Hannes Herrmann signs with Crewkerz

The German champion Hannes Hermann joins Crewkerz and rides the Freed while waiting for the high end bike of the French brand started by Christian Gugliotta.

We have met Hannes to talk about his training and the 2013 season.

Half of Europe is snow covered. In the home town of Hannes Herrmann they have up to 50cm snow and about -10 Degrees – not the best conditions to prepare for the early start of the 2013 trial season. Snow Trial is not that what they call at the World Cup circus, although Hannes’ coach and six times world champion Marco Hösel showed us how to do in his new video “White Balance” (https://vimeo.com/54533713). The Solution for the problem is to go to the southern end of Europe to do some dry and clean trials riding. So together with his minder Sebastian Klipper he went to La Gomera at the Canaries to have some fun on two wheels!

TrialInside: Hannes, how do you prepare for the season, if there is snow all over in your home town?

Hannes: Well, that’s not easy at all. Everything is different if you are riding at this temperatures. The brakes won’t work like you are used to. The tires have no grip and last but not least your body is more an ice cube than anything else. But I’m happy to have the city of Stollberg which started to support me with a little indoor training spot. At the first it was meant as a training location for me, but thanks to Crewkerz we now have a testbike there to make it possible for interested kids and mountain bike riders to take a little trials test ride. The first new trials addicted is the result of just the first days of this project.

TrialInside: So you were heading south to train in more comfortable conditions.

Hannes: Yes! This was the first Training Camp of this winter. The goal was to have some fun on the mountain bike and to do some basic fitness training. But the isle is perfect for trials as well: volcanos are made of rocks!

TrialInside: So this will not be your last trip south?

Hannes: No. I will go again for a training camp in March together with Kenny to go to push the limit like last year!

TrialInside: So you and Kenny are some kind of a training team?

Hannes: Kenny is a champion! He is a real fighter! Look at this crazy World Cup in Aalter where he rode with a broken wrist to show his home town how emotional trials can be – that was amazing! I can learn a lot from him. But it is not just a one-way road. Our styles are different so that we can learn from each other. Kenny has such a fluent style of riding and I am one of the new school riders with very progressive and powerful riding techniques. This makes us the perfect training duo! I show Kenny how to hammer up on 1,40 with a powerful half pedal and then he shows me how to do it with style (laughing). So we both improve our spectrum of techniques. It helps in competitions to be more flexible.

TrialInside: So the key to succeed in competitions is to find the solution that fits best for every situation?

Hannes: Exactly! This is the biggest part of the strength of Gilles. He has a very big repertoire of techniques and he is very flexible in his mind to find the best solution for the biggest difficulty of every section. We all have to do our best to close the gap between him and the rest.

TrialInside: So at the moment he is out of reach for his competitors?

Hannes: Last year he was. He will be the dominant rider for 2013. But there is a bunch of very talented and motivated riders after him.

TrialInside: As runner up European Champion you are one of this riders right behind Gilles.

Hannes: The 2nd place at the Europeans was a big success for me. But it is as I said before: we all have to train very hard to close that gap to the top!

TrialInside: How about your bike sponsor for 2013? There rumors that you will go Crewkerz are over now. What can you tell us about your new sponsor?

Hannes: I know Christian Gugliotta and I know how innovative and professional he works ever since my cooperation with Atomz. He has some great ideas to push the technical limits of trials bikes. I’m convinced there will be a very competitive pro model besides the first Crewkerz model Freed. I trust Christians skills in building bikes. I don’t have to see the bike. I know it will be perfect and I want to ride it!

TrialInside: You and your minder Sebastian took some nice Pictures of your training trip to La Gomera.

Hannes: Yes we did! They were meant to say thank you to all my sponsors for their support during the last season. Without them I wouldn’t be able to finance all the trips to the competitions all across Europe. So it is good to know that you have partners which stand behind you. So we made a little series of pictures for every sponsor and published them on Facebook and other web sites.

I would like to use this interview to give a special thanks to my minder and good friend Sebastian. He supported me the whole season at all the big comps and also beside!