Trish Bromley Makes History at Crankworx 2015

August 26, 2015

by Mea­gan Broughton

Sat­ur­day August 8th, 2015 his­to­ry was made at Whistler Crankworx, as the first ever female com­peti­tor in the Dual Speed and Style event went head to head with the Pro Men.

I caught up with Trish Brom­ley who shares her expe­ri­ence, words of wis­dom and thoughts on the future of women in moun­tain biking.

SACRED RIDES:
Ok, so wait, you com­pet­ed in the Pro Men’s 2015 Crankworx Dual Speed and Style event?

TRISH BROMLEY: 
I would say, ‘par­tic­i­pat­ed’ as opposed to com­pet­ed. In that, I got through the course and qual­i­fied, but got knocked out in the first round of lad­ders by Andrew Tay­lor.  The goal is to be com­pet­i­tive.  Seman­tics I guess..

SR: I got­ta back up a minute for all of our read­ers, what dis­ci­pline of moun­tain bik­ing is your focus?   Can you explain it a lit­tle for us newbs?

TB:This year I start­ed rid­ing a short trav­el jump bike.  It’s a sim­i­lar geom­e­try to a dirtjumper, and the added sus­pen­sion makes it more for­giv­ing on the big­ger jumps. The goal is to get into slope style, so I guess it’s time to learn some cool tricks.   I coach DH in the Whistler Bike Park, and spend a lot of time on my Tran­si­tion PBJ. It’s a small­er bike with sus­pen­sion only in the front, and the geom­e­try is super play­ful. It’s per­fect for dirt jumps, pumptrack and cruis­ing around Joyride150.  Ulti­mate­ly, I’m focus­ing less on rac­ing and more on freeride.

“ULTIMATELY, I’M FOCUSING LESS ON RACING AND MORE ON FREERIDE. ”

SR: What events do you com­pete in?

TB: This Crankworx I com­pet­ed in the Speed & Style, Pumptrack, and Dual Slalom.  I dab­bled in DH rac­ing in the past, and I’m cur­rent­ly lov­ing the turnout and ener­gy at the head to head, spec­ta­tor focused events. It puts a pret­ty big smile on my face.

SR: Why do you think there are so few Freeride events for women?

TB: The whole chick­en vs egg debate applies here: why cre­ate events if reg­is­tra­tion num­bers aren’t there? Yet, how can you invite reg­is­tra­tions if no one has heard of the events? Events specif­i­cal­ly for women do attract a cer­tain audi­ence, but con­verse­ly, I won­der if it leaves women seek­ing out women’s spe­cif­ic camps and con­tests, and miss­ing out on a cal­en­dar packed full of great events.  I’m try­ing not to put my foot in my mouth on this top­ic- I high­ly rec­om­mend check­ing out women’s spe­cif­ic events, it’s a unique and addict­ing expe­ri­ence, but don’t let that lim­it your options.  And if you’re still not find­ing what you’re look­ing for, cre­ate it.

“IF YOU’RE STILL NOT FINDING WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR, CREATE IT.”

SR: If there were more events for women, who would be your main competition?

TB: Myself. I’m con­stant­ly bat­tling with my own per­cep­tion of what is pos­si­ble.  A friend of mine shared one of his favourite quotes while pulling me out of the foam pit at Joyride150. He said, ‘whether you think you can, or you can’t- you’re right.’  A shared invest­ment in pro­gres­sion at women’s events is very present.  Yes, there can only be one per­son on the top of the podi­um, but when we’re sup­port­ing each oth­er to do more, I think every­one wins.

“WHETHER YOU THINK YOU CAN, OR YOU CAN’T- YOU’RE RIGHT.”

SR: What inspired you to focus on freerid­ing, as oppose to any oth­er style of riding?

TB: Here’s a pret­ty fun game any­one can play with friends: It’s real­ly easy with a small group, and gets pret­ty enter­tain­ing as the num­bers grow.  One per­son leads, and each per­son behind them has to cre­ate a dif­fer­ent line. Think about hav­ing paint on your tires and you each have to paint a unique line.  Laughs are inevitable and it real­ly helps your rid­ing too.  I tried rac­ing (and still love it) but I can take more chances in my own rid­ing when not bound by a tick­ing clock. Your own inter­pre­ta­tion of the trail comes out, and it’s fun to find excit­ing lines on famil­iar trails.  It’s an excuse to play, not that you should need one.

SR: For women work­ing on jump­ing for the first sea­son, what are a few tips you can pass on for pro­gres­sion? Let’s say from cred­it card air to bike length.

TB: This is such a fre­quent area of dis­cus­sion.  Find your­self a pumptrack!

There are tons being built in com­mu­ni­ty parks these days, and they’re a sta­ple at indoor parks as well.  Even if you’re already clear­ing trails like Crabap­ple, you can learn so much about pres­sure con­trol and flow. 

• Start slow, almost pas­sive­ly rolling around- the idea is to first build your range of motion and feel out the rollers.
• Feel the bike come up under­neath you as your elbows and knees bend going over the roller, and let your arms and legs extend as you go down the oth­er side.
• Be dynam­ic and flu­id in these move­ments. Any stiff­ness and imbal­ances become very clear in a pumptrack and it’s a lot safer to dis­cov­er that on a pumptrack than in the air!

• Once you’re com­fort­able casu­al­ly rolling, add in some pow­er. This is gen­er­at­ed by pump­ing, not ped­al­ing into the start of the track.
• Press through your legs on the up ramp of the roller, keep­ing your feet par­al­lel to the ground- it sounds weird but it becomes nat­ur­al. Then soft­en your elbow and knees and let the bike come up under­neath you.
• Let it feel as if it’s weight­less, that means you nailed the press beforehand.
• Then dri­ve your arms, then legs, down the back­side of the roller to gen­er­ate momentum.

Once we’re freely flow­ing around the track, I’ll show rid­ers the side pro­file of a roller and com­pare it to a jump.  A jump is essen­tial­ly a roller with the top cut off.   A com­mon mis­con­cep­tion is to lift the bike into the air with you off the lip- this hap­pens a lot when rid­ers are clipped in. 

“ANY STIFFNESS AND IMBALANCES BECOME VERY CLEAR IN A PUMPTRACK.   IT’S A LOT SAFER TO DISCOVER THAT ON A PUMPTRACK THAN IN THE AIR!”

“A COMMON MISCONCEPTION IS TO LIFT THE BIKE INTO THE AIR WITH YOU OFF THE LIP- THIS HAPPENS A LOT WHEN RIDERS ARE CLIPPED IN.”

But rolling around the pumptrack as a warm up gen­er­al­ly cor­rects this and the air­time becomes easy.  In terms of going big­ger, play with your press. I like to ses­sion the same jump so there is con­sis­ten­cy in the lip. Try hold­ing it for a lit­tle longer before let­ting the bike come up under­neath you. But do this at a slow­er pace before adding speed. I hope that helps.

SR: For women who have airs dialed and are start­ing to think about style, what’s the first trick you’d sug­gest try­ing out?   Any tips to con­quer it?

TR: I start­ed play­ing with my hands.   A sim­ple one han­der was easy when I fig­ured out how to get that weight­less feel­ing in the air.  Start lit­tle, releas­ing the ten­sion in your fin­gers first, and build from there.  Also, find your­self a foam pit. It makes the learn­ing process for more involved tricks a lot easier.

SR: How can the rid­ing com­mu­ni­ty help you and oth­er women with your skill set make a career out of this talent?

TB: Inter­est­ing ques­tion.  Allow your­self to play. And in the nicest way pos­si­ble, as I’m fre­quent­ly guilty of this, stop mak­ing excus­es.  Watch this video. 

Because, I see that fire in so many eyes, the desire to over­come a chal­lenge and to do some­thing new. Coach­es need stu­dents, and com­pe­ti­tions need com­peti­tors (and even cheer­ing fans).  So whether it be par­tic­i­pat­ing in a camp, or com­pet­ing in an event, get after it.

“COACHES NEED STUDENTS, AND COMPETITIONS NEED COMPETITORS (AND EVEN CHEERING FANS). SO WHETHER IT BE PARTICIPATING IN A CAMP, OR COMPETING IN AN EVENT, GET AFTER IT.”

SR: What’s next for Trish Bromley?

TB: There’s a lot up in the air right now, but what I can con­firm is I’ll fin­ish the sum­mer in Whistler and head back to Joyride150 to teach for the win­ter.   I’m also hop­ing to make a trip to High­land Bike Park for their Women’s Freeride Fest in Octo­ber.  I hes­i­tate to reveal too much as a few ideas are in their ear­ly infan­cy, but I’ll keep you post­ed for sure!