Bones Over Metal Freeride and Downhill Video Blog

South Africa’s Greg Minnaar won the Sea Otter 2008 Pro Men’s Dual Slalom on Saturday and then woke up and won the Downhill on Sunday. Watching him practice I was impressed with the strength that he showed. His riding was smooth and aggressive, but there was also a raw display of power in the more pedaly sections that many other pro riders lacked. Greg Minnaar is new this year to the Santa Cruz Syndicate.

How did it feel doubling up at Sea Otter?
Twice as happy….. No just kidding, I didn’t expect it at all. I felt good on the Slalom and things went my way. The downhill is super padaly and I didn’t think I had the legs, it must have been the cliff protein bar.

The Dual Slalom was hard fought. What advantage did winning it give you going into the Downhill the next day?
I didn’t think it gave me any advantage, if it gave me anything it would have to be stiff legs.

Watching you practice, you seemed to be in mid season form. What kind of training have you been through in preparation for this year’s race season?
I’ve been in the gym quite a lot this off-season; I had a shoulder operation in November so I had to get in the gym to strengthen it

How much does your involvement with Gene Hamilton’s Better Ride Downhill Clinic help your racing? What can an up coming racer get from training with a coach like Gene Hamilton?
I like the way Gene puts a lot of emphasis on the basics of down hilling. In fact working with Gene has helped me a little.

Do you think that the course at Sea Otter gives an advantage to a certain kind of racer? For example, large powerful racers vs. smaller more nimble racers?
Yea I think it does, the bigger guys seem to do better on it.

What was your favorite section of this year’s course?
It has to be the jumps at the top of the course.

Santa Cruz Syndicate put on a good showing at Sea Otter’s Gravity Events. In what ways is the Syndicate more a family than a team.?
What makes it a Syndicate is the Rob Roskopp hates the word team in a Gravity sport.
Technically he’s right, it isn’t really a team sport.