Pete catches up with an enthusiastic and at peace Manon Carpenter on her South Wales home trails

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY PETE SCULLION

A shout from the front of our three-person train manages to find its way to my ears through the clatter of bikes and dust. “Watch out for the low tree!” yells former World Champion Manon Carpenter as she disappears rapidly round the next apex, despite being three hours deep into our ride. At five foot three, I shrug off the notion that a tree might be too low for me, only to drop a shoulder straight into the four-inch-thick trunk of a birch. Why I didn’t listen is beyond me, as I have no idea where I’m going. The dusty switchbacks have us all champing at the bit for the next turn as we wind our way down our penultimate descent of the day.

South Wales has had its fair share of top riders and racers over the years, but on this bright summer’s day I’m here to see arguably the most successful. Manon Carpenter’s meteoric rise to downhill stardom all began with Jason, her dad, organising races on some of the toughest tracks in the UK. The Dragon Downhill series was renowned for using anything that would test riders to their limits, and it was certainly an arena in which a young rider would either thrive or struggle. Luckily for Manon, she chose the former and it wasn’t long before she was racing Nationals and World Cups. I recall quite vividly standing on a stinking wet Swiss hillside in Champery in 2011 and watching Manon peel apart her competition at the Junior World Championships. That was eight years ago and a lot of everything has changed since; today’s chat won’t turn in the direction of racing very much.

Always a champion.

Almost immediately it would appear that Miss Carpenter is one of those humans who can turn their hand to pretty much anything, and succeed at whatever that might be, but are far too grounded and generally lovely that you’re not really in any position to grumble. Even before plans had been set I was offered a spare bed and made to feel very welcome as soon as I stepped foot in her house.

Despite having just returned from a year’s placement in Canada, Manon makes it pretty obvious that Caerphilly is very much home for her, and before my engine has ticked cool there’s a glass of juice in my hand and plans afoot for a variation on the ‘Super Loop’ for the following day. Vancouver might well be the launching point for many people’s holidays to Whistler and the other famous riding destinations in British Columbia. For Manon though, while that was definitely a factor, it was the march towards a degree that took her to western Canada. An MESci Geology (International) course pipped the standard BSc, as it gave the option of a year abroad. Manon’s penultimate year of racing world cups would run side by side with studying for the first year of this course. Like many riders who have any longevity in the industry, there’s a drive and a passion that gets poured into everything they do – both on and off the bike. In Manon’s case, on the bike and off the bike are two very different worlds. One day she might be hammering any one of the multitude of trails just out the front door, the next could be spent in Cardiff University library studying for a fast-track master’s degree. It might often seem odd to some that a professional rider with the option of living anywhere in the world would pick an unassuming housing estate just north of the capital of Wales to use as a base, but scratch the surface and it all makes sense very, very quickly.