Sacha Earnest: ‘This is still my first team, but this year is like a second experience’

Sacha Earnest is the only returning rider to Trek Factory Racing DH this year, but for her purposes, she’s essentially riding for a brand new team.

All three of her 2024 teammates are gone, two of whom were long-time veterans who won World Championships. They’ve been replaced by five relative youngsters, the oldest of which is 25. During her first year as a full-time factory racer, Earnest admits that the pressure and environment were difficult to manage at times. She feels like she’s getting a fresh start in 2025.

“I think it definitely was a big scare,” Earnest said. “At the start of last year, I didn’t realize how much pressure I’d put on myself, and how much pressure I felt from external sources as well. I had to be myself, but I was also conscious of other people. Obviously with very experienced riders, they know how they want to do things, so I just had to listen quietly and maybe ask a couple questions.”

After team camps with her new teammates and familiar staff members in Waterloo, Wisc., Laguna, Calif., and Windrock, Tenn., Earnest feels like she has emerged from her shell. She and her teammates are sharing track information freely, and she feels even more dialed and comfortable on her bike. New this year, she also has a female teammate in devo rider Ella Svegby, who is one year younger. 

“I think that might be really good for me to have another girl, to have someone literally a year younger than me to bounce off of because I don’t ride with the other boys,” Earnest said. “It is hard if their trainings are later in the day and I’m in the morning going, ‘Someone help me, I’m stuck [laughs].”

Earnest is one of the most intriguing first year Elite riders on the circuit. She’s fast and fluid on the bike, and coming off her most consistent season ever with five World Cup podiums and her second straight World Championship podium in her final year of junior racing.

Earnest spoke with the Race Shop about the new team vibe, how she’s evolved as a rider, and why the new prototype Session suits her particularly well. The following conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

You are the only returning rider to the team this season. You have technically been under the Trek Factory Racing tent for two seasons now. Do you feel like the grizzled veteran? Does it feel like you’re getting the new riders up to speed? Showing them where the bathroom is and such?

Sacha Earnest: [Laughs] Definitely not a veteran in that sense, but I’ve had a connection with the staff before. It’s nice knowing the people before anyone else does [laughs]. Because I remember stepping into that tent in 2023 when I was barely on the team, I was so scared, and I didn’t know how to talk to anyone. But now, I’ve known Lachie for a while, and then I knew of Ollie as well. It just seems so much more comfortable within the team, it is a lot easier to get things rolling and work together a bit more.

As you mentioned, you have a rapport with everyone now. Does that make off season preparation easier in some ways, either with equipment or training?

Earnest: It definitely helped. There were a couple races in New Zealand, and obviously I’ve seen Lachie, but it was nice to have people that you know there who are also on your team, who you could work with, and dissect the track and the race with, and start building that team environment really early on so that once you get to the World Cups, it’s easy and it’s natural. And I think having a team that is a lot younger has helped as well. Everyone’s a bit easier to talk to and be around.

You mentioned knowing Lachie for a while now. How far do you go back?

Earnest: I guess we’ve known each other since we were children. I can’t even tell you the age, but we all used to race BMX together, from big BMX families, and then obviously we transitioned into mountain biking. It’s always been cool to see him around and see him progress, and then now be helped by him, because he’s done so well and earned a spot on the team. It’s just really cool to see someone from home.

Like you said, TFR is like a brand new team, and everyone is really young. Matt Walker’s the oldest rider, he’s just 25. Does that feel like a breath of fresh air to you in some ways?

Earnest: Obviously this is still my first team, but this year is like a second experience, which is so crazy to me, because it is so contrasting. I guess I’m a bit more out of my shell now, but it is just naturally easier to get along with people that are around your age. The old team was amazing, of course, but this new one just feels natural — it’s witty, it’s quick, it’s fast. The rapport just really works.

You’ve mentioned coming out of your shell a couple times. Was that tough at times last year as an up-and-coming rider coming onto a factory team for the first time?

Earnest: I think it definitely was a big scare. At the start of last year, I didn’t realize how much pressure I’d put on myself, and how much pressure I felt from external sources as well. I had to be myself, but I was also conscious of other people. Obviously with very experienced riders, they know how they want to do things, so I just had to listen quietly and maybe ask a couple questions. But I definitely think I was growing the whole year. I got really close with the rest of the team by the end of the year, but it was definitely a journey. It was interesting to say the least. Luckily, I was still a junior, so I could rely on being the little junior of the team and doing that for myself. 

Tell me about these team camps, because they’ve all been very different, but they’ve all seemed really fun too. Like, you’ve gone go karting, surfing. How has that helped build the team vibe?

Earnest: We’ve done Laguna, which I’ve previously done before, and then Windrock, which was new to me, but they were both just so fun. Like, obviously, we were trying hard. We’re working, we’re getting stuff done. But there was time even in between the laps to have fun and joke around. And be focused, too, but understand that it wasn’t a World Cup, and we could still be relaxed and laid back whilst doing our thing. That is my kind of vibe for World Cups. Because as soon as it got too stressed and too serious and too pressurized, I was cracking almost. I think I can do well under pressure, but I would rather it be nice and comfortable and fun around the pit.

Matt Walker said something similar when we spoke to him, that he’s looking forward to having more fun this year, and how that can fuel success. And also greater communication among teammates, too. Having now done the Tennessee race, did you get a sort of sense of how everyone communicates and will work together for these big races?

Earnest: For sure. Like, I feel like last year was hard because I was a girl and I was in juniors, and it set me apart from everyone else. But this time, I felt more confident, especially with my riding, that I could ask the boys for help, or see what they think about a section in terms of me, rather than what they’d be doing. And that was really helpful to me, even just using the group chat that we use for videos a bit more, texting and being a bit more communicative.

And then this year I’ve also got Ella [Svegby]. So I think that might be really good for me to have another girl, to have someone literally a year younger than me to bounce off of because I don’t ride with the other boys. It is hard if their trainings are later in the day and I’m in the morning going, ‘Someone help me, I’m stuck.” [Laughs]

Have you been able to get to know Ella yet?

Earnest: Not quite yet. I checked in with her a couple times last year when she was starting racing. But she’s got so much talent, and I’m really excited to work with her, because we can just develop that. And that second year of juniors is very vital, I think, just to get over all the junior crashes, the nerves, all the silly mistakes you can make. And even though I’ve only got one year extra experience than her, I think it’ll be good for her, but also good for me, as she’s just straight fast. I think she’ll help me gain that raw speed, and we can work together on the track, which I really like. And to have someone to ride with, which is really fun. 

This being your first year in Elite, did anything change in your preparation this year? Was there a different focus this offseason?

Earnest: I definitely trained harder. I was obviously gunning for it last year, but this year, there’s just another level to it. And obviously I don’t expect myself to get the same podium placings as I did in Juniors, but aiming for that would be ideal. I don’t want to set myself too low and say, ‘Oh, I can just reach this level and it’s OK.’ I want to still be the best. 

I focused a lot more on every aspect of my life, almost, but I still managed to have fun. That was still really important to me. I just don’t want to get burnt out too early.

How about that new bike?!

Earnest: Once I got it at that second team camp, me and [team mechanic] Andy [Lund] worked really hard and really well to delve into what I like, what would benefit my riding style, and how I attack the sort of terrain and race track to make it most beneficial for me. 

So we played a little bit on setups and different stuff. And even simple stuff like shortening my bars, or changing the pivot points. But it was really amazing when I put feet on that bike, and it was such a different bike for how similar it is. Like, we made just a couple changes to the bike, but it really showed how much input the boys gave last year when we went to the last camp in Wisconsin, and it reflected my riding as well. 

What are the characteristic differences that you feel going from the old bike to the proto?

Earnest: This one is lighter, but it’s still really planted, which I like about the Trek bikes. It just allows me to go through the rough stuff really easily because I’m not the strongest person. But then also this one, we’ve made it a bit longer, and a bit more playful in how it’s set. I’m set a lot higher, and now I can just have fun on the bike and pick it up a bit more on jumps and rocks and stuff, and have a bit of freedom to move, rather than just aiming to be planted 24/7. I think that’s what my 2024 race bike was, just going through the rock stuff really fast. But then when it came to the more technical sections, I was a bit limited.

What are you looking forward to most this year? I mean that in the most open ended way possible. It could be a result, a place you get to visit, something off the track — whatever.

Earnest: I want to have at least one standout result that would just put me apart from other people. And it doesn’t specifically have to be people from my year, it could just be in general, so that I’ve proved my point that I’ve trained this hard and I can get there, I just needed time to get up to that level consistently. I don’t know what standout result I’d want, but just something where it shows, and I’m proud of it myself as well.

But then I also really just want to enjoy the year and work together as a team. I had a bit of an upsetting year for me last year, in general, with everything. But I think this team is a lot more go-with-the-flow, and enjoying the process, which I really like.

What’s something about you off the bike that people might not know? So, family, hobbies, interests, whatever — something that’s not mountain bike related that people would be interested to learn?

Earnest: I don’t know if it’s very interesting, but I love Lego flowers.

That’s very interesting.

Earnest: And I do follow the Formula One circuit as well. And building the cars is really interesting to me. I don’t know why. So I’ve got a couple cars just in the back of my room here. It’s racing, there’s so much aggression, which is quite fun to watch. It just shows how a high performance sport can affect that. And the way our sport is developing, it’s really interesting to follow because we want to be like the Formula One of mountain biking.

The parallels between Formula One and MTB Downhill racing are fascinating. And certainly the prototype bike from Trek is an extension of that.

Earnest: And from their point of view, it completely makes sense. Like they put all this money and effort into it.

You mentioned Legos. Is there a set that’s like your Lego masterpiece?

Earnest: Hang on. [Exits camera on video call, comes back 10 seconds later with a Lego model F1 car.] It is the McLaren MP4, the one that Ayrton Senna drove, which I really love. The old shell, coloring, logoing, stuff like that. And then I was also really eyeing up the new Nigel Mansell Williams, it looks amazing. And it is the same size. These are just a bit bigger, which I think are a bit more fun. And the steering wheel moves, which is so sick.

The detail on that is intense. It’s not the block Lego firetruck I made as a kid.

Earnest: No, it’s not like, ‘Oh, one block here, and a little wheel there.’ It’s sick.

Thank you for showing me that. And thanks for the time. Anything to add?

Earnest: I’m just excited for the season.

With qualifying in Juniors, I knew I was going to make it. Like, I don’t want to seem cocky, but I had a good sense most of the time. And it made it hard to tell how I was doing sometimes. 

Like, qualifying at Leogang last year, it was the most cruise-y run ever, and I got second, and I was like, ‘Ah, sweet.’ But then in some places, I’m really trying, and I qualify fourth, and it’s different — but also I knew I was securely in that top four, so I was completely fine. 

Now in elite I’m scared to be like, ‘Do I push here? Do I pedal? Do I try really hard?’ Because at Crankworx Rotorua, I thought I had a pretty crazy qualifying, and I got fourth. I was really happy. Then for my race when I was trying really hard, and then I got the same time [while taking seventh], I was like, ‘Oh, OK, I don’t know what that means.’

I’m really excited as well, but it will be difficult. But I’m really happy in the new team, and we’ll see where it goes.