Player Spotlight: Bickbork

Background

Welcome to the first ever MKWLeaderboards Player Spotlight! This is the first installment in a series of interviews we will be doing with the most recognizable players in the community. The aim of this series is to allow these players to share their thoughts on the game, allow the community to get to know them better, and tell their story to the world!

This inaugural edition of the Player Spotlight features Bickbork, an American player who recently set his first ever WR on GCN Mario Circuit! Bickbork has been a top level player in the time trial scene for a few years now, with other notable achievements, including: a 1:08 on Luigi Circuit, 2nd on Mario Circuit, 3rd on Daisy Circuit, and 4th on SNES Mario Circuit 3. Many of these times were even set in the 6 months since his first WR!

Introduction

Who are you, how old are you, and where are you from?

Bickbork: I’m Bickbork, a lot of people now also know me as Matthew Young from The Inside Drift, I’m from just outside Cleveland, Ohio, and I’m 22 years old.

What interests and activities are you involved in outside of Mario Kart?

Bickbork: Probably my biggest other interest, just as a hobby, is climbing. I’m a pretty avid boulderer, got into that a couple years ago now. Unfortunately I have been perma-injured for the past year, so it has been a little rough in that regard. That, and just like, sports of all types, I follow fairly closely. I really enjoy them.

When did you start seriously grinding the game?

Bickbork: I would say I started seriously grinding it in Fall of 2018, but I didn't really join the community until sometime in Spring of 2020. I would lurk in twitch chats and watch YouTube videos, I really enjoyed watching players like Luke, NMeade, Troy. And the record channels, I would watch that stuff. I was grinding, but I wasn't very good of course.

Who, if anyone, did you look up to when just starting out?

Bickbork: Probably NMeade and Demon were the two people I looked up to the most. NMeade, you know, was making a ton of content. And with Demon, Demon is just awesome, dude. Love Demon. I would say they were probably my two biggest inspirations.

Did Demon having the WR on GCN Mario Circuit at one point influence you at all?

Bickbork: It definitely did. It wasn't a super big inspiration in the early days, because rMC wasn't like, my big track for the first couple years of me playing. But once it did become my main track, it was just an additional thing of how Demon was one of the best players there, and so was NMeade frankly, so I really looked up to those guys for that.

When you were starting out, was there a moment that made you realize that you had potential to be one of the best?

Bickbork: I can't really think of any particular moment. I remember what originally got me back into the game was when Blaze's 52.796 on SNES Ghost Valley 2 randomly popped into my YouTube feed one day, and I was like, “I should try and beat this." Of course, I still haven’t, still pretty far off. There was nothing that really made me think I would eventually get pretty good. There was just a steady progression over many a year.

In the community, who or what group are you closest with? Any player(s) that stand out in particular?

Bickbork: My main group in the community that I have been riding with for 6 years now is βτ, which I think was officially created in late 2020, in August. But, the group of the βτ people had been around for half a year prior to that, just existing in the Marv server. I think we all just met in his Twitch chats, and then migrated to Discord. Been very very active there since the beginning. Shoutout to Spencer, Aaron, Jake, Hydr8ion, Nate, Claus, Bynt, Alex, Andreese, Hedwig, Woomy, Manuel, NRStar, Zale, Ultra Pear, and Brophy. Probably my best friends in the world are from that group.

Journey

Since starting in 2018, what motivated you to keep grinding and improving?

Bickbork: I've always been somebody who liked numbers. So seeing the numbers go down was just a nice thing for me. Especially in the early days, part of it was I want to get better to try and compete at a record level, because who doesn't want to compete at a record level? But progress is so quick in the early stages. So for probably the first year or two of playing, it's like, "I can PB, two, three times a day," like literally every day playing, because the times are bad and you use every bit of skill you get. It makes it so much easier to improve.

That was a big motivator, just constantly seeing progress. And some of the guys I mentioned before, you know, NMeade, Demon, seeing Luke play when he was hitting his stride back then. And then later when βτ and the Marv server became a thing, it was just having fun with the guys and Mario Kart is what brought us together. So, of course, I'm wanting to play it a bunch.

During your time playing, were there ever any times when you needed to take an extended break, or almost quit for good?

Bickbork: I don't think there's ever been a time I almost quit the game for good. There's been one extended break, and that was fall semester last year. I just got in way over my head with school stuff and it was just a really rough semester for me. I didn't have time to play. So after the first couple of weeks of the semester, I just kind of realized I had to put the controller down, and basically didn't play at all for three months. Other than that, it's been very, very active from me over these past eight or so years. I try and play every day if I can. Sometimes I don't play for short stretches of time for various reasons, but usually I am very, very active.

What was your biggest heartbreak moment / disappointment you've had in time trials?

Bickbork: I have a couple infamous moments I can think of. I think neither of them were super big heartbreaks for me. When I got my 1:30.992, though that was still the sub that I had been trying for for a while. So I was really, really happy about that. Same with the 1:30.377. It was much more of like, “Oh my god, bro, you failed the world record to the very end." But it was also it was so unexpected for me because I hadn't been playing the track much, it was finals week. I think I it was my first day back on the track, and I just randomly pumped out that run. And then like a dummy, instead of continuing to play 3 Lap, I proceeded to spend the next two weeks playing Flap.

As for heartbreaks, though, it's probably not even one of my runs. It's just when Logan hit that [1:30.272] run. It was just devastating. It was summer of 2022, and I was getting to a level where I thought I was close. I was finally starting to get paces to lap 3 that were failing to hitting the plant. And then Logan drops that cut of .250, and it's just like “It's over, dude." I just felt completely hopeless to beat it any time in the near future. It just kind of felt like it got ripped away. And so I kind of gave up on rMC for a bit after that.

While being a very versatile player, you are most known for your talent on GCN Mario Circuit. What about this track led it to be “your” track?

Bickbork: I think it's probably a combination of, I really looked up to Demon, NMeade, and Luke, and they were all really good rMC players. So I'm like, "I should try and become a good rMC player." But then beyond that, I just enjoy it. I've kind of become partial to QM heavy tracks. As much as I don't like QM on other tracks, I am completely fine with it on rMC. I just enjoy the gameplay. It's nice. There's a good balance of tech and driving.

What goes into your decision to pick up a track, or not play it at all?

Bickbork: I've gotten into a point where there are tracks that I am pretty good at. And so I just spend most of my time playing those, because they're the ones I enjoy playing. Maybe because I'm good at them and don't have to do a ton of learning on the track. When it comes to picking up other tracks, like I've done more recently, like N64 DK’s Jungle Parkway or something, it just has to be done because my time is too bad and we can't let it stand like this. But for tracks like Parkway, or like DS Desert Hills, or DS Peach Gardens, I just try and avoid them if I can. I also don't know if I'm petty or something, but when I see other people play a track, and I know a lot of other players have the same thing, I want to play that track. It just gives me motivation. "I want to try that."

During every player's time trial journey, getting their first regionals and worldwide tops is a major milestone. Can you talk about those, and what they meant to you?

Bickbork: So first regionals, this was back in 2021. At the time when I was going for it, 10th American was Blaze, with a high 1:31.4. I think my starting point for that grind was at a 1:31.7 or .6. I was playing it together with Fatality, and grinded it for like, a month and hit a 1:31.5. It was pretty close and just barely didn't beat Blaze.

The real thing that got me over was I finally learned how to do the fast double at the end of laps, because back then, resources for learning how to do stuff were very limited. You just had to figure it out. Eventually I figured out what I was doing wrong, and that gave me the ability to get there. Getting the run at the end of a month long grind, just felt so, so good. And better yet, at the time, worldwide tops was a high 1:31.2. But the 1:31.303 I hit was 12th worldwide, and like 20ms off worldwide tops.

Just a couple months later I came back for [Worldwide Tops] and I got it with a 1:31.235 pretty quickly. That one also felt really good. But I think the regionals one was certainly the bigger one for me. There was nothing better than going on MKL and pulling up rMC regionals and just seeing my name on there. It was just the best feeling in the world back then.

Give us an overview of your journey to your first WR.

Bickbork: After Logan got his record, I didn't play rMC for a while. At the start of 2023, I played it some more. I started to get some good paces, had a record pace or two, and I started to believe that it could happen again. But, I was still pretty far away. I got better over the next couple of years, and hit some more PBs, got a 1:30.6, got a couple 1:30.5s. I got that 1:30.377 at the end of 2023, and then kind of hit a big mental block. My style of play on the track was really, really limiting because I just pushed speed. The way I was approaching double mounds made them super, super inconsistent.

At some point, in maybe early 2025, I went on a long rMC grind and it was that same issue of "I cannot hit double mounds at a consistent enough rate for this.” So, I started playing [single mounds] because I just wanted to try it out. But, I noticed from paying attention to my attempts that my level on the rest of the track had gotten incredibly high, so I took advantage of it. I got that [1:30.340] run in early 2026. I kept playing single after I hit that run, because I was like, "I mean, why not? Maybe I can record with this." It was only 68 milliseconds away. I had a few paces for it, but I didn't end up getting it done because beating [Logan’s 1:30.272] with single would have been really, really hard. After I stopped playing single, I just hopped on some other stuff for a couple of weeks and then came back, started doing double mounds, and just hit it instantly.

Describe how you felt when you finally set your first WR. Was it just purely euphoric, or more of a relief?

Bickbork: It was more so just a feeling of relief. I was happy, but especially with how the run was going, because it was a pretty big BKP, and then lap 3 I got absolutely screwed on the shroom and got almost no air into it. The shroom was really bad, because I had to play it weird to even make it out of the cut. And then, I think I might have dropped on the straight. At that point, I'm like, “Oh, no... have I sold it again?” Then, you know, got a good ending, and it ended up being World Record. And when I crossed the line, I was expecting it to be, seeing the digits. I was happy. I was mainly relieved that I didn't choke again.

And then after that, I wanted to record a reaction, right? So I set up my computer to record. My computer had forgotten that its own camera existed. So I spent like 30 minutes trying to figure this out. And by the end of it, it still couldn't remember its camera existed. And by that point, all the feelings from the record are gone. I was just annoyed at my computer. It was like, “Really? We're doing this right now?"

So, yeah. I was happy about it, but it was mainly relief, like you said.

Renaissance

It is a common idea among top players that when a player finally reaches that big milestone of a WR, it unlocks them and their confidence, and you are no exception. Can you describe that phenomenon, and how it has changed you as a player?

Bickbork: I think the biggest help it gives is just that you get less nerves. Part of going through a record grind is learning nerve control at a high level. I think that's one of the most important things you gain from it. Then once you do get it done, it's like, “You have a record." You don't have to prove anything anymore. So that's been nice. I've definitely felt more in control of my nerves on runs since then. I still get little bits, but I have my ways of managing them pretty well.

The other big thing is that I don't have to spend so much time playing [GCN Mario Circuit]. I actually have time to put into other stuff, because it's not always in the back of my mind like, “Oh, I should go play rMC because I need to get this done." Because I did do that. I needed it so, so, so badly. It was just so freeing. And I kind of had a rough month after the record. I felt like getting it just sapped all my skill for like a month. And then I had the idea of like, "oh, I should just go play all the Mach Bike tracks." I've had a lot of success on that since. I got pretty good on SNES Mario Circuit 3, got a nice time on Daisy Circuit. Got a quick Parkway 2:11. It's been good.

You said that you have your own ways of managing nervousness on strong runs. Can you talk about things that you do, and the way that your handling of being nervous has changed over time?

Bickbork: It really has evolved like a lot over the years. When I started out, nerves were a big problem. And, you know, sometimes nerves can be good. Especially on like for me when I was newer, when I would get on my best pace, I just happened to hit a lot of good lap threes after them. I don't know, like nerves kind of just helped. They just make you make different mistakes. When you're newer, things aren't nearly as precise, and so the nerves can maybe help with that a little bit. They weren't so bad for me for a time.

And then as I got better, it became a much bigger issue. This is what nerves do, and this is why nerves aren't a problem when you're newer: Nerves make you play fast. You get jumpy and you do inputs too early, right? And when you're new, that's not a huge issue because you already do inputs too late. And as you get better, you start doing things at the right time. Now, you get nerves, and now you're doing things too early, causing you to fail, right? And you just get that feeling in your stomach or your chest, your breathing changes a little bit when you're on something good. You just get a little jumpy, a little jittery.

That was tough for a while, especially on rMC. It causes problems for the tunnel, and especially the double mounds. The double mounds suck when you have nerves! I didn't have much of a strategy for them for a while. Eventually it sort of became conditioning myself to just absolutely despise every lap and pace I hit, to try and just not get nerves at all. It can work okay, but in the back of your mind, you still know you're on something good, even if you're trying to pretend you're not.

I'd say more recently, it shifted away from that into more of just like, “Okay, I'm on something good. I have to execute now," you know? My goal is to be calm and just do my thing. And that's the strategy I'm employing now. I think it's working pretty well so far. So yeah, it's just more experience handling them, too. When I feel the nerves start creeping in, I consciously say to myself, “Calm down,” and “Execute." So yeah, that's kind of how it is now.

Many people view time trials as a player versus self journey, where you need to succeed via willpower and improvement. However, at the top level, you often end up competing with other top players. How do you deal with the competition from some of the best players in the game?

Bickbork: That's a good question, because it really is like that. It really is. At a lower level, if you find yourself a good friend group, you're gonna be competing there too. But, it's a little different once you get to the top. At the top, when you're competing against a top player, it's just like, sometimes I just gotta accept it. Like, yeah, I'm playing it, but, especially when I was in my earlier days on rMC, I remember when Connor and Sosis hopped on it. And I'm like, “Okay, yeah, this is just a skill diff.” I'm just nowhere near these dudes. I just gotta accept that they're gonna get stuff way faster than me. And even now, like, that's true for still a lot of players, but I feel like I haven't had to compete much.

Sometimes you just have to accept it. You just have to have your process and your own goal. If your goal is to hit a time, you probably shouldn't shift the goalpost during that same grind, just because somebody else hit a faster time, and you want to beat them. I think if you shift the goal during a grind, that's fine, but it should be because of stuff that you've done and improvements that you're making. But if you're just shifting it because somebody else hit a better one, you might be better at sort of taking a little break after you get your goal, and then coming back renewed, bad habits gone, and trying again, seeing what you can improve this time around.

Which player was the most difficult you have ever had to compete with?

Bickbork: It's Logan, bro. Logan's the most infuriating player to compete against. It's ridiculous. It's just because he has the most infuriating skillset. It's not just that he's good at everything, it's that his superpower is lap three on good paces. And it's like, "bro, fail a run, please!" I can't compete when your average run is a BKP with a good lap three after. So yeah, it's Logan. Fortunately, haven't had to compete with him much. Just on one track. And he wasn't even really trying. He just got one run and dipped.

What goals do you have in time trials right now?

Bickbork: Something I've been thinking about, starting a year or two ago is the idea that I am getting older, life moves on, and at some point, the end will come, right? And so what I've been doing lately is trying to hit times on tracks that I am satisfied with never improving. So I did that on Luigi Circuit with getting 1:08. I did that on MC3 with getting 1:17. I've done that on Daisy Circuit now. I did it on Mario Circuit. Still a ton of tracks to go through, but that's probably the big thing for me now, is just trying to go through every track and hit a time that I can rest with. And other than that, I mean, the same still applies on rMC. I'm still not there on rMC. I will be back for more, but I think that's kind of the big thing.

What does an average time trial session look like for you? Do you have any special practice routines?

Bickbork: I'm not a super fancy player. It's changed a little over time. When I used to warm up, I used to pick a secondary track to warm up on for sessions, but I don't do that anymore. I've found that it's just distracting to me. My warmup tracks would typically end up transforming into the track I'm playing, and I just stopped playing the track I'm actually supposed to be playing. I just do my best when I focus all my energy onto one track.

I've never been a big practicer. Part of it was probably that I never, had a laptop good enough to run Dolphin consistently. I could run it, but it would be varying from 15 to 30 FPS. MKW-SP wasn't a thing for most of my time playing. I did it a little bit on rMC, just driving back and forth to practice certain sections. I've done that a little bit on other tracks as well, but most of my TT sessions, it's just straight into doing attempts. I don't reset a ton. I tend to play stuff out a good bit, not to finish runs, but just because I enjoy playing the track and I don't want to reset every 15 seconds on whatever I'm playing. I'll play dead stuff out for like a lap or two, just because I want to get more reps on the rest of the track.

As for sessions, this is something that I noticed early on and has persisted my entire time playing the game. It takes me a little bit to warm up, then I'll get to playing well, maybe 15 to 30 minutes into the session. I'll play well for about half an hour. And then I'll hit a down period for a while. Then, about two hours into the session, I'll hit a second wind and start playing really well again. Usually my sessions are two and a half-ish hours, because that just lets me get my second wind in when I'm playing well. And after that dies down, it's like, “Yeah, I should probably stop because I'm not getting anything good after this." That's just how my sessions have always gone.

Recently, you started the Inside Drift Podcast with some of your clan-mates. What prompted you guys to start this podcast, and how has it been going so far?

Bickbork: I think it was probably Spencer's idea. It's almost an extension of calls we have. Him and I are into sports, and we watch sports podcasts. We'll have debates about sports stuff in call at night a lot, and the same goes for MKW. We talk about all the topics we talk about on a podcast. So we thought, "maybe we should just put this stuff out there?” That's kind of how it began. We've got Hydr8ion and Nate on there because, you know, they'd be there in calls, too. So, yeah, I'd say it’s been going pretty good. It has also gotten a lot more attention than we ever thought it would. The reception's been really good for it.

It's just been a bit of a struggle since going back to school this semester, scheduling-wise. I'm free most of the time, but the other guys are kind of busy, so it's been a challenge finding times to record. But Hydr8ion's been amazing as an editor for us. I look forward to recording every other week when we do it.

Another nice thing about it is that we got to do our research for it, man. I just had the opportunity to learn more about the history of the game through having to research before episodes. And also, hearing stuff from Spencer is like... He's kind of a sicko about it. Sometimes I'm like, “Why do you know this stuff?” But yeah, we've got more good ideas coming down the pipeline. I think it'll stay fun.

In addition to this, you've also started making some content on your YouTube channel where you give your thoughts on the game and the time trials scene, as well as a WR review series. Can you talk about your motivation for that, and how you like it?

Bickbork: The WR review series is very obviously inspired by NMeade’s old series. I always loved watching those videos. Every month, it would be something I looked forward to, and I would watch them like a few times over, each. It was just awesome to hear NMeade’s thoughts about stuff. He's just such a charismatic guy. I don't have the charisma that NMeade does, but I'm trying to do justice to the series and bring it back so that other players can get a bit of that feeling again.

The other videos, like The 20 Levels of Mario Kart Wii Time Trialers, are just things I've thought of doing over the years and never had the opportunity to do them until now. For the longest time, I set myself a rule: I'm not going to do content creation for the game until I get rMC World Record. Once I finally did, it's like, "bang, I can start making making content now.” So, the 20 levels thing was something I had obviously got from the common level stuff. I thought it would be an interesting conversation around how player evaluation works. Same with the leaderboard video I made more recently. Other stuff has been players I find interesting to highlight. Like, for the to be immortal series, I was one of those players for such a long time! There is always the long running discussion who is the best player who has never set a world record. I was in those talks for a while, a lot of my friends were in those talks for a while. I don't know when the next one will come out, but I will get around to it at some point.

Wrap-up

Before we wrap up this interview, let's get some closing thoughts. Who do you think is the most promising up and coming player?

Bickbork: I don't know if he counts for this, I think the obvious answer is Marcus. But he's kind of just already there. The same goes for JC. They're still both new players. It's just that, they're already at that level of being really, really good. It's kind of the same for Dev. Dev and Tiles, are just like, if these guys just played the game more, they'd actually be insane. I feel like if I had to pick one who I still consider a newer player, it's probably Marcus, because the dedication is there, the talent is there. Once he gets over this Luigi Circuit World Record hump, it's over. Like he's just going to start dominating the Spear categories.

Where do you see the game in 5 years?

Bickbork: I don't think I've ever thought about that. It's hard to say. I'm kind of at the point where I'm expecting Logan's more or less retired. So I don't think he'll still be like a dominant force by then, because I just don't think he'll be playing. Mitch will be the champ, if I had to guess. I think that's definitely going to happen at this point.

A lot of it is just like, "How much longer do some of the older generation continue to play?" You know, like Luke, Vincent, Connor, Jared. I feel like a lot of people that we know will be done by then. I mean, even I might be done by then. We'll see. I think this new generation will be probably dominating most of the game by then, as I just have to think that some of the old generation will move on by then, and space will open up for new players to compete at the top. Yeah, it's hard to say.

Who is a “deep cut” player that we should try and interview next?

Bickbork: I don't know why, but my first thought immediately was Handy.

Handy, like Handy863?

Bickbork: Yes.

Who do you think is the most underrated player?

Bickbork: We were talking about this last night! When talking about it, we didn't really think of a lot of people. We just mentioned one name. And that one name is Emil. Emil is criminally underrated as a TT-er. He is very, very good. Some of the stuff he's done on Mach Bike is just insane.

I think people are seeing it now because he just set his [2:30.918] rBC, but Abhilash. Like, people don't know that Abhilash is just like that. I feel like Dev's gotten his flowers more recently. He used to be pretty underrated, but now… Bynt is probably underrated.

My answer for most underrated is just probably going to be Emil.

What is your favorite memory that relates to this game?

Bickbork: It's probably when I first got 1:30 on rMC. It was such an amazing achievement to get that sub. I was in call with all of βτ at the time, so we were just having a great time with it. And also, this is captured in time. I think there's a video of it on Hydr8ion's channel. I set it right before swim practice! I shouldn't have even been playing it, I should have already left! And so I set the run and then I just dipped. I was thinking about it the entire time I was at swim practice.

Also, all the guys in call called up my sister and had her come downstairs and delete the ghost! They had her come down and obviously upload the ghost first, but then delete it from the CTGP Channel. So when I came back, it was like, “Oh my god, what happened? Did the ghost not save?" I was distraught. It was just such a crazy event and it was so fun. It was just great. That's definitely number one for me, I think.

That is all of the questions we have for your interview. If you have anything else that you want to say, go ahead!

Bickbork: This was great! Thanks for having me on as the first one to do this, hopefully we get off to a good start! This was so fun. I can't wait to see all of these coming down the road, because I'm sure it is going to be very fun to read these as they come out.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading Bickbork’s Player Spotlight interview! This was really enjoyable to make, and I can’t wait to release more of these in the future. We have a very, very special player lined up for the next one, one that the community will definitely not want to miss. Stay tuned for that coming soon...