GETTING TO KNOW vaea verbeeck
I am a lover of all things outdoors, spend my time exploring and appreciating surroundings, and love to push myself on bikes! I grew up in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, and later moved to coastal British Columbia once my studies were completed.
When did you discover the joy of bikes?
I was 17 when I first hopped on a mountain bike! As a kid I loved biking around and hitting cheese wedges at the end of our street, but there was probably a solid 6 or 7 years of not touching a bike before I met friends that rode downhill bikes and got me into it at the local bike park in Bromont.
At the time who was your inspo?
All my friends would play on repeat was the Earthed bike movies by Alex Rankin, and the Iron Horse world cup team would base out of Bromont during summer, so it was hard not to be a big fan of Sam Hill.
Tell us about your transition from DH to freeride
Basically I dabbled in Crankworx dh events in between world cup stops. And eventually did the full move to learn new disciplines line slalom, pumptrack learn tricks, and even whip off on larger jumps.
That learning process was super fun and quickly rewarding, and I just never stopped learning new things, even beyond Crankworx disciplines. I got invited to the first RedBull Formation in Utah and just kept experiencing new styles of riding.
Then loved going to new places, ride challenging and scary jump lines at freeride events, but mostly those were such fun experiences on and off the bike. I was back in the environment of just doing what we love with a bunch of friends. Back to what felt like my roots. So it just felt natural to keep showing up in these environments and keep the growth going.
A piece of advice for someone wanting to get into Freeride
Find your crew, the kind that makes you really excited to show up to ride and put in the reps, or mess around and try new things. Do it for the process, not the outcome. Be opened to trying new things, and if you're having fun, you're doing it right.
If you weren’t riding your bike for a living, what would you like to do?
I'd probably work in land conservation or promote eco-friendly advocacy. I try to do my share and use my platform to inspire others to love living an eco-friendly lifestyle.
Did you always want to compete?
From the moment I realised all my local friends would be out of town to head to the provincial races, I instantly wanted to join the road trips and visit new bike parks with the crew. The downhill racing culture was also alive and well. We would all gather at 6am to watch live world cup broadcasts happening in Europe over Freecaster. It was a fun time. Racing was social more than anything and I loved that racing era of my life! Thriving to race dh world cups was a no brainer.
Who inspires you now?
Overtime there's a ton of hyped that built up in the industry, and while it's fun and cool, I feel like people have lost the plot, haha. So I'm a huge fan of the people that listen to and follow their gut. They might not take the path everyone else is seeking, but they do what brings them the most joy and self fulfilment. Georgia Astle will always be the friend I am a huge fan of.
What’s your ideal weekend plan?
Probably loading up the car with the camping gear and bike, meet up with a crew to ride a different zone, and making lasting memories.
