Welcome to CCC Introduces, our series spotlighting our amazing community of contributors.
From: A bit of everywhere, I'm Brit-ish
Lives: London
Instagram: @louishatchwell
Tell us about yourself.
Louis Hatchwell aka ‘Beast On A Bike’ is a 31 year old, ex-GB skiing; coach, mentor and creator. I bounced (literally… I was a fat kid) between hobbies and eventually stumbled upon a passion for telemark skiing aged 19, and within 3 years I was on the World Cup. As a ski racer, I went through the wringer - re-educating (learning to walk) twice in my first two years on the circuit - but ironically, it wasn’t the countless injuries, near total lack of GB funding, badly balanced university degree and ensuing depressive episode that forced me to stop skiing… it was Covid. As a self-employed coach-athlete, Covid decimated both my racing and my business, in one clean sweep... Efficiency I could only dream of. Mysteriously though, all those years spent chasing passion, through chosen suffering, left me with a pretty unique toolbox, and a disturbingly high risk-tolerance. So, with a newfound passion for 2 wheels, I rolled the ol’ dice, headed to Paris for a girl… oh how cliché… and set about making content. Fast-forward 3 years and here we are... Bob’s your uncle, Fanny’s your aunt, and I still spend too much time in Lycra.
What do you love about cycling?
It’s the holy trinity: Man, Machine and Nature.
I’ve learned that the ‘medium’ is not what matters. One man’s cycling, is another man’s painting… hence why cycling so easily replaced skiing as my teacher… but it’s in chasing mastery of something, and yourself… that the magic really happens. John Muir put it best, “thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilised people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity”. When you add physical training into that picture, the results are immeasurably powerful. I believe that the body holds the keys to understanding, and exercising the mind, which is why I have always used sport to coach.
What barriers have you faced in cycling?
I felt (and still do feel) that cycling has an image issue. When I started riding, I couldn’t find any athletes/creators who looked like me and as a result; couldn’t find any entertaining, educational, or inspirational content that resonated with me. I was fresh back from sharing a cave with the mountain trolls & my +90kg bearded bulk perched atop a bike felt (and looked) as ridiculous as it sounds. There was however a middle ground… one in which I feel most of us should live… and I just couldn’t understand why it wasn’t being projected. Why was there such an obsession with image… and weight… even amongst the amateurs? Why were cyclists so fragile? Why were sizing guides so whack? Why were products designed for the 1%? Why weren’t brands supporting riders/creators who better represented the majority? None of it made any sense to me.
Why were you interested in contributing?
For exactly those reasons… I’m a big believer in leaving the toilet cleaner than you find it. I suppose I felt some kind of responsibility to positively impact the industry & believed I had the tools to do so. I felt (and still feel) like an alien in most cycling spaces that I move through, be it a trade show or start-line. I have never felt welcomed by most of the industry and the interactions I have daily, with both sides of the table, have taught me that a lot of people feel the same way. You could say I’m a disruptor but really, I learned years ago that flow, growth, and adaptation come when you have one foot in order, and one in chaos… so that’s where I chose to pitch my tent ⛺️.
Your fondest memory on the bike
My first ‘proper’ training camp in Tenerife, in January of 2022. It was the first time, since we got sent home from that mountain in Norway almost 2 years (to the day) earlier, that I found myself riding across the top of another mountai… well… volcano, on a ~160km, +3000m ⬆️🌋 epic… all alone. For the first time in years, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be. I was met with an overwhelming sense of pride, gratitude, and perspective - I cried then and I could cry thinking about it now. I filmed a video that day that I could never bring myself to post, I guess I decided that day was for me.