Ned Overend, 50, of Durango is a three-time cross country mountain-bike world champion (1987, 1989, 1990), six-time national mountain bike champ and Exterra triathlon world champion in 1998 and 1999.
What is your best training technique?
The most effective for me is intervals and intervals on hills. I have a variety of hills in the area I do intervals on, some of them as short as a minute, others up to 10 minutes.
Your most frightening moment?
I’ve had several, usually on exposed mountain trails, where you have a hill on one side and an exposed drop on the other. You get too close to the side and drop a wheel off. That happened at the Hermosa Creek trail here in Durango. I hit a rock with my pedal and dropped my front wheel off at pretty good speed and saw some big air. I remember flying through the air and thinking, “This isn’t good.” The crashes you have time to think about in the air are probably most frightening.
How do you push through mental fatigue?
I think keeping a positive attitude is really important. That’s one thing I’ve been pretty good at.
What’s the sickest thing you’ve ever seen?
These freerider guys like Kyle Strait who just won the Red Bull Rampage. The drops these guys are capable of doing, riding off cliffs, it’s just an incredible amount of vertical they are landing.
Who do you admire most?
I’d have to say Thomas Frischknecht from Switzerland. He was second in the 1990 world championships against me in Durango, and just last weekend he won the world mountain bike marathon championships. He has managed to do the cycling thing for a very long time at a very high level, with an attitude of professionalism.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Just to relax. That’s seems oversimplified, but that’s in regard to bike handling. The biggest barrier to handling a bike fast on descents is tension.
What’s your most essential tool when it comes to racing?
I’d say suspension. I always use full suspension. It’s important to set it up properly. Nowadays there’s a pedal platform and you not only set up suspension for the terrain you’re riding over, but also for your pedaling input. It’s not that complicated, but people need to take 15 minutes to understand the theory of it.
