In this episode of the Grit With Wisdom podcast, I sit down with Alex Chapellier, a mountain biker, mechanic, photographer, and videographer. Alex shares his journey from growing up in France, where he was captivated by any two wheels, to living his mountain biking dreams in British Columbia, Canada. He talks extensively about his passion for mountain biking, the importance of mental performance, and how he transitioned from behind the camera to being an influential rider in his own right.
Alex dives into the details of his early days of riding and racing, including how learning to ride on a basic bike helped him develop his skills. He also offers insights into his approach to taking risks, mental preparedness, and dealing with crashes. On top of that, Alex shares some intriguing stories about working alongside well-known riders like Remy Metailler and Yoann Barelli.
Listen in to hear Alex's advice on balancing passion with profession, setting realistic goals, and the importance of enjoying the ride. Whether you are a seasoned mountain biker or just starting out, Alex's journey is sure to inspire and motivate you.
You can follow along with Alex's journey and learn more via his Website, YouTube Channel, or Instagram.
Listen here or by searching for ‘Grit with Wisdom’ on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, or over on my website, and you can follow me on Instagram @the_mind_mountain
Happy trails - Jake Johnstone
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:
[00:00:00] Welcome to Grit With Wisdom. This is the podcast that delves deep into the inner psyche of mountain bikers from all walks of life in order to discover the tools and the tactics that can help us all have more fun out on the trails more often.
Our aim here is to help you understand what it takes to push our own personal boundaries in the sport we love from a mental performance perspective.
Before we get into today's episode, I just wanted to take a couple of seconds here to give a huge, huge shout out to Devinci Cycles. Given that this podcast is predominantly filmed trailside after a ride, it literally couldn't happen without them.
I've been riding the Spartan, which is their long travel split pivot enduro machine, for the better part [00:01:00] of a year now, and it just keeps getting better and better.
whether I'm ripping blue trails with clients, out on an all day alpine epic adventure, Or perhaps trying to keep up on the steep and deep with some of the pro riders I get to ride with as part of this podcast. I can hands down say it's the most versatile, confidence inspiring bike I've ever owned. So a huge thank you to the team over at Devinci for making great bikes.
one last thing I wanted to share with all of you valued listeners today,I've recently teamed up with the legends over at Tailored Trails down in Tasmania to create a unique mountain biking expedition to one of the most beautiful, most exciting places to ride a bike in the world.
This guided coaching expedition is going to be an immersive seven day mountain biking experience running from Feb 11 to Feb 17, 2025.
Think zero faff, no logistics, all fun. If you'd like to learn more about this one, head over to our [00:02:00] website or Instagram, which are both linked down in the show notes. Now let's rip right into the podcast. Enjoy.
Awesome. So today on the show, I'm sitting down here in Squamish with Alex Chapellier. Hello. We just got back from a steep and deep ride out there in the rain. Uh huh. Yeah. The trails were fantastic. Born in France, Alex started riding when he was just 10 years old, and he got his start in downhill racing shortly after on a dirt jumper.
Nowadays, he's living out his mountain biking dreams here in 4K in the wonderland that is BC, Canada. As a respected mountain bike mechanic, photographer, and videographer for some of the area's most well known riders, Alex has now managed to pivot and become an influential mountain biker in his own right.
Alex, welcome to the podcast. Well, thanks for having me. How was that intro,
man? What did I miss? Well, I'm really impressed. I was curious. You told me you prepped an intro. I was like, wow, that [00:03:00] you've read some things on the internet about me and put something together. So yeah, it was really nice. Thank you.
And it was really accurate as well.
Fantastic, dude. So we had some really good chats on our ride today and I've learned lots more about you. I'd love to start right at the beginning. Tell us about growing up in France and perhaps the story of bikes first coming onto your radar.
Yeah, so I come from a background where in my family nobody rides bikes.
So people will ride bikes, you know, in the city, but nothing like the mountain biking like we know it here. And I remember I was about 10 years old and we were camping and there was this guy that was just doing wheelies in front of the campground. And you know, there was like all the dads out there watching, just enjoying the show.
And I was there just mesmerized. And I remember he had one thing on his bike. It's the only thing I remember he had disc brakes. And then that's all I could talk about. So it was like. Mom, Dad, I want a bike that has disc brakes. That's all I want. I don't care about the rest. I don't even know about the rest.
All I know [00:04:00] is that disc brakes exist. I thought they were only on cars, and now I see those on bikes. I'm like, that's next, that's next level. And, uh, yeah, luckily enough, six months later, Christmas comes around the corner, and I got my first kind of OK bike. It was a cross country bike. 90 millimeter of travel at the back, 100 at the front.
And he had disc brakes. Oh, fantastic. So I was like, living the dream, you know. That's so cool. How old were you at this stage? Uh, 10 years old. 10 years, yeah. And yeah, started riding, you know, with the friends in the neighborhood. Uh, I come from the southwest of France. Uh, pretty close to the mountains. Like, the good mountains are about an hour away from where I lived.
Uh, but in my city, with no car, you can only, you know, do so much. So we would pedal around to the local hills. Uh, spent a lot of time at the local BMX track, just, you know, and that's how I kind of started the crafting the skills and, but mostly what I was doing all the time [00:05:00] was just finding any type of gap to flat I could find, you know, in the streets, that's all I could find, little walls, you go on them, you ride a skinny, you hop off the end, flat, or stairs, how many stairs you could jump to flat, you know, like I had some friends that were skating and skaters, that's kind of how they count, you know, the level of gnarliness of a feature.
How many stairs did you jump? 6, 7, 10, 12. So that's all I did, jumping to flats. Fantastic! What was your max stair count back then? I can't remember, like, how many stairs exactly, but I remember it was higher than me. Wow, okay! And I remember, yeah, having some crazy impacts. Some of them were, basically, I got fully stuck in between the saddle and the rear tire.
And, you know, I don't need to get into the details there, but this kind of stuff, yeah. That's gnarly right? Yeah. Kind of
trial and error, lots of
street riding. Trial and error. You know, with my dad, we built a little ramp. [00:06:00] Same, the ramp, you know, it had no curve. It was like, it was just like a rectangle, like, you know, this shape.
Yeah. And, uh, and I would be in the streets coming as far as I could, bearing as hard as I could. All the neighbors were out there just watching and just hitting it and just jumping to flat once again. No helmets. We had no sense of wearing a helmet. Yeah, that was it. Whereas now it sounds a bit crazy. If I was, you know, building a ramp for my son, I would be, okay, let's put a helmet on.
Like, it's not even a question.
Totally. I guess it's different times, eh? Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So your parents were pretty supportive of you getting into this
hobby and bringing, were like definitely not, you know, familiar with the world of biking. Okay. But very supportive. 'cause obvious was healthy. You get out.
Yeah. Doing sports and et cetera. Yeah.
Fantastic dude. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. And you were kind of saying as you got a little bit older, you met some people that had a [00:07:00] car and that kind of really spurred
that was the, yeah, that was the main challenge is. I had nowhere to go, so luckily I met some really good people and most of the people I met, it was always at that local BMX track.
It was a really cool hub where everybody would meet, so there'd be the BMX race guy, some of them like really good level, like Olympic level. There'd be the street BMX guys that would be hanging out there because there was a little skate park. And me, mountain biking with my dirt jumper blending in, in that crazy mix, you know.
And that's how I met here one of my really good buddies, Christophe. And I was at that time maybe, uh, 14, and he was already 18, 19, he had a car. Right. And then, uh, he started, yeah, taking me to weekend adventures and cool spots, and I'm super grateful for that. That's epic. Tell us a story about your first ever downhill race.
Uh, so yeah, it all started, uh, after I got the cross country bike. I was obviously, uh, like, you know, being very attracted by the jumping, [00:08:00] going fast, you know, rather than cross country riding. Right. Uh, and so the next evolution or the next stage was getting a dirt jumper because that was, that was what was affordable and allowed you to jump.
So I got a dirt jumper, did tons of street riding, did some dirt jumping, but slowly and slowly I modified it so that I could take it on the trails. Right. So first it was a rigid bike. He was a commensal max, max, which at the time was kind of the first. Very accessible dirt jumper you could buy, it was 400 euros complete.
They had a rigid fork, it had V brakes, and very soft wheels. And so I put an air fork on it, it was a Marzocchi dirt jumper 2, and so I could soften it up whenever I go, you know, off trail. And that's how it started. So I started riding downhill, uh, Lourdes, in Lourdes, so it's about 40 minutes away from my town.[00:09:00]
It's a pretty gnarly mountain, 600 meters of elevation. Started building the skills there, and eventually led me to racing on that dirt jumper. That
must have been terrifying. I guess you don't know what you're missing out on if you haven't rode a downhill bike. Oh yeah, I didn't
know anything else, so I wasn't I never felt like, Oh, I wish I had this bike.
I wish I had that. I just had this and I was trying to make it work and I had a blast.
You're an incredibly active, playful rider these days. Do you think starting out on such a basic bike really helped you develop that skillset? Definitely.
Cause it was definitely hard to ride. Like I was crashing a lot, right?
Nowadays, like I don't crash as much, but back then I was crashing a lot. And at those races, especially because you're trying to push the limit a little bit and And I had, yeah, some pretty big OTBs in rock gardens and so on. What was one of the biggest things you learnt now looking back on those days? It was all about like finding those smooth [00:10:00] lines.
Kind of getting off the main line, looking at the terrain, and at that point I had no choice. I had to look where the terrain looked the best, where I could make that line work without being bounced over so much. So, it also worked when I got to like the Alps, you know, a couple summers. Just for a week with a friend and we were on hardtails as well and There's some the biggest breaking bumps you've ever seen over there And so we had to learn how to ride those on the hardtails.
So I really had to figure out early on like, okay What riding position? really Puts me in a good place in that situation. So how to Engage your core, but still be loose on your hands and let the bike dance below you and how to kind of set up your brake levers so you don't get crazy arm time so I need to go up a little bit so I can lock my wrist and kind of release and let my fingers rest and that's all started then.
Fantastic, so learning all of these things from a young age and you mentioned you were also doing a lot of work on your [00:11:00] own bikes from a
young age? Yeah, exactly, so when I got that first cross country bike I started, uh, that's all I would ask you know, every birthday or every Christmas I would be like, okay for my birthday I want a new derailleur.
So I would go online, I would find, Oh yeah, there's that new 9 speed, X9, SRAM derailleur that's so dope. So my parents would buy it, and then I would put it on, but I didn't know how to break a chain. So I would just take apart the pulleys to just wiggle the chain back through those and reinstall the pulley with the chain on.
So that's how I started. Yeah, same for the Max Max, My first jumper, I broke the wheel like three weeks in and so I did some research and I figured out that if I bought a rim that had the same ERD, it's a dimension. That I could just place it over using the same spokes without having to undo all the spokes because that would be too complicated for me.
I was 13, you know? [00:12:00] And so yeah, I placed my first rim at 13. Wow, that's awesome.
Really cool to see how some of these early passions have carried forward into your adult life as well. Yeah. You also mentioned that you got into photography, or perhaps that interest was spurred
quite early as well. Okay. Yes, so it went on, yeah, pretty parallel to my passion for biking very early on.
Those were the two things and My my grandfather like got me really into photography. Okay, and they got me the for one of my birthday I got a camera and I was addicted to taking photo, you know, family reunions or friends or any little trip We would do I would just be snapping photos all the time Having so much fun trying to even sometimes take photos of random things but I'd be like, okay, like trying all the different angles, trying all the different settings and having, uh, a look, a look at, you know, how he ends up looking.
So when did moving to Canada first kind of come up on your radar?
[00:13:00] So when I started mountain biking in France, I could only leave that mountain biking world through two things. First, there was magazines and the internet. The real life, I was mostly jumping to flats. Right. So, and in magazines or on the internet, you could see British Columbia, Canada, always popping up.
Right, yeah, you were active on some internet forums back in the day? Yeah, so no social media at the time, so a good way to have a community or find people that were like minded was to go on those forums. And there was a few really good French forums, and that's how it started. Yeah, yeah. And that's kind of, yeah, how I started, you know, exchanging with people, talking tech, but also riding.
So we would do game of bikes online. So every week, you have to upload your video of you doing the trick of the week. And you would go on like this, week after week.
Right. So kind of like, I guess the modern day [00:14:00] version is Instagram, that kind of one upmanship we've got on there with people doing a feature, then someone else doing it a different way, et cetera, et cetera.
This started pretty young for you. Awesome. So yeah, you were exposed to some people riding out here in BC.
Yeah. For example, it's pretty funny. Um, yeah, I was maybe 14, 15 and watching, you know, videos on pink bike. And I remember like Dean Tennant and Scott Cicco sponsored by Dunbar cycles. Right. Those videos at the time were going viral, you know, and that was also what sparked my passion for, you know, videos, photos, all those things.
I was mesmerized by that. Yeah. And then I was here in Canada ten plus years later, riding with the intendant at a Dunbar, uh, racing camp. Yeah. And talking about Scott Seiko and all those things, which, which is insane. Isn't it crazy? Yeah. Kind of comes
full circle.
Exactly.
It's Yeah. Awesome. So you first came here in 2018.
Uh, you out here on the study permit. Was [00:15:00] it earlier?
So I started on a work and holiday, right? Two years. I was actually on a study permit in 2015. I came for a year. Right. That's when you first arrived in Canada. Exactly. I did a film school and I wanted to see what it was all about. And then in 2018 I was able to come back with the work and holiday and yeah, it was amazing.
You know, for a full year I was with a friend and we were just doing road trips. And I was doing film jobs, so I worked on film sets as a camera operator and a focus puller, which was really cool. And then came 2019, where I only had one year left on my visa, and I had to figure out a way to stay. And that's when Dunbar Cycles came in the landscape.
Right. Yeah. So yeah, you started working with Dunbar as a mechanic? Yeah, exactly. And shortly after I started, three months later, the service manager at the time quit It was the middle of the summer, like really busy shop, and I was kind of thrown into that crazy shop. Right. Tons of customers, only two months of experience as a [00:16:00] professional, you know, mechanic in the And all of a sudden you're
the service manager.
Well, not at first, you know,
but yeah, I went to the manager. I was like, okay, you know, like, I think I can do it. I would like to, to be the service manager, if you trust me enough. It was like, okay, let's see, let's do a test, you know, let's see how the next two months go and we go from there. So I worked really hard during that time, learned a lot, because obviously I knew how to do pretty much anything on a bike, but when you start working in a shop, you don't only work on your components, on the brands you know, you have to work on the whole scheme of, of bike parts, and you know how the bike, you know, how the bike parts work.
Industry and the standards and everything and the compatibility. It's kind of next level complicated. Totally. Sometimes
those cheaper bikes can be an absolute nightmare Yeah, you have to know.
Okay this generation from that year works, but this one doesn't and then you need to do, you know, cross compatibility stuff You must have had some nightmares in
there As well as lots of good times.
I'm sure that's a good crew [00:17:00] of people. awesome So during that time you're kind of working for dumbar there as a service mechanic You Working on your permanent residency at the same time. Yes, yes. Okay, congratulations on getting that one. thank you. That's awesome. Um, but you're also kind of working behind the scenes on your, I guess, your passion projects, which is the videography and combining that with mountain biking.
Exactly.
Can you tell us about that journey?
Because obviously, yeah, I found this job. It was my way to stay, but my passions, you know, photo, video, riding bikes, had to, to stay alive. And that's how I ended up, uh, Basically meeting guys like Remy Metailler or Yoann Barelli. And we started doing, yeah, passion projects together.
And that was a really good way to, yeah, keep me in the loop while doing my full time job. And that kept me really busy and definitely helped me, you know, on the long run being
where I am today. And yeah, speaking of some of those big names, that how did you come about meeting them? And then how did you go from saying hello on the trails to actually
working for them?
It's a good question, actually. [00:18:00] For example, Yohan, it's pretty funny, in 2015 when I did that film school in Vancouver, I had a classmate that lived in Whistler, and she turned out to be Yohan's neighbor at the time. And so one day I was in Whistler doing a project at her place, and I look in the garden and I see Yohan working on his bike, who was a giant at the time, and I'm like, oh damn, that's Yohan Bareilly, you know?
So I was like, okay, I'm going to go talk to him. So I went down in the garden hoping to find him and it was gone. I'm like, no, you know, so I looked through the window and I see him is inside the kitchen. So I'm like, God damn. And so I went, I like knocked at the window, waved and I see him turning around. I was like, who's in my garden?
So he came out, I introduced myself saying that I was here, you know, trying to, to be a filmer and a photographer. And I would love to, to work with him. And that was 20, maybe 16 at the time. [00:19:00] And it was super nice. And, you know, this, this random kid in your garden, so I'm, I'm, I'm really impressed on how, how nice he was at the time.
And, and then I think he got injured. I went back to France, so we didn't really see each other until I came back in 2018.
Okay.
And for Remy, for example, because I was riding with a French friend in Whistler, that new Remy. And we bumped into Remy and ended up riding together the whole day and that's how we met.
That's awesome. Good on you. It obviously takes a lot of courage to walk into a stranger's garden and knock on their window. Yeah, especially, you know, at the
time you're like, this kind of a famous guy, you know, you don't know him. You're new to that world. You're like, you just came in this country.
You have no family here, barely any friends. You kind of feel very vulnerable. And you're really looking up to those guys. So it was really nice to see that this guy that you're looking up was like a another guy like you
or me, [00:20:00] you know? Yeah, totally. And it's a, it's a credit to the those guys in the mountain bike community as a whole, isn't it?
That they are usually quite approachable, nice people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So while out there filming for some of these guys and girls, you're obviously filming them lots, but you're also able to grab some POV clips of yourself riding as well. Yeah, it's true. Tell us about the transition from, you know, just filming other people to perhaps starting to create some content of your own and uploading it to your channel.
So riding, it's been, you know, obviously my main passion the whole time. And I was trying to juggle things, you know, with working at Dunbar, doing my side projects, but also riding because that's why I'm here as well. And, and that's when I started, yeah, an Instagram page. I came pretty late on Instagram.
But in 2018, I created the French Lineup page, which was just my kind of fun page. I would just post, you know, whatever clip I would get. And I had really, [00:21:00] really a lot of fun, you know, creating and doing all that. Because it kind of mixes everything I do. Totally, yeah. Creating videos, photos. Putting them out there, but this time I'm the guy on the bike and that's kind of what I've been doing since I was a kid It's literally the same thing up to this day, you know What
are the inspiration behind the French line I come from was that from some of those early smooth line choices?
Probably. Yeah, I found I was looking for a nickname something fun. Yeah, it just kind of came like that and it's true French lines I know in a certain context Seen as something negative That's when people cut off the track at a race to gain time. Uh, it was me, I kind of twisted it and, uh, twisted it and made it, uh, more about the fun aspect.
Yeah, playful lines using
the trail that's there.
Yeah.
Awesome, man, I love it. So, yeah, I guess during, during that time, I think one of the videos that first piqued my interest was a video of you following Mark Matthews down a wet, [00:22:00] really fast slab. Yeah. That was actually one of your videos that won a GoPro competition, is that right?
Yeah, yeah, it's true. Yeah. So that was, yeah, last October. Uh, I got a chance to go to Quebec with Marc, uh, to film for one of his sponsor. And we had eight days over there. And I was so impressed with the terrain over there. But obviously, besides the work we had to do, Marc, as a, you know, full time mountain biker, you also had to Grab, you know, POV or content for his own channels and basically, yeah, anytime he would be going to grab a POV for himself, I would put my camera bag away, slap the GoPro on the helmet and follow him and I'll be like, okay, I'll just grab a POV at the same time.
So it was a great way to make the job work, but also have some little extras that were really, really fun. And so that, that POV was exactly one of those samples. So I was filming him on that line. He had warmed up a lot. and [00:23:00] went for his POE, just followed him. Maybe a bit risky because I didn't get to practice so much, you know, just hopping on the bike cold.
But when you're following somebody that you can trust, really looking at him, you can get in that zone and make it work. Awesome man.
How do you pivot from work mode, being behind the lens working, to all of a sudden riding on your limit and getting a video?
To be honest, it's pretty natural. Because riding a bike is kind of what we do every week, all the time.
And when you're out there filming outdoor sports, you're obviously in work mode, but it's, uh, it's like a pretty laid back state of mind. Like, you're working hard, it's very physical sometimes, and you want to be really professional, but at the end of the day, you're just with another rider, trying to find some sweet shots, So you're talking riding, you're talking what looks good, where it feels good on the trail.
So it all feels natural. It's like almost the same [00:24:00] thing.
Yeah. So I guess those hours of hard work help you kind of get into the zone really
quickly. Yeah, exactly. And you, you, you're so witnessing like an incredibly skilled rider looking so good. So it's kind of like putting you in the right space, you know, like those guys, they inspire you.
They make you want to do that. And So, yeah, the whole, the whole, the whole environment is just really prone to that.
Yeah, fantastic. It certainly sounds confidence inspiring seeing these people absolutely nail really hard lines. I mean, sometimes
it can be the opposite aspect, you know, when you see something so crazy you're like, whoa.
Right, you're like, I don't want to do that. Yeah, it depends. That's
how I feel riding for some of these podcast rides with you guys. So,
What was the moment when you first realized that you could make this a career and have a page and be an influential mountain biker in your own right?
Yeah, so, yeah, as I worked full time at Dunbar doing the side projects and posting on my Instagram account and Well, it started growing and growing and then I [00:25:00] was, you know, getting the opportunities to work with some brands and, and it's such a perfect mix of filming and riding together because you know, when I film somebody else where I'm not riding, I still love doing that and I still want to do that.
But when you can film and write at the same time. It's like, it's like the dream. It's the, the kid's dream, you know, coming alive. And, you know, thinking that doing what you love since you're a kid is bringing you opportunities to keep doing that even more, having better equipment and always having a fresh bike, riding some of the best components out there.
It's really amazing. And that's also a motivation, but I would say the, the main motivation is the fact that It's, you get to share that with so many people. It's all the positivity that comes from that and all the messages you get. [00:26:00] And then, you know, people are going to send you a DM, ask about, what do you think about that?
Or I just had a crash. I just had a crash. I don't really know how to come back from that. And then you just kind of start building all those relationships with all the people of your community. And I really enjoyed that aspect, just sharing, um, Making it, you know, open to everybody. And, and that's what I really like.
Just being very approachable, like Yoann was to me in 2015.
Yeah, that's so cool to hear you paying it forward. And, yeah, to hear that you are, you know, communicating with so many people out there and inspiring
them. Yeah, I really like answering to, you know, anybody. Feel free to send me a message. I'm always here and I'm always happy to, you know, share my thoughts or bounce ideas.
And it's, yeah, it's a fun way to, you know, to get to meet people. Some people, you know, in real life, some people are from other places in the world or all over North America. It's, it's really cool to see different perspectives this way.
Yeah. Fantastic. Dude. [00:27:00] And you've obviously, yeah, throughout that building, that community had some pretty cool opportunities come up recently.
One of them being getting on the Devinci team. You told me a pretty cool story when we were out there riding about the time you first seen someone riding a Devinci back in France.
Can you perhaps tell us that story? Yeah, my friend Christophe, the guy who basically took me along, drove me everywhere on weekends or on holidays, uh, he got a Devinci Wilson Carbon, which is the bike that Stevie Smith was riding so well at the time.
And it's pretty rare to see those in France, like it was pretty the only one. Right. And at the time, I also, when I was 15, I had an opportunity with the guy who imported Banshee bikes in France. So I was already on a Banshee bike. Uh, so we were literally the two, maybe the only two French guys with Canadian bikes and we loved it.
We were so proud to, to be, you know, representing that, that dream. And riding those bikes that [00:28:00] were created over there. That was, that was so cool.
Yeah, so cool to hear. So that, Canadian dream really started early.
Yeah. I remember when, when I got my first Banshee, uh, there was the sticker, you know, born on the shore and, and that meant everything, you know?
Yeah. And who would have thought 10, 15 years later, you're now living that dream on the shore yourself. Yeah. Awesome, man. How's it been riding the Devinci bike so far?
It's been great. Really, really good bike. The high pivot, I really enjoy it. I also like that it's not too extreme. The fact that they didn't make the chainstays, uh, super long, and accounted for that growth of the chainstays with the high pivot is really nice.
So it rounds the edges really well. Yeah. But it doesn't become a tank, and it doesn't make it, uh, Hard to corner, all those things, so they nailed it on that point.
Yeah, it certainly feels like they got the sweet spot. and you've got the chainsaw as well. Yeah. You've got an e bike on the way.
Yeah, yeah, just built the e bike, I gotta ride it.
Uh, really looking forward to it. [00:29:00] Yeah, exciting stuff. It's gonna be, it's gonna be hard to go on normal pedals after starting on that.
Yeah, yeah. That's awesome, mate. I'm, uh, yeah, excited to hear how it goes for you. We'd love to get into a bit of a talk here about mental tools for mountain biking. You've obviously got this vast experience riding lots of different bikes in lots of different places.
I'm curious, is there any, any tools or tricks you've picked up over the years that really helps you get into the zone and perform at a high level?
Well, I would say it's first listening to yourself. It's not pretending to feel. A certain way, even if you know that you're not feeling that way, it's kind of letting it happen naturally by, you know, remembering that you go out to ride your bike because it's fun.
But sometimes you're going to be in different mental states, you know, there can be things going on, whatever. And it's all about adjusting your ride to that state. So these days you feel really well, you're going to want to go [00:30:00] ride this crazy trail that you love. But if one day you're just going out for a ride because you want to think about something else, you might just ride an easier, flowier trail where you can just, you know, ride without being scared or without having to think about this slippery route here or that sketchy spot that you might not feel comfortable doing that time.
Totally, so really making sure you're, you're in a state to be present for whatever you're riding. Yeah, exactly,
being present and adapting, adapting the ride to, you know, Or some days, you know, you'll see a feature that maybe you've done in the past or maybe you're looking up to and kind of assessing how you feel on that day.
Do you want to do it or not? If you don't want to do it, no pressure at all. I would say, yeah, that's the main thing is not putting pressure on yourself. So you're just out there to have fun and not, you know, feel worse than when you started your ride.
Yeah, totally. That's great advice. I feel like it's easier said than done.
Sometimes I watched a great video of you and Remy. Uh, Remy was You know, giving you some tips and some advice for hitting a pretty [00:31:00] famous road gap down on Cypress Mountain, Brutus Road Gap. and yeah, I really liked your, your approach there and your mentioning that perhaps you don't hit things as quick as you perhaps could sometimes because you like to give them the time it deserves and make sure you, you really know you deserve to be there.
Can you talk a little bit about that process and how it's worked for you and your mountain biking?
Yeah. So you have, for example, the Brutus Gap. Like, I've heard about it for years and, uh, I've seen it, but I never went there. First, I never, I don't ride Cypress so, so often, you know, so, and I was always waiting for that right ride where I'm with some guys that have hit it, where I'm feeling good.
And I'm like, okay, all those parameters, uh, line up, I will do it. And until then, if I'm on a ride, but. Nobody wants to do Brutus. Nobody has experience doing it. I might just look at it and be like, Okay, I'll come back another time. And that time came [00:32:00] around with Remy.
Yeah, awesome. So it's cool to hear. So even if you've got no intention of hitting the feature, but it's perhaps on your radar for the future, you go and take a peek at it and perhaps start thinking about how it might work.
Yeah, you can start thinking about it. Uh, first, you know, looking at it realistically and be like, okay, is this something I want to do? Do I want to take this risk or does it look fun? Does it doesn't look fun? Does it look awkward to me or not? And, uh, and if, if it looks good to you, wait here. Yeah. You surrounded by all those elements that will make you hitting that feature, uh, safely.
What are some of those check boxes you look forSo most of the time when I make those decisions, I will be like in a mental state where I feel good and I don't necessarily think about those checkboxes anymore.
Okay.
Um, but sometimes I will think about those checkboxes where let's say I'm filming, uh, you do a break, you chat, and then you start filming again. [00:33:00] But now you're cold. You were maybe a bit distracted, but you got to get back in that zone. And that's when, uh, it's like, almost like an alarm where you need to put yourself back in the zone and say, okay, this needs to happen and I need to get back into that zone.
So you want to focus, do your little routine on your bike. Sometimes, you know, it's like, could be like checking, you know, your shoelaces nice and tight, just all those little things that will make you feel, feel good and, and go back at it.
Yeah. And then when it comes to like analyzing a line or visualizing a line, what are some things you look for?
So it's true that visualization, it's a big thing that's, uh, same when you look at a feature, you don't want to do it now, but the fact that you looked at it and then you can, you know, just think about it, process it, uh, that's actually a big one. That's actually how I learned manuals when I was maybe around 14 years old.
I did not know how to do a [00:34:00] manual at all. And once I went to my grandparents on holiday, I didn't ride bikes for 10 days, but I dreamt, uh, I was thinking about manuals and I kind of like visual, visualized manuals a lot. Yeah.
Yeah.
And when I came back at my parents, I hopped on my dirt jumper and within two days I could do a manual.
That's awesome. Yeah. It's really
interesting, isn't it? Thinking about how that mental process works. I find a similar thing with like Right in here, uh, in Squamish is, I might look at a feature and I used to kind of just close the door and say I'll never do this. Then what I found is over time as I progressed, Yeah.
I could see myself doing these things, but it was a lot harder to then move through that closed door, if that makes sense? I see, yeah, yeah, yeah. So nowadays I try to look at anything no matter how crazy it is through the lens of, well, how would I write it? Or if I can't see that, well, how would Alex ride it or how would Joanne ride it?
Okay, yeah,
yeah, through the perspective of others. Yeah, so I'm at least
seeing a bike go down this line. Uh huh. And then who knows, perhaps in the future when I've [00:35:00] got better, I might be able to see myself doing it. Yeah.
And what's crazy is that, that really helps, but sometimes, especially around here, there's lines that are so technical.
Mm. Where you can't really visualize very clearly where your wheel's gonna go. Because your wheel's going over, like, some really awkward, not good looking lines. So. So that's when you actually have to, you can't even visualize it. You need to just trust that you can do it by experience because you've done similar lines before and you've built to that moment where you know, okay, those rocks look really, really not correctly lined up for my wheels right here.
But I know that if I go over them somehow, I have this patch just behind to reset and, and settle and keep going.
Yeah. So really looking for those zones of safety. Yeah, yeah. I think that's one of the things I've struggled with most over the years, is going from a or riding terrain where you can always stop, to riding terrain where all of a sudden there's no safe places to stop, it's just about [00:36:00] wiping off as much speed as we can and perhaps reset in.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Theoretically down the line, yeah. For
example, the trail we just rode on Deliverance, there was this one section near the start of it that had those off camber, very wet routes, that are really sketchy and you cannot really brake on them. And that's why I filmed with Remy and his neighbor, uh, recently where I was coaching him.
And that's exactly one of those examples where you might not touch your brake so much on those routes because it's not safe. So you're going to pick up speed. But right behind, you got kind of a soft dirt corner where you know you're going to be able to shut it down, regain composure and move forward.
So sometimes it's about letting go here, knowing that you can bring it back over there.
And how has that relationship with risk and reward changed for you? I guess going from like mountain biking for fun To now you're mountain biking as a job. Sometimes you've got a film crew out with you There's perhaps I guess a little bit more on the way
Yeah, it's definitely uh, it's definitely a factor but the thing is My vision of [00:37:00] mountain biking is obviously I'm I like, you know, hitting big jumps sketchy lines once in a while But that's not what I do primarily what I like is Going fast, being flowy, playing with the terrain, having fun, being stylish.
That's, that's mostly my style. And that's what I want to translate in the videos. And luckily, that's not the most dangerous type of riding. Um, so, um, I really enjoy doing that.
Awesome. So you don't feel sucked into like the game of bike on
Instagram? No, yeah, no, not so much. Not so much. Uh, and, uh, and that really helps.
Yeah.
Wise man. What's it like for you when you are behind the lens watching, yeah, some of the best riders in the business put their lives on the line for the sake of a clip?
It's, uh, yeah, it's impressive. You, you know, you're standing on those features and you know, when you know how things look in person, it's always next level compared to when you see them [00:38:00] online.
And once you are there, yeah, you realize the scale, you realize the height, the exposure, the, uh, Uh, just even like off camber, uh, rocks and things like that. And yeah, you just see them going through that process. And that's why I like, you know, with the videos we do with, with those guys that they're not hiding at all the process of they do.
They don't just show up and do it, you know, they'll come have a look at the line. Maybe they've done it in the past. They'll think about things, you know, their bike is also appropriately set up and, and yeah, it can be scary to watch them do it. But it's actually not so scary because you trust them. You know that they're doing it because they know they can do it.
You'll see them scared sometimes, like getting in that, that zone where they're nervous before eating it. But that's also what they do and they know when to get in that zone and make it happen. And luckily they have the skills to not make that mistake. [00:39:00] Somehow dangerous.
Awesome. Yeah. So much like choosing your riding buddies is really important.
It sounds like choosing the riders you're working with is also really important to you so that you can trust them. True.
It's not a question I've, I've really had because, uh, yeah, actually I've never had, you know, to film a writer that I feel like maybe he's trying to push too hard for the camera and doing mistakes.
Most of the, yeah, everybody I've shot is, you know, Just doing what they do, which is riding a bike. And that's when, you know, being really into riding comes handy when filming is you can really bounce off ideas, you know, what's the body movement is going to be like on a certain feature and you know, that's this spot is going to look better for the rider and because it's also an era that he's going to enjoy riding.
Totally. And it's a really cool aspect here. That's awesome, man.
What's the best bit of advice you've ever had from a mentor or from one of these awesome riders you've had the pleasure of working with? [00:40:00]
Advice, it's hard to say. Like, we, I don't know if I've had like, you know, real advice like that. It's just me being around, listening, and learning from them on so many, so many subjects.
Yeah, fantastic. If you had to pick one of those things you've learned, it could even just be like a way of being or a way of, What would it be?
Well, I would say with those professional mountain bikers, any of the ones who are like successful or able to make a living is that they're just very professional and they just take it as a, as a regular job.
So in terms of, you know, talking with your partners, uh, you just have to, to be like a, a real, real professional guy. So answering emails on time, uh, being, you know, uh, following up or just sending news regularly. It's something that that's really important to make things work.
Yeah. So it's, it's fun. It's mountain biking on one side of the coin, but then it's also work if you
want to go,
you know,
[00:41:00] you go home, uh, you've got to, you know, edit, you've got to do your emails.
You've got to stay on top of all those things.
I'm curious on the subject of goals. How do you go about setting goals for yourself in your ride in that are fun, that are challenging? Yeah, but also not so far out of your reach that they become stressful. Yeah,
so what's fun? What's funny is that I've never set goals when I ride.
Okay, like I know many many friends They'll be like, okay. My goal this year is to do this. My goal this year is to do that I've literally never had this thought.
Okay,
I just go out ride and yeah One day we end up on this trail with this feature and you'll feel right and I'll do it And that's it. But I don't, yeah, I don't really have this type of goals.
Uh, I just maybe things evolve, you know, so I'll just be driven by what I like doing at that moment and kind of let it flow naturally.
So I guess more of an intention to go out and have fun. Yeah.
Yeah. That's, that's why I ride bikes.
That's awesome. We've been chatting lots on [00:42:00] our ride today about, yeah, some of the different skills of mountain biking.
I'm curious for you, talking on the mental perspective, if you had to put a number on it, what percentage of mountain biking would you say is mental? I would say, like,
70%? 70%? Like a lot, yeah. Cause, um, what does 30 percent of technical skills, they're really important, but they'll come with time, you know, and experience.
Right. You cannot rush that in. You just need to learn and keep riding, put the hours in, there's no secret to that. You cannot just, you know, uh, skip a step, you just need to be out there, have fun on your bike, obviously take input, and try to learn things the correct way so you're not building bad habits, like on body position, or the way you brake, or even the way your bike is set up, you know.
Totally.
Um, but once those things are here [00:43:00] and happening naturally. At the end of the day when you're on the trail Riding something or about to do a feature What's gonna make all this work is your head and how you feel at that moment?
Yeah Interesting. Yeah, I'd have to agree that somewhere around 70 percent
Oh, yeah, you you would have said I think
there's no right or wrong and it kind of changes depending on the ride and what we're doing Obviously if we're just starting out maybe it's like 90% Physical skills or technical skills, we've got to learn how to ride a bike.
Once we've got those habits, perhaps then, it's the mental tools that help us access those skills. Anyway, interesting stuff. Uh, have you ever done any racing over the
years? So, yeah, like a few downhill races, uh, when I started on my dirt jumper, which is, yeah, memories I kind of like now. Yeah, yeah. But it's, when you think about it in retrospect, it's It's kind of sketchy.
And then, uh, when I was 16, I started doing mass start races in Europe. So I did the mountain of [00:44:00] hell and a bunch of maxi avalanche. And I really, really enjoyed those. Like just the fact of starting in a pack and passing people, that was an aspect that I really enjoyed. Somehow. So like cross country start downhill race.
That was it, uh, often, you know, racing on the snow at the start, going really fast, uh, seeing people exploding. But the goal is to. Yeah. The amount of adrenaline and the fact that we're talking about, you know, sometimes an hour or more long descents. I really like that format because it gets you in a zone where obviously physically after 10 minutes you're exhausted and then you're, you just switch and you get in a zone where you just keep on going and obviously there's other riders so you need to see them, you know, know how they're going to react.
Yeah. Sometimes, you know, a guy is It's maybe not going to want to let you pass easily or maybe it's just not aware that you're here or it's not comfortable going on the side. So you have to make it work. And sometimes I [00:45:00] feel like maybe all that street riding I did when I was a kid kind of works there because when you're street riding, you can kind of work in the flow of the streets around pedestrians or cars or, and the goal is to never disrupt that flow is that you are using it and you're like kind of surfing that wave, but you don't want to disrupt it.
And that's maybe why the Mass Starts felt fun, yeah. Fantastic, dude.
Yeah, that's a great, yeah, comparison. And you'd never think of training on the street to then compete in a Mega Avalanche. Maybe, yeah. Hey, whatever works for you. That's right. How does your mindset change when you go from riding for fun to getting in between the tape and getting a little bit competitive?
So, yeah, obviously you always get a bit nervous at the start line. Um, but I would say when you're between the tape, all the environment can help. Makes you be there at that moment. You know, there's other races, there are other organizations, you have to be there, you know, there's a schedule. So, you're kind of in that bubble where you're standing at the start line, [00:46:00] you're scared.
Maybe you have a friend that's not scared, but I get scared. I get nervous at the start of a race. But it's, I think, positive, you know. It translates into something positive one step. Once you get started, you forget everything and you're in that zone.
Yeah. I love that. What are some things that you have running through your head or that you will say to yourself when you are on the start line, you're a little bit nervous.
Yeah,
it's true. I often talk to myself. I'll be like, come on, Alex, you can do it or you got this. Uh, let's go. Let's have fun. I'll just say very basic stuff, right? Yeah. But to kind of vocalize it, Hmm. Uh, either internally or often actually like, I'll just say out loud, it's actually really helping. Do you do stuff like that?
Definitely. Yeah. podcast have talked about self talk or particular phrases I repeat to kind of get themselves into a certain state. Yeah. Yeah. [00:47:00] Yeah. That's awesome to hear you do that as well. And it doesn't have to be hard, does it? Yeah. It could be just a few words like,
come on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's Yeah, like often, like when I'm gonna, you know, be pushing my bike up to do like a take, you know, before dropping in, I'll be like, Allez Alex, let's go.
So obviously this, that's the moment where I don't speak English to myself. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. French comes out.
What's the
translation there? Allez Alex. I mean, let's go Alex. Let's go. Yeah. I love it. Or like, yeah, whatever comes to your mind at that point.
Yeah. Fantastic, dude. That's some cool insight there.
Yeah. I'm curious, you know, you've had a couple of crashes over the years. Is there anything you would do these days to perhaps like minimize the setback or the mental aspect of that, that block after
a crash? So crashes, you know, they are, they are part of mountain biking. And that kind of comes in the same line where I don't put pressure on myself.
And if the crash happens, I will just accept it because, you [00:48:00] know, we play like. Bikes are fun and stuff, but then sometimes you look at what we're doing, or at the speed we're going. It's not the safest sport. And crashes will happen eventually. Like, nobody never crashes. And when it happens sometimes, it's, you could have done things better, or you could have avoided it by not doing this.
But all those things, you can only think about it later. So once you've crashed, often just accept it. Hopefully you're not off the bike for too long, but the goal is to don't beat yourself. Just learn from it. Get the experience. What went wrong? Could you, could you have done anything different? Learn from it, but don't beat yourself.
Right? Yeah. Getting wrapped up in frustration often doesn't help.
So yeah, we're going to start to wind things down a little bit here. Before we do that, I wanted to talk just a little bit more about your, your media. You've got a YouTube channel, you've got an Instagram page. You've recently changed the name of the Instagram page. So now it's just your name, Alex Chapellier.
Yeah. I'm curious, like what was the [00:49:00] reasoning behind the name change?
So yeah, the French liner was really fun, but the page ended up growing and growing. Right. And I felt like using my name was just sounding more professional. So if opportunities were to come, it's just, it just looked better.
And I also wanted to be known as my name, you know, rather than as a, as a nickname. And I was really lucky that my handle was still available. Cause there's a bunch of other Alex Trappelier in the world. But luckily that handle wasn't taken. So that's kind of lucky man. I can't have my name.
Cool. Yeah. And who do you aim to inspire through those channels?
Anyone, you know, you could be totally new to the sport or been around for many years. I just want to get people stoked to get out there. Like for example, the ride we did today, you know, when you look at the weather before riding, you're like, Oh boy, that's. That's, that's going to be tough to, to get out.
But once we're out, it turned out [00:50:00] the door was still dry and it was dust and we had the best ride ever. So I want you to encourage people to get out, uh, and have fun.
It's so rad to see it. I was saying on the ride, I love riding with people like you because you have just as much fun on a steep, gnarly double black as you do riding a blue trail.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bring the stoke, man. I love it. Um, is there any sponsors or industry partners you wanted to mention? Well, you know, you're riding
on the Devinci.
Yeah, we're both with Devinci. These things are like babies over here.
So a big shout out to Devinci for supporting the community and being, you know, as open as, as we, we like to be.
Totally. And, and I think that's, yeah, that's something really cool to say.
Yeah. Credit to Devinci for kind of putting their money where their mouth is and really supporting lots of different aspects of the sport Yeah.Is there any cool projects you're working on that you can give us a sneak peek into?
Cool projects, uh, we'll have, yeah, some more, more POV projects coming up, then some, now I'm pretty [00:51:00] tied up with some other film jobs that I've booked. Awesome. And then, uh, going on a road trip with Remy across, uh, British Columbia. So that's going to be really cool.
Nice
one. What are some of the stops on your list? Uh, there's going to be Nelson. And a few others, uh, Fernie. Okay. And I'm not fully, fully sure on the other ones, but some big, uh, big ones, yeah. Some of
my favorite riding in the world. Awesome, dude. Okay, one last deep question before we wind things up. If you didn't enter the world of mountain biking, where would you be?
It's
a
good question. Because, yeah, in France, you know, all my friends, they don't do mountain biking. It's something. They're like, they have either passions or they're just like more, you know, city living. So, yeah, I think it's, uh, I think then you, you end up, you know, parting more, uh, it's a whole other, you know, side of the world, right?
Uh, where you're like, I [00:52:00] have a lot of friends that are into, you know, rap music. One of, one of them is like kind of making it happen in France right now. So it's really cool to see, but yeah, I think I would be. Way more, you know, that street style of things back in France, yeah. Cool, cool. Maybe making a little rap account.
Yeah, maybe I wouldn't be shooting mountain biking, but I'd be shooting more, you know, uh, have a strong interest in, you know, ad work, creative work, music videos. So I'd probably be kind of driven into that world if I wasn't, uh, so, uh, into the mountains. Awesome,
dude. Yeah, it's crazy to think about, isn't it?
Mountain biking becomes so much a part of our lives. Yeah. I think I'd struggle to answer that question as well, so you did a good job.
Yeah, it's good. Less drugs.
Yeah, dude. Um,
What's one thing that you hope people listening to this podcast will go away and remember?
That, uh, yeah, do, do. Whatever makes you happy. Ride whatever trail you [00:53:00] want. If you want to do a feature but you don't know how to apprehend it ask people but don't put any pressure on you.
Just let things happen naturally and just keep having fun.
Wise words my man. so much for taking the time to come for a ride with me today and sit down for a chat. Thank you Jake.
What's up guys? Just one last thing before you hit the trails.
If you enjoyed this podcast, please be sure to subscribe. It helps us more than you know.And don't be a stranger. I'd love to hear from you about any particular topics, episodes you enjoyed. Or even if there's guests that you'd love to hear me interview in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out.
You can find me on Instagram at the underscore mind underscore mountain.
This podcast, mental performance and mountain biking are all things that are very close to my heart. So I feel super grateful to be able to share these conversations with you. Much love to you all for [00:54:00] taking the time to listen. I'll see you on the next
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