Xavier Raventos, camper from summer 2007, wins a factory Sponsorship from Straitline Components!
Xavier blazing through the Crabapple hits. All photos taken from the weekly camper pro photo shoots.
After killing it at camp last summer, Xavier was chosen for the honorary spot, joining riders like of Jeff Lenosky on the Straitline factory team. Greg, from Straitline, and Graeme, from the Camp of Champions, sat down with Xavier recently to get the low down on the speedy Spaniard. First however, here are the basics:
Name: Xavier Raventos
Age: 17
Hometown / Country: lledia/spain
Favorite color: blue
His Mantra: Be happy, ride fast
Greg (S): So Xavier congrats on being selected as the most progressive rider we saw out of camp last season. Before you collect your bounty from Straitline Components and a honorary spot on our factory team, we have a few questions for you. Also sorry for taking so long to do this, but we got distracted with night long Guitar Hero sessions. Moving on...
I need to get this out of the way, do you have any mutant X-Men powers or is Xavier just a common Spaniard name?
Xavier: Yes, I have some mutant powers like: I am always happy and I am a little bit crazy hahahha!!! But it is actually a common name too.
Tweaking it out on A-Line.
Graeme (C): It’s true, you are a pretty happy guy and you definitely rode like you had special powers at camp last summer. Your brake pads were still brand new after 4 weeks of riding the Whistler Bike Park. Can you shed some light on that?
Ha, I do not know. I try to ride as fast as I can and this year I am training a lot to try and get faster.
S: Thats what we like to hear. So why did you choose to ride Whistler and with the Camp of Champions last season over going anywhere else?
Whistler because is the best place to ride, it is like the meca for “musulmans” (Editors note - we’re not too sure what that means either). COC because my neighbor was there 2 years ago and he said all the people are super fun and the coaches were excellent.
Smooth drop after cleaning it up in Clown Shoes.
C: How did riding with us at camp help your riding when you went back home, and onto the local trails?
Well you've asked me to come back and coach next summer.
S: The good news just keeps on coming! Besides the fact you may have used your mental X-Men powers to make us select you for this factory sponsorship, you showed the most style, progression and the right attitude at COC. What was your highlight of the camp?
First of all the people, everyone is so very nice, and riding in the whistler Bike Park.
Woahhhhhh
S: Yes it's true, we are so very nice. So what are the hot bike spots we should hit up if we’re ever biking in Spain?
You have to go to Andorra and then bilbao, they have nice downhill trails. You also have to come here to lleida because it is in the center of catalonia and all the nicest spots are close to here!
C: How do you overcome the nerves and the “what ifs” that loom in the back of peoples mind when riding? Do you just ignore the jitters, point it and then see what happens?
Sorry but I do not understand.
C: Well I think you just answered it and that’s obviously not an issue for you! On a different note, if you were to ever get in a fight with Magneto, would you have to strip down before hand to win?
Hahaha. What?
Styling it up on A-Line again.
S: Graeme that’s the stupidest question ever. You would have to strip down, but what if you have any fillings? Couldn’t magneto just rip out all your teeth with any alloy fillings and throw them at you? That would suck. Xavier?
Mmmm… I recommend you get a plastic bike and go down the hill as fast as you can!
C: What if there is no hill? Seriously though, who influences your riding the most how would you define your riding?
One of my friends who is a really good teaches me some times. I just try to be very smooth, always take the fastest line and just be happy I’m on my bike!
S: We’re still laughing about that time last summer when on your very first ride ever through the Goats Gully on Whistler, you followed a group of pro DH riders into the trail, passed them all and came out first at the bottom.
C: Yeah that was so rad!
Keeping it fast through the berms.
S: Honestly though dude, where did your skills come from?
I do not know. I am just like this I guess, plus I have a lot of places to ride and train in Spain.
C: So be happy when you ride is the secret I guess. Two final questions, do you know any cheat codes for Guitar Hero, Greg is schooling me, and are you ready for camp next season?
Yes! I am dreaming of riding whistler all night! About guitar hero, sorry, I never play this game.
S: No worries, we need to bike more anyway.
C: Yeah, it's true. Thanks for sitting down with us Xavier and we're stoked to see how much faster you are this coming summer.