Chipps profiles this popular rider’s reinvention from competitor to adventure rider to personality and brand ambassador.
From the Archives – Singletrack Issue 104 – 2016
Words Chipps | Photos Chipps & Carmen Rey
Doing Ze Wheelie
There are many versions of Hans Rey. There have been many other versions over the years too as he has sought to keep himself current and relevant in the fast-paced mountain bike world. He is a different person to different people, but he is always Hans Rey. And while that might sound a little disingenuous, it’s not meant to be. As Hans enters his 30th year of sponsorship (in many cases (like GT) continuous sponsorship) he is still as relevant to his sponsors, still as popular with the magazines, and importantly, still as popular with the fans as ever.
An audio version of this article is available to logged in users so they can put our goods in their ears.I’ve been lucky enough to meet, and to see in action, many of the different Hans Reys over the years and I finally got to ride with him on my home trails and talk over what makes him tick. But first, join me in the way-back machine as I look in on some of my previous Hans Rey moments.
It’s 1994 and I’m at the World Championships in Vail, Colorado. The mountain bike world is fresh and exciting and the personalities, like Ned Overend and John Tomac, are our superstars. At the event, top trials rider Hans Rey is there, competing with the world’s best and drawing a crowd because already, hey, he’s Hans Rey – the man has his own VHS tapes and appeared in the first mountain bike feature film, Tread.
It’s a year or so later and the Malvern Classic event is huge and hot and full of our stars of the day. Hans has been invited over and gives trials displays in front of an enthralled crowd. Despite a ponytail and a Lycra outfit, Hans is a real-life celebrity and goes on to prove his skills when in the ‘longest wheelie’ competition he literally laps his fallen competitors.
It’s 2006 and I’m on a visit to Finale on the Italian Riviera, and taking part in a 24-hour race there. Our host, Enrico Guala, is showing us around some of the trails up in the hills – some sanctioned and some a little on the unofficial side. We come across probably the shonkiest bit of ‘north shore’ trail I’ve ever seen. A foot-wide section of head-height ladder leads to a single flattened-off branch run-out no wider than your hand. “Want me to ride that for you?” Hans asks the photographers and, after a cursory look and a quick bounce, he rides this embodiment of sketchiness with an apparent cool confidence. (Just look left for proof.)
It’s 2013 and Eurobike is the gathering point for the whole of the world’s bike trade. I see several different versions of Hans here. One is signing autographs on about three different booths to a line of eager bike shop owners. Another is deep in discussion with existing and potential sponsors about future projects and another Hans entirely – off-duty Hans – is being bought beers by an awestruck Danny MacAskill. All of them combine to make up the complex character that agrees to come up to Todmorden to ride some trails with me.
Hans in Hebden Bridge
German by birth and originally Swiss by nationality, though now officially American, Hans has lived in Laguna Beach, Southern California, for many years. To complete the international set-up, he has an English wife, Carmen, and makes regular visits to the UK to visit family.
It was on one of these visits that we finally had our calendars align and the much talked about visit to Singletrack’s offices happened. Hans arrived in his motorhome, something he keeps in Switzerland for most of the year, but it becomes his second home for some of his adventures around Europe.
It’s pouring with rain when he arrives and we duck into the offices, my thoughts of getting in a bike ride ebbing away due to the weather. We start with coffee while we wait for a break in the clouds. Hans makes sure he says hello to everyone in the office, his natural charisma winning over people who’ve never heard of him. He’s happy to answer questions, he’s happy to shoot some video, he’s happy to sign some posters and a GT Zaskar frame for a competition* and, although it’s still hammering with rain, he’s happy to go out for a ride to get some photos.
Instant on
It’s this self-awareness of what is needed from him that makes him so appealing to sponsors, and it’s a reason why he’s still in a job when there are better trials riders out there – better, faster and more skilled riders who can jump higher and wheelie further. Hans may not backflip, but he can still pull a crowd.
Martyn Ashton cites Hans – both his riding and his sense of showmanship – with being a major influence on his riding and his desire to be, not just a pro trials rider, but a performer. Martyn tells a story of being with Hans at a World Trials Championship in Japan a number of years ago. He and Hans were watching the best riders in the world tackle some incredibly tough sections and Martyn asked: “Don’t you ever feel intimidated when you see riders that are now so much better than you?”
“I don’t know,” replied a smiling Hans. “Do you think the organisers of the event flew these guys down here to perform a trials show too?” And that was true; while the best in the world had travelled there to prove themselves, Hans – his credentials already established – had been invited down to perform. And the next day he staged his trials show in front of the best in the world. When he came to the point in the show where he needed a volunteer from the audience, he pointed to the now-powerless, new World Trials Champion. With the weight of the crowd behind him, how could Hans be refused?
When Hans joins me as an unannounced guest at the Monday Night Pub Ride annual dinner (it’s like a regular Monday night ride, but without bothering with the riding) it takes less than five minutes until the first silently mouthed ‘Is that Hans Rey?’ is asked of me by one of the riders and once word spreads, Hans has a steady stream of handshakes and selfie-taking. All of which he takes in his stride with humility and humour. It’s the kind of enthusiasm that can turn a ten-year-old into a lifelong fan and a lifelong fan into a disciple.
Doing ze wheelie
There’s a reason that Hans has appeared in so many magazines, and on over 250 magazine covers. It’s because he understands what is needed for the shot and that the shot comes before just going for a bike ride. Even though he can wheelie in his sleep (with or without a front wheel), he knows that his fans and the photographer will always expect a wheelie against whatever beautiful backdrop he finds himself in front of. In the same way that the Stones will always play ‘Satisfaction’ for an expectant crowd, whatever their personal boredom threshold is with the song, so Hans will enthusiastically pop a wheelie or an endo at a moment’s notice, without a touch of resentment. While his trials skills got him his early opportunities for sponsorship, it was his willingness to work until the light faded that got him asked back.
A lifetime of balancing has honed his bike skills, but I found him initially slightly cautious when we got out on the bikes. I know full well that a blind run on someone’s local trails at warp factor is asking for trouble and, for the first run, Hans is measured in his riding. After all, he’s not racing, there’s no crowd and the penalty for spannering himself on the trail is high. Hans has no manager and no Red Bull sponsorship safety net that will look after him if he can’t ride (and subsequently earn his sponsorship by appearing in magazines and performances). Hans has managed himself – and his brand for over 20 years. He negotiates personally with his sponsors and makes sure that they know where their sponsorship money is going.
A word from our sponsors
I asked Mark Peterman of GT Bicycles, Hans’ sponsor for virtually his entire cycling career, about what it’s like at the other end of the rider/sponsor deal. Is he worth the money? Does he do much for
the brand?
Peterman admits his bias straight away: “Hans was my best man at my wedding in 2008, (Peaty and Lopes were there as well), and Hans and I are on the board of directors for his charity Wheels4Life. I hold almost no one to heroic status. I do not do that disservice to Hans either but I will say this one thing, Hans has created his own life more fearlessly than anyone I know. That, in and of itself, is cause for my constant admiration for him.
“What does that mean, fearlessly? Hans has never let things like grievous injury (2006, lower left leg completely shattered), financial constraints, massive travel (in economy class every single time, mind you) year in, year out and 20 years of self-management deter him or dissuade him from relentlessly pursuing what I consider the most successful post-competition career in MTB.
When I see ex-world champions move from job to job in hopes of finding a long-term career in the industry it can be pretty depressing. These once deified personalities trying to sell $499 hardtails to some penny-pinching shop gnome in the back of nowhere is a grim scenario and I speak from personal experience on seeing this.
“Hans has never buckled into this. He has, through sheer dint of perseverance and hard work avoided this and created his own, admittedly pretty damn awesome lifestyle. Something to be said for that.”
Another go round
The low winter sun blesses us and after some photos, where indeed, he does ze wheelie for me, we get to the bottom and stow the camera gear. “Fancy another 20-minute road climb just to do that again, Hans?”
“Sure!” comes the answer. And that’s the other thing. Although you probably can’t picture it, it would be easy for a rider in his position to get a little jaded with riding after 20 or 30 years on the job. Hans seems to have kept that spark alive though and is happy to just ride. The cameras were away, a cup of tea was calling and the winter light was fading, but Hans was happy to schlep up the hill again just for the joyous mountain bike pastime of coming back down again. This time, there was little caution and Hans was on my back wheel all the way down the trail, whooping with delight and cheerfully laughing at all my pressured wrong lines.
The next day, before he’s due to head south again, it’s raining hard and the offices are warm, yet I hear: “Do you want to ride again, Chipps? I think we should.” And so we head out again in the rain for no other reason than it’s fun and we can both pretend we’re working. There’s not a soul out and the trails are running with water, but Hans is loving it. He stops for a photo – a selfie of the two of us on a rainswept Yorkshire hillside just to celebrate the perversity of it all.
After all this time, you can tell that Hans Rey still gets up every day and thinks ‘Hey, I get paid to ride bikes! Awesome!’.
For more on Hans: hansrey.com
Now that was a great night out!