Interview: Gracey Hemstreet - The First Ever Woman to Complete a Full Run at Red Bull Hardline

Gracey Hemstreet is the 19-year-old from the Sunshine Coast on British Columbia who just made history as the first woman to ever complete a top to bottom run at the infamous Red Bull Hardline event.

Hemstreet's father is one of the founders of the Coast Gravity Park and so she grew up chasing the likes of Curtis Robinson, Dylan Dunkerton, Brendan Howey, and Brandon Semenuk on the monster jumps of Coastal Cruise before bursting onto the international downhill scene in 2021. She came 5th in her first-ever World Cup race in the Junior category and followed that up with a third place at World Championships in Val di Sole. In her second year as a junior, after signing for Norco Factory Racing and Red Bull, Hemstreet won the overall World Cup title.

We chatted about what her process was like to make it through the Red Bull Hardline course and tick off one massive feature after another, what her goal was coming into the event, whether we'll see her at Red Bull Hardline Wales one of these days, what it's been like having Greg Minnaar join Norco Factory Racing, and what her goals are heading into her second year of downhill racing in the Elite category.

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Sarah: What's the reception been like from people at home so far about your win? Or do you consider it a win when you didn't have a dedicated women's category?

Gracey: I look at it as, I don't know, completing it. Yeah, we made it. Pretty much every person I've seen has said congratulations. So, that's pretty great. I live in a very small town, so I pretty much know everybody.

Sarah: Everybody knows who you are and they know about Red Bull Hardline. That's pretty cool to live in a place like that where you are known and people know what happened over the weekend. And you've also had mainstream media that have been interested, like the CBC.

Gracey: Oh yeah, that was funny. I didn't even realize that it was live. There was a countdown, they're like, hey Gracey, are you ready? I was like, wait, what? It was funny, but yeah, it was fun.

Sarah: It's pretty cool to see when mountain biking gets that widespread coverage from everybody in your town and the CBC's calling you. Has there ever been anything in your career like this? You came third in world championships your first year junior, was there any kind of reception like this or is this like the biggest thing that you've accomplished so far?

Gracey: I'd say this is one of the biggest things I've definitely accomplished. Yeah, I'd say this is it. I'm so excited to be back.



Sarah: So far, but you're only 19, right? So you've got many more to come, I'm sure. You weren't actually on the initial rider list for Hardline in Tasmania, right? When did you when did you actually receive the invite?

Gracey: No, I wasn't. I inquired to my Red Bull manager, Gracie, that I was interested, like a month prior, which was probably too late. My goal was to go there and do a full run. And she's like, okay, yeah, I'll check it out. I'll see what's going on. And then like a week and a half later, she called me. She's like, dude, you're in. And I was like oh my god, no way. Yeah, that was pretty sweet.

Sarah: Wow. Yeah, the initial rider list I think went out like several months before the event. Most riders have been preparing for this for quite a while, right?

Gracey: Oh yeah.Yeah, I was a bit off the back on that one, but it ended up going good.

Sarah: But there ended up being a space for you. I think there were a couple people who were in front of you on the line, maybe like Vali Holl and Casey Brown were on the initial invite list, but they didn't come. Is that what freed up a spot for you to go?

Gracey: Yeah, Casey got injured so she couldn't go. And then I think Vali just decided not to. And then I guess I got one of their spots, so it's cool.

Sarah: Some people are being invited and not wanting to go like Vali and then you're kind of the opposite. You're like, "hey, I haven't been invited, but this is something that I'd really like to do." Talk me through that, where is your brain at that you're like, this event is the hardest in the world, but I want to go before my World Cup season.

Gracey: Yeah, before the World Cup season, that was a bit iffy for me, but yeah, I just kind of tried to play it safe. But it seemed like the last couple of years, Jess [Blewitt], she's been super sick, pioneering everything. Basically, I just wanted to go and be maybe the first women to do a full run ever. That was my goal or whatever. I didn't actually think it would happen.

Sarah: So that was in the back of your mind though that you were like, hey I could be the first woman to do a top to bottom run. And you accomplished your goal.

Gracey: Yeah. That's what happened. I know. I know. It was crazy. I was like, no, f***ing way. Yeah. Awesome.

Sarah: Do you know Jess Blewitt pretty well or did you follow her when she went to Hardline in Wales?

Gracey: Well, I just was like watching Pinkbike, Instagram, all that stuff. I don't really know her too well, but yeah, hopefully we'll become better friends in the next season.

Sarah: Yeah, now that you're both racing in the same category and obviously both like big jumps and gnarly downhill courses. So, a month before the event, you get all your logistics done. What else went into preparing for this event?

Gracey: To be honest, I didn't do much. I pretty much booked my flight. It was my first time on my downhill bike in like a month too. And I was on new brakes because we're on TRP this year and I didn't run them before the event. So that was kind of gnarly. And then we switched to Fox this year so the suspension was pretty new to me as well. But I really like all the components on the bike and stuff, so it worked out good.




Sarah: Did you do a couple days of riding before when you got there? Or did you kind of show up, track walk, and then get on your new bike at Hardline?

Gracey: Yeah, me and my dad we went like a week early just to vacation or whatever, just hanging around in Hobart. We track walked like a couple days before the actual track walk. We hiked all the way to the top from the bottom. That was a mission. So yeah, we walked it then and I was like, oh geez, it's massive, especially the last jumps. But yeah, it seems when you get on your bike, it's way easier.

Sarah: Right? It's sometimes actually impossible to walk a course.

Gracey: Oh, it's way more intimidating. You're like, no way. Like even like Val the Sol, like the World Cup track, you're like, I can't even walk down this, how are we supposed to ride?

Sarah: Yeah, one of the only courses that I've walked up and down is the Mont-Sainte-Anne one and you've got the Stevie Smith drop that you have to go around. With Hardline, was there stuff like that that you were kind of walking around and scoping from different angles?

Gracey: Oh yeah. You gotta go around, especially with the cliff drop and all the cliff drop was terrifying. That was definitely the scariest feature, I think, for me. It was one of the last ones I hit too. I was watching people hit it, it didn't make you feel better about doing it at all.

Sarah: The cliff drop was the one that you needed pretty slow speed to do.

Gracey: Yeah, it was like the more technical, like you're turning into it and then it's a downhill ramp. That's the one before the log jump. Yeah, that one.




Sarah: The log jump where you exploded your rear wheel. So you'd just done the scariest feature, the cliff drop at that point, and then got into the lo feature. Were you nervous about that log feature?

Gracey: Yeah, I was, definitely. Those two were definitely the scariest ones. My first hit, I was following Tommy G and Adam [Brayton] and I hit the first little rock thing for the first time before the drop and then I hit the drop and then I was like, okay, screw it, I'm just going to go for the jump now because I landed both those. Apparently you need to brake, and I didn't brake, and then I pulled up too, so I way overshot it and then landed on rocks.

Sarah: Yeah, they didn't make the track quite wide enough for you! But after that, you dusted yourself off. It looked like it was quite a painful fall, you probably didn't feel that great after it.

Gracey: Yeah, it was weird. I crashed and I was like, oh my God, how am I okay right now? I had a couple bruises, but that was it. I was pretty keen to do it again. I would have went up and did it again if my bike wasn't broken, but the next day I conquered it first go.

Sarah: Was that on the first day that you kind of ticked off those features?

Gracey: That was a second day.

Sarah: So first day, how did you go through the different features? You did the track walk, were you staying together with all the riders or were you riding with the women? How did that kind of work out?

Gracey: Yeah the first day, me and the girls, we checked off like half the track and we were all behind the boys. They literally just sent everything first go. It was pretty crazy how they can just do that. We were just doing it all together. It was super fun. It was definitely my first experience doing that kind of thing. It was fun. Some of the guys hung back and we could follow them into some of the bigger drops at the top. It was super fun.




Sarah: You had three freeriders, Hannah Bergemann, Cami Nogueira, and Harriet Burbidge-Smith, and then you had the racers, you, Lou Ferguson and Tahnee Seagrave. How did you look at things differently or were you kind of pulling each other into different things? How did you kind of work together on around the course?

Gracey: Cami was definitely the one that hit most of the features first. She sends it. It's sick. We kind of just all looked at it together and we all chatted about every feature and what we feeling about it, what kind of speed, if we're going to pull. It was super cool to work with those girls. We all kind of think the same. So that's good.

Sarah: Had you ridden with any of them before?

Gracey: Not really. I've ridden with Hannah at her jump event once.

Sarah: Is it different following people into these features? For me, I don't do anything close to this big, but I need to trust the rider who rides similar to me in order to go off things that intimidate me. Did you have that in the back of your mind? Would you rather follow somebody off stuff? Did you want to know the person that you were following off a drop? Or were you just like, okay this person's got it, I'm gonna follow them next time.

Gracey: Yeah, I followed multiple different guys off pretty much every feature. But yeah, never the same. I followed Sam [Blenkinsop] off some things and Baxter [Maiwald] and yeah, Tommy G. Whoever was there, I was like, can I follow you? It worked out good.

Sarah: You didn't have any close calls following people?

Gracey: Following Sam off these like double drop to the corner that all the boys were schralping. The one into the corner, I overshot and basically landed in the corner. Sam was a little bit fast, but yeah. Yeah.

Sarah: Did he also overshoot it?

Gracey: I don't even know. I thought you had to pull up, but you had to push down. So I didn't do it very good, but next time I got it.




Sarah: What was it like to hit all these things for the first time? Was it like exhilarating or scary?

Gracey: Oh my god, it's so exhilarating. It's like the sickest feeling. Like you're scared of it, and then you're like, okay, that's it, I'm just gonna go. And then, you do it, land it, and you're like, okay, I wanna do it again.

Sarah: Day two at the end of the day, was that when you hit that last jump, the biggest jump? Were you worried at all about the wind?

Gracey: Yeah. Not really. After hitting everything else, like the cliff jump and all that, I wasn't too scared about hitting the last few jumps because I'm more used to that kind of stuff from Coast Gravity Park and it's just so high speed. I feel more confident hitting big, fast straight jumps.

Sarah: Somebody was kind of breaking the course up into three parts, because there was like three different kinds of geology and dirt and technical parts throughout the course. Did you feel like it was almost three separate parts that you were tackling?

Gracey: Yeah, definitely. Like the first section ended right after that log jump. And then there was the motorway bit, the whole middle section was so fast and just no brakes and super fun. Then the loose, dusty berms just before the end section with the container drop and all that.

Sarah: Were you death gripping the final jump?

Gracey: Oh my God, yeah. In my race run, before the container drop, there's a little step down into a berm, and then another little step down. But in the first little one, I almost blew my hands off. I was like, oh my God, how am I supposed to land this container drop? I literally couldn't feel my hands. They were numb.

Off the container drop, I thought I was crashing. And after, I got a clip from a video guy from the last jump. My hands like rolled forward and it was literally like my fingertips on the bars.

Sarah: Wow, so because of the impact of landing something that big, you kind of need to death grip because you need all of your hand strength?

Gracey: Yeah. I feel like my hand grip isn't like the best, but it's not like the worst. It's just really, really hard to hold on.




Sarah: Had you ever experienced anything like that on any jumps that you've done before?

Gracey: No, no, not jumps. Like, Val di Sole and like, most of the World Cup tracks, your hands feel like that on the bottom, but you're not really hitting any big stuff that's like, oh, am I gong to be able to hold on when I land?

Sarah: What about your neck where you sore from like the...

Gracey: Oh, I definitely had some big head slaps for sure. But my neck held on.

Sarah: Did you spend a lot of time in the gym this winter?

Gracey: Yeah, I'm definitely hitting it hard right now.

Sarah: Have you been able to ride throughout the winter on the Sunshine Coast or have you had some snow?

Gracey: Yeah, actually, I'm about to go ride after this. I guess I'm going to go check out where the snow is. I think we're going to try and do some downhill laps today. There was snow at the Gravity Park a couple days ago, but I'm pretty sure it's all gone now because it's been sunny.

Sarah: Is that where you do most of your training for the World Cup season is at the Coast Gravity Park?

Gracey: Actually in Roberts Creek, Forrest Riesco, he races World Cups as well, he's from the coast and he's built some pretty sick trails in Roberts Creek that end of Gibson's. It's a long lap, but it's worth it. That's pretty sick.

Sarah: It gets that hand strength. When you were looking at all those features, are you the kind of writer that likes to kind of look at everything from each angle and see some people hit it? Or are you kind of like, let's get this over with quickly and move on to the next feature.

Gracey: Most features I'm just like, I watch the guys and I'm like, hey, I'm going. I don't really like to think about it too much. I basically just hit it right away.




Sarah: Then the next time you do it, is it less intimidating or is it just as hard the second time to go through these things?

Gracey: I don't know. It's kind of just as scary sometimes, but I'm like, okay, I've landed this before. I like, I can do it. So just go.

Sarah: I can do it again. Yeah. And then you won the Rider of the Week award. That's voted on by all of the riders that are there? What did that feel like that you got that?

Gracey: Yeah, that was pretty cool. I wasn't expecting it to be honest. I didn't even know that there was a vote, no one texted me that there was a vote or I missed it or something. I felt bad. But yeah, super fortunate to get that. That was cool.

Sarah: There was no women's category, right? You girls were kind of lumped in with all the men.

Gracey: Yeah, I guess so. I was kind of confused about that, but I guess it made sense because they didn't know if the girls would even compete. Yeah.

Sarah: Right, yeah, because it was kind of like a progression camp. They were hoping that somebody would do a top to bottom run, but maybe not anticipating that it would happen.

Gracey: Yeah, so hopefully the next one there will be a girls category. That'll be cool.

Sarah: There was a lot of prize money for the overall winner. You're like, I could have had some of that.

Gracey: I know. It's all good.

Sarah: You weren't actually planning on going to Tasmania before the event, right? You were like, okay, I'm in, I'm going. And then your dad came with you and did he kind of like help you look at lines? Because he's the main builder at the Coast Gravity Park right? I imagine he's like a really good rider as well.

Gracey: Nah, he doesn't actually ride himself. Well, he like rode Moto a lot when he grew up. He still does, but yeah, he likes more moto.

Sarah: But he was able to kind of look at the features with you the first time?

Gracey: Yeah, he knows that stuff. He's kind of smart with that kind of stuff. He's definitely a good person to track walk with.

Sarah: So you kind of had a pre-track walk and then you did the track walk with the with the other women and the rest of the field. It sounded like Matt Jones was pretty worried that you were going to beat him.

Gracey: Yeah apparently, it was so funny. I watched Wyn's WynTV. It was hilarious. I don't know how much time it was. I think it was like 5 seconds. I don't even know. Yeah, almost.

Sarah: It was very close. And you said that you didn't push as hard as you would in kind of a downhill race in between the features, right?

Gracey: No, I could have been going faster, but I just wanted to make it down.

Sarah: Yeah, and do a top to bottom run. It was pretty cool to watch you go under that arch on the broadcast, it was like watching history being made. You were the first woman to ever do the entire course. I was almost choked up watching this happen.

Gracey: Yeah. I know, I got goosebumps. In the moment I was like, okay, that was sick. But then after it kind of kicked in, I was like, okay, that was actually really cool.

Sarah: Then were you able to watch Lou Ferguson's run from the bottom of the hill?

Gracey: I wasn't looking at the screen, but I watched it after. I just heard the commentator and I was like, oh no. When she did the front flip I was like, oh sh*t. But yeah, she was sending it.

Sarah: I think she said she'd only had like one crash before that. She saved them all for her final turn.

Gracey: It was insane. I guess, unfortunately.

Sarah: Did you have other crashes? Like throughout the practice days?

Gracey: I only had that one when my wheel exploded and then the morning of the finals day, I crashed twice in the same spot both runs. Just because it rained that previous night and morning so it was like super clayey and muddy. I just kept overshooting this jump into a berm and then just kept biffing it in the berm. Thankfully it was like way drier in finals run.

Sarah: Do you think a lot of the other women, they only had that last jump left to tick off, they would have been able to do the entire run and been able to be on the live feed?.

Gracey: Oh, totally. Yeah, the wind was just so hectic. I wasn't like certain that I was gonna hit like the last jump in my final jump because the wind was so bad that day. I literally pulled as hard as I could. Didn't look very good, but I made it over the jump.

Sarah: That's what counts, right? There were six of you, two of you were able to do the finals run, but it sounds like if there'd been just a little bit more time, they would have been able to hit that last jump, do you think?

Gracey: Yeah, I think so. They literally just needed to hit the last jump. It was so annoying. The wind was annoying. But yeah, if we had more time, they definitely would have checked it off for sure.

Sarah: That's what the rule was kind of coming into it, right. If you do a full top to bottom run, then you can do a race run?

Gracey: Yeah, they told us all that the second day. Then I went up and did a top to bottom run and then no other girl had done it yet. They were just waiting until the next day, but the wind got so bad. I didn't even do the last jump again before the finals run because it was so gnarly.




Sarah: So you did it early enough in the week that then you didn't have to do it when the conditions were not as good.

Gracey: Yeah, so I was pretty lucky with that one. But yeah, that sucked. I was really sad for them.

Sarah: We got Tahnee Seagrave on the Red Bull broadcast at least, which was nice.

Gracey: Yeah, she's super good at commentating. It would have been better if she was riding for sure. Oh well, next time.

Sarah: Totally. Had you ridden features that were that big before, or was there anything comparable to things that you had ridden before, or was this totally all kind of bigger and newer than anything you'd done before?

Gracey: I'd say it's probably the biggest features I've ever hit. The biggest jump at the Gravity Park is like I don't even know, 40 feet or something. I might be totally wrong on that one, but yeah, these are definitely the biggest ones for sure.

Sarah: It felt almost like they were twice as big then. YHow does it compare to racing World Cups? You have a year and a half of racing juniors and then a year racing as an elite, how does it compare to the buildup to the race? I sounds like you have a bit more time, but then also kind of how hectic the finals run is as well.

Gracey: Yeah, I honestly I liked it. The vibe was so much better than World Cups. At World Cups, you're keeping to yourself and I don't practice with anyone. You don't usually practice with your competitors because you're out there to win and you don't want to really help anyone else, but at Hardline it was insane. We literally worked together. We talked about it, eating breakfast, eating dinner. It was super sweet.

Sarah: I guess probably a lot of teams have like multiple guys on the team and so they probably share more with each other, but often if you're a woman on a factory team, you're the only woman. So you're kind of doing all that stuff in a bit of a bubble, right?

Gracey: Definitely, yeah. And like Tahnee, she was saying how she has Phoebe on the team and she loves having another girl because they can talk with each other and it reminded her of Hardline because it's kind of the same thing.

Sarah: So you're looking for another woman to join Norco Factory Racing. And you've got Greg Menard as a teammate now. Have you talked to him at all yet?

Gracey: Yeah, that's pretty sweet. We've had a few meetings on Zoom and stuff, but yeah, he's insane. I'm super excited to learn from him and just get to know him better. We're having a team camp pretty soon in Portugal, so that should be super fun.

Sarah: To get up to speed on your bike that you've already tested at Hardline now? Some riders are talking about, you know, adding a PSI to their tires or that kind of thing for Hardline. Did you run your bike like you would at a World Cup?

Gracey: It was actually quite a bit stiffer. Like my fork was 8 PSI stiffer. The tires were stiffer as well.

Sarah: Did you have a mechanic that went there with you?

Gracey: Yeah, I did, thank goodness. I wasn't going to and then I did. I'm glad I did because I definitely had some technical issues.

Sarah: Yeah, and you were riding brand new components that you didn't know as well. Is that the mechanic that's going to be working with you throughout the World Cup season or?

Gracey: Not that one. His name is Nick. He's from the Norco North Shore store in Vancouver. But I have a new mechanic this year. His name is Brett. He's from Squamish. I'm excited. He seems like a rad dude, so I'm excited.

Sarah: Oh cool, from Corsa Cycles. Very cool. And what does your calendar look like this year? You're doing the World Cup circuit, are you doing any kind of Crankworx stops or Canadian races? Are you going to do Hardline Wales?

Gracey: Yeah, I'm doing the whole World Cup circuit and maybe Crankworx Whistler. I think that's it. But yeah, we'll see how my season's going.

Sarah: Are you thinking of doing Red Bull Hardline Wales? [Ed: It's June 1-2, 2024, Fort William is May 3-5, 2024.]

Gracey: It's like mid-season. So, yeah, I don't know. It's kind of a gnarly date for it. We'll see how it's going. I don't want to really break myself mid-season. Not saying that would happen, but I don't know, it's just me.

Sarah: It sounds like you've probably got an invite this time around. Do you think kind of racing Hardline has helped for your mental game coming into the first World Cup of the year?

Gracey: Not really my mental game... Maybe if there are bigger hits on the tracks, I'll just feel more confident doing them and just checking them off right away. But, yeah, I feel good on the bike and I'm excited.

Sarah: It kind of helps you with being able to get to a feature and kind of tick it off more quickly, maybe, which makes it easier to get the track down more quickly if you can spend less time looking at features and just go and ride them.

Gracey: Totally. Even like the speed I was like going - the speed at Hardline is so fast. Maybe I'll use less brakes at the World Cups now, we'll see.

Sarah: So you'll be racing World Cups, Crankworx Whistler, and maybe Hardline in Wales. What do you think of that course? Do you think it looks more intimidating or kind of similar?

Gracey: I've walked it before when I went to a Red Bull camp in Wales. When I walked it, I think it was like two years ago now, I was like, yeah, I'm never riding this in my life. But now I don't know, I've hit the Tasmania track, my mind has changed a bit. I find it more intimidating for sure, I think, just because it's always wet and slick. The dirt, it's like chunky rocks, it's not even really dirt. I don't know. It's intimidating for sure.

Sarah: But maybe a little bit more achievable now that you've ticked off Tasmania.

Gracey: Yeah, I'm definitely feeling more confident if I were to go there. But yeah, we'll see what happens.

Sarah: There aer bigger jumps on the end of that track, I think, as well, that they added, right?

Gracey: Yeah, they're like a hundred feet or something. They're pretty sizeable.

Sarah: Yeah, I think I read like 86 feet or something was what they added in 2022. They're pretty big. Have you ever thought of doing the Fest series events? Would you like to go and like do those kinds of events as well?

Gracey: Yeah, I'd be super keen to go to those as well. Maybe I'll go to the Fest Series next year. We'll see. Racing is my priority, so we'll see.

Sarah: Do you have a couple more years with Norco?

Gracey: Yeah, I have a few more years with Norco.

Sarah: With your new teammate, Greg Minnaar, and then Lucas who was there last year as well. Are there pretty good team vibes and feelings that you've got with the Norco crew?

Gracey: Definitely. Yeah, this year it's like kind of revamped and there's so many things going on. It's super. Yeah, I'm hyped. It'll be really good.

Sarah: It sounds like you've got kind of the engineering team as well backing you.

Gracey: Oh yeah, they're insane. And Kirk McDowell, he helps engineer the bike, he was the test pilot or whatever for it, and he'll be racing this year, all the World Cups. So yeah, he'll be there.

Sarah: So he'll be there if you have any tech questions as well. Yeah, so he's an engineer and he also is going to race the World Cups, which is pretty cool.

Gracey: Yeah, yeah. And I think like the rest like Colin and Adrian and I think the rest of them will come to most of the World Cups too. So yeah, it'll be good.

Sarah: Last year you were seventh overall. And the year before in junior, you won the overall. What were your kind of thoughts coming into that first year elite? Did you think that you could kind of hit the podium or what were you hoping coming into last season?

Gracey: Yeah, coming the last season I definitely wanted to go to top five and hopefully top five overall. That didn't happen but I think this year it's definitely achievable. The progression of the women's side is insane though. It's like tripled in the past three years, I swear. But it's super cool. I'm excited to get going and see where I land.

Sarah: Last season, do you think you had the speed and were making mistakes? Or was it just like there were people who are faster than you and you had good runs? Do you think you could have hit the podium one day? Were you satisfied?

Gracey: I wasn't satisfied really at any point if I'm being honest. But yeah, mid-season at Nationals in Fernie, I had a pretty bad crash. I didn't break anything, but my back and neck were a bit iffy. I was pretty sore for lie the rest of the season. So that kind of sucked. I think I was running at like 70% for the second half of the season, if that. So it wasn't ideal.

Val Di Sole was doing good and then I went over the bars, which sucked. I think I would have got second, but it would have been close between me and Vali. That's a sore spot for me. This year, I'll get some redemption.




Sarah: Yeah, first race of the season. Do you find it takes you a couple races before you start feeling like you've got the race speed or are you ready right off the start?

Gracey: I feel like I'm kind of ready to go when we start. Like last year, my first elite World Cup ever, I got sixth, which I don't know, I wasn't mad with. I was pretty stoked. I was like, okay, I'm pretty close. I'm going to go. But it never came. But this year for sure. I'll get on there at some point. Hopefully.

Sarah: Yeah, so that's kind of the goal is to get a World Cup podium this year and then going to Hardline or doing freeride events would be secondary. It almost seemed like you could have had a freeride career before getting into racing. You still could have a freeride career. Do you ever kind of like think of being a free racer?

Gracey: I know, doing both is hard, but before I started racing, I was like, oh yeah, freeriding - that's what I want to do. But then I did some Crankworx events when I was like 11 and I was like okay, racing's actually super sick. So yeah, I don't know. I'm super interested in both, but definitely my priority is racing for now.

Sarah: You've done Crankworx Whip Off and you've definitely got some style.

Gracey: Yeah, that one's a fun one. I've only been in one Whip Off so far, but I'm excited to go do more.

Sarah: Nice, yeah, the last Whip Off contest you did, that's when you got presented with your Red Bull helmet, right?

Gracey: Yeah, that was like the best day ever. It was a super cool day.

Sarah: You got third in Whip Off, you got presented with your Red Bull helmet, and it was a beautiful day and I'm sure it was lots of fun to hit all those jumps with friends. Do you feel any more pressure having that Red Bull helmet, or is it just added support. What does that do?




Gracey: I don't think it's added pressure. It's honestly just more support. Like with my training, I have Damien and Gracie my Red Bull manager. Yeah, they're awesome people. It's just great support.

Sarah: So they kind of help you with your physical training in the gym and that kind of thing?

Gracey: Yeah, I got all my programming from Damien Moroney and yeah, he's a super rad dude, so it's cool. It's really good to work with him.

Sarah: Throughout the winter, you've been riding your bike, you've been going to the gym, it's your full focus now that you're done school, right? I was talking to Vali and she said she's doing coursework here and there, is that something that you're interested in, or are you kind of done with school for now?

Gracey: I'm kind of done with it for now, but maybe in the future, maybe even next year. My mom's a paramedic, so I kind of wanted to take, I don't even know the name of it right now, but my schooling to maybe work in first responders. That could be cool. Or maybe get my air brakes to drive a dump truck for my dad or something.

Sarah: It sounds like your family's pretty supportive of your racing career. And you have a couple siblings as well, do they both ride?

Gracey: My brother, I got him a bike for Christmas. He's finally back on a bike now. He's actually really good at it, but he doesn't like the racing.

Sarah: He's like, Gracey's faster than me, why would I ever race again, right? What do you think it would take to kind of get more women into events like Red Bull Hardline and to do full top to bottom runs? How do we see more progression?

Gracey: Maybe, I might be faster than him. I don't know. I think now that girls know it can be done, I think it definitely gives them a bigger range of goals maybe. It's just so fun. I don't know why I wouldn't do it. It's sick.

Sarah: You just grew up riding really big jumps and so you're comfortable on them. Do you think there are other girls coming up that are in the same boat where they're just super comfortable on those big features? Do you think it's just riding them a lot or having more events or... how did you get so good?

Gracey: I don't know. I basically, I just grew up at the Gravity Park and I rode with like all the boys like Curtis and Dylan and Brandon and Howey and R-Dog. I just follow the boys down the jump trail. It's like my whole childhood.




Sarah: It's a pretty unique learning experience. Most people probably won't be able to replicate your learning curve here if they wanna take notes..

Gracey: Just laps on laps. Party laps. That's how I learned to jump. But yeah, just having fun. Not really putting any pressure on yourself, but working hard and having fun.

Sarah: But you do like that competitive part of racing as well, you're a pretty competitive person. First race is coming right up. What's your calendar look like between now and then?

Gracey: I'm going to Portugal on the 21st of March. Until then I'm home in the gym every day and hopefully riding if the snow doesn't come back. Fingers crossed for that one. But yeah, basically just training and waiting until Portugal.

Sarah: After Portugal, do you come home for a bit or you're going to stay in Europe?

Gracey: We're there just over a week and then I come home and then we go to Scotland pretty shortly after that, I believe. It's coming up soon. I'm stoked.

Sarah: Awesome. Well, best of luck with your season and you know, it seems like you've got up to speed on your Fox suspension, so I can't wait to see what you can do on that bike once you've got your test camp under the way. Looking forward to catching up sometime this summer and hopefully you can finally get that World Cup Elite podium.

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Interviews Podcasts The Pinkbike Podcast Gracey Hemstreet Hardline Hardline 2024 Pb Women