Interview with Ondra Šenk: "The most brutal fall I had was on a skateboard"

We interviewed Czech Danny MacAskill, an icon of the bike scene, a successful video maker and a really nice guy. This is what Ondra Šenk, the star of the SNOWBOARD ZEZULA team, manages to be.

Hi Ondro, how are you and what are you and Damex working on right now?

Hi, I'm fine :) Right now we are busy preparing for the shows season, so we are tweaking the setup and making new obstacles. And of course we're shooting videos. We're putting out two videos a week, so we are pretty busy. As for media content, we're planning a couple of trips to foreign bike parks, which of course will also be video documented. We're also going to collaborate with our friends who also create YouTube content - Kuba Vencl and Vašek Kolář. There is no bigger project in the near future, maybe in the autumn, but it's only just starting to take shape.

With the arrival of spring, do you have a lot of live shows and exhibitions?

Now we have June completely booked, but then we'll stop and we want to focus on creativity and media content. That's what we're most interested in and we don't want to get bogged down with just exhibitions.

The first thing that comes to mind when watching your packed YouTube channel is, where do you get your ideas? The tennis ball wheel, that welded thing, the bathtub. There's a lot going on and it's awesome! I'm sure you have a deep well of inspiration and tips for fans just waiting for your next video. What to watch besides Danny MacAskill of course?

Because we have no chains on our hands, we can come up with pretty much any stupid thing we want. If we just did casual riding, I don't think many people would be into it. Besides, Damjan and I have been racing for many years, so we don't need to prove anything and act like big headed bikers. That's why, for the sake of ratings, we like to make some bizarre, viral content, whatever you want to call it.

Inspiration comes from all over the world, even from foreign filmmakers, apart from Danny, such as Sam Pilgrim, Matt Jones, Kriss Kyle, Chris Akrigg or Hans Rey. But we always try to put our own spin on it. Then we come up with some shit, go edit it and shoot it!

Where is the line for you, beyond which you don't want to go even in the craziest of your videos?

Anything with handlebars and wheels is fine with us.

Do you plan your work systematically long in advance, or are they to some extent impulses that just appear? You have a pretty good cadence of new videos.

Whenever. For some, Damjan and I may be synonymous with chaos, but we are so comfortable with each other that we can make a system out of it. Some ideas we plan ahead for specific days, but plans often bend, of course with the weather. The final decision to shoot often falls the day before, but the ideas we choose from have usually been around for a while.

I can't help but ask, why do you ride Fox helmets and clothing? What do you consider to be their strengths?

I have the Fox Flexair bike pants and I love the fit with the taper at the ankles and plenty of room for pads. I also like the excellent breathability, so they can be used all summer and protect you better than shorts in the bike park. When it gets cold, I ride the insulated version of the Flexair Pro Fire.

I also use the Ranger Water Jacket a lot, which has a roomy hood for my helmet and comes in handy anytime I know rain might come, not just on the bike.

My favorite helmet is the Fox Dropframe with extended back and ear protection. I've been riding it for three years now and it fits me great because it combines openness with better coverage. But I also use the Proframe full face helmet when I need it.

I also have Fox gloves, but I don't use those as much because I just usually ride without gloves. Overall, Fox has it perfected and I appreciate the overlap between bike and street wear in their products.

And what about the Five Ten Freerider Pro shoes? What do you appreciate most about this classic?

My partnership with SNOWBOARD ZEZULA actually started with shoes. First I rode in the Vans, but the Five Ten is a different level of riding. These shoes are well made, they have incredible durability and longevity, even when I give them a hard time. They take a while to work their way through, but then there comes a stage where they have optimum stiffness, are comfortable and give perfect pedal feel. They are firm, narrow and easy to clean. Combined with good pedals, the Stealth outsole sticks like a glove.

Tell us something about other equipment you have from SNOWBOARD ZEZULA:

Oakley Sutro glasses, they've survived some falls and I even sat on them in the car yesterday. Just click the temples and the glasses roll on! I'm so comfortable with Prizm lenses that I wear them not only on my bike, but also when driving and I don't mind wearing them almost all the time. Without them, my eyes get tired pretty quickly.

Bern Helmet – Simple and functional helmet I use for street trials.

Amplifi Salvo Joint Zip Pads – Now that's another banger! For me, an absolutely impeccable product. Thanks to the zipper, you don't have to take off your shoes when putting them on, they don't slide off and they are also useful when you need to hold the saddle with your knees when jumping, so it doesn't push.

Can you tell me what you enjoy most at the moment? Street/trial, trail/enduro, bizarre, teaching, live shows or making videos?

I'm currently enjoying it all!

What do you enjoy and what do you regret about the Czech bike scene?

It's good that we have a lot of places to ride in the Czech Republic and it's still growing. Bike parks and trail centres are being built, young people are riding, not just sitting at the computer, and I'm happy about that. I'm a little sad that a lot of people are tuning more than riding. On the other hand, at least they're getting a taste of the bike, so it's not such a tragedy.

Occasionally we get a text from a guy who just bought a bike and wants us to sponsor him. Do you have any advice for young up-and-coming bikers who would like to follow in your footsteps one day, succeed at races or on YouTube and get sponsors?

My advice is to practice, don't be satisfied with the tricks that fifty other people do in the bike park every day, but to get a little bit more active and take it to a higher level where someone can notice you. With persistent training comes self-discipline and reliability, these are important qualities for sponsors.

I hope I'm not going to offend you with this label, but you and Damex are actually YouTubers in a way, so how do you evaluate this scene, which is dominated by gamers? How are you dealing with the YouTube conditions and are you not planning on transitioning or separating some of the content to some other platform like a lot of creators are doing?

I've actually let go of the term youtuber and I don't really care where anyone puts me. YouTube is just a medium and we are all about content. I'm definitely not putting all youtubers into the same bag - there are some incredibly inspiring creators out there, but as far as gamers go, that category is beyond me.

For us, the paid platform is our educational project BIKADEMY, which we started creating during the covid pandemic when we were forced to cancel the live shows. We put our entertainment content on YouTube for free and this model works for us.

Which crash hurt the most?

Ironically, the worst fall was on a skateboard. I've been used to falling off my bike for 20 years and I've never had a destructive fall. I just don't know how to fall on a skateboard, and once when I was riding in half-pipe, I got a shoulder injury and was out for two months.

When were you most scared on the bike?

It was during a session with the photographer Ondra Grund from Blansko, with whom we were shooting at night on a bridge in the Moravian Karst. I was balancing on a concrete edge, with nothing 15 meters below me and then there was a rocky stream. I had to get on the pedals in the dark, while I couldn't see anything, and then Ondra pressed the trigger and I was hit by lightning right in the face. The whole thing had to be repeated about five times before the photo came out, so it was not pleasant.

What do you consider your biggest success so far?

At the moment I consider my biggest achievement to be that we can work consistently with Damex, make videos and have fun together. We've been doing this for six years now and we're still able to work together and build the BIKE O'Clock brand.

Oh, and I built a house, which is a big accomplishment these days too!

Best video? Not just by number of views, but from your own perspective.

The highest numbers are for viral videos, comedies, but I consider my best videos to be my edits - to me it's like when a band releases an album. It takes a lot of preparation, planning, practice, getting money and people to help you. That kind of thing only happens once every one or two years at most, so that's what I value the most.

 

E-bikes are still a bit of a controversial topic, so what do you think of them?

I don't belong to any of the extreme camps, neither the haters nor the uncritical enthusiasts. An e-bike is a great thing if you want to get a good run on enduro terrain, practice riding uphill where the motor will help you and you can practice your technique better than on a conventional bike. Downhill is great too, but the ebike is a bit of a tank with its weight, so you don't want to try tricks or bigger jumps on it.

What do you enjoy when it's not "time to ride?" Do you have any non-bike hobbies?

Of course I have and I'm trying to have! Sometimes you need to take a breather and get inspiration from somewhere other than the bike. I enjoy woodworking and of course other sports - wakeboarding, surfing, ski mountaineering or climbing. That's why it's nice to have a sponsor like SNOWBOARD ZEZULA behind me, who can gear me up for almost all my activities.

Do you have any other plans? What can fans look forward to in the near future?

Bigger plans are forming in my head, as I said, but it takes time. I just want to keep riding, take more trips with my friends, create content and keep improving. And also to stay healthy and keep riding for a long time, that's not a given at all and I appreciate it a lot!