Nina Hoffmann of the Santa Cruz Syndicate reasserted her dominance at Spherical 2 of the British Downhill Collection in Fort William. Piloting a brand new and up to date model of the V10 DH Bike, still-to-be-released, Nina took the win in type, placing nearly two seconds into the 2022 World Cup General Winner, Camille Balanche. The win rounded out a constant weekend for Hoffmann, who took P1 in Saturday’s seeding run, too.
Trying again to this time final 12 months, we recall Hoffmann’s win on the 2022 British Downhill Collection occasion in Fort William; that preceded her win on the World Cup DH Spherical in the identical location only a few weeks later. With Fort William set to host the World Championships this coming August, we will’t assist however suppose issues are trying promising for the German star. Will a brand new World Champion be topped on Aonach Mòr?
Hypothesis apart, we caught up with Nina herself, to seek out out issues have been going for her not too long ago, and what her ambitions are for the season forward.
We additionally met with Nina’s mechanic, Ethan Jones – not to take a look at her race bike, which stays off limits for now, however to take a look at the bike that Nina does fairly a couple of extra miles on. For a lot of her coaching, she heads out on her Santa Cruz Bronson CC; a 150mm journey bike devoted to a mixed-wheel configuration. That is an up to date mannequin of Santa Cruz’s do-it-all mountain bike, full with sag window on the non-drive facet and a Glove Field for the easy-access storage of snacks and path facet repair necessities.
Interview: Nina Hoffmann
Bikerumor: Congratulations on a convincing win on the British Downhill Collection in Fort William! An ideal begin to the season, one may say. How do you are feeling the weekend went?
Nina Hoffmann: It feels fairly fairly good! I like Fort William and I benefit from the observe rather a lot and that’s most likely why I can go quick. That was nearly an ideal begin into the season and I wanna preserve that momentum now going into the World Cups and onto Worlds!
Bikerumor: We noticed you juggling some rocks earlier than dropping into your seeding run. Are you able to inform us a bit extra about your heat up routine and the way you get your self in the precise head house earlier than a race run?
Nina Hoffmann: Haha, I like juggling – and taking part in some video games with my mechanic Ethan simply earlier than the beginning. Warms my mind up and will get me targeted. Some respiration workouts assist me as effectively to seek out optimum focus, particularly after I’m fairly nervous. And visualizing the observe is an efficient software as effectively!
Bikerumor: What’s your coaching appear to be within the run as much as the primary World Cup of the season in Lenzerheide?
Nina Hoffmann: Lots much less coaching now than within the winter as season is shut and also you don’t wanna get to drained. Sprints and intervals and light-weight health club exercises targeted on quick actions and coordination stuff after which a variety of bike time – both DH or path bike.
Bikerumor: Do you participate in another sports activities exterior of mountain biking, to complement your coaching maybe?
Nina Hoffmann: I simply began to like operating once more, participated in an XC race in my hometown currently haha. Additionally Motocross is sick and helps to get sooner on the DH bike.
Bikerumor: Congratulations on finishing your Masters Thesis this Spring. Can I ask, what was the subject, and may you inform us the way you juggled academia with life as an expert athlete?
Nina Hoffmann: My Thesis is about an audio hypnosis I developed that can assist you focus earlier than a DH race begin. We examined it with about 20 individuals and it confirmed nice outcomes! I prolonged my research rather a lot the final years, in order that made racing and college simple to deal with and I at all times labored solely within the winter on the research to focus a 100% on racing in the summertime.
Bikerumor: Are you able to inform us extra in regards to the audio hypnosis, and do you employ it your self?
Nina Hoffmann: So to the audio hypnosis – it accommodates a rest half firstly to get right into a hypnotic trance, then we visualize an optimum race day and join this sense to a private set off to elicit it later earlier than a race. I’m about to publish a paper about my work, then everybody can learn via it. And sure, I do hypnosis and meditation on my own.
Bikerumor: It’s no secret that your self and the broader Santa Cruz Syndicate race crew are on the subsequent era Santa Cruz V10. Did you play an element in its growth, and may you inform us a lot about that at this stage?
Nina Hoffmann: The event began already in 2021 after I wasn’t on the crew but. So Greg did the most important work for us haha. However we nonetheless accumulating suggestions on the prototype body now because it’s a able to race bike.
Bikerumor: As I’m positive you’re acutely conscious, Fort William will crown the 2023 World Champions this coming August. How are you feeling about it, having had such an incredible race run on the BDS?
Nina Hoffmann: Positively didn’t hurt my confidence! However you recognize, it’s nonetheless very long time to go till Worlds and rather a lot can occur. I’ll give my greatest that’s for positive, however there are various different quick ladies on the market.
Bikerumor: What are your total ambitions for this season?
Nina Hoffmann: Prime 3!
Professional Bike Examine: Nina Hoffmann’s Santa Cruz Bronson CC
The Santa Cruz Bronson is Nina’s go-to path bike. At 5ft 8″ tall, the Santa Cruz Syndicate athlete rides a medium in its meant MX wheel dimension configuration. It boasts a 452mm attain and proportional size chainstays of 435mm, with a 160mm journey fork supported at a 64.5° head tube angle. Nina runs a 150mm drop Fox Switch publish.
“Each experience within the woods is on this bike, additionally intervals after I’m on the highway and don’t have my highway bike with me. I experience it at house and take it to races after which experience enduro trails with it. It’s potent sufficient for correct tough tracks but in addition playful and light-weight sufficient for stream strains and little XC rides”
Nina Hoffmann
To service its 150mm rear wheel journey, the Bronson employs a VPP linkage whereby the swingarm articulates in regards to the entrance triangle by way of two non co-rotating hyperlinks, the lowermost of which drives the shock.
Within the suspension division, Nina runs a Fox 38 Manufacturing facility Fork with the GRIP2 damper, and the Fox FLOAT X Manufacturing facility Shock. Weighing 73 kg, Nina’s most popular settings see 70 PSI within the fork with use of a single quantity spacer. She runs the LSC at 9 clicks, HSC at 8 clicks, HSR at 5 clicks and LSR at 4 clicks – all from closed. The shock is pressurized to 150 PSI, with the compression dial at 5 clicks from closed, and the rebound at 6 from closed.
New for this mannequin 12 months is a sag window on the non-drive facet of the entrance triangle. Provided that the shock is effectively nestled into the seat tube partition, the small opening permits the rider to extra simply assess journey utilization, one thing that may make setting the sag somewhat simpler than it could beforehand have been.
The Bronson has two distinct geometry settings; Hello and Lo. A flip-chip on the decrease hyperlink, the place it connects the bottom of the rear shock, determines the bike’s backside bracket peak and total dealing with. Hoffmann runs her Bronson within the Lo place, with a BB peak of 341mm. A miniature fender bolted to the again of the seat tube protects the shock’s shaft from particles flung off the rear tire.
For pace management, Hoffmann depends on the Shimano XTR 4-Piston Brakes, with 203mm rotors of the IceTechnologies Freeza taste. These sandwich an aluminum heart between the metal braking surfaces, a middle that followers out towards the hub in a bid to expedite warmth dissipation. Nina additionally runs finned brake pads for the exact same motive.
Rounding out the cockpit is a Burgtec RideWide Carbon DH Bar with a 30mm rise, measuring up at 770mm with the Burgtec grips. It’s clamped by a 42.5mm Burgtec stem. Nina retains the entrance finish comparatively tall with round 20mm value of spacers beneath the stem. The bearings of a Chris King NoThreadSet preserve the entire meeting rotating easily.
“I prefer to preserve handlebar width and cockpit usually the identical. Additionally I wished to experience a mullet path bike due to having a DH mullet. Attempting to experience similar tyres as effectively, principally make it as near the DH as doable”
Nina Hoffmann
Nina’s Bronson rolls on a Reserve 30 DH Carbon Wheelset, laced to a set of Chris King hubs, the rear of which has 72 POEs. Seated to those 30mm inside width rims is a set of Maxxis tires; a 29″ x 2.5″ Assegai within the MaxxGrip EXO+ casing, and a 27.5″ x 2.4″ Minion DHRII within the MaxxTerra DoubleDown casing.
Atop the 150mm drop Fox Switch publish is an SQLab 611 saddle. Replicating the setup on the V10 DH Bike, she pushes 165mm cranks with Crankbrothers Mallet DH Pedals.
You may preserve updated with Nina Hoffmann’s season by following her on Instagram @nina.hoff96, or by following her crew @scsyndicate.
