Inside Info: Connor Fearon – Leogang

Leogang, a track Connor has always done well at.

As long time supporters of Connor Fearon this has to be one of our favourite Inside Infos ever, without further adieu we hand it over to the man himself;

Coming into Leogang I had mixed emotions. The first two world cups this year I had a crash and a flat tyre so was disappointed to say the least. Especially after training so hard in the off season I had high hopes for this year. Leogang has always treated me well. In 2012 I placed 3rd in the junior world championships, 2013 I got my first ever top 10 (10th place) and 2014 I got my best result at the time of 9th. I was nervous that I would ruin another race in a row… Fun fact while I’m here, I ended up with plate number 36 for this race. A number I always thought was lucky because C and F are the third and sixth number of the alphabet… I’m not one to be superstitious but I was a little excited when I saw the number.

36 on the plate was a nice way to start off the week.

Anyways, we arrived in Leogang and had a look at the track. There where quite a few new sections which I think made the track better. People always complain about Leogang being to “bike parky”. Meaning it’s hard pack dirt with wide berms and braking bumps everywhere from having a lot of bike traffic on it. There was a lot off fresh loam but after it rained and practice went by all the dirt moved and exposed hundreds of roots. I felt comfortable on the track straight away but took some time setting up my suspension looking for the best performance I could get. In timed training at the end of the first practice day I put in a couple of solid efforts and was around 5th so I thought another top 10 in the finals wouldn’t be out of reach. Next was qualifying. I had planned to just have a solid clean run and not to push the envelope to much because I wasn’t protected. I thought this should land me in the top 20 somewhere. I guess I proved myself wrong when I crossed the line in 2nd place behind Aaron Gwinn. I was happy for about 10 minutes then the nerves started setting in. Getting a World Cup podium is a massive dream for mine and this was the golden opportunity.

A strong qualifying helped points for the overall but also increased the nervousness before the race.

I couldn’t really sleep that night because I was so nervous and on race day I just wanted to hurry up and get the race over and done with. I had 2 practice runs and then went back to the hotel and chilled for a couple hours before I had to race. My race run was really good. I hit all my lines perfectly and rode on the edge the whole way. I got to the halfway mark and knew I was on a really good ride so decided to just push it to the finish. Dropping into the last section I rode an inch wide off a fade away drop and landed just outside the track for a split second before returning to the course. I knew people had been harshly disqualified for this in the past so I didn’t know if that mistake would cost me. I came across the line in first which guaranteed me a top 2 spot.

Crossing the line into the hot seat, with only one rider left,meant a guaranteed podium!

That feeling.... only a racer knows! — That feeling…. only a racer knows!

Yeah Connor! Congratulations all around.

Aaron finished and just beat me with no chain somehow but I really didn’t care I had rode the best race I could. Still feeling so nervous I was going to get disqualified I didn’t feel relieved until after the podium. It felt amazing to stand up there with the worlds best riders and especially my mate Troy who I’ve been racing for 10 years since we where 10 years old. It’s definitely a massive weight off my shoulders to get a podium and I think it’s going to make racing easier for me in the future with this new confidence.

Massive thanks to all my sponsors Kona Bikes, Fox Head, HT components, Fast Twitch gym Adelaide, Yakima racks, Maxxis and all the other team sponsors!

Follow Connor on Instagram @connorahoyhoy

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June 21, 2015

World Cup 3 a�� Leogang – Finals

Austria, visually stunning and also home to a lot of cows!

Round 3 of the UCI mountain bike world cup in Leogang, Austria was one of the most memorable races for years, if not ever. By now everyone knows the results and what a one Mr Aaron Gwin did sans chain but there’s more to the race than just that race winning run.

The week was a constant guessing game in relation to the weather, the alpine weather could change at the drop of the hat. Conditions went from dry and dusty to monsoonal and wet in no time flat, in the end the conditions for racing were okay, the biggest challenge for the riders were the strong winds.

Conditions were crazy all week long, in the end Mother Nature tried her best for the finals.

Juniors were on track first and for anyone that wasn’t fortunate enough to be track side the live timing was the closest to the action you could get. As there often is it looks like the race for the overall will be a see-sawing battle, this time it was Australia’s own Andrew Crimmins who took the win by 3 seconds over Irish rider Jacob Dickson who is being mentored by Ben Reid. Laurie Greenland, one of the other strong overall contenders finished 3rd with a broken chain (did he start a trend for the day?!). It is also worth mentioning Jacckson Frew took home a solid 5th place and Remy Morton suffered a mechanical and finished down the bottom of the list but is as positive as always!

Is getting disqualified worse than crashing or a mechanical? Unfortunately Manon Carpenter hasn't had a season any where as near as successful as 2014. Her race finished with a DSQ next to her name on the time sheet as she exited the course and went over one of the bunting poles. — Is getting disqualified worse than crashing or a mechanical? Unfortunately Manon Carpenter hasn’t had a season any where as near as successful as 2014. Her race finished with a DSQ next to her name on the time sheet as she exited the course and went over one of the bunting poles.

The women’s race was always going to be interesting with a few riders capable of the win, in the end the British showed why they are the power house of the sport taking gold and silver. Rachel Atherton, the most dominant female rider of this generation, surprisingly had never won at Leogang before. Rachel was quietly hoping for rain but in didn’t need it as she took a 3 second victory, finishing second, for the second race in a row, was Tahnee Seagrave. You would think that Tahnee is going to grab a maiden victory sooner rather than later. For Australia Tracey Hannah grabbed 6th, missing the podium on her birthday weekend by one place and Tegan Molloy A�finished 15th.

Rachel Atherton overcame her Leogang dry spell by winning on the weekend.

Moving onto the men’s race and the anticipation was high, Loic Bruni came down early on after issues in his qualifying run. He was blunt during his hot seat interview saying he didn’t think his run was enough for the victory. True to his word he eventually finished 8th.

An issue in qualifying saw Loic Bruni come down early on in finals and set the time to beat.

Coming into the race there were any number of riders who could have won the race, Greg Minnaar has a fantastic record here and had won just the weekend prior. Unfortunately for Greg (who is a tall fella) he hit his head on the start gate and had to rearrange his helmet/goggles and in the end couldn’t notch up another victory.

A favourite for many, Greg Minnaar has won world cups and championships on this course.

Flo Payet came over the finish line jump and had a tyre blow of the rim, sending tubeless sealant all over anyone standing close by. Dean Lucas powered home for 24th, his team mate Stevie Smith wasn’t so lucky crashing and finishing way down the order. Gee Atherton couldn’t replicate his sisters race and finished off the podium in 6th. Trpy Brosnan finished 4th, a solid result and one that will help his chances for the overall, 0.2 ahead of Troy was Remi Thirion claiming 3rd. If there is a danger man for the world championships in Andorra later this year surely it is Remi.

Much to the Australian downhill communities delight Connor Fearon managed to replicate his qualifying position and finished second!!! It was a nervous few minutes while officials waited to see if he gained any advantage after he ran off course near the bottom where Manon had earlier. His first world cup podium, check downhill247 for his Inside Info on his first world cup podium. First, without a chain, was Aaron Gwin who admitted ‘strange things happen here’ after losing his brakes at the 2012 world championships, his tyre at the 2014 race and then this year his chain! His win will go down in history as one of the most amazing runs of all time.

Crossing the line, with the time board showing green, what every racer strives for!

Connor and Bernard are mates so there was a lot of people stoked for Connor as he crossed the line. — Connor and Bernard Kerr are mates so there was a lot of people stoked for Connor as he crossed the line.

One of the best riders of our generation, absolutely no doubt, Aaron Gwin took first without a chain!

Next world cup is the new track is in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Steve Peat is helping create it so no doubt it will be epic.

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June 19, 2015

Inside Info: Connor Fearon – Fort William

Coming off a devastating result at the first World Cup at Lourdes I really wanted to get a good result in Fort William. In the past I’ve done pretty well there and last year I was inside the top 15. Everyone who follows the world cups knows that Fort William is the roughest and longest track of the year. It has technical woods, flat out rocky sections and the infamous highway at the bottom where you have to pedal the last 45 seconds of the track. By the end your physically exhausted that’s for sure. This year there was a new woods section that had no shortage of slippery roots.The worst part about this race was the terrible weather. It rained non stop and was insanely windy. Especially the top half which is completely exposed as there’s no trees what so ever .

Practice and Qualifying was average for me. With the high winds it was hard to feel good on the bike. The whole top half felt really slow battling a head wind the whole way and also added to the exhaustion because sections of the track you could usually roll with quite some pace everyone had to be pedalling hard to maintain speed. Due to the high winds qualifying and practice was cancelled on Saturday. This meant that qualifying and racing would be held on Sunday, starting at 6:15am!

Sunday was a big day for everyone with the pits coming alive at about 5am. The weather didn’t seem much better although the rain had died out a bit the wind was still terrible. My practice runs where better on race day. I kept changing springs on my shock and never got comfortable on the Friday but I felt like I had it right finally. Most people only got to do one practice run in the morning due to the changed schedule. Since I was out of the top 20 I wanted to have a smooth run to guarantee me a spot in the finals. I must have hit something pretty hard because I broke about 8 spokes in my rear wheel about a minute from the finish. I could feel the wheel slapping both sides of my frame so cruised it to the finish to avoid the wheel collapsing. I still qualified 25th which came to a surprise. Still disappointed because if I hadn’t broken the wheel I could’ve got points for qualifying in the top 20.

My race run started out great I was riding all my lines fast and confident. My improved fitness was also helping me in the more technical sections because I wasn’t as fatigued as the last few years. I noticed my front tyre starting to go flat about halfway and I was devastated. It held enough air to ride but slowed me down significantly and was completely flat by the last section of the track.

Footout, Connor can swap between flats and clips as needed, handy! Look closely at that front tyre and see if you can spot an issue…

I finished 34th still which means I at least got a few points. The last two races have been really disappointing for me because I know I had potential to do really well at them. The next race is Leogang which I’ve done great at in the past so I’m really hoping i’ll have a clean race there!

Thanks to everyone that helps me race- Kona bikes factory team, Fox head, fast twitch training centre Adelaide, Yakima rack, HT components

Follow Connor on Instagram @connorahoyhoy and we will check back with him after Leogang this weekend.

Images: Isac Paddock follow on Instagram @_paddock

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June 13, 2015

Inside Info: Connor Fearon’s Operator

Connor Fearon and his Kona Operator are going to be heading off to the Fort William World Cup very soon.

Connor Fearon has been with Kona Bicycles for many years now and over that time he has had some good looking and not to mention fast bikes! What you are looking at here is his current World Cup bike, details are scarce, often what you see riders on are prototype bikes and the technology filters down to the production models. Whilst the most obvious difference between this bike and the publicly available Operator is the 650B wheels we believe this bike won’t be what is released to the public.

Flat pedals, Connor will ride flats or clips depending on the situation.

Titanium rear spring is pretty standard in the effort to lose weight.

These get plenty of use, not because Connor is a grandpa but because of the speed he rides they are required!

Connor and Stevie Smith (his signature bars are Connor's pick) are friends, often riding together at World Cups. — Connor and Stevie Smith (his signature bars are Connor’s pick) are friends, often riding together at World Cups.

That was a brief look at Connor Fearon’s A�Kona Operator, next time we see it in action will be the Fort William world cup.

Images: A big thanks toA�www.kaneophoto.com.auA�/Instagram @kaneophotoA�andA�RFPhotographics (Facebook here or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).

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May 31, 2015

Inside Info: Connor Fearon’s Process

Enduro bikes are in. We saw it at the first Australian national round late last year and whilst that was mainly due to the track set up there is no denying that enduro type bikes make good downhill bikes in a lot of places! Add to the fact and we can’t all afford to have multiple bikes so having a do it all bike is an even smarter idea!

Connor Fearon rocking the enduro rig at the national round at You Yangs.

So we have full downhill tyres but tubeless to save weight and still be good over the rocks. The stem spacers can be swapped around depending on the height Connor wants for the front end. He made the switch to clips recently for most tracks, it definitely makes sense for the flat Australian tracks. A stiffer set up in the front end as well for trails that don’t need as much compression.

Compared to the stock bike there is a bigger chainring at the front, this makes sense when you are primarily using it to go down and you don't want to be spinning out. — Compared to the stock bike there is a bigger chainring at the front, this makes sense when you are primarily using it to go down and you don’t want to be spinning out.

Just like his downhill bike there are 7 speeds at the back. No dropping gears into the heel and nice close ratios.

Connor had the dropper posted removed for the race, not like you would need it! Plus it saves weight and then you don't have to worry about the extra cables getting caught on anything or bashing against the frame and making noise. A quiet bike is a fast bike! — Connor had the dropper posted removed for the race, not like you would need it! Plus it saves weight and then you don’t have to worry about the extra cables getting caught on anything or bashing against the frame and making noise. A quiet bike is a fast bike!

A 40mm stem and as you cans ee a pretty low set up, getting the weight further forward over the front wheel to carve the turns. — A 40mm stem and as you can see a pretty low set up, getting the weight further forward over the front wheel to carve the turns.

Bars are cut down to 750mm which is wide but not ridiculous.

Third at the first national round shows the bike is more than capable.

It was also the bike he used at the enduro race he raced a few weeks prior, which he won!

When we talked to Connor he had the new DebonAir upgrade which is available to the public. Essentially it makes the shock feel plusher and bottom out less, useful for the bigger hits on the downhill track.

Being a factory rider would be nice..... — Being a factory rider would be nice…..

That’s a wrap for the moment, we will be checking out a bunch of other bikes too so stay tuned!

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January 21, 2015

Inside Info: Connor Fearon – Gravity Enduro Fox Creek

Back racing on the/a bike! First enduro race for Mr Fearon,

The final round of the Gravity Enduro South Australia series was my first proper enduro race. Luckily it was held at the Fox Creek downhill tracks because I have been riding there for probably over 10 years now and know most of the trails well. The format of the racing is really relaxed, basically you can ride up the hills at your own pace with a bunch of your mates and then race them back down 4 different tracks over the day. Typically the tracks where all pretty downhill oriented albeit with a bit more pedalling in them to lengthen the tracks. Stage one was the top section of Green Smoothie which crosses over to Fast half way. Probably the most physically demanding track it also had the biggest a�?liaisona��(for those playing at home this is the technical word for the un-timed transit stage). Being the first stage all of the racers climbed up the whole hill following each other. It was then I realised making the 3pm cut off to finish all the stages would be no hard task as the pace was pretty slow.

Stage one was probably the most physically demanding and Green Smoothie is one of the most hotly contested tracks on Strava if that kind of thing floats your boat!

Also worthy of a mention is the timing system, all riders wear a ring on their finger that has a transponder on it. You need to poke it into a little machine at the start and finish of every stage. Unfortunately the machine at the bottom of stage one was placed in an awkward position around a corner so once you saw the machine it was almost too late to stop. There was many close calls and a few crashes because of this. The climb up to stage 2 was really steep although the stage itself was anything but. Being the bottom half of the Green Smoothie trail it was relatively flat and consumed a lot of energy having to always pedal to keep your speed up, nonetheless it was a fun stage and probably the longest stage of the day.

Connor chose to go the full face option, as did a lot of riders, in a large part due to the high speeds of this race!

Stage 3 was either your favourite or least favourite track of the day. It is a relatively new trail (to my knowledge at least) that drops off the opposite side to most tracks at fox creek towards Adelaide. The start was high speed down steep fire roads and drops into really narrow, steep and off-camber single track. Especially with the dry dusty conditions which made traction minimal it was the most technical track of the day. For a lot of people it was the first time riding the track and they were caught off guard. Luckily I had ridden the track twice before and knew to take it easy!

Just like downhill, enduro is much about as knowing where to take it easy as it is to go that little bit harder!

It was a long liaison section in between stages 3 and 4. There was a big group of us so we took it easy and talked a lot of banter on the way almost forgetting we were doing a race. Stage 4 was Fox Steep that continued all the way to the main car park. For those of you who are not familiar its quite a technical rocky track thata��s probably more suited to a downhill bike with a big long flat section at the bottom. It was definitely my favourite stage of the day and a track Ia��m very familiar with. It was the first time Ia��ve raced Fox Steep since my very first downhill race in 2005, which was pretty cool. As people were getting fatigued by this point the final stage claimed a lot of riders but luckily no series injuries. After coming off an injury I gave the race a pretty good crack and ended up winning the day which was awesome. My Kona Process made it through with no mechanicals what so ever and was the perfect bike for the job. It was good for my confidence to win this race so just got to keep the ball rolling onto the national downhill series! Thanks to Kona bikes, Fox Head, SRAM/Rockshox/Avid/Truvativ, Yakima rack, HT Pedals and Maxxis.

First enduro race and first win! 100% win ratio is always nice.... — First enduro race and first win! 100% win ratio is always nice….

Images in this article from Kaneophoto (Instagram @kaneophoto) andA�RFPhotographics (FacebookA�hereA�or follow on Instagram @rfphotographics).

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November 13, 2014