Max Fredriksson’s Cannondale Mixtape & Season Recap

Max Fredriksson mixes it up in his latest edit, filmed between locations in his native country of Sweden and in Barcelona. Proving that variety is the spice of life, Max backs up his recent indoor edit with a delicious combination of bikes, skills and style as he continues to show his versatility.

Chapter one of ‘Cannondale Mixtape’ sets the scene, captured on the beautiful trails of Flottsbro bike park, Stockholm. Max seems at one with both enduro rigs as he shreds his Jekyll and Habit. In the second chapter we are transported to the riders’ playground of Barcelona, known for its football team, architecture and of course bike park La Poma. With his Dave DJ bike, Max hits the legendary dirt jumps as well as a friend’s backyard compound. Finally, he cruises the iconic streets of downtown Barcelona, showing us his creative side isn’t limited to the slopes. 

Max enjoyed making the edit with long-term colleague Simon Malmberg Duce and said “The street riding really stands out to me. It feels so different and isn’t judged purely on the difficulty of a trick. It’s all about creativity and it pushes me to new levels.” It all makes for a beautiful mixture of Max’s relentless riding, whatever the bike, whatever the terrain.  

Almost a year has gone by since Max joined the ranks of the Cannondale Team. We caught up with him to talk about the past twelve months.

What have you been up to since the end of the season?

“My season didn’t really stop until after the New Year. I went to New York to film right after New Zealand and then Barcelona twice. Following that I filmed the Skatepark video, Creative Space, at home as well. It’s been busy, full of projects, trips and lots of things in the air at the same time but I like it that way”

It’s been a year since you joined Cannondale. How has the relationship between you been during this last season?

“It has been great! My first year exceeded my expectations. I love working with them, they have supported me in all my projects and competitions, and they seem to like what I do. It’s always nice to be appreciated when you try to do something cool and the bikes have been a massive boost to me, I love them.”

You ended the season really strongly and put yourself firmly into the Crankworx bubble for 2022. Will that change things in your preparation for the season? 

“I didn’t put too much stress on myself about it actually last season. I’ve done contests for so many years now, so I don’t look at it the same way; it’s not life or death when it comes to results anymore. I know that if I just do my thing and have fun with it, good results are going to come. That’s what I did in ’21 and in doing so got myself a pretty good spot in the World Tour.”

Could you take us through Rotorua, how was it for you following the disappointment in BC?

“I felt that I was on a good roll leading up to Crankworx BC, I had a good result before that, and my riding felt good. During the event I had a really good thing going and then I got a technical issue that bumped me out but at the same time, it got me more motivated. I trusted my riding and it worked in New Zealand despite the tough conditions we had.” 

You mention the result before BC, how was it to be back at the podium? 

“It was great! It was a big relief to confirm that I can still be on a podium. It is nice to actually do it, instead of just chasing it all the time. A good little experience!”

In the video, we see you ride different types of bikes: Habit, Jekyll, and Dave. Is this usual for your riding or do you usually stick always to one?

“I try to ride all the bikes as much as I can. I enjoy all shorts of riding: Downhill, Trail, Street, Dirt - that’s kind of what I wanted to do with this video. Instead of necessarily just focus my Slopestyle riding as I am sure a lot of people have seen that before. I just wanted to give it a good mix, some creative riding and different than pressing a button and doing triple tail-whips.”

In what way does big bike riding influence your slopestyle riding? 

“If I ride a lot of big bikes and then come back to my dirt jump bike, I can feel and notice that I rode differently for a while. You transfer the style from the big bike back to the hardtail bike. During a Slopestyle contest run, it comes down to complex combos, so it’s hard to transfer that riding into it. So I would say, not really but at the same time yes haha”

Photo credits: Simon Malmberg Duse

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