Manon Carpenter is a downhill mountain bike world champion and advocate for the environment living in Caerphilly, Wales. She recently premiered a documentary film titled Trails on Trial that explores how trails connect the land with communities and various stakeholders.
In this interview we ask:
- When did you first get interested in the idea of environmental protection?
- Was the connection between biking and the environment always pretty clear to you, even as a professional racer?
- What are your local trails like? Who builds and maintains them?
- Why do you think mountain bikers have a bad reputation among some environmental groups? What can we do to change that?
- If “trails come and go,” what does that mean for us as mountain bikers?
- Where are some of your favorite places to ride around the world?
- Should we be concerned about the potential impact over-tourism might have on places? How can this be mitigated or offset?
- Do you see a connection between climate change and trail conditions?
Check out some of Manon’s videos, including Trails on Trial, on this Youtube playlist. You can follow her on Instagram @manoncarpenter.
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Tourism is a wickedly polluting industry. Perhaps in the UK with their train infrastructure it is better than in the United States. I wish there was a transcription, because having the time for the audio is too much, but reading the questions what was not asked was: is this new endeavour carbon neutral? Thoughts on Carbon fibre and the throw-away culture of racing with the constant annual, or more often, new bikes? Strangely it kinda reads like a past-their-prime athlete without much other marketable skill is trying to get attention to avoid having to divest in less physical pursuits.
For the record is someone wins by the half a wheel or a thousandth of a second, that is how much they won by. If the race took five hours or two minutes it was won by a thousandth of a second, frame material does not dictate the competitiveness of the field, nor does it hinder their physical prowess, however if they are going to chemically and biologically enhance themselves than competitiveness was only ever purchased in the first place. People can race heavy bikes the same as they can light bikes with slight allowances for maneuverability, this is more a point on the roads then gaps, roots, and jumps, but frame material does not necessarily make for a better rider, maybe just a different ride.
With all due respect, you should really listen before commenting.
Calling Carpenter a past-their-prime athlete is laughable. She retired from racing at the ripe old age of 24, having podiumed at 3 out of 5 World Cup DH races she entered in her final 2016 season (she finished top 5 at all 5). She is the definition of an athlete choosing to pursue a higher path DESPITE being at the height of her racing career. Hard to think of any athlete in any sport who left on top like she did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manon_Carpenter