I was going to interview Chris Vazsquez – known to most as Monkey – the gifted wrench who has been around since the start of downhilling. A true legend of the sport, famous for pushing the state of the art back in the day as the mechanic for Missy Giove, I didn’t want to blow this interview; so I prepared with plenty of research. The internet says that most Americans believe that mountainbiking was invented in the US. On a recent survey on cheese.com it was shown that most Americans also believe that cheese was invented in the US.  In America there are two main types of cheese: Sliced and Liquid. In America there are two main types of mountain bike racers: Old and Slow. France, while considered a namby-pamby-non-war-mongering bunch of poo-poo sniffers by most Texans is actually very good at producing both cheese and mountainbikers. Of course the best downhillers in the world come from Australia, a country which also produces passable cheese. Was there a link between cheese production and downhill mountainbiking?
 
Maybe Monkey would know? I decided to start teasing the answer out of him with a question about the dire state of US downhilling… Man could this guy talk! Riveting stuff tho. Enjoy.

Monkey on US Riders.
 
NZRIDE: US Racing in downhill just isn’t what it used to be right, like in Australia, Britain, France?
 
MONKEY Yeah I think because in the US it’s not a cultural thing, it’s more of a baseball, football, hockey, basketball, where in these other countries cycling is more of a prestige sport where the only thing we have in cycling that has prestige is Lance. MTB is not that highly looked at, it’s just a bunch of kids playing on bikes.
 
NZRIDE: But you used to have all the good riders, all the fast riders were out of the US…
 
MONKEY To a point that was the case. With the laws that we have now, good mountains get closed down now, it inhibits our sport from growing, it inhibits our riders going faster and there’s one thing I notice a lot more about other countries, the riders ride with each other & push each other, in the US they don’t do that…
 
NZRIDE: Well they’re pretty spread out I guess.
 
MONKEY Yeah it is pretty spread out, but even so they still don’t ride with each other. But we do have some fast people, and there’s always the changing of the guard, so it’ll change maybe it’ll go around & in a couple of years we’ll have another one & that’s the evolution of the sport, it grows & other countries grow. In the US kids have so many options….baseball, football…
 
NZRIDE: Small towns particularly, big cities never generate downhillers, in small towns there’s always a core group of kids building tracks & that’s why they get good at it
 
MONKEY Yeah & there’s the kids that come from nothing…there’s kids that barely even have a mountain bike & they’re smoking people on other bikes.
 
NZRIDE: I find those kids really annoying.
 
MONKEY Yeah they’re annoying but at the same time they have talent, but sometimes you put them in the main stage with the other boys & they shrivel up because they’re not used to all that pressure. That’s the biggest thing I tell Bryn, the bike’s just a tool to help you do it, it’s all in your head, if you think you can win, you’re going to win, it takes time to learn & to build up that confidence, but once you got it you may not win every race but you can be consistent & that’s what he’s been doing. Like Lopes has done it for years, he’s been racing his entire life & to be where he is now, it didn’t happen over night, he’s earned that.


 
Monkey is of course the wrench now for Bryn Atkinson and Brian Lopes. I talked to Brian Lopes recently and he seemed really grumpy, but then again he had just crashed out in the World Champs 4x. He is one of that handful of old fast guys that gives the US team the little credibility that it has.
 
NZRIDE: How much longer is Lopes going to race?
 
MONKEY I don’t know, as long as he feels he’s competitive I think he’ll do it, there’s really not many people beating him
 
NZRIDE: Every year it seems there’s someone else challenging him, but they only seem to be there a couple of seasons whereas Lopes has been there the whole time.
 
MONKEY I think that’s just being professional, he knows what to do, he takes his racing seriously & he trains hard, in the off season I’ll say hey what are you doing & he’ll say I’m off to the gym, we’re going motoing & we’re doing this & that, a lot of people will see that as playing, but it’s training for what he does. He had those 2 yrs that went bad for him & last year he wanted to come back. This year he’s been a bit quiet but I know he can do it.

Monkey on being the world’s greatest wrench.
 
NZRIDE: How many yrs have you been wrenching at world champs now? When was the high point for you?
 
MONKEY I’ve been on the circuit 14 yrs now. I mean it’s still cool, I used to get really nervous with Missy, but I calmed down from that. Then last yr I was pretty nervous with Lopes. At the last run, I didn’t even know it was the last round & I was changing gears & making sure everything was right, & Billy Baker, one of the other mechanics said dude you’re going to win, & I said I’ve still got another run & he said no dude you just won, that was pretty cool, just to help BL do that.
It’s all so fun. And I get to help younger riders too. People say you’re the best mechanic, but I say I’m no different to any other mechanic but I’ve been really lucky to have good riders, the riders have made my career what it is. Even in the ups & downs of it I’m still happy to do what I can, I’m not perfect we’re all human
 
NZRIDE: So you’re like a golf caddy right?
 
MONKEY Yeah cos they know a lot, but I just let them think & then they’ll ask me & I’ll try to help here & there. I think now it’s a little easier for me to give instruction cos I’ve been in it long enough & had really good riders, but you still have to listen to the rider, he’s the one that knows & I really don’t see what they do up there & they all have amazing talent, so one talent can’t dictate to another talent so you gotta try & just see how they’re feeling & make them feel good about what they have, in reality I’d love to have new bikes at every race but that would be ridiculous, it’s expensive. Sometimes everything may not be the best, but I figure my 90% is 100%
 
NZRIDE: What work do you do on a bike at a big race?
 
MONKEY Normally if the tracks not beating up bikes, I just do the minor stuff, lube & change, checking bolts, check tyre pressure every day, make sure suspension’s nice & smooth, nothing’s binding, & keep my fingers crossed, that’s the biggest one.
 
NZRIDE: You said before you used to be nervous, so you’re not nervous now?
 
MONKEY No I’m still nervous.
 
NZRIDE: What are you nervous of, the wheel falling off ?
 
MONKEY I don’t want the riders to get hurt, that’s the biggest thing. I’m worried about the riders pushing themselves too hard & getting hurt. Missy would do that a lot. Either missy was going to crash or missy was going to win.

Monkey on Missy.
 
For those of you who just got up Missy Giove was the poster girl of US ’core sports for most of the 90’s. She went fast and she ate a lot of dirt. If she had been riding at Woodhill she would’ve munched a lot of carpet.


 
NZRIDE: What was it like wrenching for missy?
 
MONKEY It was awesome, but we used to have our fights. It was funny, my Mom said one day when are you two going to get married you’re always fighting just like a married couple. But me & Missy we had a ball. Just like Brian & Bryn we have a ball, like I do with everyone. You’ve got to have fun. But it’s awesome to work with everyone.
 
NZRIDE: Is Missy still racing?
 
MONKEY She’s doing enduro, I talk to her now & then, she’s doing alright.
 
NZRIDE: Do you walk the hill?
 
MONKEY No I used to but I have a bad knee, with missy I used to walk them all the time but now I’m like nah, & with the 4x I’ll just look at it.
 

Monkey on Back to the Future.
 
NZRIDE: What did you think of the 4x course for the world’s in NZ?
 
MONKEY It was pretty big, I think that’s where it almost needs to go but I think some of the jumps were a little steep & that’s why there was some pretty bad accidents. But that’s the sport, & they just need to figure out the formula where they’re making the jumps big enough for the men but safe enough for the girls & junior riders. And it’s hard to please everybody too.

 
 
NZRIDE: So you’ve been in the sport 15 yrs will you be in it another 15?
 
MONKEY I don’t know, every year I try to retire someone pulls me back in.
 
NZRIDE: Whats racing going to be like in 15 yrs?
 
MONKEY I don’t know, hopefully a lot easier & a lot warmer….. I have no idea but no matter what it’ll get better & hopefully MTB will grow more & people will see that the riders are doing an extreme sport & it gets recognised for that.
 
NZRIDE: It’s hard to believe 20 yrs ago this was barely a sport.
 
MONKEY Yeah & even when I came into it I was amazed that we’ve gone from riding hard tails to cross country bikes to downhill to full on motor cycles. So it’s going to go a little bit further forward & then come back. Actually I think it’s already gone to its farthest point & it’s already come back & we’re finding the middle ground now.
 
NZRIDE: Yeah there’s no-one riding 12” forks any more...actually what travel did missy’s bike have?
 
MONKEY 10 & 1⁄2 in the rear & 8 in the front.
 
NZRIDE: What about in the 1st season?
 
MONKEY Oh in’93 she was riding a Manitou which was probably 2 & 1⁄2 or 3, & a hardtail, I have pictures of her on a hardtail riding downhill, so she had 3” up front & a hardtail, when she was on Yeti she had 3 & 3.
 
NZRIDE: You came to New Zealand for the World Champs. Did you have fun?
 
MONKEY Yeah it’s nice, a little cold, but definitely fun. It was my first time there. I’ve been lucky to go where I’ve gone around the world & I can say heck I’ve been to NZ! People usually say “when I’m old I’m going to travel  the world”, I’m going to be able to say I travelled the world when I was young. It’s cool that I’ve had the experience, but yeah NZ’s awesome, you drive on the wrong side of the road but I can deal with that.
 
NZRIDE: One final question, do you think there is a correlation between a countries cheese production, and the speed of its downhillers?
 
MONKEY No.
 
So there you have it, a pocket history of downhilling from someone who has been there from the start. I have to say it was a joy to talk to Monkey; they say that if you sit enough monkeys in front of enough typewriters then one of them will eventually produce a definitive history of cheese, but I don’t really buy into that maths with stats stuff. Its meeting people like Monkey that make you want to ride bikes.
 
NZRIDE REPORTER: MIKE CARDEN

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