Words Rob Lee
Images Caleb Smith
There aren’t many parts of the Wellington cycling scene that Ricky Pincott hasn’t touched in some shape or form over the past 30 years.
His many years of riding and racing bikes, building trails and former co-ownership of the long-time Karoribased bike shop, Mud Cycles, means he’s been able to bring a wideranging and informed perspective to all things bike-related.
Ricky, 48, is perhaps better known as ‘Slack Boy’, a nickname that’s stuck ever since his early flatting days. His house mates were setting him up on IRC Chat (an early online group messaging platform) and needed to give him an online name or ‘handle’. They considered his chores in the kitchen to be, well, pretty bloody slack, and there it began!
Born and bred in Wellington’s Upper Hutt, Ricky’s first foray into cycling was on a BMX, trick riding and “trying to be cool”.
Not long after, still a fresh-faced 13-year-old, he badgered his parents for his first mountain bike, eventually getting a 19-inch Diamondback Ascent, which he’d ride and race with his mates, Wayne Hiscock and Paul Fiest. The nearby Cannon Point and Akatarawa hills and valleys were both his daily playground and training ground – if he and Wayne weren’t busy playing backyard cricket.
Since then, local, regional and some national racing punctuated much of Ricky’s life, competitive in a range of disciplines including XC, enduro and downhill (to pro-elite level), and hardtail DH. Too many bikes to mention came and went from his stable during those years.
He still counts beating Wayne Hiscock in an XC race in Levin, aged 16, as his crowning glory, largely because the course had no hills in it. “I’ve held onto that desperately, because he (Wayne) was so much better than me. He’s such a genetic freak,” Ricky says.
At 17, Ricky headed to Tūrangi, where he completed a year-long outdoor recreation polytech course, giving him an even greater taste for the outdoors. He also held a very part-time job adjusting brakes and waxing skis at the Tūrangi ski and bike hire shop.
It was around this time he developed an interest in trail building, downloading (very slowly) early Pinkbike-type videos on an old 56K modem, showcasing what was happening overseas with builds, mostly on Vancouver’s north shore.
His local stomping ground of Cannon Point was where he built his first “sneaky little tracks”, aged 18, purely for his own enjoyment. Thirty years on, one of them is still ridable today.
In 1998, Ricky moved into Wellington City and began a relationship with Mud Cycles in Karori. He bought a flash new Diamondback V-link 3.1 off them for DH racing, becoming a sponsored rider. Little did he know, he’d one day go on to co-own Muds’ with his flatmate and fellow trail builder Dave Waugh.
A series of jobs and opportunities peppered the next eight years, mostly in the cycle courier industry – on and off the bike – and where he first met Ali Quinn (now Director and co-owner of Zerode).
Then, aged 30 and working as a postie, he was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) – a chronic inflammatory arthritis that primarily affects the spine, causing vertebrae to fuse over time and leading to stiffness, pain, and reduced mobility. A brutal two years of pain characterised this time in his life.
Ironically, riding bikes was one of the few things he could do that was bearable. Not wanting a future gulping steroids and anti-inflammatories, he did some research and happened upon a no starch diet that helped him immensely after just two weeks. He lost weight, felt better and was able to return to XC racing and DH.
During this time, Ricky also volunteered at Mud Cycles before a fulltime mechanic’s job came up at Burkes Cycles in Kilbirnie, where he stayed for two years.
Ricky’s DH racing in 1999 and 2000 were memorable, to him at least, for two things (and not just because they still wore Lycra).
Firstly, a pedal slip when landing a huge drop saw his butt dragging dramatically on the rear tyre – caught on Saturn cable TV at the time – and immortalised as the “botty grinder” incident.
Then, in 2000, racing for the first time as a pro-elite in the nationals, he had a massive over-the-bars in Hokitika, smashing both wrists. Coming back too soon after those injuries, he raced toward the back of the pro-elite field with the likes of James Dodds (Dodzy).
“I was good enough to get into pro-elite, but not good enough to be in pro-elite,” he says with a wry smile. “I was really fit from being a cycle courier so had the pedal power, but not the skills.” Despite this, he continued on in the hardtail DH class until the mid 2000s.
In between bike couriering and racing, Ricky did volunteer trail building as time allowed, with the iconic grade 5 ‘Trickle Falls’ at Mākara Peak MTB Park being his first ‘proper’ full trail, completed in 2001.
He also helped out with other Mākara trails, including being part of the design and build of the grade 6 ‘Yeah Gnar’, the nearby ‘Deliverance’ (another old school favourite), and other Wellington classics such as ‘Jail Brake’ in Miramar with Dave Waugh. He also volunteered his time to sit on the Mākara Peak Committee.
While working at Burkes Cycles, and building ‘Jail Brake’, Dodzy and Jeff Carter (Southstar Trails) invited Ricky to go and help dig the first trails at Nelson-Tasman’s now infamous Wairoa Gorge. What was supposed to be a part-time gig while taking leave from his job, turned into a fulltime job that saw him relocate south in 2010 for the next two years.
“That was absolutely amazing,” he says. “It was epic. Just the scale and scope of everything. The terrain was so gnarly and wild and it was all hand-built while I was there.”
Then a phone call came out of the blue from Dave Waugh, asking if he was keen to partner up and buy Mud Cycles. Turns out he was keen… for the next decade.
“I went into Muds’ as a minority owner and was there for 10 years,” he says.
Customers who had their bikes repaired by Ricky at Muds’ would get their bikes back with a sticker on it stating: ‘Serviced/Tuned by Slack Boy’.
TRAIL DOCTORING
Toward the end of his time at Mud Cycles, Ricky helped out local trail building company Thomas Lindup’s TGL Contracting, to the point where he decided trail building was his future. He sold out of Muds’ in 2021, and continued on with TGL until 2023 when he formed his own company, drawing on his nickname to start “Slack Trails”.
In the absence of owning a ute, one of the first tools of his new trade was a Boschpowered Orbea Wild eBike, with a trailer for hauling the necessary trail building equipment and fuel for machinery.
He rates eBikes as super handy for general access to remote worksites and times when you need to drop fuel or water stores down a long trail ahead of a big weed whacking or spraying session, eliminating the need to carry those liquids with you or returning to base to top up.
When NZ MTB Magazine caught up with Ricky, he’d taken possession of a rugged new Tern Orox, a heavy-duty, fat-tyred, all-terrain e-cargo bike, to try out for a few weeks. Sourced from Bicycle Junction in Wellington’s inner-city Marion Street, the Orox is capable of carrying heavy loads and two batteries for extra range. It’s driven by a Bosch Performance Line CX motor.
Today, largely for efficiency, Ricky’s tools include a 1.2 tonne digger, a self-loading track barrow, compactors and, of course, all the hand tools required for finishing and shaping jobs all over the Wellington region – all of which offer up vastly different terrain and soil types.
“I’ve made a study of trail building since I was 18 and have always been interested in it,” Ricky says. “I’ve learned a massive amount and I’ve made a crap tonne of mistakes, but the big thing is trying to learn from those and not make the same mistakes repeatedly.”
These days, knowing what water and braking does to a trail is always front of mind when he’s building.
“Braking can be almost as destructive as water. So I think about where braking spots are and how compression of bikes under braking and cornering forces work, because that moves the dirt around… trying to minimise low points in the compressive part of a turn.”
Using bigger gauge drainage pipes more often in an attempt to control water and the old trick of grade reversals before corners, for example, can help mitigate some of the trail damage caused by water and dragging brakes.
He reckons trail building is sometimes like archeology, where if you dig deep enough on a repair or maintenance job, you might unearth the original trail, perfectly preserved under layers of silt and foul-smelling compost from years of decayed leaf litter.
Ricky says he’s “super proud” of the part he’s played and continues to play in the Wellington cycling scene and further afield, and he’s more than happy to share what he’s learned with other trail builders and volunteer groups.
His current workload includes a weekly maintenance day in the now 27-yearold Mākara Peak MTB Park, with the park’s fulltime Ranger, Mark Kent.
“It’s awesome seeing the change that’s happened over the years. The sense of community in mountain biking and trail building in Wellington and New Zealand is just amazing.”
His ideal build is one where the trail caters to the widest range of users and their different riding speeds and abilities, providing something entertaining for the majority.
“Seeing people really enjoying the trails, that’s what keeps me going to be honest.”
He also admits his happy place is “playing on toys”, whether it be his fleet of mountain bikes, a motorbike, a 4WD vehicle or the work tools. “It’s every little boys’ dream to have a digger isn’t it?”
You can’t argue that when a childhood dream becomes reality, that’s a good place to be.
SLACK BOY – FUN FACTS
Favourite trail he’s built
‘Alaskan Pipeline’, Wairoa Gorge.
Favourite trail he’s not built
‘Creamed Rice’, Wairoa Gorge.
Favourite trail riding area
Wairoa Gorge.
Biggest bugbear (among many)
Having to repair or maintain trails where organic material was left in the trail when it was first built.