The Name Drop Thread

I got to ride with SAM MF HILL

 

"I actually kept up with Sam Hill" should be the headline. That's resume material. Who cares how many practice laps, still counts in my book.

Yeah I had 1000 laps he had 1. 😂 

@TEAMROBOT once slept in my van, because I didn't own a couch at the time. 

I've spent countless hours riding and sleeping in Jon Wilson's windowless van. 

We also rode bikes.

So much fun reading everyone's responses. I've been fortunate to cross paths with many of my MTB 'heroes,' and it always cracks me up to think how what are core memories for me are likely lost memories for the other person.  

I'm always desperate for MTB clout, so here are some of my fav memories: 

- 2012, hiking to the start in Port Angeles, I was next to Mick Hannah, and he looked at me and said, "You're the kid who came from moto racing, yeah?" He was thinking of Charlie Harrison since we were on the same team at the time. I said no, that's Charlie, and he just stared at me and then said, "Oh, well, want to follow me?" I nervously said yes and then never saw him again after the first straight. Full circle: in March this year, I went to Croatia for a Shimano press camp, and he was there to talk about racing and developing the new EP801 motor. Surprisingly, he remembered me (over 10 years later). On the last descent of the trip, he forced me to lead so he could get a GoPro clip, and I just about blew my hands off the bars, riding way above my ability. We got to the bottom, and he looked at me with a smile and casually said something to the effect of, "well, that was loose." Also (I know, long story) Mick had a cold the whole week, and after that trip, almost everyone came down with Covid. So yes, the nickname is legit. 

-Leogang WC 2016, after party. Trying to squeeze through a crowded pub filled with most of the top 40 racers, I did the shoulder-tap-excuse-me-let-me-slide-by technique on Brook Macdonald, and he just puffed his chest out and stared at me, blocking the little pathway. I smiled, laughed, and picked a different person to slide past. Later that night, Peaty and I think Ratboy got physically thrown out of the bar, forever cementing in my mind their holy status as professional mountain bikers. 

-2016 off-season. Loic was in town all winter doing his 'internship' at 100% when I worked there. We rode and hung out a lot during those few months, and it was so cool being that close to someone at the top of our sport. One Friday night, he came to a house party with our crew of SoCal racers and proceeded to suck at every drinking game we played. It was hilarious. The next morning, I had to pick him up super early and drive to JensonUSA in Riverside for a 'Ride with Loic Bruni' event, and he was doing less than awesome. He managed to pull through and hung out most of the day, riding and hanging with everyone. Unfortunately, he never came to another one of our parties. 

2012, a buffet somewhere in the US near some national. My dad had just discovered quinoa this trip, and while building his salad, he saw that they had quinoa but couldn't remember what it was called. He glanced up and asked the person on the other side of the salad bar, "Hey, what's this called again?" thinking it was me or one of my friends. It wasn't. It was Richie Rude, who politely responded, "Quinoa?" My dad exclaimed, "Quinoa, that's right! Love that stuff." He came walking back to our table and started chuckling, realizing we were all seated. And now I can't make quinoa without thinking of Richie and laughing.

Last one. This video was from a full day of riding in San Diego with Brandon Semenuk. I think back to this run and the other shuttles we did that day, it was just so fun. Brandon was as fast, if not faster, than all of us on our home trails, and I've since wished he would sign up for just one World Cup to see how he'd do. 

got one of reece wilsons race run tires on my town bike

I'll play!

I've ridden with ALL of the old school Aptos crew out at the Freedom 40, including Brandon Semenuk on one of his winter visits. And had a hand in building many of the trails that he rode in videos there.

I built a titanium GT road bike for Juliana Furtado.

I rode with Brian Lopez and Kirt Vories at sheep hills while they were filming Revolution. Oh and with Kirt at the Freedom 40.

I have an autographed postcard from Greg Minaar from his first trip to race in the US on the Global team. 

I had a job interview with Martin Whitely inside the first layer of the Honda pits. He basically said go away son, you bother me.

I was the tour guide for Richey Schley down all the steepest trails in Santa Cruz when he came to visit.

I've hung out at Ryan Leech's house while on a Canadian road trip with 180 Magazine sponsored by Adidas Eyewear and Red Bull. Garen Becker of Santa Cruz fame was also part of the crew. And the 180 crew and I invented the concept of the Sea Otter Ride Zone and built the first few, after getting tired of just building trials sections. Garen mostly cut off his big toe with a skill saw one year!

That's all my MS riddled brain can remember for now. I'll edit if I remember any more...

What a cool thread to read!

Rode with a few of the Aptos kids too back in the day. Got to ride Cob's backyard jumps with Brandon Semenuk one time. They had just build this massive hip at the bottom and Brandon Guinea pigged it. I didn't think that jump was possible. 

John Cowan yelled at me during Crankworx in Whistler one year because I was standing too close to the 4x track. I was like 14 and looked up to him from his NWD parts so that stuck with me for a while. Years later he came to ride the local DH trails and a friend who knew that story told him. He seemed upset about making me feel bad and apologized to me saying he was under a lot of stress that year with the course building etc. We had a great time riding and he was cool to hangout with. 

Tried to get Kelly Mcgarry to take a slap and pull of the wine bag we were carrying around at Sea Otter one year. He ran over excited to do and asked what is was so we told him it was wine. He turned around and ran away saying " oh god no I can't do wine" and laughing. 

Kyle Warner is a personal friend, known him for years. Most natural talent on a bike I have ever seen. 

Rode local DH trails with Brendan Fairclough when he was on specialized. He rode lines we hadn't even considered before. No one even tried after he showed us either. He also made me go in front of him one run. I tried to tell him I wasn't fast but he insisted. To this day that's the fastest I have ridden a DH trail, it wasn't even close to fast enough. I could hear his brakes almost the entire run... He was also a really nice guy and hung out and drank beers at the truck after. 

I once told Yoan Barelli his beer serving techniques were shit, he tried until it was acceptable.

hahaha hilarious some guys dont know why this thread was created !! Brilliant !!!

I've ridden Santa Cruz trails with Matt Hunter, followed by burnouts and donuts in his rental car.

I threw up a little trying to stay on Ned Overends wheel on a climb.

I rode a pump track with a 14yo Troy Brosnan.

I damn near made Curtis Keen The American Dream throw up staying on my wheel up a climb, and was then smoked by him on the descent.

I unfortunately saw Christoph Sausers junk when he dropped trow in the middle of the room.

I hung out with Sam Hill and Jacy when they were in the states being wooed by Specialized. I understood 45% of what was said.

I've ridden road bikes with Tom Boonen, Paolo Bettini, Fabian Cancellara, Alberto Contador,The Shcleck Brothers, Bjarne Riis, Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Mario Cippollini, and many other skinny roadies.

I have never zip tied a transponder on Loic's bike.

I raced EWS in Finale in 2017. Jesse Melamed broke his hand before the race. So I broke the same hand on the same special stage during the race. I guess we're spiritual brothers ever since.

I saw Loris Vergier a few years ago filming a promo for a trail bike in Roubion bike park, he kept complaining that "the bike feels like shit"

I also saw him around the same time at the top of the longest stage in EWS Valberg... He was badging people's timing chips, what a nice dude!

I took a great picture of Loic Bruni at a race when he was a junior, sent him a friend request on facebook which he accepted, sent the photo and never got a thank you or even a word in response, so we are basically best friends!

I saw Vali Holl getting ready to ride Isola 2000 bike park in the car park a few years ago, she looked great!

I was once given a race plate one number ahead of Nico Vouilloz, which meant I had him starting 20s behind me for 5 stages, I managed to not get overtaken in one of them!!!

My only real name drop is that I ride a few times a year with a regular EWS podium rider and I have had a ton of gossip about injuries and shitty contracts over the last 10 years. But as I have half a brain, I don't go around forums throwing his name and potential career impacting details around...

I was in Morzine years ago and shared a lift ride and rode an unmarked trail with Miranda Miller. She was very cool and super fast down a terrifying trail. 

I had a beer with Kelly McGarry after my drunken pal was yanking his curly hair - he was incredibly nice, good humoured, and seemed such a genuinely good person. I'm sure he is still missed by many. 

Sometime in the early 2000's, I was supposed to ride at some event with Wade Simmons. I ended up missing the group ride but got to ride with Nicolas Vouilloz.
Fast forward a few years I ran again into Wade Simmons in Moab with Jordie Lunn (RIP) and Darren Berrecloth, they were nice enough to invite me to the shooting of their Movie "Roam" and then invited me to some Mexican restaurant afterward.
Fast forward a few more years, I was riding down a rock slab on Mt Seymour and I literally crashed my bike over .... Wade Simmons again.. he was shooting a Marzocchi ad!!   3. encounters in 3 different countries...

I also got cut in the chairlift line by some pros in Morzine and Whistler including some recent World Cup winner... Not cool!

Being a super fan of the sport and based in socal, I got to run or ride with a bunch of big names. Early in my life I also got to work (photoshoot) with Dave Grohl, Billy Corgan and other famous people so I ended up becoming more numb to fame.

The cool thing about MTB is how approachable is everybody so I'm sure this thread could be endless.

Famous people are the same as the average Joe, they might have a good or a bad day and there is the same proportion of dicks and great people..

Another old story:
I was about 16 years old (in the 90s) and I used to go to the national races by train and then by bike (DH-ish  kind of bike) climbing up mountains with my backpack filled with a tent, sleeping bag, and spare parts. The race promoter (Georges Edwards) was impressed by my grit and invited me to the VIP dinner, I got to eat with Nicolas Vouilloz, Giovana Bonnazzi, Taillefer, Jurgen Beneeke, Grancois Gachet and all the big names from this era.

Oh good one, Dean Lucas liked my comment on his post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_UJkPOpzHX/ 

I forgot the all important one: Teamrobot recently liked and responded to one of my comments... On pinkbike!

We ran into Cam McCaul showing the entire Atherton crew a local DH trail.

That was the year Rachel got "hit" by the car.

I live pretty close to Brage Vestavik. Also built a few tracks he’s ridden 

I once saw the specialized gravity team doing practice laps at crestline and got a picture with Loic.  Pretty sure we're best friends now.

My friends and I rebuilt telonics and PG's a few days before the MadCats Iron Horse team showed up to film for Earthed 4. Hill, Rennie and Atkinson and I are still best friends even though we've never spoken.

Fun thread. 

-I was up really early on the 2nd day of practice at the US Open one year, I was walking through the pits and saw Monk Dawg (R.I.P) unloading/setting up the Trek pits by himself.  I asked if he'd like some help and he waved me over, after I was done he said thanks and walked over to a stack of tires 10' tall, he gave me 6 sets of Gwin's used practice tires (they were practically brand new)  for helping him. 

-I was riding Bennett Gap in Pisgah while in college and ran into Richie Schley. 

-Neko had built the course at an Eastern States Cup DH race and was there racing.  There were a couple wooden features that needed to be tweaked a bit, He was in the pits asking if anyone had a hammer, saw etc.  I'm a custom homebuilder and had a bunch of tools in my truck,  I told him he could use whatever he wanted.  I unlocked my toolbox and he went back and forth a few times grabbing tools and got the features fixed.  He gave me a pair of Goggles for helping out. 

-At another US Open I rode the lift up with Sam Hill (I was already on the lift and he asked if he could ride with me).  This was the Iron Horse days, I wasn't racing that year, just cruising the park on my Evil Imperial with a 170mm fork.  It took a few minutes but then Sam realized I was riding a hardtail, he said "You're riding a bloody hardtail?  That's mental mate!"

-I'm friends with Marla Streb and her family.  When we both lived in Baltimore City, my wife and I would sometimes babysit her daughters.  I would ride with her often and helped her Husband with some of the construction on their restaurant.  I also got the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua with Marla's husband for 10 days all expenses paid.  We were there to GPS map potential areas in a giant resort to build mountain bike trails.  We were given a UTV and I got to bring my mountain bike, I spent 10 days riding, surfing, drinking Tona beer, and exploring the Jungle.  

Thanks for reminding me Matt. I once saved Marla Streb from falling out the back of the shuttle truck at a small race on the 007 trail in California. 

And I was part of a crew that got flown out to New York state to put on an MTB demo at the grand opening of a new corporate headquarters for Silhouette Eyeware who make Adidas Eyeware. We were Joey Hayes of 180, Garen Becker, Cam McCall, Hans Rey and Some Canadian ripper. We built dirt jumps, a section of shore style bridges and a trials section for Hans. Cam had just learned 360's and Garen and the others wanted to as well. I found a piece of styrofoam and told them it was a huge rock of crack and the first person to three was the winner!

My friend borrowed Danny macaskills spare ebike a couple of months ago.

Also Jimmy saville once held a door open for me. 

New favorite thread.

I once saw Tinker Juarez riding his mountain bike down a paved climb in SoCal. Circa 2015/2016? I imagine he's still out there doing hill repeats to this day.

Met Mitch Ropelato at a bar in Moab after an enduro in 2016 or 2017. He was really chill but one of his friends yelled at me, "Do you know who this is??" (I did.)

Saw Nino Schurter, Kate Courtney, and the rest of the Scott factory XC team on Mount Lemmon in Tucson in 2019. I went up and said hi but I was too nervous to ask for a picture. Double world champs jerseys can be intimidating.

Was hanging out in a shop in 2019, and Duncan Nason was in there talking mad shit. I didn't know who he was at the time so I said, "Who the fuck are you?" He didn't like that very much.

Oh, and I once followed Joe Breeze down Repack. #iykyk

Matt's post reminded me of the time we were riding DuPont and climbing up Burnt Mtn. We stopped for a down tree and noticed two riders coming up behind us. As we crossed over the tree I told them to go ahead and chuckled as I said I think they will descend faster than us. As they rode off my buddy commented about how nice their Santa Cruz's were. I let him know that was Luca and Walker Shaw and Luca rode for SC Syndicate. 

I’m from the Reno area originally so I’ve hung with Zink a few times, been to two of his houses, bought 3 frames off of him (old spare felt compulsion from 09, evil revolt from 2011, and proto Corsair frame in 2013). 
 

For a while I pretty close to one of Zink’s ‘mentors’ Jim Severt, he was a National BMX racer and one of the higher ups at Atomlab for a while. Got a lot of cool insider info from him (I knew Cam was on Hyper a few weeks early). Once at the jumps Jim built I was out digging with him, and Cam showed up (right after filming Where the Trail Ends) and I got to hear a lot of stories about that movie. I’ll never forget that dig session. Also Cam casually making one of the biggest jumps out there ‘a few feet bigger’ because he could get a little more speed into it. 
 

I also met Paul Bas out there a few times. He was a real class act. Shot the shit with him for a few minutes, saw him 2 weeks later and he remembered my name, and a lot about me we had talked about. I wasn’t going to bother him the second time and when I rolled up it was like seeing an old friend, he greeted me with a “Hey (name) what’s up how’s (home town just outside of Reno)?” I was surprised he remembered my name let alone my hometown. I later went to his compound from NWD10 in Minden NV and helped him tear down the foam pit. He let me take home one of the ramps that was up against the wall ride at the end of his compound, I could only fit the smaller half into the back of my Tacoma, but Paul Bs ramp sat outside my house for a few months before I had to trash it. 
 

at Northstar I’ve run into quite a few big names. I would often go the weekend of the Tara Llanes classic. Met Tara in the village one year. Again I was going to leave her alone, but when I got close I got a really deep “Sup dude?” And some questions about the M1 I was riding (this was 2011). I tried to get on the gondola with Gracia and Peat (SC team was there) but my dad made me wait for the next one. Saw Greg Watts on a Haro. Ran into the McCaul brothers at the dirt jumps, chatted with Tyler for a bit.

I went to Whistler in 2012 and managed to catch a chair with Cam McCaul while he was teaching camps up there. He yelled at a bear cub from the lift calling it ‘puppy’ And talking about how he called an European study abroad student ‘Frenchy’ in high school even though he wasn’t French, he just pronounced aluminum weird. 
 

In college in Utah I got close with some really connected industry people, got to hang and ride with some pro BMX guys and Cody Gessel on the reg. What a bunch of nutters. So much fun though. 
 

That’s all I can remember now. So cool to see how many other people have run into big names and have great experiences. I know Cam Z and Paul B have had some people that weren’t happy with meeting them, but my experience with all these people has been incredibly positive. I love this sport most everyone who does it. 

I once drove sanjay to snow summit because he didnt have a driver's license yet.  im pretty sure i discovered sanjay.

I once shuttled skyline with sanjay when he rode his clapped out DH bike with only a front brake and still smoked everybody including wentz   💪

I ran into Emily Batty filming some stuff in Sedona once. As I approached, I jokingly yelled "Strava!" and I'm pretty sure they thought I was serious. I've never recovered.