Calling Wyn Masters an icon of downhill mountain biking is no exaggeration. In the world of wide tires and flat handlebars, he’s a legend. That’s why it was such a surprise—and a treat—to see the Shimano and GT Bicycles sponsored athlete swap his usual long-travel setup for something a little less beefy at Grinduro France.
If it is not for his ability to find the balance point on one wheel of any bike (see Wyn’s Wheelie Wednesday), then you’ll surely know Wyn from the past 16 years on the Downhill World Cup circuit, where you’ll often see him on and off-track catching up with all the top riders in the pits after the races have finished as part of Wyn TV, microphone choice of note.
Or maybe it could be because of his drive to give back to the downhill discipline that made him who he is—with his Privateer Project where he champions riders that don’t have the luxury of full factory support but can still keep pace with the best.
So, why would a downhill veteran like Wyn Masters swap his trusty flat bars for drop bars and head to Grinduro France? We caught up with this New Zealand native after a day of lapping the bike park in Austria to find out.
‘I’d been interested in doing a gravel race for a while now and having seen Grinduro on Instagram I figured it had a fun format that best suited me. Some gravel is starting to look a lot like a dirt road race, but Grinduro’s enduro-style format and less competitive-nature looked more my thing,’ Wyn explains in his relaxed New Zealand accent.
After years of racing the world’s most challenging downhill tracks, we were curious about his expectations for this gravel event. ‘It’s funny because the Downhill World Cup is like a travelling family where everyone knows each other,’ Wyn said. ‘But I was in at the deep end in France as I didn’t know anyone at Grinduro but luckily everyone was there for the same reason—the love of riding bikes, which is awesome. I had a rough idea of the terrain, having been in the area before with a mountain bike, but the specific course was new to me.’
He continued, “To be honest, the course felt like 90’s mountain biking but with drop handlebars. Some sections were super technical, which made riding with drop bars pretty gnarly. You wouldn’t normally ride through a rock section on your gravel bike, so that definitely suited me. But I’ll admit, the longer climbs were tough. I would have preferred flat bars, but—you know—you’ve got to do as gravel riders do, right? There was a cool mix of riders, though some were really in the deep end on the technical sections.”
Top sections for Wyn were the technical downhills, even though he was concerned about flatting, and the fast downhill sections. The long climbs? Not so much. And as for the famed Grinduro afterparty? “The afterparty was nice. It had a good vibe without being super crazy—I think the incoming storm sent everyone to bed early. But it’s always cool to hear people debriefing the day’s stories over a beer,” he said.
For comparison, Wyn went straight from Grinduro France to the Les Gets round of the World Cup, where he now avoids the afterparty because pretty much the whole main street gets trashed by partygoers. Grinduro, in contrast, keeps it classy.
And when it came to takeaways on gravel riding and events. ‘My normal gravel riding is done on an XC mountain bike—but there’s something great about manualing on a gravel bike because they have a really good balance point. Plus, the fact that it gets you off of the roads and opens up more options to riding bikes are two big plus points. Gravel challenges you a lot more on lesser trails and can make your local trails feel even more fun, that’s definitely true.’ He pauses, then adds with a laugh, ‘I hope gravel riding brings more people to mountain biking. For those who haven’t seen the light yet, even just a regular flat handlebar will make your life off-road easier.’
So, are we going to see Wyn Masters wheelieing his way around any other major gravel races? “Unlikely, although it is all bike riding at the end of the day,” he says. “There are a couple of races that have caught my attention. The Rift and Unbound are on my bucket list. I saw that F1 driver Valtteri Bottas did the 100-mile short course at Unbound, which isn’t on—If you go there, you have to do the proper distance, so I’ll do the real deal one day.”
So, watch this space for more takes on gravel from this downhilling legend. Thanks to Wyn for taking the time, it was great to see him out there, and hopefully riding Grinduro has given you an appetite to experience the events yourself—or perhaps even dip a toe into the world of flat bars, wide tires, and bigger suspension. Remember, all bikes are welcome at Grinduro.
For Grinduro France, Wyn was riding the new GT Grade Carbon with a FOX 32 TC suspension fork – ‘It didn’t give too much travel, but it took the edge off.’
Wyn equipped his GT with Shimano’s new 2x12spd GRX Di2, for unrivalled elctronic shifting. Grinduro France was his first ever ride on the new groupset – ‘I couldn’t fault it at all. This was as much of a test as you could give it, and it worked perfectly.’
For navigation and for recording those all important downhill KOMs, Wyn used a Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM V2.
Catch up on all of Wyn’s antics on and off the World Cup scene, by giving him a follow over in Instagram: @wynmasters