Wil White's Backyard Rampage | Rider Interview

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How did you get into mountain biking in the first place?

I got into mounting bike in the first place from watching Crusty Demons of Dirt which had a segment from Rampage in it and that made me go out and buy the first NWD. From there I just went to a bike shop to bought whatever I could afford, which was a horrible bike at the time. Fell in love with it, got into Downhill Racing and then moved into Freeriding and Slope Style.

What was your first Downhill bike?

My first actual Downhill Bike was an Iron Horse Warrior Special Edition with a 2001 Junior T that I put on it. It had five inches of travel front and rear when it was on the show room floor and I bought it for $600 brand new. I swapped out the front end for something longer travel and took it to Mammoth and just kept trying to huck it and had to buy something better eventually.

So you mentioned racing, was that a big part of you growing up?

Definitely, I spent the first four or five years of my mountain biking career racing at Fontana and I had a lot of fun but eventually got burnt out on the racing thing. I’ll still a couple races like Sea Otter and the Urban Downhill races, but that’s about it? I haven’t been out to Fontana since 2011 or 2012.

So, you mostly focus on bigger events like Rampage, is there anything else you’re planning on doing or get into?

I’d like to get into The FEST Series but I just need to elevate my riding a bit more before I do that. I’d like to focus on putting out more video edits and becoming more of an edit rider, photos and stories instead of contests and events like that. I feel like contests have been elevated to such a point these days where they don’t really allow me to express my creativity and independence. Riding is so trick-robot, so gymnastics now, which doesn’t fit me or why I want to ride a bike so I’m trying to move on from that? I just want to go big and have a lot of style #0:2:50.3# and just show people how you like riding a bike and how you have fun. I think a lot of the big Slope Style guys themselves right now say that they’re not having fun anymore and showing their style.

So what dudes are you stoked on right now?

Lacondeguy is a big inspiration and I’ve always been a fan of Cam Zink. I’ve been watching his videos ever since I was a little kid so obviously he’s been a huge inspiration. I’ve always admired the way he can shut off his brain, ignore the fear and go for it.

Rampage is only a couple months away, what goes into getting ready for an event of that caliber

Well, with previous years I’d been focusing on getting a lot of riding in and strength training and things like that, but I think where I made a mistake was ignoring the mental game of it all. This year I’m putting a lot more effort into that side of it and getting my focus where I need it to be and just being a lot more focused on the outcome of what I want to achieve this year. In addition to that I’ve been trying to ride everyday but the SoCal summer makes that really hard.

Tell us more about how you’re mentally preparing.

For me, since I don’t compete as often anymore, I need to make sure that I can keep my cool and stay calm in high pressure situations. When you don’t compete a lot you don’t get that experience too often, so I just try and focus and put myself in the mental state as if I was competing and under that pressure. I actively seek out more changeling things than I normally would just to try and keep my cool. Basically, I just try to apply that to all aspects of my life, even with the dirt biking and rock climbing I do for cross training.

What’s it like leading up to that week before Rampage?

Honestly, a lot of nervousness and excitement, this will be my fifth Rampage so I kinda know what I’m getting into now. Each year’s been different and the nerves are always there. You just have to go into it with your head up and the confidence that you know what you’re going to do and what’s needed to survive and make your way down the hill.

How do you like the new site?

I like it, but it’s been challenging for me since I usually don’t ride stuff that steep. It rides a lot faster and flowyer than the old side used to, but I feel like we all have a lot smaller of a playing field. We’ve only had that site for one year and pretty much all the lines are already dug out. Last year I was looking around and didn’t see too many more options of ways to get down that mountain.

Who’s your dig crew?

Generally I take my girlfriend and my best friend, plus a few other riding buddies that I have. It’s always been hard because there are a lot of people that I want to take or call me and offer to help build, but we’re limited to five builders total, myself included. But, this year they mentioned they’re changing the build crew rules, so I might be able to take more people, or maybe less, I’m not really sure.

We see your parents at Rampage every year, how do they take in the whole event?

Well, my Dad was kind of a wild child growing up. Both of my parents understand it, they’re both motorcycle riders and skydivers. But, unfortunately my Mom is a trauma nurse and sees the other side of it. They understand the value of positive energy and just kind of push the bad thoughts out of their minds and be as supportive as possible, but I can tell how nervous my Mom is before I drop into a run.

What’s been the worst injury so far?

I think the worst, honestly, was shattering my wrist on a green trail in Big Bear. My wrist was shattered in seven or eight pieces and had to be pinned back together. It took forever to get my range of mobility back. Overall I’ve been pretty lucky I guess.

We know two main riding areas in San Diego have somewhat recently been bulldozed, so where are you riding and building now?

Well, luckily enough, about six months after everything was bulldozed, we moved up to the hills in a new how and for the past month I’ve been building here, right next to my house. When we first moved in, the neighbor didn’t like me riding around the property, but he moved out and oddly enough an old dirt jump buddy of mine moved in, turning my four-acres into twelve-acres.

If you were a pro wrestler, what would your theme music be as you walked into the ring?

Ha, that’s a difficult one… I’d have to say Judas Priest “Freewheel Burning” (Editor's Note: HELL YES!)

How many motorcycles do you have in the garage?

I think about 12.

How about bicycles?

That work? haha… I have 3 that work and seven or eight frames plus a couple hardtail.

How many bikes have you broken since you started riding?

Five frames and eight front ends. I’ve outright snapped a lot of steer tubes and broken lots of seat stay and also bucked a few top tubes.

In regards to wanting to elevate your riding to attend events like The FEST Series, where the hell do you find jumps that big to get up to that level?

I’ve been struggling with that, actually. There’s private foam pits and airbags you can try to get access to but it’s hard. I would love to ride at that level, but I’m not sure how you guinea pig a flat spin off a 90-foot step-down. I’ve thought about relocating to a place that already has jumps of that size but I’ve a trail builder and have always loved building almost more so than riding, so having my own place now I want to wear out the dirt here as much as possible before maybe heading out to Utah. We’ll see.

Last question: 26” or 27.5”?

Hahaha, TWENTYSIX.