From privateer to Factory pro, Katy Winton has experienced the full gambit of Enduro racing and now sits firmly at the top level with the fastest racers in the world. Ewen Turner catches up with her at the British Champs and finds out how life has changed since the early days.

It's a busy life for a professional mountain biker. After two big days of practice at the British Enduro Championships, Katy and teammate Ruaridh Cunningham are sat at a pop-up table in the race village signing photos of themselves for fans. Queues form, questions are asked, and I lurk, watching the experts handle the public. The championship is part of the Tweedlove festival, which goes from strength to strength every year, offering huge quantities of cycling opportunities for all.

As I watch, a man walks up with a pair of gloves, attempting to return a set of gloves to Katy that he bought earlier that day from the stand next door. He's apparently oblivious, but Katy handles this all with good humour, and he leaves none the wiser. It's smoothly done and a reminder it's not all glamour and groupies.

Having the national champs in her home valley is obviously a big deal for her and having friends, family and fan support is important to her as she fields various requests for photos and autographs from every man, women and dog. She's certainly arrived as the full package, with race results, media presence and warmth towards her fans in equal measure.

Handling all this comes with its pressures, but I wondered if she enjoys this side of it? How is she finding the role of the full factory version of Katy Winton?

I'm not too big a deal yet, so it's OK. Last year was a big year moving up to third and has given me a lot more, I don’t know, the exposure I suppose, people know who I am now. I was sat in Glentress, and someone was riding past and said, 'that's Katy Winton' they were like 'Katy', and I was like 'oh hi!' and then they were saying to their mates, 'that's Katy Winton she's 3rd in the EWS overall'. I was just standing there thinking oh my god this is crazy, that is crazy.

Does that happen much, getting stopped in the street for autographs?

Not so much but I'm wandering around here in my Trek kit, and they recognise me, so more so at the moment. Most of the time I just scoot around incognito and go about my business.

You had a pretty successful start in the cross-country world before the change to enduro, how did that come about?

I was pretty committed to cross-country, that was where I really wanted to be because I wanted to get to the Commonwealth and the Olympic Games and that's where you can do that. Then, I overtrained, and Enduro came round, and it was way more fun. I'd got to the point with cross country where bike riding wasn't fun anymore, and that's never a good place for anybody to be with something they really love. So enduro put the fun back into it, travelling to all these different places with my friends and getting chairlifts to the top of mountains and riding down them as fast as I can. Also, you know the training changed, I got told by my coach, 'off you go to the top of that hill and ride down it as fast as you can' and that's my training, I don't need to do all this other stuff, so I was like WOW!

Who or what helped make the step from cross-country to enduro?

That was me, I'd reached breaking point and knew I needed to quit cross country. I wasn't myself anymore, I wasn't happy, and I realised there were bigger things in life than mountain biking, and you need to be happy to enjoy anything. So yeah, the Enduro World Series was coming around, and I got put on the riders start list for that, so I was like, right, let's give it a go, I've got an entry for this, let's give it a shot.

Having experienced racing as a young athlete, how does it feel to be inspiring the next generation now?

It's probably one of the biggest things that keeps me going really. It inspires me as well because you see the kids and see them light up and enjoying bike riding. When you're around them, they get even more excited and seeing them go to the Dirt Crit (local race series for under 16s) and stuff like that and watching the race, that's where it began for me, so it's nice to return to that. If I can at all inspire any of them to keep it going, or just stay in mountain biking, that's great you know. Or encourage any new ones to give it a go, that's what we want really, just more people on bikes, more kids on bikes is good.

This area has plenty of support for young riders, were you part of the local clubs as a youth?

Yeah, I was, we lived in Dunfermline until I was 13, and we actually drove down. Up in Dunfermline, there were no kids riding bikes, it was just me and my dad and all his mates. So coming down to Peebles we got to meet friends like kids and other children that ride bikes, and I was like oh right! This is actually quite cool, you go to the races, and you see them more, it's good.

When you started racing who did you look up to for inspiration?

I don't know because I wasn't really into it for that, I just rode my bike and just did some racing because my friends were racing.  I was never really like, “sweet look at them that's amazing I want to do that”, I just enjoyed riding bikes. Once I got a bit older and I was more into the cross country stuff, Annie Last was definitely somebody I always looked up to because she was not too much older than me. She is an incredible athlete, so I always looked up to her, and how she did things and how she applied herself to being the complete athlete, it was amazing.

I associate you a bit with Tracy, is that fair, or is that just because you've been on the same team? How much of an influence has she been on you?

Oh, huge. She is pretty much the reason I got on to Trek, which I couldn't actually believe, cos you know, once I moved into enduro it was Tracy that I really looked up to and everything. Moseley was the leading woman in enduro for a long time, so we were all like, how do we get as fast as her? But Tracy was terrific and was a massive help for me in getting a team and just getting support to move up that ladder.

I'd emailed Trek previously, and Tracy had said stick in there because she'd be retiring soon and they'd need someone to fill her spot, and she really pushed it, and I couldn't believe that Tracy Moseley was pushing for this basically unknown rider really at that point to get on this major team. So yeah she was a big push for that and just being so beneficial for that deal and is so helpful to everyone, she has so much time for everyone. She just wants to help them, so it's been amazing to have her as a mate and also, you know, a massive support in making big decisions or changes or anything, so it's great to have her close by. Just being a great human.

Stepping up to a full factory team, how much of a difference does that make to a rider coming from a privateer background?

Night and day. Like I didn't even realise how big a difference it was going to make, and I knew it was going to be big. I went from just trying to get to the race and get through the race, to then actually having everything done for me and I could focus on the actual racing to figure out what the weaknesses were within that, rather than the shortcomings of just trying to get ready to race. That was huge for me in terms of taking the next steps forward and having that support, having bikes that work consistently and fewer stresses on yourself as an athlete, you can just truck on and do your job, and that's amazing. That, ultimately at the end of the day is what I want to be able to do. Do your job and do it really well, and that allows me to do that.

How many seasons did you spend as a privateer on the Enduro World Series?

Two and a half, which was kind of the plan, part of my thing with enduro as well as understanding this is an emerging sport, so there is going to be more contract opportunities to get the support to be the best in the world. So I was like right, get in now and make your mark and the opportunities will come round.

Do you miss those privateer days or are you glad to see the back of them?

The thing with that first couple of years with enduro is a lot of it was based in Europe so you could go out and do a massive van trip and it was pretty good. The simplicity of it was really lovely, I liked being able to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, surrounded by the people that I actually like (she looks across to Ruriadh laughing). You have a proper family feel when you do it as a privateer because there are others who are just trying to do the same as you, so it's good, I really liked it. It's different now 'cos it's my job whereas then it was kind of fun still... Well it's obviously still fun now, but you know it was predominantly about having a good time because you were putting a lot of money into it yourself, so you wanted it to be good regardless of the results.

Is there more pressure now with the weight of the team behind you?

To perform? Yes and no. I mean I want it just as much as anybody else does, the people that want me to do well, the feeling is the same for me, so yes, it is what it is, more internal pressure than anything else I think. People just want you to do well, whereas I feel like I have to do well. So you just lay down the best you've got on the day and what will be will be, and you keep learning and moving forward.

What have you learnt from being on a factory team?

It's been easier to see where my weaknesses lie in terms of my performance because I've had all the support.  Then, even in this past year, not even a year yet, 6 months really, having Ruriadh on the team is excellent as he's really calculated and knows a lot about the bike and the bike setup, so that's been really helpful. Helping me to learn more about myself and set up stuff like that and where I actually want it is great as I can't always articulate exactly what I'm feeling or what I want from the bike. He's pretty good at that, so it's great in terms of pushing the bikes in the right direction and making the bikes even better which is what we're here to do.

What, if any, are your frustrations with Enduro?

I really want the stripey jersey (world champ) to be in Enduro, but that's purely selfish, I don't even know how that would work, but that frustrates me a little bit. The EWS is probably the hardest thing to win in all of mountain biking, but it doesn't hold the same prestige as that white jersey with those stripes. That's somewhere I'd love to see it go, it's just how that would work, or how that would ever work, but just that respect, that it's a savage series and to win it is an incredible achievement.

Just to win one of them, never mind a whole series. Last year when I was trying to put one race weekend together it felt like a big deal, but to go into every round and have to perform and get a certain result, that is tough.  Everything is changing all the time, conditions are different, race venues are different, there is so much going on you can't even believe you’re doing a full season.

How do you feel about the state of women's racing at EWS level?

I think it's in an excellent position. I think we've got eleven women with pro deals of some sort and that's amazing because we all want the level of racing to be high, we all want the times to get closer, and they are definitely getting closer, it's getting tighter at the top. By women having more support, we can put more into our training and more into our preparation, so then we're coming in hot, and then everybody is fighting really hard, then the racing gets tighter, the racing gets more exciting.

Even though at the moment you've got Cecile and Isabeau who are still a way ahead of everybody, behind that it's pretty tight, it's just about trying to keep everybody pushing so we can get up there with them too. It's great to see more women on teams, just as a starting point. And as long as opportunities keep coming up to bring younger riders on and nurture them through, then it's only going to get better.

Do you think you'd be where you are without growing up around here, would the raw need to win and succeed come through regardless?

I think it would have been harder, and easier to get distracted. I'm pretty set on what I want, and once I've figured that out I'm all 'hell-for-leather' towards that goal, so that's more personality type more than anything else. The reason that it's thriving here is because of the location and because of the trails, the infrastructure and the community and everything like that. The more people you can get into biking the more people you can tap into with that winning personality that wants to then move into the sport. I think if you really want something like that you can make it happen regardless of where you are it's just harder that's all, But that makes you realise that that's what you really want.

What's it going to take for you to win the series?

I'm working on it aye. I'm figuring it out, and first of all, I need to win one, so that would be a good start. Then I just need to get consistent with every round, we've had a lot of bike changes this year, which has been hard, so I reckon once everything is in place with all the equipment and everything like that we'll be in a better position to be more consistent throughout the whole year. 

There is definitely work to be done, training to be changed and stuff like that and I'm always learning. Enduro is always evolving so you do one set of training and then it changes a bit, so it's more like this or that, so we need to do this type of training. You've just got to be a really adaptable human, so the more I can be adaptable the better I'm going to be. But I learn so much every round, it's been five years, but you should have seen me five years ago and the way I was riding and stuff, you learn so much so quickly.

And finally what's your bike set up for the weekend?

It's a Trek Slash 9.9, 15.5inch with a Lyric and Super Deluxe suspension with 130psi in the rear and about 60psi in the front. Tyres I run at 24 in the rear and 22 up front and up until five days ago I ran my brake levers at different angles, but I'm trying to even myself out.

Thanks to Katy for her time and Tweedlove for having me along to the National Champs.

Videos

A day with pro Scottish Mountain Bike racer Katy Winton
Meet Katy Winton - EWS mountain biker.
By Ewen Turner
Ewen Turner is a self-confessed bike geek from Kendal in the Lake District of England. He runs a coaching and guiding business up there and has a plethora of knowledge about bikes with an analytical approach to testing. His passion for bicycles is infectious, and he’s a ripper on the trails who prefers to fit his working life around his time on the bike.

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