If there’s one Sam Hill video you need to watch, it’s this: Hill’s corner-smashing, dust-exploding section from Tea & Biscuits 2 (film by Tommy C and Misspent Summers).
The video was filmed in Pila, Italy, a legendary destination for downhill riders and the place Sam Hill won the 2005 DH World Cup race just weeks after breaking his elbow (as mentioned by Australian compatriot and ex-Iron Horse teammate Nathan Rennie in the Earthed 3 Pila race segment).
As Hill recently mentioned retirement – or, precisely, that he isn’t retiring yet – we thought we should share the T&B2 Pila section. Because who could ever tire of seeing a drifting, sliding Sam Hill video?
And on that note. Call us biased, but could the section Tommy filmed be the best Sam Hill video of all time? OK, OK, that’s a big claim – and you’ve got to love anything Hill filmed with Alex Rankin or Clay Porter – but Hill film parts are getting harder to come by, and with Tea & Biscuits 2 being filmed in 2021 it could be the fastest and driftiest you’ll ever see Hill ride.
Whatever, we love Sam Hill and can only thank him for everything he’s done for mountain biking. He made downhill faster than it had ever been, turned a generation of racers onto flat pedals, then moved to enduro and dominated that discipline too, earning three Enduro World Series titles in a row (check our 2017, 2018 and 2019 EWS yearbooks on our store).
Cheers to you, Sam Hill.
SAM HILL’S RETIREMENT – OR NON-RETIREMENT – NOTE FROM INSTAGRAM
Hey guys,
Where do I even start?
Obviously 2023 didn’t go to plan. I wanted to return to DH, challenge myself and relearn the speeds of the current top elite men. The sport has changed since I last fully committed to the World Cup circuit and I knew it was going to be a big adjustment for myself. I felt like I was building momentum & getting comfortable on the DH bike again but then unfortunately as you all know broke my foot. I flew home and had surgery straight away. Fast forward a couple months post surgery, I was in the talks of re-negotiating my contract with Nukeproof to go racing again in 2024 as I was feeling super motivated to make my comeback AGAIN. Things were looking positive until I got the news from my manager that Nukeproof and the parent companies who own them had gone into liquidation and I was basically made redundant effective immediately. It was definitely not something I had seen coming and was a huge shock to wrap my head around as an athlete. I’ve never not had a bike deal or a direction my career was going in and to be honest I just wanted to give up all together. In 2013 when I first signed with Nukeproof, I took a huge risk and left a big brand to go for a smaller, more family run company which thankfully took me down the path of winning 3 more world titles, created a line of my own products and being the face of their race team. Signing with brands has never been about money for me. I mean it’s nice to be lucky enough to be paid to race but I’ve always just wanted brands to support me and give me the space to ride, provide results for them and just be me, Sam. Nukeproof was all of that and they always supported me no matter what my goal was for racing. Everyone who created Nukeproof were family to me, my wife and kids. The team was all apart of my success and for it to all be over, without a proper goodbye, one last whirl or any warning has been really, really hard. I thought I would ride and be apart of the Nukeproof family forever and possibly have a manager roll myself when I retired racing. I loved being with my team and have made friendships for a life time. Everyone has been asking what’s been going on, so I guess this is my goodbye to Nukeproof. I would like to thank everyone involved in the brand whom I have worked with over the last 11 years: Nigel, Michael, Rob, Dale, Steve, Lyn, Katie, Bdog. My team mates over the years: Matt, Joe, Majestic, Elliott, Kelan, Dan, Corey. My absolute lord of a mechanic Jacy. You took the leap with me in 2013 and have been by my side through every high and every low mate. I appreciate everything you have all done for me and the opportunities I have had. I hate that it’s ended the way that it has. I don’t like the R word and I’ve been close to it with all this going down… But it’s not the end for me. I will be back and going as fast as I can soon. I’ll stop racing when I’m ready to stop racing and not be forced to stop racing. Seeya between the tape somewhere soon everyone 🤙🏼
