TR exclusive: the Szymon Godziek interview
Name: Szymon Godziek
date of birth: 21.12.1991
Hometown: Suszec, Poland
Current location: Bielsko-Biała
Years riding: 4
Sponsors: Dartmoor bikes, Red Bull & 55dsl
Q: For all the readers that never heard about you, how would you introduce yourself in one or two sentences?
A: Hey, I’m Szymon Godziek from Poland, 19 years old. I’m just a guy who loves to ride his bike and every other thing that gives me fun and adrenaline.
Q: How did you get into riding bikes at first?
A: Hehh that was about 5 years ago when I tried to do something on a bike. It was my brother’s bike – Dawid, who started riding bikes earlier than me despite he's three years younger than me. He showed me the first spots with jumps around our village and some mtb videos. It was so cool for me that i told myself: "Okay if I do a backflip this winter in the snow, I will start to ride!". I didn’t manage to do a flip but fortunately I started riding haha. That was the best decision in my life, I can’t imagine myself without bikes.
Q: What do you like to ride the most and why?
A: Actually I like to ride everything. I spend the most of my time on jumps but sometimes it’s boring so I take my ass on DH courses, 4x, skateparks and even streets.
Q: If i am correct, your brother Dawid is also pretty damn good at BMX? How is it when you ride together?
A: Yeah you’re right! Dawid is the best in the whole fucking world! I love to ride with him. He always pushes his limits and does tricks that I sometimes can’t imagine, so when we ride together I also try big tricks and combos. I can say that I often get inspiration from Dawid’s tricks and style despite he rides bmx.
Q: Who are your regular riding buddies?
A: As I said above I love to ride with my bro, but my buds that I’m riding with are also all my friends. It’s the best time when as many friends as possible come to our backyard and we do the craziest session and chilling time ever. There is so many sick riders around our area so we have good sessions pretty often.
Q: Poland seems to have a really solid scene, how would you describe the scene in your area and how do you like it?
A: That’s true. Poland has a small group of shredders, most of them are from my area, South! Unfortunately I have to admit that I don’t like our scene that much. We don't have much creative riders riding dirt jumps, by this I mean that everyone in Poland goes to have the same style and the same tricks. Each rider and each kid in Poland focuses on tailwhips and barspins. I am not saying that the level of riding in Poland is not high, I think it's pretty high but in my opinion there should be more people doing something different than that stuff. It’s funny that I’m talking about it, because I’m a bit the same guy that I just described.
Q: What is your bike setup at the moment? Anything particular about it?
A: At the moment I ride two bikes. My first bike is a hardtail for jumps and streets, it is a Cody frame and all Dartmoor stuff. It is the best machine to shred. Super light, short and perfect for tricks. My second bike is an amazing one! It is a light slopestyle and dirt jumping bike with a full suspension Dartmoor Shine frame. 100mm travel on the back, 130mm travel on the front. The major advantage is the BB-centric pivot and horizontal dropouts which allows you to run it singlespeed. The best thing about this bike is when you pump the rear shock hard as fuck you will get the same feel as you would with a hardtail! But the bike will forgive mistakes during landing and is more comfortable than a hardtail. Its also pretty good for small dh courses and fun lines.
Q: What is your greatest accomplishment on a bike so far?
A: If you mean contest accomplishment, it’s a first place at the Go big or go home contest in Munich this year, but that wasn’t any special achievement I think.
Q: Did you grow up riding a big bike or did you start by riding BMX? What is your opinion on both of those?
A: I started with a shitty MTB but after a few months I had no money for the "neverending buying new parts" cuz I was destroying almost everything so I sold the mountainbike and bought a bmx. On the bmx I learned a lot of shit like barspins, 360 etc., and after maybe half a year I came back to mtb. I repeated this deal three times, but know I don’t like to ride bmx, I feel better on my big wheels. Maybe if I had second life I would be a bmx rider with pegs and brakeless :):)
Q: What are your major influences when you grab your bike and go for a ride?
A: Music and scenes from movies like NWD which I see when I close my eyes.
Q: You seem to be more of a contest rider. What do you like about contests, and what would you change if you could?
A: Actually I don’t like contests. They suck balls… One thing that I hate is when you are at the contest and its your turn to go, you must go now and nobody cares if you are ready or if its windy. I prefer contests like "jam sessions" where everyone has fun and pushes his limits. But don't get me wrong, it’s awesome to go to contests, meet new people, see new places and it is really crazy to have that feeling when you showed your best tricks and you’re on the podium.
Q: What do you enjoy doing aside from biking?
A: Snowboard, ski, scooter in a skatepark, trampoline, motocross, windsurfing, wakeboard etc.
Q: How do you think your life would look if you would'nt be riding bikes?
A: Hmmm it would be awesome as well. I’m the type of person that has a lot of ideas for life, and I’m sure that I would find another sport for myself.
Q: Ipod check time! What are your 5 favorite songs at the moment?
A: Haha I’m not able to think of the five titles but I love to listen to soundtracks from movies… I also like AC/DC and clubmusic when I’m drunk haha.
Q: Is there any Polish riders that people should keep an eye on in the near future?
A: Yes, that’s my bro. Some people might not know but my bro was riding mtb for 7 years before bmx. He’s been riding the small wheels for a year and managed to progress fast as fuck and I think he’s gonna be one of the best in the world. You’ll see soon ;);)
Q: Do you travel a lot? What would be the nicest place you've visited so far?
A: Not much. I only travelled for contests in Central Europe but it’s changing now. Two months ago I was In France where I got injured but fuck this, and recently I was with friends in Barcelona and it was the finest place I’ve visited. Now I’m at home and looking forward to go on the next trip.
Q: I feel like i have no choice here but to ask you about the Fiat ''Maluch'' because if America had those i would be more than happy. What do you think of this car and did it play any role in the polish culture?
A: Hahahah this is so polish :D:D Fiat 126p “maluch” is the worst car you can imagine. In the past when I was kid, before biking, I had a second life in a garage. I bought this car for funny money, I tuned the engine and it was a beast! Top speed was 120 km/h and that was a bit crazy for a Maluch. After a few weeks I demolished it because my parents didn’t allow me to drive a car cuz I was 14 and I didn’t have a driving licence haha funny times. By the way in my opinion this car didn’t play any role in our culture. Nowadays I rarely see ‘maluch’ on the polish roads.
Q: What is your opinion about the big slopestyle contests these days? Do you like how big everything is getting, or do you feel like it is going the wrong way?
A: Bigger is better !
Q: Do you have any upcoming trips or projects that you are stoked on?
A: Yeahhhh me and my bro are going to California this winter and I can’t wait to ride woodward !!!
Q: Anything you would like to add/people to thank?
A: Have fun in your life ! Peace!
