Last November Steve Peat turned up at Pedal Progression with old school friend and local star Andy Titley and Bristol based marketing brain Oli Young… We put the kettle on.
Andy and Oli are locals up at Ashton Court but Peaty, not so much! For those that don’t know, Steve Peat has been a hero almost since the beginning of the sport. A World Cup Winner, a National Champion, a World Champion and main man on the Santa Cruz Syndicate Downhill Mountain Bike Team. Our favourite and yours too even if you don’t know it yet! An influence to millions. Arguably the most famous man in mountain biking, ever!
Peaty is a quality guy too and our brew was a pleasant one. He let on that he was in Bristol to look for locations in which to host the next Peaty Bonanza – a huge bike jumble sale with a mixture of trade and public stalls.
A couple of days later, Oli called me to say Peaty wanted to do a ride on the Saturday morning and would we host!? Wow! I was lucky enough to ride with Peaty in the off season after his World Cup win in 2009 and that was pretty cool, but the idea of him coming to my shop for a ride on our local trails was pretty rad!
We were in the shop in good time on Saturday 7th March to get the shop in shape ahead of the big day. At ten past 9 our first customer walked in; Steve Peat. The kettle went on and the vibe was good. Off the track, there is nothing elitist about this guy and it’s so refreshing. At 40 years old and with all the trophies, at heart he’s still a guy who just loves riding his bike and enjoying the experience with others.
Ashton Courts big visitor was in no way inconspicuous in the huge Syndicate van and it wasn’t long before a crowd started to gather. It was great to see fans young and old chatting and laughing with perhaps the most influential man in UK mountain biking.
Peaty brought his race mechanic Tom down for the weekend along with his wife Adele and party boy Kevin Radical, or K-Rad! What a guy he is!
It wasn’t long before another known name turned up. Jay Williamson has joined the ‘Steve Peat Syndicate’ this year after parting with the WideOpen race team at the end of last season. He had come to pick up his box fresh Santa Cruz V10 from Steve. The bike had its last tweaks in our workshop before we witnessed the handover from Steve to Jay. A pretty cool moment to observe. Jay is seriously quick and with Steve’s support will definitely be one to watch for this season.
K-Rad had forgotten to bring his bike so we loaned him a Norco Charger so he could come and spin with us in the woods. I’ve never met a guy so enthusiastic about literally everything! I think it would be nigh on impossible to have a bad day while hanging out with him!
With 100 riders behind us, Peaty and I set off onto the first section of the Nova trail. I know these turns like the back of my hand and like to think I’m fairly quick through them but following Peaty was… well, humbling! Although my front wheel was as close as it could of been to his rear, it became obvious that I was pushing hard where frankly, he really wasn’t! The selfish part of me wanted to push him to see what he had in the tank but this wasn’t about me and as we came out of the woods and rode up to the top of the first climb, a huge snake of riders followed happily sharing the dirt with the big man.
One of those enjoying the trails and our Norco Charger hire bike was K-Rad! K-Rad is a old friend of Peatys and had come down to DJ at the Bike Bonanza on the Sunday. He is old school in every sense and was loving the party vibe out on the trails buzzing off every turn. Once we’d finished the loop, I spotted him across the car park so I went to check everything was cool with him and the bike. I wasn’t prepared for his reaction… “Woooooahh these Continental tyres mannnn! They hook up so good bro… locked in! Wooooww!” To prove his point he tried to lay the bike down super low whilst braking and was surprised when he nearly crashed into the golf hut! A skidding session ensued to the amusement of those watching.
We broke for lunch while Peaty continued to sign jerseys, bikes, helmets and whatever else people had on them.
It wasn’t long before we were back on the trail again. This time Sam leading a loop Leigh Woods with Peaty chasing his tyre! Once back to the shop, things started to slow down and the crowds subsided with Ashton Court calming to normality. Peaty and Tom fixed a slow puncture on the van before head to UWE Conference Centre to set up for the Bonanza.
In the evening we headed to Arnolfini for a ‘This Is Peaty’ evening which included a pub quiz and a movie showing as well as a Q&A session with the man himself. Team rider Ed’s dad one the quiz and bagged himself some goodies. The answers Peaty gave to the questions asked, further highlighted what a quality bloke he is. His ‘just having fun’ mentality has not only sustained him so well but also encouraged the likes of Josh Bryceland to be where he is today. Peaty really is a hero.
On the Sunday, Ross and I headed over to the UWE Conference Centre so set up shop for the Bonanza. We had a super simple set up selling our #SYLBS tees while others were stocked to the nines with all sorts of goodies. The Syndicate had everything from new Maxxis tyres for £10 to Enve wheelsets at £800. There were plenty of private sellers too who’d endured major garage clear outs to find some gems, as well as some tat!
K-Rad was spinning some tunes so I decided to go and check out what he was up to… I DJ myself and so I was interested in his set up – a laptop with some freshly downloaded software! He was well in the zone and loving life but still invited me behind the ‘Boogie Box’ to show me round. A matter of minutes later he asked if I’d hold the fort while he went for a cigarette and a beer… I got Ross over and we got started queuing up Dire Straights ‘Money For Nothing’ with it’s massively long intro! On the drop the room erupted (it did in our heads anyway) and we continued dropping bangers for half an hour or so until K-Rad returned, seemingly pleased with our work… “Woooaahhh, sounding good boys! Yea, yeah, yeah, big tunes… yeah, yeah, yeah, nice, nice… ahhh that’s sweet” etc.
What a great weekend!
