31 // Sydney – North Shore // Pro Men
Scott Graham is a 31-year-old rider from the North Shore of Sydney. A long time rider and recent enduro racer, Scott is competing as a Lottery entrant and hoping to make an impact in Derby.
How long have you been riding mountain bikes?
I’ve been riding mountain bikes for about 15 years now, but had a break for about four years to focus on my Degree. So I guess, 11 years?
How long have you been racing Enduro?
I started riding Enduro after winning a bike in a Facebook competition two years ago. After about six months I started to get back into racing again and only after the past year that I’ve started to take racing a bit more seriously again.
Favourite trail in Sydney?
Narra is always good as it is such a large trail network, but Knapsack in the lower Blue Mountains is always good and some other hidden trails around the Hornsby area.
Who are your sponsors?
DHaRCO Clothing have been helping me out which is great and DayZero Bike in New Zealand are helping me out with a YT bike, gear and race entries.
What bike will you be riding?
YT Jeffsy.
What’s been your best result in Enduro racing so far?
7th place at Cannonball festival in the Flow Motion and All Mountain Assault.
Have you attended any previous EWS races?
No, not yet. But have raced a DH World Cup in Schladming many years ago.
What goals have you set for yourself for this race?
It’s going to be a very different race to anything else that I have done before, with the structure, length of event, specific start times et cetera. I would like to have a clean race and no mechanicals and ride the best I can, hopefully, the results will follow.
What’s been your training plan in the lead up to the race?
Spending as much time on my bike as possible. Sydney weather has been terrible so that hasn’t gone to plan perfectly. So I have adopted spin classes as my primary source of fitness, afternoons are spent riding and working on skill sessions and evening combined with home gym and stability workouts.
What do you think the biggest challenge will be?
Learning 7 stages off minimal practice and then putting together race runs on each of them.
Any plans to tackle more EWS stages after Derby?
Not this year. The goal is to complete the entire National series and then look to 2018 EWS.
How do you think you’ll feel when you’re in the start gate come race day?
Nervous!!! I always hate the pre-race nerves, but once you’re out of the start gate, you’re just riding your bike.