THE GOD FATHER

BRINGING BMX MOVES TO MTB, STEVE GEALL INSPIRED A WHOLE GENERATION OF UK DIRT JUMP AND FREERIDE TALENT - AND HE'S STILL SHREDDING TODAY

- GEOFF WAUGH

“I SUPPOSE YOU COULD SAY I’M HAPPIEST WHEN I’M IN THE AIR!” laughs Steve Geall, as he tries to explain away his fondness for hitting the odd lip or three. A bit of an understatement, that one. There aren't many riders who come close to logging as many air miles as the blond bomber from the south of England.

During his long tenure on the UK scene, the man they call 'Gilly' has been a BMX racer and ramp world champ, an MTB bunnyhop world record-holder and slalom shredder, a video star, downhiller, stuntman and imbiber of cider. Crikey! He was always the guy pulling sweet Superman airs on the trails or a sneaky step-through during his DH run, as well as being known for his pan-flat tables.

"I think my problem was that any time I saw an opportunity to jump my bike I grabbed it with, er, both wheels, and obviously that might please me and any spectators, but in downhilling it adds time," says Steve. "Maybe that's one of the reasons I drifted away from the DH scene for a while."

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Gilly was already known to the BMX crowd before he even entered the mountain bike arena in the early 1990s.

Born in Christchurch, Hampshire, he got the bug for riding after his dad John built him a bike. By the time he was 12, he was racing at Bournemouth BMX track and mixing it up at regional events.

From racing to ramps 

The next stage was national events, but temptation reared its ugly head, in the form of a half pipe. "It was at a track in Hounslow, I think," Steve reminisces. "I ended up riding that half pipe more than racing, and found I could get higher than any of the locals and that I was good at the vertical stuff. I used to ride at Slades Farm skate park in Poole a lot.