Shaun ‘Napalm’ Palmer has raced bikes, skis, snowboards and motorbikes with the world’s best – and partied hard throughout. We meet him to find out what drives this epitome of an extreme sportsman
Walking into The Ranch hotel in Laguna Beach, California, the guy wearing a hoodie, beanie and tattoos exudes an aura of cool, as befits one of mountain biking’s greats. There’s no mistaking Shaun ‘Napalm’ Palmer. He’s stamped his mark on extreme sports, from changing the face of downhill racing by introducing the moto look and challenging the decadelong dominance of France’s Nico Vouilloz, to winning titles across a raft of disciplines. He was a trailblazer who won the respect of his competitors and fans alike by being outspoken, in your face and highly competitive. And now he’s back on the scene, after a 20-year absence.
FULL-THROTTLE LIVING
I’m keen to find out what Palmer’s been up to since he resurfaced last year, but first, I can’t resist revisiting that illustrious past. The American seemed to be addicted to winning and this desire to be the best at any given sport was like a drug to him. Doing winter and summer seasons back to back, competing at the highest level in different sports, took its toll on his mental state. Sitting across from me, Palmer recalls: “I was snowboarding and racing downhill all year round, so I never stopped.” There was so much pressure something had to give. Constantly wearing your game face throughout the year was something other mountain bike athletes weren’t required to do. “These guys had off seasons, I didn’t.”
Palmer’s second-place finish at the 1996 World Championships in Cairns, Australia, where he was beaten by Vouilloz by a mere 0.15 seconds, marked the start of a downward spiral and his departure from the sport. “I was completely burned out,” he says. But even though he never won the rainbow stripes, Palmer had a lasting impact on DH racing. “All I had to do was wear a tight suit and I’d have smoked Nico, I’d have been world champion,” he says. “But I’d rather get second. People remember that, and it changed the sport to look better, so I’m happy.”
Wearing MX kit, using flat pedals and riding a custompainted Intense M1, Palmer made a bigger impression than Vouilloz ever did, despite the Frenchman’s numerous victories. His attitude of partying hard, riding hard and looking cool is the thing that sticks, and we can all be thankful to him for the fact we aren’t wearing Lycra on our DH bikes!
A LIVING LEGEND
So, what makes Palmer an idol to so many MTBers? His six X Games gold medals, two Snowboard World Cup silver medals and Halfpipe World Championship win? His second place in Cairns? Or maybe his unrivalled ability to excel at anything he put his mind to. Competing in everything from BMX to skiing, snowboarding to motocross, and shining at each sport, was no mean feat. “I chose to jump around,” he says. “I just didn’t stick [at one sport]. They had all these disciplines [at the X Games] and I just went for all of them!” Palmer’s wild lifestyle was definitely a draw for some, along with his ‘don’t give a f***’ attitude to everything bar his desire to be successful. It was probably all of those things, combined. People aspired to be like him, the way he looked, the way he rode. Palmer was success.
Sitting face to face with Palmer is slightly surreal. Growing up, he was the person I tried to model myself on. Now being here with him, talking about how he influenced mountain biking, is really quite special. “It’s pretty cool to be able to come back into it 20 years later… to have the fans still out there for me,” he tells me.
Palmer always had a little something extra that elevated his status in people’s minds. Other riders like Steve Peat, Jason McRoy and Sam Hill have all seen success too and, like Palmer, they have personalities that captivate their fans. JMC was the first British rider to be signed to a professional team, Specialized, back in the early 1990s, while Peaty has come to epitomise the UK riding scene, finally winning the coveted World Championship rainbow stripes in 2009 after missing out for nearly a decade of racing. Sam Hill made drifting, inside lines and flat-out riding cool in a world of wind tunnels, Lycra and SPD pedals. Palmer recognises these riders built a connection with the sport, and of Peaty he says, “He is mountain biking. There’s no bigger name, I don’t think there ever will be.”
NEVER GIVE UP
After a hiatus from the downhill racing scene, Palmer made a comeback in 2009, racing the Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup in Canada after only two months of preparation. “I was a mess before the event, jumpin’ around, testing bikes… It was kinda last minute,” he says. Qualifying for the finals, he went on to finish in 74th place – a result he was disappointed with, despite it being an impressive feat for a 41-year-old who was out of practice and a lot older than the rest of the field. “It was cool, but kinda a letdown to me.”
Palmer used the event as mental training for the 2010 Winter Olympics, hoping to get selected for the US snowboard team. Having missed out on the 2006 Olympics because of a torn Achilles tendon, he pinned his hopes on the 2010 Games, wanting to be the oldest man to ever be selected for the Olympics. But he didn’t make the squad and his dream was shattered, leading him down a familiar road of addiction and self-destruction.
Talking about something that’s so close to this man’s heart and who means so much to so many different people is really moving. The way Palmer explains his successes and failures conveys how much of a champion he is. He put everything on the line – financially, emotionally and physically – to do something that he loved. He’s open and frank about what happened, and his transparency is captivating.
TALENT SPOTTER
Looking to the future, The Palmer Project is something Shaun is working on with Intense Cycles to help promote talent in MTB. “I get to help kids raise their level to live the dream that I had back in ’96,” he explains. Shaun uses his racing experience to help his proteges – who call him Palm Daddy – to the top of the podium, though he assures me he’d have to kill me if he told me his secrets. “Most of the time I’m just helping them mentally, showing them lines and helping them at the races.” Whatever his secret, it’s clearly working, with one of his riders making the step up to the Intense Factory Racing team for 2016.
But Palmer is well aware of the potential downsides to racing for a living. Competitive mountain biking is a rollercoaster ride and Shaun has had some of the highest highs and lowest lows of any rider. “Winning and losing makes you have massive swings of emotion, and if you can’t make it to where you want to make it, it’ll break your heart.”
PEATY ON PALMER
DUDES OF DOWNHILL
Steve Peat first crossed paths with Palmer in 1996 during the World Cup season and, despite turning into a superstar later in his racing career, was starstruck.
“When I first met Palmer I was a bit of a snowboard fan,” says Peaty. “I was reading all the snowboard magazines and I’d been reading about him.
“Palmer was staying at the same hotel as us,” he continues, “and we were all working on our bikes in the car park. I went up to him and just wanted an in, so I was like, ‘Alright Shaun’, and he just shut me down, the miserable motherf***** that he can come across as!”
After the race Peaty and Palmer shared a lift to the next World Cup. “We sat together in the back of the RockShox truck and had a right laugh. That’s when we hit it off, and we’ve been mates ever since!”
RACE DAY HYDRATION
HAIR OF THE DOG
Racing at a World Cup in the ’90s, Palmer needed something to ‘help him on his way’ after a heavy night. “The Specialized team manager came up and asked, ‘Are you doing OK?’ I was on the spin bike and had two water bottles filled with Coors Light because the night before was ugly. Peaty won that race and I got third.” A little beer goes a long way…
PALMER’S ANTICS
THE BUS
One of Palmer’s favourite memories is of a bus he bought to travel between World Cup races in the USA and Canada in the late ’90s. Driving from Vermont to Mont- Sainte-Anne with Myles Rockwell, Rob Warner, Steve Peat, Kirt Voreis and Randy Lawrence they had a tyre blowout, but instead of fixing the puncture got drunk, had an impromptu party and still managed to cross the border into Canada! Back then there was no Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, so you could get away with this kind of stuff.