Jun Alavaro

^{Photo by Foto Xycle}

“Coach” is often a term used to convey respect, to identify someone we know as a mentor, more experienced, someone whose opinions and instruction is not only valued but remembered, studied, and taken to heart. What makes someone a coach besides the obvious: it being an appointed position in sports? Depending on who you ask and what kind of athlete they are, a lot.

He’ll never call himself a mentor, or “old” and experienced for that matter, and he’ll definitely not acknowledge the term “coach” either. That’s why others call him that for him, and that’s why Jun Alavaro makes for a very good coach.

PUSHING YOURSELF BY RIDING

Does he like being called COACH? “You just have to ride,” Jun tells us, laughing, “you can prepare and prepare off-track but at the end of the day, you need to ride. It’s what would improve your riding, you get more comfortable, secure in your bike, doing the features, sessions. That ALL happens only when you ride.” Obviously, he’s uncomfortable about being labeled a coach, but what the hell, he’s a great one.

And he DOES ride, more than a few times now, we’ve ran into Jun in and around our gravity trails — and almost every single time, we get to talking about lines and options in a track, with him helping us out both mentally and practically. One of our content producers actually had a pretty good jump session with Jun in Antenna (back when it was still open) and currently rides with Jun in Samat pre-race days. What’s great about Jun as a “coach” is that it doesn’t matter what level rider you are, he’s going to meet you where you need to be met whether you’re a pro racer or a pandemic rider. You can always trust him to see things differently, or even see something you don’t, he’ll help you pick the better line, fix your approach, and even help you decide: squash or send?

RACING IN NUMBERS

And speaking of that term, “It’s okay to be called a Pandemic Biker,” Jun tells us with a smile, “I’ve seen people who just started riding (during the lockdowns) become great riders, even racers.” He says that it’s all up to the rider, you could be riding for 10 years and not have as much growth as someone who’s been riding for two, three years. What’s important, he says, is that we find a good crew, a group to go and ride with, growing together. “The community also has grown,” he continues, “all over the country. Tracks, trails, races, riding groups, they’ve all multiplied quickly. And that’s a great thing for mountain biking!” One of the things that Jun enjoys, especially that he works with the top bike shops, is “all the new technology that keeps coming out.”

Over the years and the countless number of races Jun has been a part of — he’s now in the 40-49 age cat, although most would argue he should be riding open or elite, a few races and tracks stand out. “For me, experience-wise, what stands out for me is Baguio, Benguet — Itogon, where Mt. Ugo is located. That place definitely is at the (literal) top of my list.” Jun continues to tell us about what it’s like to ride there, over 15kms of gravity and enduro riding. “Of course, I can’t NOT mention Patiis, where I can say that most of my growth in gravity happened,” Jun says, “and Samat, in Bataan. That place has gravity, steep parts, rocks, enduro, the works.”

We also couldn’t help asking the golden question: if you could ride anywhere in the world, where would it be? “Surprisingly, I’m not gonna say Whistler! I would love to ride there but if I had to choose? The Swiss Alps. I feel I’d love it more, the long enduro tests, stage to stage. Yeah, I think I’d like that better.” Jun confesses though that it doesn’t matter where he rides as long as he’s riding, “I still want to progress more, grow more. There’s still a lot of riding to be done.”

BIKE CHECK

“I like it because it’s a ’boutique’ brand, Pivot is an American brand know for DW suspension and well, being rowdy,” he answers when we asked about his bike choice, “it’s great even for pedaling, not just on gravity tracks. The tech really impressed me because I like approaching riding mentally as well. So it’s important to me that the bike is well-thought out.” Jun also tells us that support from the brand is great, communication is pretty much open. Jun rides a 2019 Pivot Firebird, 29er — all carbon and since he rides for Bike Town, he rides DVO, Onyx up front at 180mm travel and a Jade X for the 160mm rear travel. “It’s a custom wheelset too, combining Stan’s Flow MK3s with Chris King hubs — almost all exclusive to Bike Town.“