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Martha Hucker interviews Mio Suemasa

Mio Suemasa is a World Cup racer and Japan’s top female rider, in a BIG way – she’s hoping to take the national title in 2009, for the tenth year in a row!

 

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Mio shredding on her Intense.
Photo: See watermark - used with permission from the rider

 

The 26 year old began her cycling career riding trials and became the World Trials Champ in 1996, at just 13 years of age. She won it again in 1997 before switching to downhill. She became the Junior World Champion in her new sport in 2001, becoming the first Asian rider to win a World Champ title in mountain biking.

In 2008 she made the DH World Cup podium twice, placing 4th at two rounds and finishing 6th overall. In fourcross she finished 3rd overall for the season, with four podium placings. Nice! Watch out for her in 2009, Mio’s ultimate goal is to be World Champ and with results like that it’s possible in either discipline.

 

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Mio Suemasa jumping.
Photo: See watermark - used with permission from the rider

 

She’s not racing in South Africa but will be doing Sea Otter and the European WC rounds. While she’s still at home in Japan she found time between spring rides to do this interview with Martha Hucker.

Hi Mio! Are you excited about the 2009 World Cup season yet?
Hi MarthaHucker.com! I’m so excited! I can’t wait to race in the World Cup races!

Are you racing both DH and 4x again? Is it hard to have enough energy to race both?
I need a lot of energy to race both but I like it! I’ll race 4X as well but DH is more serious for me.

So you started out doing trials. Are those skills helpful on some of the world cup DH courses?
A lot! I learned bike balance from trials that’s for sure. I also learned about smooth lines and  how to handle the technical sections.

What’s the riding scene like in Kobe? Who do you ride with when you are home?
There are some trails in Kobe but not many DH trails. Normally I ride trails with my brother in-law. He lives near by and we go together.
There are some DH trails 1-2 hours drive by car.

 

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Mio and her bike.
Photo: Mio Suemasa

Whats your favourite thing about racing mountain bikes?
Every trail is different. Always fun to ride and I never get bored!!
I enjoy challenging myself.
I also enjoy spending time in nature.

 

Do you ever miss home when you spend so much time in Europe for racing?
I sometimes I get tired of meat, cheese and bread based food in Europe, I miss Japanese food.
But it’s always fun to traveling around Europe.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to start racing downhill or 4x?
ENJOY YOUR RIDE! This is most important thing and if you enjoyed yourself you can ride better and faster!

Tell us about your team and sponsors for this year:
My main sponsor is FunFancy. This is the Intense distributor in Japan.
I’ll ride for both “FunFancy/Intense” and ride as a privateer this year.
It’s hard to get sponsorship at the moment because of the economic situation but I’m very happy to be doing what I love doing.
I really appreciate my sponsors.

Thanks heaps for your time, and good luck with your racing this year!
Thank you very much!
I hope I can back to New Zealand again in the future!

 

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Mio and her new ride....
Photo: Mio Suemasa

All photos courtesy of Mio Suemasa. For more info and to follow how she goes this season, check out her blog at www.mioproject.com. If you can’t read Japanese, go learn it or click the English for a shorter, translated version.