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Steve Pete Interview

djjohnr

Turbo Monkey
Apr 21, 2002
3,001
1,693
Northern California
There's some gold in there -

So obviously Josh has moved onto pastures new, was that a shock for you?

Dickhead! [laughing] It was a little bit of a shock, I mean Rat is his own free spirit, he's his own man and he always has been. There's obviously something that he feels he needs to do and I wish him good luck. He will need it with those bikes! [laughing]

Josh fell out of love with downhill towards the end of it, can you relate to that in any way?

Yeah, I could relate to it from Josh's side. I don't agree with it, but I do relate to it. I think that injury in Hafjell really set him back a bit. It put him off a little bit and although he came back really strong that next year and had quite a good year, I think he didn't like the speed that he had to ride at on the tracks to try and do well. I think that was a massive thing, the tracks really forced him to fall out of love with downhill, he's a proper technical rider and loves riding all that tight and techy stuff. Tracks are just not like that anymore, so I think that was a major part in his decision... and the fact that he couldn't smoke weed and ride his bike as he’d get tested! [laughing]

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/interview-steve-peat-reflects-on-retirement.html

Also if you read the whole thing and string some points together, he basically credits his longevity to drinking :cheers:
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,480
4,720
Australia
I loved the digs at Cannondale. Seems Peaty is a Syndicate man through and through.
 

trib

not worthy of a Rux.
Jun 22, 2009
1,458
388
I enjoyed the interview. I really feel for Steve and roskopp. Have found some of the reasoning behind the Bryceland to Cannondale tenuous at best.

1: to mentor younger athletes
His whole 50:01 gang was already on SC frames, SC has younger riders for him to help mentor. Seems a bit of a cop out.

2: carbon frames aren’t affordable.
honourable that he wants to ride a more affordable bike, but...
He’s still using very expensive carbon wheels, and to ride the cannondale josh is on you’ll need to buy the complete 29er build, then get a new set of 27.5 wheels and a new fork...

I’ve no problem with someone choosing a new sponsor. But if I was one of his mentors, I’d be truly pissed after seeing the interviews explaining why he felt it was time to go.

Best of luck to Steve, Josh, Santa Cruz, Cannondale and everyone else involved. But it smells like shit to me.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,289
5,029
Ottawa, Canada
to drinking :cheers:
longevity maybe. but not success. that came from getting serious and focusing:

"I had a sports psychologist at the time and I played golf with him before I left and I told him that I felt s***, I've not been able to train, and I knew that it was quite a pedally track as well. He was like don't worry about it now, I'll touch base with you next week when you're in Australia. He sent me an email when I was out there, I've still got the email today, there's not loads of ins and outs to it but it was basically, just pick something each day to tick off and see how you build on your confidence kind of thing. Just from getting that email and changing my attitude up a little bit, everything seemed to fall into place for me over that weekend, there were loads of little bits and bobs. It just changed my mentality. Reading that email I just felt confident, every time a little thing happened I just felt a little bit more confident and a little bit more confident…"

I enjoyed the interview. I really feel for Steve and roskopp. Have found some of the reasoning behind the Bryceland to Cannondale tenuous at best.

1: to mentor younger athletes
His whole 50:01 gang was already on SC frames, SC has younger riders for him to help mentor. Seems a bit of a cop out.

2: carbon frames aren’t affordable.
honourable that he wants to ride a more affordable bike, but...
He’s still using very expensive carbon wheels, and to ride the cannondale josh is on you’ll need to buy the complete 29er build, then get a new set of 27.5 wheels and a new fork...

I’ve no problem with someone choosing a new sponsor. But if I was one of his mentors, I’d be truly pissed after seeing the interviews explaining why he felt it was time to go.

Best of luck to Steve, Josh, Santa Cruz, Cannondale and everyone else involved. But it smells like shit to me.
really? I see mentoring a little the same way as parenting. you try and share your wisdom and hope some of it rubs off. but no two people are the same, and what works for one, doesn't necessarily work for the other. you have to give people room to grow, learn, make mistakes on their own. obviously Josh felt like he needed something else, to explore other avenues. he essentially grew up in that structure, and now wants to see what else is out there, what else he can do. what's wrong with that? A true mentor would be happy to watch their protégé take off and create something new and different. (and to be honest, even if Roskopp and co may have been a bit shocked and surprised at first, I think they ultimately came to feel this way).
 
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trib

not worthy of a Rux.
Jun 22, 2009
1,458
388
really? I see mentoring a little the same way as parenting. you try and share your wisdom and hope some of it rubs off. but no two people are the same, and what works for one, doesn't necessarily work for the other. you have to give people room to grow, learn, make mistakes on their own. obviously Josh felt like he needed something else, to explore other avenues. he essentially grew up in that structure, and now wants to see what else is out there, what else he can do. what's wrong with that? A true mentor would be happy to watch their protégé take off and create something new and different. (and to be honest, even if Roskopp and co may have been a bit shocked and surprised at first, I think they ultimately came to feel this way).
I understand that mentoring is different for different people. And I understand it’s hard to be taken seriously when you’re old team mates are still part of the program, I imagine especially tough for josh to feel like he’s leading something when his other team mates are some of the sports winningest riders...

But it seems a lot that what he’ll be doing with Cannondale is similar to what he was doing with Santa Cruz during his years off from WC racing - shooting video, doing one of races, having fun and helping progress some other talented riders.

If he’d said that he’s really excited to work with a brand that’s almost completely starting again when it comes to their gravity based bike, on a brand new team with no history to live up to, then I get that.

At the end of the day, it’s people I’ve never met, at organisations I don’t work for, neither of which make a bike I currently or plan to own any time soon.

But if I can’t make snap judgements about riders, teams and sponsors during the off seaso, when can I god damnit.