Dan Hole
Hello, I’m Dan Hole. I’m 23 years old and from Yorkshire. I’m an elite British enduro rider, part-time trials rider, MTB coach, mechanic and a trail-builder for British Championship Cyclo-cross and Cross-country events.
I was on bikes from a very young age. We didn’t have push-along bikes back then, so my parents put me straight onto a 12 inch Scott, which I still have now.
When I was three years old, my parents took off the stabilisers and, let’s put it this way, there were some amazing crashes! After a few more years of riding and travelling to events where my dad raced World Cup downhills – he also rode trials and enduro motorbikes at world class level – I had progressed a lot and by the age of six my dad thought it was a good time to try clip-in pedals. This was definitely a learning curve, but I will be forever grateful for this!
Around the same time, I started motorbike trials with my cousin. Trials are a very big part of my family’s life, so it was inevitable it was going to happen at some point. As the years went on riding trials and mountain bikes, I knew I wanted to do competitions and race. Having done trials competitions at regional and British level at a very young age I was slowly getting bored of the queuing and waiting for trials sections, I really just loved going fast on my mountain bike. However, there weren’t any events I could enter as I was still too young, so because of this I would just go out on my mountain bike nearly every night on the local moor.
At the age of ten I got my first enduro mountain bike, an X-Small Orange 5, then a couple of years later I got a Pivot Mach 5.7 which was absolutely amazing. However, I was still too young to race MTB enduro, so my cousin and I started motorbike enduro, where we raced and progressed to the British Extreme Enduro Championship, doing events such as the Tough One and Eddy’s Extreme on our 85 and 125cc bikes.
The trials helped with balance and line choice and motorbike enduro improved my speed and confidence, giving me experience that has helped with my MTB career now.
After years of pestering to race enduro, PMBA’s founder Kev found insurance that would allow the 13 year-old me, and other kids like myself, to race. I remember my first PMBA Enduro at Gisburn like it was yesterday. I suffer with really bad nerves in competitions, and I was very anxious, as I was 13 years old and in the Under-18s class – some of the lads looked old enough to be my dad! However, despite the nerves I finished in sixth place, and this really started my love for racing.
In my second ever PMBA and still aged 13 I achieved my first Under-18 podium, and that was it, I wanted to race all the time. After a few years of racing in the UK I went on to do three seasons of the Enduro World Series in the Under-21 category. I accomplished great results, scoring in the top ten finishers. It was always a dream to travel the world racing bikes and thanks to Hope it has been possible.
Throughout my years of racing I’ve had some highs and some lows. The highs were being awarded 2017 National Enduro Champion and, in 2018, becoming the British Enduro Series Champion and finishing in second place in the Junior Mega Avalanche. The lows were suffering broken shoulders, which have caused a lot of pain and discomfort over the last few years!
If I’m not racing, I’m usually coaching in the evenings, trying to help people become more confident on their bike and gaining more enjoyment from riding; this is what I love to see.
The last few years I’ve been focusing on the British Championship and selected festival events, such as Ard Rock, Boltby Bash and TweedLove, while also doing other hobbies including competing in the Scottish Six Days Trial and the Scott Trial, which have been dream events to compete in.
But most importantly I just love riding my bike with my mates and having a good laugh. Personally, I believe everyone should ride for enjoyment and fun, as it is a great social sport.
My best memories of riding bikes are probably when my dad and some close family friends went to Whistler, in Canada, in 2018. Riding my bike on some of the best tracks in the world with your best mates and the world’s best riders is something I will never forget.
I was asked to be a Hope Academy Ambassador, to help the next generation grow their passion within cycling and develop their skills. Having ridden Hope components throughout my career, I’ve been lucky enough to benefit from what the Hope Academy offers, and the Academy makes it possible for others to benefit too.
