Jack Moir turned a lot of heads today when he was announced as Canyon's new enduro signing. The Aussie racer had been part of Intense's downhill set up for the past five years and it was assumed he'd be only a few hundred metres away in another team's pit for 2020.
Instead, Jack is switching over to enduro, admittedly a little earlier than he imagined, after some crossed wires in the offseason. We caught up with Jack to get the full story on his late-season move, his new enduro ambitions and his goals for the year ahead.
What are your highlights from 5 years on the Intense Team?
2016, 2017 and 2018 were a lot of fun. There were just so many good times travelling with mates. On top of that, we ticked off some pretty crazy goals of mine. So many memories that I’ll never forget.
How do you look back on the 2019 season?
2019 was by far my worst season yet. My overall was worse than the year before where I missed four World Cups due to injury. It was just a really frustrating year for me, struggling with a bunch of different things. Kind of feels like a waste of a year as I know I was riding good after a couple of rounds and training was going well, but there were a few things out of my control that were making it hard for me to race comfortably and to my full potential.
What made you decide to move on from the team after 5 years?
I was really struggling with my setup, I was uncomfortable and didn’t have any confidence in the new setup. Halfway through the season, I realised that nothing was going to change and I was getting over trying to race like that.
I had a few teams reach out to me so I started discussing options to see if there was anything that would suit me better. It was definitely going to be a hard decision, but in the end Intense didn’t have a place for me on the team for this year, so I guess it was meant to be.
Why are you not racing downhill this year?
It was a super stressful offseason for me. Long story short, I signed a LOI [Letter of Intent] with another team right after Snowshoe, and waited around a while for a contract, but was then told they had decided to shut down their whole downhill program. I immediately got in contact with the other teams I had been talking to during the season, but by this time everyone was sorted. I was pretty close to calling it and not doing any racing this season, but then I got chatting to Wyn and Eddie Masters who passed on some enduro team contacts. I got talking with Fab, and the opportunity to race a full EWS series, and still be able to do some downhill World Cups really interested me.
What made you pick your new team over the rest of the offers?
I had a few good options for downhill towards the end of the season but obviously made the wrong decision there. Which looking back on it was probably a blessing in disguise, I was not 100% happy racing last year and this change has me really motivated to see what I can accomplish.
The Canyon deal came together just before the New Year. I was lucky that Flo was moving on and a spot had opened up with them. I’m very grateful to pick up a ride with such a successful team, especially so late in the year. The bikes are obviously insane with the whole enduro team finishing in the top 5 last year, and the downhill guys killing it as well. I’m also back at home with Maxxis and SRAM, who I had been working with pretty much my whole career before 2019.
What bikes will you be riding this year?
I will be riding the 29er Strive for enduro and the Sender for downhill. I’ve just spent a couple of weeks in France riding the Strive and testing with SRAM and am pumped on the setup. Still waiting on the Sender but am pretty keen to get going on that and race DH National Champs next month.
Have you wanted to race more EWS races in the past?
Yeah, I have raced 3 EWS races over the last few years and I always wanted to do a full EWS season, but never planned on it being this soon.
You’ve never finished outside the top 10 at the EWS before, do you think it’s a format that suits you well?
I had a heap of fun at the EWS races I did. I think longer tracks suit me better for sure, and all the races I did had really cool terrain. The tracks were natural and raw, and I think everyone loves riding this style of track. I’m going to have to change my training a lot but I think the hardest thing for me is going to be learning how to race a track fast after only one practice run.
How have you had to change up your training for the EWS?
The volume of training has gone up a bit, and there is a lot more road riding haha.
Do you have plans to return to downhill racing in future?
I’m still going to do a couple of downhill World Cups this year. It's awesome how open these guys are to letting me still race downhill when I want. There are a few tracks I like that seem to fit in with the EWS schedule well, without making it too busy.
Are you coming into the new season with no injuries?
Yeah. The last two seasons have started with injury so it’s good to be healthy and feeling good.
What are your goals for this season?
It’s all pretty new to me, and a lot of new things to learn. Those guys are insane athletes, so I don’t expect to come in the first race and set the world on fire. But the rest of the team are awesome and hopefully I can learn a lot through there experience and progress as the season goes on. I’m just going to train hard, do my best at the races and see where I end up.
Gwin is testing a new frame, so maybe everyone just hated the M29? It sure looks the business...
You can't adjust in a year. There is not magic pill. It will take a few to reformat. Look what Gwin left behind at Trek, Specialized, and YT. Bikes that work well. It will take another year or two to get it right. I would say they are already doing a good job by consolidating a bunch of frames into one trail bike that I have said for years if the primer was a 150/140 it would be perfect...done.
Intense finally realized it was time to grow up...or at least that's what their creditors were telling them. Gwin I believe is at the very back end of his racing career. He has the potential to move on to development as he has helped brands define a strategy for a bike that works. That knowledge doesn't go away.
Given that Isabeau won every EWS event last year on an Intense, and all the past success of Jeff Steber's designs, I don't think "Intense doesn't know how to make bikes" is the conclusion to draw.
I can't prove it but I would guess the top 5 DH racers are probably making around twice as much money a year than the top 5 ews racers. Because they are consistently faster on a bigger, more intense stage. You could make the argument that some racers excel in enduro because of the style of racing, they are different sports in that enduro is more fitness oriented.
The mental game of the two sports is also hugely different. In one, you get to practice the same track repeatedly leading up to the race. Then it all comes down to a single 4-5 minute run. Some people totally respond to that pressure and can put it all on the line for the single run.
In EWS, you don't have as much time to scout the lines, but you also get multiple stages in which to recover from mistakes (or not be able to recover on the mental side, and just keep going downhill). It's a totally different mental game. I can see a lot of DH races (especially younger ones) having a hard time adapting to the mental game of enduro. You have a bad stage and get down on yourself, then the next stage is bad, and the next. Have to be able to put mistakes behind you and know you can make up for it later. Conversely: knowing you dominated a stage or a first day of racing, then having to deal with the pressure of trying to maintain that lead while not making any mistakes. Totally different head game from DH. It's almost like a whole DH season playing out over a single race. And, as you mentioned, there's also the fitness involved.
actually, I dont like the harshness of the 40 either.
I did a comparison of the top 15 from each discipline with their most recent results in the opposite discipline. Not alot of crossover to compare but I still think the competition is stronger overall in DH.
DH top 15
1. Loïc Bruni
2. Amaury Pierron 1 (U21)
3. Troy Brosnan 16, 34
4. Danny Hart
5. Loris Vergier 24
6. Greg Minnar 62, 26, 3, 7
7. Laurie Greenland
8. Mark Wallace 61, 56
9. David Trummer
10. Dean Lucas
11. Brook MacDonald
12. Remi Thirion 62
13. Charlie Harrison
14. Luca Shaw 63
15. Dakota Norton
EWS top 15
1. Sam Hill 29, 28, 31, 38, dns
2. Florian Nicolai
3. Kevin Miquel
4. Dimitri Tordo
5. Adrien Dailly 12, 8, 15 (junior)
6. Remi Gauvin dnq, 66, dnq, 77, 66, dnq
7. Richie Rude 31, 55, dnq, 57 (junior)
8. Matthew Walker 44, 40, dnq, 16, 15, dnq
9. Edward Masters 56, 11, 15, 10, 14, 50
10. Zakarias Blom Johansen 64, dnq, dnq, 69, dnq, 72
11. Jesse Melamed
12. Leigh Johnson
13. Robin Wallner dnf, 57, 58, 38
14. Cole Lucas dnq, dnq, dnq, 61
15. Shawn Neer dnq, 61
It probably cost them a lot less to sign a Junior (Seth Sherlock) than to keep jack around sadly. I would be very curious to know who makes the financial decisions for the Factory Race Team. . .is it Gwin. . . Steber. . .
I'm guessing Mavic collective was similar, Intense supplying frames and some cash and getting top level R&D in return.
Moir developed that bike when he was getting loose with his mates, having a laugh, living the dream without the pressure to perform. He was up and coming, punching above his weight and loving every minute.
Along comes Gwin and pisses on the party that Moir got his headspace from, also bringing bigger sponsors and with them pressure to perform. Along comes carbon and maybe there were some differences with feel that Moir didn't like compared to the alloy bikes. I don't think Fox comes into it TBH.
In my opinion, it's the team dynamic first, the frame second and the tyres third. Those last two might be the other way around. Definitely the team dynamic more than the equipment.
I remember years ago Eric Carter alluding to the fact that Gwin was a boring bastard who frowned on others getting loose and having a laugh.
On a side note, I think it's the second/third time this year that i read public praise for the Masters brothers, for helping tips on finding a new team/sponsor.
Good vibes to them too.
Masters/Masters 2020!
I think this could be the beginning of something truly amazing for you Jack! As a fan of yours, I am more excited to see what you can do this season than ever! Watch out Mr Hill.
Interesting to see results listed by tyre manufacturer
Thats quite surprising because Kenda used to sell junk that rolled terribly, had bad puncture protection and wasn't even terribly grippy.
Shame on intense
gwin has become too big and the industry can't sustain him without the expense of other riders on teams.
on the other note, she won't be racing for Intense this year as they parted ways. weird that Intense will part ways with an up and coming rider after winning the overall!
In the past years he was running Rock Shox and was doing well.
Then, last year, they made him switch to Fox (you know, because Gwin) and doesn't sound like it suited him.