It’s no secret that Gracey Hemstreet is seriously talented at riding a bike. But we spend so much time watching her gunning for podiums, we rarely see her simply out riding. That’s why this video is such a treat.
With the season officially over, Hemstreet is back home on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. And she’s riding her local trails. at Coast Gravity Park. She’s aboard a Norco VLT eMTB, she’s out of the race kit and she’s absolutely shredding. It’s a good old-fashioned shreddit. And it’s awesome.
The trails that made Gracey
For Gracey, the Coast Gravity Park isn’t just another riding spot. She grew up here.
“Yeah, I’ve grown up there since, you know, I was 8 years old when they first started building,” she says in the video. “That’s when I first started mountain biking really. Probably my favorite place in the world.”
Her father, along with the Coastal Crew began construction in 2013. Today, the park is a bucket-list destination for riders worldwide. And Hemstreet is a World Cup winner and Red Bull Hardline champion. Watching her ride the trails she grew up on, is a good peek behind the curtain of what has made Gracey such a fierce competitor.
More laps, more fun
It would be hard to ignore the fact that the video was made by Bosch eBike Systems. Technically the whole thing is an ad. And the brief clip of Hemstreet’s Norco VLT makes it clear we’re being sold something. But it’s a pretty compelling sales pitch.
Hemstreet is riding a Norco VLT and makes the whole experience look super fun. She pumps through rollers, sends massive jumps and makes you want to start planning a trip to the Sunshine Coast. And for Gracey, she doesn’t even need the park to be open.
“Yeah, when I’m home, even if the park isn’t open, I’ll take my ebike and yeah, go cruise some laps,” she says. “I’ve swept the entire mountain just on my ebike because I felt like it.”
Just riding bikes
Hemstreet explains the eMTB isn’t just for home The Norco Race Division truck carries eMTBs on the World Cup circuit, giving Hemstreet an opportunity to escape the pressure of race weekends.
“It’s super nice to just escape on the ebike up the mountain when you’re in that busy scene. Um, and just go ride. I go by myself quite often.”
And maybe that’s what makes this video so enjoyable. There’s no timing tape, no split times and no race results to worry about. Just Hemstreet riding the trails she knows better than almost anyone. It’s refreshing to see one of the fastest downhill racers in the world out of the race kit, throwing the bike around and having a blast. She could probably alter career paths and just start filiming video parts insteat of racing. She’s so good.
Whether it’s an ad for an ebike or not, sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that even the world’s best racers just love riding bikes.