Yama: Human Trails

For our first installment, we meet Sebastien Salvant: a former racecar mechanic and a motorsport racer, and now a member of the Crankbrothers family. Based in Laguna Beach, California, and born in Miami to Haitian parents, Seb’s journey moves across worlds: from motorsport to mountain biking, from speed to stillness, from pressure to presence.

"The bike was my first freedom", you said. Why is that?

“I’ve always been into movement—anything fast, anything on wheels. I spent ten years in motorsports as a race car mechanic, traveling constantly. But at some point, I needed something different. Less pressure. More nature. And cycling became that shift.

The bike was the first thing that allowed me to get far from home. It opened up a whole world. I was just a kid, pushing the limits of how far I could go and still make it back before getting in trouble. That feeling—that sense of exploration—never left.

Years later, a first mountain bike ride in the Everglades changed everything.

It was raw. Not manicured. Real nature. That moment—it just opened a new world for me.”

“Riding is my therapy.”

For Seb, the bike is more than a tool—it’s a way to stay balanced.

“I need movement. If I don’t move, I get restless. Riding is like therapy for me. It clears everything.

Even working in the cycling industry hasn’t taken that away.

I’m lucky—my work and my passion overlap. But when things get heavy, I go back to the bike. It brings me back to center. That’s what it is for me: balance.”

What do you notice first when you meet someone?

“Body language—and humbleness.

Body language is something you feel more than you see. It’s instinctive. Animals understand it. It tells you everything without words.

And then humbleness. Being humble shows a lot. It shows awareness, that you understand you’re the same human being as somebody else. No matter someone’s status, we all have to wake up in the morning and put on our pants the same way.”

“We need more voices in cycling.”

Seb speaks openly about representation in cycling—and the need for change.

“There needs to be more people of color. More women. More perspectives. That’s how you grow something—by adding more ingredients.

In general, action sports are not where people of color are. I’ve often felt, I wouldn't say out of place, because I feel this is my place, but outnumbered, you know. Not out of place—but aware. And that comes from a lack of exposure, from people not being used to something different.

It all comes back to openness. Being willing to understand someone else’s experience.”

“Be ready to feel uncomfortable.”

His message to those who don’t yet see themselves in cycling is direct:

“Step into it. Be ready to feel uncomfortable—because it will be uncomfortable many times. I’ve been like that many times.

I’ve spent my whole life pushing into spaces where I didn’t feel fully comfortable—but that’s where growth happens. And the things I've been able to do and accomplish. It’s absolutely worth it.”