Team WTB/Fox/Santa Cruz

Described as a well-rounded rider who specializes in suffering, Mark Weir, 36, has remained a successful and dominant force in downhill and endurance racing throughout his career. In short, the Novato, California native believes in hard work and fair play without compromise—values he will undoubtedly pass along to the newest addition to the Weir household, son, Gustin ‘Gus’ Bradley Weir, born earlier this summer. In terms of mountain biking, having these values means developing the skills, fitness, and technologies necessary to compete against the world’s best mountain bikers under any condition or circumstance.

Weir’s comprehensive training program is a prime example. It involves a healthy diet of organic foods, strong coffee, an occasional frosty beverage or two, along with a brutal riding regimen and what some might consider an abusive amount of core strength training. Weir uses everything from the living room floor to his pump track and slack-line to improve his balance and body control. He also added RC off-road racing as a tool to increase mental focus, picking up new sponsor Traxxas RC Company along the way. He explained that when the body is worked, you can always train the mind. Add a little luck, and Weir significantly limits his time on the ground and any resulting injuries.

Combining training and riding with friends between races means that most of Weir’s friends also get the benefit of his program. They can often be found assaulting the trails of Marin County, some of which he built into a pump track-style downhill course on a nearby privately owned ranch. With an average lap of 13 minutes, the course combines a 600-foot climb with 50 mile-an-hour descents down cow-laden trails lined with oak trees and hairpin turns along the rockiest, roughest terrain any seasoned mountain biker could hope for. The course also provides Weir and friends with the perfect testing ground for the latest WTB products.

In addition to his demanding schedule of product testing, training, and competing locally as well as abroad, Weir actively supports the next generation of mountain bikers, who often find themselves displaced by the lack of multi-use trails on open space land. As a result, Weir has found himself in the center of a local community discussion to consider a privately funded, public pump track where kids can hone their riding skills in a safe and controlled environment. In the meantime, the kids make their way to the Weir’s backyard pump track, where they get hands-on instruction and skills training straight from Mark.

If it sounds like Weir’s softening his competitive edge or aggressive behavior, think again. This year alone, Weir dominated in a handful of local XC and downhill races, taking first place in the downhill competition at the Ashland Spring Thaw and third in the event’s XC race. He placed first in the Friends of Tamarancho Invitational in Fairfax, second at Skyline Park in Napa, and seventh in the Napa Valley Dirt Classic. He also took home four CCCX DH wins, and competed in the Petaluma Team Time Trial road race, as well as local crits.

Not-so-locally, Weir competed in the Trophy of Nations, where he placed fourth overall and second as part of Team USA 1 with Brian Lopes and Jason Moeschler in the enduro downhill race held in Vars, France. The last race culminated with a mass start that involved a 30-yard sprint across open field to the bottlenecked trail head and descending single track.

He also traveled in February to Mt. Kenya, Africa to join 10 of the world’s elite mountain bikers in an ultra endurance downhill race. In this event, the only way to inspect the course was to hike-a-bike from 7,000 ft. up to the 16,000 ft. peak through rugged terrain in varying uncomfortable temperatures.

Even though the race brought awareness as well as 10,000 Euros to develop a water system in the Massai country, the worthy cause proved to be an intense test of both emotional and physical strength as the athletes struggled to acclimate to the altitude, culture, and severe climate. Weir’s special brand of suffering came into play when he had to complete the race on a borrowed bike, since his Santa Cruz Nomad never made it off the plane.

Despite the challenges and suffer fests, Weir continues to be inspired by the people he meets and competes against as well as the amazing places mountain biking takes him. In addition to getting paid to do what he loves, his greatest motivation has remained almost the same over the years—racing back to wife, Suzie, and now Gus too.