Meet Devinci Global Racing’s Calgarian: Evan Wall

Evan Wall is Devinci Global Racing’s newest signing. Originally from Calgary, Alta, Wall now lives and trains in Squamish, B.C. after a stop over in Revelstoke. He’s also the first winner of mountain biking’s reality TV show, Pinkbike Academy’s first season.

These days, Wall’s competition is the top pro riders on the Enduro World Series circuit. I caught up with the 23-year-old enduro racer to talk about the big first block of European EWS races, joining Devinci and, of course, the reality TV experience.

CanadianMTB: So you grew up in Calgary. When did you move to Revelstoke, and what led you there?

Evan Wall: Since I was around 12, I’ve been taking trips to Revelstoke with my dad. one trip in the winter, one in the summer. Every time I went there I thought “this place is where I wanna live.” So, once I finished high school I moved out there. Primarily for biking, but also for skiing.

You ended up leaving Revy for Squamish. What drove that move?

Once I wanted to train full time for racing I cam out here. I can ride year round and be surrounded by other professional riders as well as have a coach in the same town as me.

Does having that big group of pro riders make a difference?

For sure. There’s always people on a similar schedule, so there’s good people to go to the gym with, and people are always trying to push their riding.

You’re now living in one of the mecca’s of global mountain biking. Is there anything you miss about Alberta riding?

The Team Pilsner crew was deadly. I miss them. I don’t know if you know Reg Mullet or Danny Larouche, all those guys, but they’re wicked to ride with. Real good, older dudes but more stoked to ride than anyone else I’ve met.

You were on, and won, Pinkbike Academy’s first season. What was the reality TV experience like?

Uh, it was pretty funny. For some reason I didn’t expect it to actually be a reality TV show. I kind of expected it to be like Drop-In, that old TV show where they just went around in a bus and just shredded like a bunch of dirtbags. So that’s what I thought it would be like. Instead, we were actually doing reality TV, which was pretty funny.

This year, you’re on Divinci Global Racing, with Greg Callaghan and Georgia Astle. How did that switch from Orbea come about?

From the Pinkbike Academy, I had a one year contract…