... ride your mountain bike like Jill Kintner

Anyone who likes to ride their mountain bike with zero effort on tarmaced bike paths should stop reading now. Because 4X World Champion and World Cup champion Jill Kintner has tips that will inspire even Sunday riders to give it their all on steep bumpy trails.

Pretend you don’t make it to the local mountain bike 4-cross race on time for some reason. Because you don’t want to disappoint the spectators, you send your best friend to the start. She’s your spitting image - but has no racing experience. What three tips would you give her to avoid total disgrace?

I would give her a magical bike that rides itself. It’s not an easy task to ride down a hill and hit jumps at full speed if you have no experience. It’s better to build up to it. I wouldn’t do that to my best friend without at least a lesson or two on bike fundamentals. But if she had to show up I would tell her to learn how to use the brakes well, to lean back and be aware of balance, and to not try anything she hasn’t practised first.

Can you please reveal a special Kintner trick that would also help hobby cyclists to ride a few decisive seconds faster on their favourite trail?

Be in the right gear when exiting a corner to be able to power out. Brake in a straight line, when you brake all the way through a corner you loose traction. Have a goal during each ride, like a skill or a section to do better than the last time, and if you wanna get crazy with that, have your friend time you through a tough bit so you can try different things and know what works best.

XC riding alone keeps you in shape. But how do you train for the extremely fast, explosive 4-cross competitions?

There’s lots to learn from every discipline. You would be surprised how important XC is for bike control and set-up. Sprints, skills and strength for explosion.

Apart from peak physical performance, perfect control of the bike is also essential in your sport. What do you have to practise under test conditions in order to keep your bike under control even in extreme situations?

When it rains I ride, even when it’s slippery - on grass, dirt, rocks, going fast or slow. I pretty much know what’s coming because I ride my bike all the time, whatever the conditions. No surprises.

Within the group, having the upper hand psychologically is also important. How do you work out the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, and how do you convince yourself before a race that you are invincible?

All I can do is my best, I’m not invincible. I don’t really care too much about anything other than what I’m doing. Winning is the result of huge effort. I know where my competitors are strong and how to capitalise on their weaknesses because I have raced them a lot and have seen patterns, I guess.

Can rising cycling stars who emulate you make do with an off-the-peg bike, or should they construct it themselves with tuning parts. What do you have to look out for in particular when purchasing a bike?

Depends how good they are at emulating me. Race bikes for 4x are pretty light and have special geometry. Some of the companies sell pretty good packages. For example, GT has a Lopes signature bike that comes with dialled parts. I personally think it is better to go for quality rather than budget when buying a bike for elite riding, but if you are getting started I would say, run what you have and then upgrade. The most important bits are the drive train, brakes, bars/stem, and wheels.

You are very interested in design and photography. As a hobby photographer, what’s the best way of spectacularly capturing cool bike scenes?

Always have a camera with you. I kinda do it for my website so people who don’t travel on the circuit know what the experience is like, and to remember the good times for myself. Dirt magazine has been an inspiration, I look for things that stand out to me that someone might learn from, some character, and click away. You have to know what you think a good picture is.

What kind of influence does mountain bike 4-cross have on everyday life? Do the skills you’ve acquired sometimes give you that all-important edge on a day-to-day basis - for example at the supermarket checkout?

I think being in the moment and reacting to things comes across. The best edge I have is that I own my time and don’t have to be running around in a 9 to 5 job somewhere. I get to pick where I live and construct my day around riding bikes. It has given me patience but also a weird sense of time and reality. Yeah, throwing an elbow at the checkout isn’t good, is it?

To what extent does your personality reflect this type of sport, where you’re on two wheels continually fighting for the number one spot?

I was actually talking about this the other day, what makes certain people thrive on the pursuit rather than a time trial. Competition has been a part of me since the day I was born as child number two. My brother was my challenger and in everything I had to prove I could do it and keep up. Now I just want to keep getting better to reach my potential.