Riders

We have watched their spectacular races, their rad video edits and checked out their latest bikes. But how many of these stars would we be able to recognise if we are to bump into them at a bike park? With their faces usually shielded by their flashy helmets, it's small wonder we might have missed them even if we had the chance to brush shoulders with them. So here's a montage of these super folks. May you have the good fortune to meet them at a bike park or trail near you.

RIDER: THE FACES OF 2021

We have watched their spectacular races, their rad video edits and checked out their latest bikes. But how many of these stars would we be able to recognise if we are to bump into them at a bike park? With their faces usually shielded by their flashy helmets, it’s small wonder we might have missed them even if we had the chance to brush shoulders with them. So here’s a montage of these super folks. May you have the good fortune to meet them at a bike park or trail near you.

Hannah Bergemann is laying a path for the next generation of female freeriding talent in the world of mountain biking. Bikezilla.

RIDER: RED BULL FORMATION GIRL

Hannah Bergemann is laying a path for the next generation of female freeriding talent in the world of mountain biking. As part of the inaugural Red Bull Formation event in 2019, the 24-year-old American is now back for the second edition in 2021 alongside the likes of Casey Brown, Vaea Verbeeck and Vinny Armstrong. Bergemann spoke about her ambitions for this year and the future.

Nigel Chen

RIDER: BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN STREET TRIALS AND MOUNTAIN BIKING

We have seen the likes of Danny McAskill and Chris Akrigg bringing bike trials and street trials to the next level of exposure on social media. Always a blast to watch their latest video edits. But, did you know that there’s a handful of such warriors amongst us too? Many of these riders had since moved on from riding solely on their trial bikes to mountain bikes. Nigel Chen is one such warrior who has been enjoying his riding time both on the streets and off-road trails with a beautiful mix of mountain bike and street trials styles. Bikezilla sought some advice from the man.

Jefni Amat bike tour to Thailand

RIDER: HAVE BIKE WILL TRAVEL

It was a weekday afternoon when I met Jefni. What got my attention was the sticker on his 12 year-old Diamond Back mountain bike. There was a sticker made up of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand country flags. I got curious and walked over to ask the owner did he pasted those stickers on the bike because he cycled to these places. He smiled and told me he toured to Thailand with this bike. I was impressed.

Val holl

RIDER: RISING STAR VALENTINA “VALI” HÖLL

Valentina ‘Vali’ Höll is looking forward to the start of the shortened 2020 race calendar. The Austrian will start her season in the Downhill race at the Crankworx World Tour in Innsbruck on October 4 before turning her attention to the World Championships in her home country resort of Leogang between October 7-11.

Rebecca Rusch

CULTURE MOVERS: PHOTOGRAPHING A 1000-MILE ENDURANCE BIKE RIDE

Red Bull athlete Rebecca Rusch recently became the first cyclist to ride, straight through, the entire Arkansas High Country Route, a new 1,041-mile bike trail across the state. She covered the distance in a new fastest-known-time (FKT) of 8 days, 3 hours and 33 minutes. On hand to document her achievement photographically was internationally renowned adventure photographer Corey Rich, who brought along his talented assistant Bligh Gillies. We sat down with them to pick their brains about what goes into photographing such a challenging project.