James Farrar

James Farrar has adopted a riding style that can easily make us all envious, but his character makes us wish for him to keep pushing himself further and further. He’s unapologetically himself, and that’s rad to see.

Photos courtesy of Laurence Crossman-Emms, Kieran Kenney and Duncan Hague

How would you sum up yourself today?

Probably a bit unmotivated but happy with life, happy with how things are going in life in general and more hyped than ever to ride.

How would you define your riding style?

I’d say I’ve got a very ‘send it’ sorta style, where I don’t necessarily focus on being the most stylish person on the trail but the one who loves just sending any jump, berm, trick, and enjoying every minute.

You seem more likely to session/push up than pedal laps? How’d that become the norm for you?

I’ve always just loved the idea of enjoying the sport for what you see or think of it. Not everyone has the same interests or views and that’s good as it gives the sport such a huge variety, which is ultimately what keeps is thriving. I’ve got an interest in learning new tricks, watching my mates learn new tricks and the best way to do that without tiring yourself out completely is just riding and sessioning the same jump/ set of jumps. Don’t get me wrong though, I love a good uplift day in the welsh valleys haha!

Fair to say that's influenced your riding style?

Yeah I’d definitely say it’s influenced my style of riding. I guess however you ride and whatever type of bike/trail you ride will always influence your style. Those who are into racing will have a complete different style to those that session tricks or focus on ‘jibs’ etc. The best way is to just find what type of riding suits you or what you enjoy, then strive to be as good as you want to be, not what social media wants you to be.

You appear to do your own thing and what you want rather than being too concerned what others are doing which is refreshing to see, are there any thoughts or ethos behind it?

Too many people are following big trends these days such as trying to copy other riders’ style, wearing specific clothing and trying too hard to be someone else. At the end of the day you go home and you’re yourself and only yourself. Be yourself when on the bike, wear what you want, ride how you want to ride and there’ll always be people who hate so don’t worry about trying to impress or be like others.

How did you come to first ride mountain bikes?

I used to do multiple sports throughout my entire childhood. I think it helped with my dad always pushing me to get outside as a kid as opposed to being sat at home watching tv. I used to ride my dad’s old hardtail to school when I was 15/16 and there was an awesome (at the time) little bit of woods that we used to fly through and the love for bikes sort of just grew from there.

Delve into what you did as a youngster to work for the bikes you rode?

I never grew up in a family who gave me it all on a plate, but i’m so forever grateful for that. I used to work with my dad in the summer holidays when I was 16/17 to save up for my own bike and after about a year I finally had enough savings to buy my first proper downhill bike. I’ve always worked hard for what I want, as I feel like it’s more rewarding than being bought it all from a young age.

What did those early days riding bikes look like?

I used to live right next to some woods for a few years when I first started riding bikes at like 15/16, and there was some super steep shoots and leafy descents. I loved just making my own trails, sending off the edge of the bankings down into the hill as much as I dared to send it, and building my own little senders that just sent you into the bushes hahaha, seeing how far I could throw myself on a bike.

How do you think your approach to riding in your youth differs from youngsters today?

I think social media has definitely taken control on how the majority of youngsters ride these days. I used to just love going and meeting my mates, spending £2 at the shop on a few bottles of juice or water, and then going and finding the best local spot to ride bikes at and just enjoy riding the trails. These days kids would rather ask their mates to film them doing something than ask them to come and ride a trail with them.

Photo by Kieran Kenney

Any advice you'd like to give to those people?

Focus on enjoying yourself on a bike. If you find enjoyment on filming tricks and making edits then that’s perfectly fine, but prioritise spending time with mates and enjoying the trail you ride. sometimes it feels like a relief to spend a day riding with your mates and not focus on filming a clip.

Saying that, you're supported by canyon bikes, how did that come to be?

When I started learning new tricks and finding a buzz in progressing my riding, I started throwing a few clips on social media as a sort of ‘memory book’ for my progression that I can look back at and motivate myself to keep riding. Eventually i started riding with people like Max Nerurkar (@3dumb), Josh Lewis (@loosedoglewis) and a few other legends of the sport, and with them supporting my riding by sharing my posts and helping me grow, a few of my riding clips were noticed on instagram by one of the marketing guys at Canyon and he reached out to me. We got talking, and things just unfolded. Still super stoked on riding for such an insane company.

What opportunities has your partnership with Canyon opened up for you?

It has definitely helped me meet new people that I’d never heard of before or ridden with previously, and opened new doors for companies to see my riding and allow them to reach out to me and offer me insane partnership deals. It has also allowed me to focus more on enjoying riding and focus more on my progression as I’ve not had to worry as much about saving up to buy my own bikes and spend a fortune keeping them running. I’m definitely super lucky and grateful for the support and opportunities that Canyon have opened up for me so far!

Were there any unexpected or overlooked aspects to your sponsorship that took you by surprise?

There wasn’t really any that took me by surprise. I always expected to have to give back to the company if they were going to support me and keep me rolling.

Was there ever a step change in your ability level that you noticed? Or a point where something really clicked for you?

I definitely had a big urge in the early summer of 2020 for learning new tricks, and there’s always been an awesome little spot in Sheffield with a step up. Me and a few mates would head down, get it swept up, soften up the lander and learn new tricks. I definitely feel like 2020 was when I progressed the most since I started riding, as my motivation for progression and learning new tricks was at its highest. I definitely think that I had a big adrenaline boost in summer 2020, as all my mates were super keen on riding and learning new tricks too and so hyping each other up just boosted everyone’s adrenaline levels and definitely helped us all.

You took 'man of the match' at the 50:01 Bowl Jam in 2019, that was a rad event itself, how was the weekend for you?

Mate! If I could re-live that weekend over and over again I would for the rest of my life. It was just so good to be riding with some of the people I’ve always looked up to, and meet new people I’ve followed online for ages but never realised that I’d actually ride with them one day. Also just the laughs and fun times that were had really made that weekend one to remember. I think we started riding on the saturday at like 11am, and literally didn’t stop riding till like 1:30am on the sunday morning. We had all the flood lights set up and while most of the other lads were on the beers and partying, me and a few others were just riding that insane bowl. Let’s hope Loose and the boys get another sick weekend going like that again sometime!

Do you have any other stories or shenanigans you've got up to riding or on trips?

Haha, I’ve got so many funny stories and shenanigans I could talk about but a lot of them should probably be kept quiet lol. There was one time when me and my mate Felix headed out to morzine in summer 2019. We were rained under and so we were chilling in the hostel and it was a super small room. I had really bad wind that day as I’d eaten loads the day before, and Felix had to spray the entire room with deodorant to try get rid of the bad smell. Two minutes later the entire building’s fire alarms went off due to spraying so much deodorant and everyone had to evacuate the building. Still to this day, all they’ve known was that it was the ‘shower steam’ that had set off the fire alarm hahah and not the fact that an awfully bad fart had lead to having to spray tons of deodorant which set off the fire alarms!

Have there been any hardships or struggles for you? Any injuries, balancing mental thoughts or things you've had to overcome?

Good question. Yes, quite recently too. The beginning of 2021 seemed like such a hype for me and everyone was more keen than ever to get out riding again when we had a dry weekend, but then all my mates started coming down with serious injuries and day by day there were just less people to ride with. It definitely took a big hit on my mental health and my motivation towards the sport as I’ve always strived on just having fun with my mates on the bikes and so not having those people there to ride with me definitely took its toll on me mentally. I’m still finding it hard to this day to find the motivation to get back out more often and get shredding, but after visiting Kade Edwards, Tahnée, Kaos Seargrave and the rest of the shredders out in the Welsh hills, it’s definitely helped keep some aspects of the sport alive for me and I’m hoping that some more dry weather and some new groups of people will keep me hyped on riding!

What's your proudest riding achievement?

I don’t like sounding too big headed with what I say but I feel like it’s good to speak positively about yourself and give yourself some positive feedback every now and then. On that note, there’s definitely a few things that I’m super proud of myself for in riding, one doing a tailwhip on an enduro bike. At the time not many people were doing them and as a kid a tailwhip was an INSANE trick, so to be able to do it on an enduro bike is a big personal achievement for me. Another is being noticed by the big dog himself Steve Pete, if he ever sees me out and about in Wharncliffe Woods or surrounding areas for him to stop and have a chat is insane, it’s a cool thing to know someone like Steve and be able to talk so openly and casually with such a legend. I’d say my main achievement I’m so stoked with though is definitely building such cool partnerships with some of the biggest brands such as Canyon & Fox. They’re insanely big brands that I’ve followed since I was a kid and so to be able to be supported by those brands along with all the other awesome brands and companies that support me is definitely my biggest achievement to date.

What gets you hyped or inspires you currently?

Watching other people succeed and shred on a bike. I love seeing the sport grow and love watching people go from 0-100 on a bike in such a short period of time. I also just love watching the 50to01 boys and their style that they carry on a bike. every time they bring out a new edit I’m straight onto watching it and it brings me so many ideas of what to try next time I’m out on the bike. Big love to the 50to01 crew!

Is there anyone who's played a big part in coaching you to where you are now?

I’d say a lot of my progression has been self inflicted and I’ve never really had someone there to tell me where i’m going wrong or what I’m doing right. I’ve always just found my own path and way around something which i feel like is a good way to go about things as you learn a lot more when you try something and fail, as you have to really use your brain and initiative to think ‘how can I better myself at this’.

Any future goals and ambitions?

I’d love to get out to morzine and film a big edit out there in the future. I feel like i’m super happy with where I am at the moment with bikes but I constantly get visions of just creating awesome memories and videos out in morzine to look back on in years to come but with the 9-5 working lifestyle controlling my life I’ve just never had the freedom to go out there for a long enough period. That’s another thing, I do have the goal to one day ride bikes 7 days a week and earn a living from doing what I love. I know it’s tough and it’s a very slim market for a full time job riding bikes, but it’s a goal and it’s something I’m going to work towards for sure.

What do you believe you have to do yourself in order to achieve that goal of earning a living from riding a bike?

It’s a tough one really, as without being there already or without that many people doing it, you don’t necessarily know what to do or how to get there. However, personally I’m going to always stick to what I know best and keep doing what I love doing. I’m never going to start doing something I don’t want to do or don’t like doing just to try and get to somewhere in life as then the whole enjoyment and fun aspect of it is taken away for a bit of brass. I love working with Canyon and doing 2/3 day shoots for new bikes, along with anything else that involves spending the day or more out filming with them. I’m also hoping to do some more of that with Fox and some of my other sponsors which would be awesome, and hopefully those will help me progress financially whilst also still finding that enjoyment in riding the bike at the same time.

Have you ever thought about utilizing your position to influence people or to use it to rad things with?

Yeah definitely, and sort of linking back to the previous question which I forgot to mention, but I do the odd bit of coaching here and there too to not only get out on the bike more and earn a little bit of cash, but also to meet new people and help others progress in the sport. There’s room for everyone in this sport and everyone deserves to be where they want to be with regards to their ability level, sometimes all it takes is one person pushing another person to get them to progress and improve their skills. I’ve seen some lads progress in such a short time by running a few sessions with them, and it gets me so hyped to see not only their progression but also their hype to of learned something new. I aim to one day be able to do coaching a bit more when I’ve got some more free time and really get out there, meet new people and get anyone who wants help with progression pushing their limits and learning new stuff.

Photo by Kieran Kenney

Is there anything you'd like to see change or are working on changing in the mtb world?

I’d love to see more people getting out riding with new people and everyone helping each other to progress. There seems to be a lot of hate in the sport in some areas and I feel like riding a specific bike brand can sometimes even separate people in the sport as some people don’t like some brands. I’d just love for everyone to be able to go out on a bike, get along with each other, all enjoy riding, digging trails, having bbq’s and having a good time. It’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.

Do you have any video or photo shoots you're particularly proud of or that had a backstory behind them?

I loved being part of Tahnée Seagrave’s signature ‘ TS10’ Fox riding kit shoot that she released back in October 2020. I’d always spoken to her boyfriend Kade online and spoken to Tahnee briefly too the odd few times. I’d also spoke to Vincent a few times too over on instagram, the marketing guy for Fox MTB. One day Tahnée dropped me a dm saying do you want to come be a part of my custom fox kit release shoot and I was so hyped! Fox had given Tahnée free roam to basically run the entire release of the kit and so to say she’d somehow come up with the idea to message me and get me involved was insane. I’m not sure wether it was through other people suggesting me to her, or she’d seen me over on instagram, but I’m still forever grateful for the opportunity and since then it has opened up a partnership with Fox and allowed me to sign a contract deal with them which is THE most insane thing i’ve ever been able to say I’ve done. Best shoot I’ve ever done hands down.

Words of wisdom to end on?

Be yourself. Don’t worry about what other people have to think about you as there will always be someone who looks up to you. And most importantly, get out there and ride your f**king bike! :)