Photos and videos by Noah Cooper-Abbs, NCA Media
We love supporting talented riders here at Starling Cycles, and we’re proud to introduce our latest signing… Hâf Land.
Hâf (pronounced Harve, by the way) is an 18 year old enduro racer, from North Wales right here in the UK. She’s only been racing since 2022 but has already got a whole heap of really decent results in the bag, including a load of #1 spots at the UK’s Welsh Enduro Series.
Hâf will ride a Starling Twist this year racing the British Enduro Series, Welsh Enduro Series and maybe even a few Enduro World Cup events.
She came on board on Fleur’s recommendation (our long-standing sponsored rider) after they rode together in North Wales. If she gets the Fleur seal of approval, she’s good by us!
Hâf – via Starling – will be supported by Ohlins, Michelin, BikeYoke and TF Tuned. She’s also personally supported by DirtLej.
Hey Haf, who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.
Hey! My name’s Hâf Land, I’m 18 and I’m an enduro rider from North wales.
What made you fall in love with riding bikes?
Biking has been a really good release for me, it’s my outlet from normal life and is very freeing.
I love the places riding takes me and the people I meet through it, riding is just my favourite thing in the world.
What’s your mountain bike origin story?
I got bitten by a radioactive bike and now here we are!!
I’ve been biking since I was really little, however, stopped riding as much in my early teens due to other interests (mainly horses 😬 ) before deciding that the path i was on wasnt the one for me, and from there gradually turned back to biking again because it was what i loved!
I bought myself my first mountain bike in 2020, it was a dark blue and pink Whyte 802 and it was my favourite thing ever. Looking back now I’m surprised I managed to ride what I did on a 120mm travel hardtail. Seeing how far I’ve come from then is really cool!
I then went on to save up and buy myself my first full-suspension bike and that bike changed it all for me and opened so many new doors.
And what do you love about riding a bike?
The freedom it gives me.
I feel like I can achieve anything on my bike, and the opportunities are endless.
What’s the plan for 2024?
This year I’m planning to race again in the British enduro Series, a few of the Welsh series and maybe some of the EDR opens, as well as a few trips away with friends! I am planning on going out to Finland for work for a few weeks in June and will take my bike with me then and go on a bit of an adventure
I’m also planning on heading to Molini again this year too.
What are you working on with your riding for 2024?
I think I’m always working on my riding and constantly want to feel like I’m progressing.
The biggest thing for me this year is to just enjoy it and have fun. I think people get so stuck in the cycle (no pun intended) of racing and training that they never stop to have fun, so this year is all about taking it in my stride, learning to accept that I won’t always have a ‘good day’ and that’s okay as long as I’m out having fun.
How’d the Starling thing come about?
I was out riding with some friends one day, and my boyfriend’s friends joined us, I hadn’t met them before but I had heard lots about them, and one of the friends was the lovely Fleur!
Fleur was telling me all about Starling and at the end of our ride she asked if I would mind if she passed on my information to the guys at Starling and now we are here!
Tell us about your Starling for 2024 – what are you riding, how’s it set up?
This year I’ll be onboard the Staring Twist, which is the mullet bike, I’m super stoked on the build and can’t wait to see what it can do between the tapes! I’m currently riding a loaner from Starling, by my proper race bike will turn up soon and I can’t wait.
That video shoot didn’t go entirely to plan – what happened there?!
So we headed out a few weeks ago with Noah to shoot a release video for my starling announcement. We came across a step-up and I decided to just pop off it first, rather than fully send it, just to get a feel for it. I landed, slipped out sideways and landed on a root – which snapped my break lever on a rock. Oops. Silly crash, but these things happen!
Off the bike – what are you into?
I love doing lots of different things, from silversmithing to going climbing with friends or wild swimming. I even went fell running again this week for the first time in what felt like forever… however, I can’t say I feel any urge to do that again anytime soon!
I just love being outside so as long as I’m busy doing something, I don’t mind what it is!
Hit shuffle on your Spotify/Apple music/iphone/generic mp3 player’s favourite playlist. What 5 songs come up?
This is my favourite question so far!
I LOVE music and listen to just about anything, but some of my all-time favourites have got to be these five!
Learn more about Hâf on her insta here.
And more about the Starling Cycles Twist here.
And more about Starling’s range of steel, handmade mountain bikes here.
