Eurobike 2021: Our athlete Mike Burgbacher joined us

12. September 2021

Interview with our athlete Mike Burgbacher

At the Eurobike exhibition you can find everything around the topic bicycle. This year there were 1,400 different exhibitors and there were also shows with Danny MacAskill, Duncan Shaw and John Langlois.

On the first two days the business days took place. There we were able to exchange information with all the brands and connect with new sponsors. On the third and fourth day, the Eurobike was then open to everyone. That means on these days we could then also exchange with athletes.
As a special guest this year we have invited our athlete Mike Burgbacher. In this way Mike was able to get to know us personally, get a better impression of become-a-pro and we were able to have a great exchange on the topic of sponsoring.

We also conducted an interview with Mike and brought in community questions as well. Below you can read all the questions and answers:

Who are you?
I’m Mike Burgbacher, I’m 20 years old and I’m from Spaichingen – that’s in Baden-Württemberg.

What are your favorite sports?
I ride mountain bike, enduro, dirt bike, quite a bit of pump track, and trial bike I ride on the side at the skate park.

How did you get into these sports?
I started pretty late, around 6th/7th great. I’ve cycled up and down stairs and stuff like that. At some point I got into downhill through friends. Then I bought a downhill bike and did more in that range.

What do you do for a living?
I am doing an apprenticeship as an agricultural and construction machinery mechanic. It’s kind of extraordinary because it has nothing to do with bikes. But I always wanted to work in that field. I just enjoy doing something with machines.

How do you balance your job with biking?
I have to say that sports are a really good balance to work. If there is a stressful day at work, you can go out with the bike for 2 hours and everything is forgotten.

How often do you practice with the bike?
Practicing? So, I don’t have a training plan or something like that. I tend to approach it more spontaneously, for example, I often go for a ride in the evening. And then sometimes I take the trial bike to the pump track when other friends are also at the skate park, that kind of practicing I do.

Have you ever participated in a competition?
No, unfortunately not yet. But I would totally love to try it out to know where I personally am regarding my skills. So, how good I am compared to others.

Are you involved in the bike scene in any other way?
Yes, we built a legal track at my hometown and we did a kids holiday program there recently. So I took the kids around and showed them how to jump properly. Some of the kids were actually in the air for the first time. There were some really awesome people and it was a lot of fun.

Why are you at the Eurobike?
I am here with become-a-pro. This gives me a chance to meet the people from become-a-pro in person and also to talk to other athletes at the become-a-pro booth. Besides, I can still enjoy the day at the Eurobike, watch the shows and take a look at all the new products.

What interests you at the Eurobike?
It’s really cool that you can see the new articles of all the brands in action for the first time and that you can also talk to the brands in person. This year I would also like to approach brands directly and inquire about sponsorships.

Do you already have sponsors and how do you approach sponsors?
No, unfortunately not. But I usually apply to brands that I just like. Even though they are usually very popular, but you can give it a try. And then I always write some kind of application, usually by e-mail – although it’s often really hard to find out the right person to contact.

So what do you submit on an application like this?
Just normal application documents. So, not a report card or anything, but I write what I do, for example, what races you do, what positions you’ve finished, etc.

And when did you first hear about become-a-pro?
About 1 1/2 years ago. There weren’t that many athletes on the platform yet. But then at some point I got the email that I should update my profile and then I saw that there are super many new athletes on become-a-pro.net. So I quickly updated my profile to keep up with the other profiles.

What do you think are the benefits for an athlete to sign up on become-a-pro.net?
This makes the application process much easier, since become-a-pro works with certain brands, you can then connect directly with the brands and thus have the right contacts directly.

And what advantages do you think become-a-pro has for sponsors?
They can get to the right people more easily in this way. If a brand is looking for certain athletes who have certain priorities, they can find them directly on the platform.

Since you’re already doing relatively well on TikTok, are there any tips you can share with other athletes to become successful on there?
TikTok is quite difficult. I don’t think anyone really knows the algorithm. But you should just make the videos that you enjoy, that fit to you – at least that’s how I do it. In addition, you should definitely add the sounds or the songs that go with them. And you should also make the effort and cut the video to match the song. This means more work, but it’s usually worth it.
And what I also have to say to my community: If you really enjoy some content, even from other people, share the videos. This way we can support each other.

Who are your idols?
Well, Danny MacAskill is already a sick guy! Then there are a few enduro riders that I think are really cool. There are just a few people who have a great style and I always watch the videos because that’s what motivates me.

What was your impression of the Eurobike and become-a-pro?
It was an absolutely great day! I met a lot of great new people, also from the become-a-pro team. I also had a lot of fun at the exhibition itself, especially because I was able to see a few shows.

What did you like most about the Eurobike?
I really liked the become-a-pro booth. I was also very happy to be here, thanks for that again! And yes, apart from that the shows were awesome and just that I met so many new people.

At the Eurobike you could get to know the team of become-a-pro better and also the first time in person. What do you say about become-a-pro now compared to earlier?
There is definitely a professional and serious team behind it, and to be honest,
they deserve much more attention. Because the work that they do is really awesome!

And what do you think will happen in the future regarding become-a-pro?
I hope that sponsors will be interested in me. We’ll see what happens in the future.

What is your plan for the future?
My plan for the future is just to keep having fun on the bike, keep making videos because I’m having a blast doing that and build YouTube even more and bigger.

Additional questions from the community:

What’s your hardest trick and what’s your favorite one?
My favorite trick is the 180. It’s pretty easy for me now, but it’s fun and it looks cool.
And my hardest trick is probably the 360, but I’ve done that so many times that I can do it pretty easily.

What kind of sponsor would you most like to ride for?
There are many… But what I find most important, or what definitely needs to be included, are equipment brands, such as protectors and helmets. That would be totally cool to find a sponsor in that area. Regarding bike parts, I simply love Shimano! For brakes, Magura is my favorite. And when it comes to the bike: I’m very happy with my Trek – it would be really cool to be sponsored by them.

What do you think about become-a-pro?
It’ s a very cool way to find sponsors, especially easily. When you get to know become-a-pro via the internet, you underestimate that the platform is very trustworthy. It’s not a fake platform or anything like that. Instead, there are really people behind it who are trying to find sponsors and who are just sticking to it.

What are your goals in terms of biking?
Just having fun! And my biggest goal is to be able to make a living from it someday. Even if not necessarily much comes around, but just be able to live from it – that’s really a big dream of mine!

Thanks a lot for your answers, Mike!

If you have any questions for Mike or become-a-pro, email us at info@become-a-pro.net or simply DM us on Instagram.

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