[MUSIC PLAYING]
MANON CARPENTER: You can feel what
the person who wins is feeling or maybe the person who
doesn't is feeling.
And those feelings are really intense.
And they're great feelings, but they're also very fleeting.
Even when I was racing, you recognize that those feelings
are fleeting, and it has to be.
Everything else from that life that makes you want to do it.
Yeah, you can't just do it for the feeling
if you happen to win.
My name is Manon Carpenter.
I'm a mountain biker from South Wales.
I used to race World Cups, and since then I've
been riding my bike and finding out what happens after racing.
I don't want to be defined as a person
by my race results or even my achievements.
I didn't want that to be what defines you as a person.
SAMANTHA SASKIA DUGON: When she was
sort of transitioning from retirement from racing,
I don't think she knew what her plan was.
She just knew that she was retiring from racing.
Whatever would be would be.
MANON CARPENTER: The goal of winning races wasn't what
I wanted anymore.
And there was other things I wanted to do
and some things I wasn't prepared to do anymore
for racing.
But I think, ultimately, it was the what do I want?
Maybe it's not this.
Home to me is currently where I grew up
and where I have lots of memories.
I guess it's where I feel safe or at peace
and feel at home when you come home.
Caerphilly has always been home.
And yeah, I feel like I know almost every area
of the surrounding town.
I don't know all of it still, but I've explored a lot
and have a lot of memories here.
My first memories of mountain biking
are hurtling down a hill out of control
towards my dad who's at the bottom of the hill trying
to catch me.
Get me back in control.
LYNETTE HOOD: I don't know whether your dad hadn't quite
managed to get to the road or something,
and I set you off when you were a bit out of control
going down that path.
And I got into trouble for that.
JASON CARPENTER: The first race she ever beat me,
I had a broken hand.
I want that on film.
I had a broken hand, but she did beat me,
and it was pretty tough.
MANON CARPENTER: So I got into mountain biking through my dad.
I got introduced to all different ways of riding bikes
from a very young age.
And yet for some reason, I think of them fondly.
But I have these out of control moments in my head.
They always ended well, so I don't know.
I guess I enjoyed them.
JASON CARPENTER: I might go up and do
a dig and a bit of riding, and she'd just
bring her bike up and ride around a couple of times.
I remember once when she was getting quite good,
her grandparents came.
And Manon did the first jump and just crashed
and winded herself awfully right in front of granddad.
Pretty little girl in little jeans,
little white top, big dirt mark.
She's going, [MOANS].
She's lying on the floor going, [MOANS]..
MANON CARPENTER: Van road is the place probably
where I learned to corner.
On berms, at least.
Pump rollers, manual, jump doubles, crash.
I guess a lot of people I still know in mountain biking
now from around here I would have
ridden with them at Van road at some point when
I was a little kid.
I don't think I would have appreciated
what they were until now.
You know, now I recognize--
you see the kids going up and riding
and you see what it gives them.
These kids can just turn up and ride and enjoy it.
And it's a place to be and a place
where they can do whatever they want, really, within reason,
and enjoy the jumps.
SAMANTHA SASKIA DUGON: When she retired,
she headed out to the Alps with a friend
out there to just see if she still-- as she put it
to me at the time-- to see if she still even enjoyed
mountain biking because she was really stressed after racing.
Whether or not she'd actually enjoy being on a bike
and whether or not she wanted to go fast
or if that was just the end of bikes.
Absolutely, she still loves being on the bike.
And I think one thing that Manon really enjoys
is just being out and just experiencing it and feeling
where you are.
And then from that as well came this whole understanding
that what she felt she needed to do in her future.
But I think being in the outdoors
and just traveling around and speaking to so many people
like she does on so many projects,
she really has found her niche, really,
with what she wants to focus on in the future.
MANON CARPENTER: What I'm chasing has changed.
I'm not chasing to be the fastest anymore.
Now I'm more chasing the feeling of being
connected to your environment.
Being mindful.
I was always told to do when I was racing,
but it's quite hard to do it when you're
thinking about the next race.
But yeah, I think now sounds quite deep,
but mindful is a pretty good place to be, I think,
when you're outside in the woods.
Everything that I grew up on, everything that I trained on,
I always been aware that these trails are unofficial
and authorized.
But I've always known that through experience
with these trails that they come and go.
And I've been aware of what that means
for the people building the trails, the people who
ride the trails.
And I've also seen the petitions that
get shared when an area of woodland
with these trails in it is going to get felled.
You can see how much it means to the people who are about
to lose their trails that they've-- that's where
they've made all their memories riding.
I think the very first basic step for mountain biking
is to understand how to mitigate our impact.
We do go into these environments,
and at the moment, trails are continually expanding.
I love riding trails, and so many people do,
and I think we have a place in these natural spaces.
But the first step is to understand how to manage that.
And if there's protected species or habitats,
how we can still exist in these spaces in a way
that doesn't upset them.
Mountain biking already has some pretty great organizations
that they can get involved with who
are trying to connect riders with their wild spaces
and how we can improve them.
We're at Trash Free Trails World Cleanup Day weekender,
and we're kicking off with a pump
track clean at Machyhlleth, a kind of village pump track.
It's pretty cool, they've got a good crew here.
Idea is pick up some trash, see what's here
and where the trash is coming from,
and everyone would ride bikes after.
ALL: Trash Free Trails.
MANON CARPENTER: Creating an organization that takes action
like Trash Free Trails or Protect Our Winters
takes an awful lot of work.
And I think mountain biking can really
get involved with what's here.
If it's dig days or organizations like Trash Free
Trails and Protect our Winters, there's a lot of things
that we can get involved in if we want to.
To try and use our voices or our time to improve the places
that we ride in.
LYNETTE HOOD: It's from a local newspaper called The Campaign.
The headline is "Rubbish is Disgusting."
"Rubbish and litter in the countryside around Caerphilly,
where I live, is wrecking the environment
for people and animals.
I go for lots of bike rides and walks
on Caerphilly and Red Hill Mountain,
and all the rubbish left by people camping and fly-tipping
astonishes me.
Every time I see burst bin bags, old mattresses, kitchen sinks,
and used nappies, it makes me very upset
and angry at the people who make this mess.
There are also burned out cars and vans everywhere.
I've been on rides and walks with my family
in other parts of Wales, and I know
that this is a very big problem in Caerphilly compared
to other places.
Caerphilly council should tidy it up, put cameras up,
and find and charge the people who are
creating this disgraceful mess.
Fly-tippers should learn to take their rubbish to the skips.
Perhaps more people and animals could
enjoy the Caerphilly countryside if we did something about it.
Manon Carpenter, age seven.
Van Terrace, Caerphilly."
MANON CARPENTER: That's like me now.
LYNETTE HOOD: It is.
MANON CARPENTER: It's kind of like my restoration, almost.
When I go for a ride, it's like my recharge.
Go for a ride through the woods.
Find a trail.
Follow it down.
If I need to get back to me, that's my ride.
Or we go fast if we feel like it.
But yeah, I just like riding through the woods.
[MUSIC - MATT MCCLOSKEY, "I AM NOT YOUR LULLABY"]
I'm just going out to experience riding
my bike outside in the woods on top of a mountain.
I mountain bike also because the emotions and feelings
and memories that you get from it.
So yeah, it's not just bike riding.
It's all the experiences that you've
had riding bikes as well.