DIRTY SECRETS
Jill Kintner
What our favourite MTBers get up to when they’re not messing about in the mud
If you’ve missed the fact that three-time 4X world champ and all-round gravity racing legend Jill Kintner is as into art as she is riding, then her recent film Bandit Hill will certainly open your eyes. In it, Jill rides alongside three cartoon friends, her own illustrated characters brought to life in a delightful tale that blends her two lifelong passions.
“Art has been a lifetime thing for me,” Jill says. “As a kid, I loved making things – folding origami, building clay figures, making earrings, drawing, photography…” Her first career plan was to be a graphic designer, and she studied for a degree in upstate New York before the call of the bike prompted a move to California and ultimately led to her becoming a pro MTBer. But far from being separate from her riding, Kintner’s art is very much woven into how she approaches racing and competition. “I’m a visual learner, so having a sketchbook has always been the best way to work out ideas and clear my mind,” she says. “I map out courses and think through lines with pen and paper, and sketching also helps me to memorise the sequence of a course.”
Jill is keen to share the joy and benefits of art with others, producing downloadable colouring-in posters during the pandemic. “I turn to art as an outlet and I thought other people might enjoy it too. These posters were free to print and share, and it meant that people were taking the time to mindfully put pen to paper. I received messages from people saying that the colouring contests helped to lower their anxiety and got them back into drawing again.”