoother road bike as his preferred option, while younger, burlier and rowdier Liam was more attracted to mountain biking.
“I’ve kind of always ridden bikes,” he explains. “I’d go to the local jumps after school and do those on my heavy full-sus bike. Then, when I was about 16, I watched an episode of Nitro Circus and decided I needed to learn to backflip. I went out on that full-sus, not realising that a dirt jump bike would make it easier, and just went full send! The first time, my seat hit my back wheel, so I went straight up in the air and fell onto my back [the video is on Liam’s Instagram – https://bit.ly/peacockflip]. Then the second one I did, I got it pretty perfect.”
Mum Sarah wasn’t surprised at his progress on the bike. “He could ride a bike without stabilisers before he was two,” she says proudly. Paul was soon building ramps in the street outside the house for the boys to jump off, and it wasn’t long before Liam was asking for them to be bigger. “He’d get his mates to lie down next to the ramp and would jump over them, four or five deep, and get me to measure how far he’d gone,” remembers their dad. “He loved an audience!”
CABLE GUYS
It was clear from a young age that the Peacock brothers were destined for careers in sport. While Liam enjoyed messing around on his bike and Ryan preferred doing tricks on his skateboard, their main focus was split between trampolining and wakeboarding, both of which they competed in at international level. “They ended up getting too tired training for both and ultimately had to stop one,” says Paul. “They chose wakeboarding, but trampolining definitely paved the way for their wakeboarding success.”
The brothers first tried the sport behind their grandfather’s boat, aged about seven, but got properly into when they started going to Thorpe Lakes in nearby Surrey. “We’re cable rats!” laughs Liam.
“We like to hang out at the cable with our friends all day long,” he explains. “It’s massively cheaper than doing it behind a boat. You can ride for two hours, as opposed to 15 minutes with a boat. Plus, you’re on your own behind the boat; you can interact with your mates much more on the cable, and push each other to do more.”
It wasn’t long before they were both scouted for the British wakeboarding team – Liam when he was nine and Ryan at 12. They’ve been all the way through the age categories and both went professional by the time they were 18. Concentrating on the same sport allowed them to push each other to bigger and better things. “It’s more like a friendly competitiveness than a sibling rivalry,” notes Paul. “Ryan paved the way for Liam as a pro, but now they develop tricks between themselves that no one else has been able to do. They’ve landed ‘first in the worlds’, and although they have different styles and skill sets, they come as a package – the Peacock Brothers.”
The siblings now travel the world, producing photos and videos about their exploits and content for their sponsors, and have built up a good social media following (over 50,000 Instagram fans between them). Their ‘package’ approach gives them an advantage in competitions, too. Ryan is a more technical rider – he’s very stylish and does more techy tricks –
‘RYAN IS A BALLET DANCER ON WATER, WHILE LIAM IS MORE LIKE A ROCK STAR!’
while Liam is more aggressive and goes harder and bigger. “Ryan is more like a ballet dancer on water, while Liam is more like a rock star stage-diving,” laughs Paul. This combination works well, meaning they cover all the bases and can appeal to judges who prefer one style over the other.
FROM BOARD TO BIKE
Everything was going great, then COVID-19 happened and wakeboarding ground to a halt, with cable parks closed and competitions cancelled. It wasn’t long before Liam was translating his rowdy moves to dirt jumps. “When the cables closed, I was going crazy in the house, so getting out on the bike was perfect,” he recalls. He started on a kicker in the garden, progressed to some smaller local spots and was soon flipping again. Then he went down to a bigger line in nearby Hampshire, where established riders were pulling big moves. Liam was blown away and slightly intimidated, but also determined.
“I was one of the worst when I first went down, so I’d go and spend five or six hours a day, every day, practising. If you put enough hours in, you’ll see the return,” he says – an observation born of years of trampolining and wakeboarding experience. “Then some of the boys were like, ‘How are you better than us now?’,” he laughs. “By the end of the first year, I was flipping the big line, which was my goal. The guys I was riding with – Dan Capes and the Bielby brothers – helped massively. The sibling rivalry I had with Ryan on the wakeboard, I had with them on the bike. Dan and I went down to Lymington and there was
‘IF YOU PUT ENOUGH HOURS IN, YOU’LL SEE THE RETURN’
a race between us to flip a jump first; he always encouraged me to send it and get it done.”
A BIT OF A SENDER
It could have been there that he bumped into Grant ‘Chopper’ Fielder, the legendary UK dirt jumper/slopestyle rider and FMB World Tour judge – not to mention MBUK regular and Superschools ambassador – who was impressed by this young unknown. “Actually, I think it was probably some jump spot in Surrey,” remembers Chopper. “The first thing I saw him do was a giant flip, and I thought, ‘Wow, who was that?’. Later we followed each other on Instagram and I figured out where that came from – his wakeboarding background clearly helps! It was definitely a different way of flipping – he was going really big and you could tell from the get-go that he had a very well developed sense of spatial awareness. When someone goes that high and remains in total control, they’re definitely up to something!” he laughs. “He’s a cool guy – a bit of a sender!” High praise indeed.
Both brothers are now ambassadors for Specialized – Ryan on a road bike and Liam on the 150mm-travel Stumpjumper EVO that he’s now sending over bigger and bigger jumps. Like the step-up he flipped in the Surrey Hills earlier this year. “We went out there on the big bikes a few times, then someone joked about flipping it, so I did. That was a week or two after
I got the Specialized. I was scared of destroying it, but really wanted to send something big, and I was so stoked to do that. That’s the biggest flip I’ve done,” Liam recalls. What next? “I’d like to try a double flip. With a bit of practice in a foam pit, I reckon I could – I have the aerial awareness from wakeboarding. I’d also like to do some Dirt Wars comps. I’ll need to work on some barspins and tailwhips to stand a chance of doing well, but it’s a goal of mine to compete. It’d be great to come from out of nowhere and do well... but maybe I’m foiling my plan with this interview!” he laughs.
For the moment, the brothers are back on the European wakeboard circuit. Overflowing with talent, approachable and always looking like they’re having fun, it’s easy to see why they’re such a success – and that’s without mentioning their model good looks! But that belies how much hard work they put in. As if all the wakeboarding, skateboarding and dirt jumping wasn’t enough to keep them busy, the Peacocks are spreading their wings now that restrictions are lifting. “We’ve been doing a lot of kiteboarding, and we’ll be getting our skydiving licences soon, in Orlando,” says Liam, on the phone from Romania. “Anything that provides an adrenaline rush, we’re up for, basically!”
‘IT’D BE GREAT TO COME FROM OUT OF NOWHERE AND DO WELL’