Deuter Ambassador Hans "No Way" Rey is on a speaking tour of the UK right now. We couldn't let the Brits to have all the fun, so between reflections on his long career as a world renowned trials cyclist and signing autographs for adoring fans, we caught up with him for a mini-interview.
Maybe if we ask reallllly nicely, he'll come visit us in North America, too.
Q: What’s the longest nose wheelie you ever did? Crash or not…
Hans Rey: Well, there was the famous one in Hunter Mountain at the DH World Cup in ’93, when I hit a water bar at 45 mph. That was one heck of nose wheelie that ended in the hospital. However, I’ve done some long ones without crashing on the steep streets in San Francisco, especially back in the days when we filmed my Level Vibes video there. Never measured any of them, but I reckon a 100 feet, plus or minus.
Q: Who are your favorite trials riders today?
HR: I love watching this new generation of riders, not just the street riders like Danny MacAskill or Fabio Wibmer, but I also really look up to the competition riders like Kenny Belaey or Jack Carthy. The things they can do today were unimaginable 20 years ago.
Q: What’s the next big step for trials riding as a sport?
HR: I think with the current rules and format, trials will always be a bit of speciality sport. It takes a lot of training, experience, dedication and skill to master trials riding on a high level. This is not something for the masses, however it will always be a interesting spectator sport. If you can make golf, baseball or car racing in circles interesting, one should be able to package trials in a super interesting and spectator-appealing format – including building up the personalities, rivalries, tactics, strategies, etc. Kind of what ESPN did when they first started with the X-Games. As for the masses, if we had different and more simple courses and scoring systems it might be more appealing.
If you're craving more banter from the legendary Hans Rey and like to fly, head over to Old Blighty for a date on his lecture tour in the UK:
Fri 17 November, LANCASTER The Dukes
Sat 18 November, DUNKELD Birnam Arts
Sun 19 November, INVERNESS Eden Court
Mon 20 November, GLASGOW Drygate
Wed 22 November, ANDOVER The Lights
Sat 25 November, NEWTOWN Theatr Hafren
More info can be found here.