Home > MTB

Trevor Thew: Wild horses and sketchy shuttles in South America

Duncan, B.C.'s Enduro World Series privateer on chasing the series around the globe

Trevor Thew EWS Chris Istace
Trevor Thew EWS Chris Istace
Image: Chris Istace

Photography by Chris Istace

Wild horses blocked Trevor Thew’s path. The Canadian enduro racer was high in the Chilean Andes, just minutes into the first Enduro World Series race of the year, and the course was blocked by wild horses. After training through a long wet winter of Vancouver Island weather, preparing for the unpredictable world of elite level enduro racing, something completely unpredictable, and unavoidable had already jumped into his path.

The horses scattered and Thew got back up to race speed. There was still two full days of racing. The animals weren’t Thew’s first obstacle in Chile, nor would they be the last. Besides, it is partly this sense of wildness and—to use a much-abused word properly—adventure that has drawn so many racers to the relatively new racing discipline of enduro.

With long, demanding descents, limited practice times, huge elevation gain over a weekend of racing, often in remote locations, enduro presents riders a unique set of challenges. It’s a challenge, though, that’s increasingly popular with riders at the pro level. As the EWS develops into a international series, it has attracted a full roster of “factory” level pro teams similar to the World Cup downhill circuit. Similar to the DH scene, there’s also a small, but growing group of riders trying to take on the series on their own, without the benefits of factory support.

Trevor Thew EWS Chris Istace
Thew riding at home on Mt. Prevost Image: Chris Istace

Duncan, B.C.’s Trevor Thew is one of these “privateer” riders. Before making the trip to Montagnes du Caroux, France for the third EWS round taking place this weekend, Thew took the time to talk to me about his experiences at the first two rounds, in Chile and Colombia, the challenges of racing EWS as a privateer, and making the switch from downhill to enduro after a decade in the sport.

Lo Barnechea, Chile was not a casual start to the season. The high Andean region, famous for it’s “anti-grip” dusty trails, threw riders into huge days of climbing and long, rocky descents. On the massive 11-km Stage 2, a record for the EWS, Thew blew up a wheel during practice. With EWS’s new single-practice-run rule, that meant he had to ride the last half of the marathon stage blind, at full pace on race day.

After getting past the horses on Stage 1, and the wild unknown of Stage 2, Thew’s fork started sitting low. “It was stuck around 50 per cent travel,” said Thew. “I tried to pull it up, and it wouldn’t go, so I pushed hard to the pits and checked in with SRAM.” The company’s mechanics couldn’t do anything there, but told him to come back at the end of the day. With one more stage remaining in Saturday racing, Thew had no choice but to keep racing with the malfunctioning fork. “With the lower front end, every time I’d go into a corner, it would just want to throw me over the bars. It was extremely sketchy.”

Trevor Thew EWS Chris Istace
Deep in the woods of North Cowichan Image: Chris Istace

Horses, wheels and blown forks are a lot to deal with for one day of racing, but its this unpredictability that is part of the attraction to enduro. Another element that has drawn a steady stream of racers is the sense of community on course, even between competitors. “Everyone’s just really stoked on mountain biking and the adventure. You’re riding all over town and checking out different mountains … it doesn’t really feel like racing too much.”

A relaxed race day experience and a renewed enjoyment of racing is was led Thew to make the switch from downhill to full time enduro racing. “Coming from downhill, I was always stressed out sitting at the start gate, because your whole weekend comes down to just one run.” After trying a couple enduro races as cross training, and finding a different atmosphere, Thew decided to try take enduro more seriously. “I decided to branch out and try a bunch more, and It was a lot of fun. With enduro I don’t find I’m stressed at all, I’m really clear minded the whole time.”

“My goal last year was to do a bunch of the qualifiers and see if I could make it on the reserve list for the EWS,” Thew says. Based on racing at a set list of qualifier events, the EWS establishes a global ranking of the top 100 riders, the reserve list, who are then allowed to enter any EWS event throughout the season. “I said if I did that, I was going to do a full EWS season.”

With only a couple qualifier events remaining this past season it was looking close. “I was just on the cusp of making it, it wasn’t for sure, so I ended up having to fly to Scotland to try bump up my best result.” The Kinlochleven Enduro worked. Thew qualified, but next time, he says, he’ll likely take the warm weather option. “In Scotland, it was just dumping rain the entire time.” Strong words from someone who calls Vancouver Island home – it rained 15 mm the day I travelled to talk to Thew. “I was expecting some dirt, but the trails were just rocky riverbeds there,” he says. “It was pretty gnarly.”

Trevor Thew EWS Chris Istace
From Prevost’ summit to Duncan down below.   Image: Chris Istace

With his spot on the reserve list secure, Thew committed to racing a full EWS calendar for 2018. His former team was not as keen on enduro as he was and ended up letting him go. With his ticket punched to the EWS, Thew wasn’t looking back, and joined the ranks of privateers.

Privateering on the wide-ranging EWS circuit comes with its own set of challenges. The World Cup downhill circuit is mostly concentrated in Europe and has a more compact season, making privateering logistically easier. The EWS prides itself on covering as much ground as possible and the season stretches from March to September.

Thew joined up with fellow Islander Takoda Crawford and North Vancouver’s Brendon Edgar, and started making plans. “Chile and Colombia were sweet because they were back to back and they’re kind of close.” The trio travelled together to help split costs, but it’s not just travel expenses that add up. Privateers have to take care of their own equipment, food and logistics as well. All three presented challenges in South America.

“At the end of Chile my bike was a wreck, just a shell of a bike,” Threw said. At the end of a race day, fully supported riders can pass off their bikes to team mechanics. Thew had to do all the work himself. “I blew up my carbon wheel, then I blew up my spare backup wheel. When we got to Colombia I had to do a lot of rebuilding in the hotel room.” The workspace was less than ideal. “I had to re-lace a wheel with no truing stand, just lying on the bed trying not to drop a spoke or anything.” Looking back on it, Thew says, “The first two rounds were definitely a lot of learning, of finding out what I needed to prepare before the next races.”

The learning experiences weren’t just on the racecourse. The first night in Colombia, the crew went out for dinner at a local restaurant. “I tried to order the chicken burrito,” Thew related, “but the server said something like they were out of chicken, and pointed at this other burrito. So thought, ‘whatever, sure, I’ll eat that.’” The food arrived, and they all dug in. “It tasted kinda funny, and really chewy, I don’t what this is.” Google translate and a closer look at the menu solved the mystery. “We all ended up getting horse burrito’s, but didn’t realize it until halfway through. It was … not what I was expecting.” Thew says it’s not for him. “I wouldn’t eat it again, just the idea of it was … it was not good.”

Trevor Thew EWS Chris Istace
Trail bike shredding on Prevost Image: Chris Istace

No proper South American adventure would be complete with more than one surprise situation, and Colombia wasn’t done with the Canadians just yet. When their airport shuttle driver told them he no longer had room for them in the morning, they had to scramble. Someone working at the hotel offered a ride from his friend, but they’d have to go the night before.

“So this Colombian dude we’ve never met shows up, doesn’t speak a word of English, and fires our stuff into the back of his truck and starts driving. All of a sudden, he veers off onto this dirt road where there’s no lights, and driving under all these underpasses.” While there were some serious moments of doubt, it all ended up working out. “I guess he was just trying to avoid toll booths, because eventually we got to the airport.” In keeping with the glamorous life of a privateer racer, the trio then had to sleep at the airport before their morning flight. “Security were trying to kick us out, but they didn’t speak any English either so … yeah, it was really hectic. A lot of added stress.”

Before heading to France for the third round of racing, Thew returned from Manizales, Colombia, back to his home on Vancouver Island, where he works maintaining the local networks on Mt. Tzouhalem and Maple Mountain. “It’s really nice to come home and decompress for a while before you have to go do it all again,” said Thew of returning home for a break, and more training.

RELATED: Town profile: Tapping into the flow in North Cowichan

The switch from DH to enduro means that, on top of all his gym work and chasing downhill bikes down the infamous Mt. Prevost on a trail bike, Thew also has to bag some bid days in the saddle pedaling. The winter was spent building a solid base of 1,500m riding days on the mountains surrounding Duncan.

Trevor Thew EWS Chris IstaceFor now, the focus is on France. Thew’s hoping his hard work over the winter will translate into consistent results on the circuit. “Right now I’m just trying to put myself out there and show I’m committed, that I’ll put my head down and do the work to go to all these races.” The hope is to qualify for next year, but also to catch the attention of potential sponsors. The privateer life adds excitement to racing, and Thew has his share of stories after just two rounds of racing, but he’d definitely rather have the backing to focus on racing, not getting to the races.

After France, it’s back home, and back to the local trails he helps maintain on Mt. Tzouhalem. After all the international travel, Thew says, “I definitely want to come home and just ride Tzouhalem for a little while. I’m always stoked to come back here and ride. There’s nothing like it.”

Follow Trevor Thew on Instagram, and see more of Chris Istace’s work photographing his travels around Vancouver Island.