If you follow any amount of mountain bike media, Peter Jamison is likely a name you’ve seen pop up more than a few times. The 23-year-old is already an accomplished filmmaker and photographer having worked with some of the biggest names in the Utah Freeride scene such as Jaxson Riddle, Tyler McCaul and Bas Van Steenbergen. But Jamison is also a skilled freeride mountain biker himself with a penchant for building and riding features that aren’t just gnarly, but also look great on camera.
To celebrate his joining the Race Face Team of athletes, Jamison called up some of his favourite filmmaker friends, headed up to the local hills in Utah and proceeded to make some magic with Welcome to the Team, Peter.
We caught up with Jamison to talk about finally putting down some roots in Utah, the transition to full-time athlete and where he wants to take his growing career in 2023.
You moved to your new place in Utah a few months ago now. What’s been the best thing about having a fixed address for a change?
I settled into life in Utah back in September of 2022 and it’s been such a treat. After living most of my time out of a van since 2018, having a house to kick back in feels amazing. It’s the little things; hot water all the time, a reliable shipping address, room for extra bike parts and being able to have enough power for the espresso machine. Life is good, and I am very thankful.
As someone who's spent a lot of time filming over the last couple of years, how was the transition to riding in front of the lens? Are you noticing any advantages from your photographer/filmmaker skillsets?
Transitioning from a full-time filmmaker to an athlete has been an interesting shift over the past few years. While there were some setbacks, 99 percent of the time my experience as a filmmaker is super advantageous. I understand every step of the creative process from the initial build (of a trail or feature) to the final video export. When I began creating videos of my own riding, my film background opened so many doors. I already owned all the necessary equipment, I was able to step in and edit if needed, and I knew the exact people I wanted to hire to film with me.
Hand-building one-off features is something that makes you tick. How important has building (and hitting) these unique features been for your development as a rider?
Building my own unique features is something that is so important to me, and over the last year or so, these builds have had a substantial role in my development as an athlete. When we began working on Perspective last winter, that was the first time I had a team of builders (Cole Nichol and Dillon Butcher) to work with, and it really opened my eyes to which ideas were possible. Personally, I love riding skateparks and park design is the most significant source of inspiration for my builds. When we began building some of these park-inspired features out of dirt, I had a rude awakening. Making things steep enough—and smooth enough—out of dirt is a lot harder than it looks. But when we wrapped, every build in that project turned out amazing. Moving forward, I can’t wait to keep bringing all these ideas in my head to life so I can fully express how I want to ride my bike.
What are you hoping to bring to the Race Face team in 2023?
I hope to bring an artistic image to the team in 2023. I love creating in all aspects of my life whether it’s through film, photo, riding, digging, or building bikes. With Race Face, I get to do all those things. For the future, I’m most excited to continue perfecting my craft and working on myself as an individual. As a producer, I am thankful I can hire my friends to work with me and I treat everyone with the respect they deserve.
What components are you running on your two main YT bikes and why do they work so well for you?
For my Tues, I’m running the Atlas lineup for wheels, bar, stem and pedals. I really enjoy how simple everything is with this line. I tend to abuse my downhill bikes pretty hard and Atlas is built for the beating. While I really enjoy carbon products on my other bikes and more technical things at times, I want my downhill bike to be able to fall off a cliff, dust it off and be just fine. The simplicity of the Atlas line offers that.
For my Capra, I am running the Next R 36 wheels—my favourite Race Face component—29” front and rear. I love the feel of carbon wheels when I’m on a 29” platform, especially when cornering. Over the past few weeks, I’ve put these wheels through their paces on my local trails, and they have held up like a champ.
For the cockpit, I’m keeping things simple at the moment with a Turbine R 40mm Stem and Turbine R Handlebar cut to 780mm. I opted for the alloy Turbine bar as I am still experimenting with bar width on the trail bike. But once I’ve settled on the length, I’ll likely swap to the Next R carbon bar.
Follow Peter on Instagram @peterjamison
View Peter’s creator portfolio at peterjamisonmedia.com