1
00:00:00,199 --> 00:00:02,033
Matter how your race goes. It's... You'll probably

2
00:00:02,033 --> 00:00:02,911
have a good day on the bike. You

3
00:00:02,911 --> 00:00:04,187
know I've always said, like fun as fast

4
00:00:04,187 --> 00:00:06,580
and fast as fun. Yeah. And it's it's

5
00:00:06,580 --> 00:00:08,255
so true. I I think that's something that

6
00:00:08,334 --> 00:00:09,552
I've kinda noticed from

7
00:00:10,184 --> 00:00:11,945
maybe motors sport or downhill well, you know,

8
00:00:12,025 --> 00:00:13,544
those guys don't spend a whole lot of

9
00:00:13,544 --> 00:00:15,464
time. On their race bikes, but when they

10
00:00:15,464 --> 00:00:17,144
do ride them, they ride them well and

11
00:00:17,144 --> 00:00:19,075
they ride them with intent. Yeah. The... I

12
00:00:19,075 --> 00:00:20,271
think there was an advantage there. What you're

13
00:00:20,271 --> 00:00:22,023
doing about... It's kind of a blurred line

14
00:00:22,023 --> 00:00:22,262
for me.

15
00:00:26,261 --> 00:00:28,014
Hey, everyone. I'm Chris Hall and this is

16
00:00:28,014 --> 00:00:29,927
the downtime podcast where we're gonna be taking

17
00:00:29,927 --> 00:00:31,680
you deeper than ever into the gravity bay

18
00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:32,716
side of Mountain biking.

19
00:00:33,209 --> 00:00:35,442
This week's episode is totally supported by my

20
00:00:35,442 --> 00:00:37,994
incredible patreon. It's a challenging time in the

21
00:00:37,994 --> 00:00:39,908
bike industry right now. And as a result,

22
00:00:40,147 --> 00:00:41,982
I don't have as much industry support I

23
00:00:41,982 --> 00:00:43,912
would hope to. That means that the sport

24
00:00:43,992 --> 00:00:45,908
I get from Patreon is even more important

25
00:00:45,908 --> 00:00:47,744
than ever and helps me keep the podcast

26
00:00:47,744 --> 00:00:49,980
going. So if you're enjoying the podcast, getting

27
00:00:49,980 --> 00:00:51,417
something out of listening and are in a

28
00:00:51,417 --> 00:00:53,030
position to help out they're from just 3

29
00:00:53,030 --> 00:00:54,969
pounds a month. You can join my patreon

30
00:00:55,030 --> 00:00:57,510
over at patreon dot com for slash downtime

31
00:00:57,510 --> 00:01:00,685
podcast. That's Patreon spelled PATRE

32
00:01:00,963 --> 00:01:02,394
And and you can find the link to

33
00:01:02,394 --> 00:01:05,096
that over at downtime podcast dot com. Alright.

34
00:01:05,335 --> 00:01:06,766
Just a couple more quick things before we

35
00:01:06,766 --> 00:01:09,006
get stuck into this week's episode. First off,

36
00:01:09,165 --> 00:01:10,753
make sure you never miss an episode by

37
00:01:10,753 --> 00:01:12,658
following the podcast. Just hit the follow button

38
00:01:12,658 --> 00:01:14,722
in your podcast app now or you'll find

39
00:01:14,722 --> 00:01:16,787
dedicated buttons for all the major platforms at

40
00:01:16,787 --> 00:01:19,737
downtime podcast. Dot com slash follow. You can

41
00:01:19,737 --> 00:01:20,769
also keep up to today date with what's

42
00:01:20,769 --> 00:01:22,593
going on by following us on Instagram or

43
00:01:22,672 --> 00:01:25,068
Facebook where we're at downtime podcast podcasts. And

44
00:01:25,068 --> 00:01:26,658
if you're hungry for more downtime, then you

45
00:01:26,658 --> 00:01:28,884
can join the newsletter at downtime podcast dot

46
00:01:28,884 --> 00:01:30,076
com slash newsletter.

47
00:01:30,791 --> 00:01:32,381
If you wanna help support the show and

48
00:01:32,381 --> 00:01:34,265
patreon isn't your thing then you can represent

49
00:01:34,384 --> 00:01:36,615
by gravity sell some fresh merch from downtime

50
00:01:36,615 --> 00:01:38,845
podcast dot com for the shop. Or by

51
00:01:38,845 --> 00:01:40,757
sharing the episodes on your social media.

52
00:01:41,315 --> 00:01:43,078
By Also, if you prefer to watch today's

53
00:01:43,078 --> 00:01:44,667
episode, you can now check out the podcast

54
00:01:44,667 --> 00:01:47,289
on Youtube at youtube dot com forward slash

55
00:01:47,289 --> 00:01:48,402
at downtime podcast.

56
00:01:49,054 --> 00:01:50,410
Love it If you head over there, subscribe

57
00:01:50,410 --> 00:01:52,005
to the channel and show the video some

58
00:01:52,005 --> 00:01:53,201
love via likes and comments.

59
00:01:53,839 --> 00:01:55,036
All the links I mentioned are gonna be

60
00:01:55,036 --> 00:01:56,551
in the show notes for this episode on

61
00:01:56,551 --> 00:01:58,625
the website downtime podcast dot com.

62
00:01:59,517 --> 00:02:01,452
Alright. Today you were joined by Irish and

63
00:02:01,510 --> 00:02:04,220
stark, Greg Call. Greg has recently moved away

64
00:02:04,220 --> 00:02:06,133
from a factory team and created his very

65
00:02:06,133 --> 00:02:08,463
own program. We talk about what went into

66
00:02:08,463 --> 00:02:10,301
that and how he approached put together a

67
00:02:10,301 --> 00:02:12,938
package to enable him to perform. Will delve

68
00:02:12,938 --> 00:02:15,096
into his 20 24 Endure world cup season,

69
00:02:15,256 --> 00:02:17,267
his thoughts on how the sport has evolved

70
00:02:17,267 --> 00:02:19,343
and the adaptations he's made along the way.

71
00:02:19,742 --> 00:02:21,499
I chat with Greg about his experience of

72
00:02:21,499 --> 00:02:23,255
racing the e in gi to get some

73
00:02:23,255 --> 00:02:25,171
insights into this new discipline and how it

74
00:02:25,171 --> 00:02:25,490
works.

75
00:02:26,064 --> 00:02:27,817
Greg has a wealth of experience in the

76
00:02:27,817 --> 00:02:29,491
sport and it shows in this episode with

77
00:02:29,491 --> 00:02:31,644
some great insights into what it takes to

78
00:02:31,644 --> 00:02:35,007
before. So without further ado, here's Greg Call.

79
00:02:38,997 --> 00:02:41,311
Greg Call. Welcome back to the downtime podcast

80
00:02:41,311 --> 00:02:43,562
mate, we would saying it was 20 18,

81
00:02:43,722 --> 00:02:45,081
the last time you came on, which is

82
00:02:45,081 --> 00:02:47,238
a very long time ago in the grand

83
00:02:47,238 --> 00:02:48,756
scheme of things. A lot changed but so

84
00:02:48,756 --> 00:02:49,715
a lot hasn't right.

85
00:02:50,368 --> 00:02:51,879
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah Great to be back.

86
00:02:52,038 --> 00:02:53,470
It's it's been well. A lot has happened,

87
00:02:53,550 --> 00:02:54,902
but... Yeah, as you say, it's the same.

88
00:02:55,141 --> 00:02:56,516
Still racing bikes. Still

89
00:02:57,224 --> 00:02:58,821
still doing the same day today. So... Yeah.

90
00:02:59,060 --> 00:03:01,615
Same different. Still live the dream. And, I

91
00:03:01,615 --> 00:03:04,169
wanna talk about, like, the, I guess the

92
00:03:04,169 --> 00:03:06,186
longevity of you're career because you've been involved

93
00:03:06,655 --> 00:03:08,002
in Mac Barr for a long time now

94
00:03:08,002 --> 00:03:09,666
and actually involved in End gi from the

95
00:03:09,666 --> 00:03:10,562
very first

96
00:03:11,171 --> 00:03:13,723
Ew I think back in 20 13. Yeah.

97
00:03:13,962 --> 00:03:16,270
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's been... Yeah. Put a

98
00:03:16,270 --> 00:03:17,623
good shift. And I, it's a funny 1

99
00:03:17,623 --> 00:03:18,021
because, like,

100
00:03:19,692 --> 00:03:20,806
a lot of people say that and like

101
00:03:20,965 --> 00:03:22,318
I think I'm on, there's only a handful

102
00:03:22,318 --> 00:03:24,404
of us. Like, that are still around. Yeah.

103
00:03:25,122 --> 00:03:27,274
And it's not the longest time, I think,

104
00:03:27,353 --> 00:03:29,346
like it's... Is the twelfth year of Aws

105
00:03:29,426 --> 00:03:30,302
Ed world cup.

106
00:03:31,194 --> 00:03:32,311
And I could compare it out to downhill

107
00:03:32,630 --> 00:03:34,306
On there's multiple riders that are around longer

108
00:03:34,306 --> 00:03:35,365
than that, but I think

109
00:03:35,822 --> 00:03:37,578
the interest and thing is how much the

110
00:03:37,578 --> 00:03:38,615
sport has changed and evolve.

111
00:03:39,264 --> 00:03:40,453
Through that aladdin and I think that's where

112
00:03:40,453 --> 00:03:42,275
we've lost the roller riders maybe because a

113
00:03:42,275 --> 00:03:42,513
lot of the...

114
00:03:43,384 --> 00:03:45,365
The early riders were probably, you know, blind

115
00:03:45,365 --> 00:03:45,865
racing

116
00:03:46,174 --> 00:03:48,084
style and, like, we're so far from that

117
00:03:48,084 --> 00:03:49,221
now. So I think

118
00:03:49,596 --> 00:03:51,984
for me, having come more from the downhill

119
00:03:51,984 --> 00:03:55,736
side, originally. It was maybe easier to adapt

120
00:03:55,736 --> 00:03:57,245
with the sport as it went? Yeah. Have

121
00:03:57,245 --> 00:03:59,390
you missed any events along the way? I've

122
00:03:59,390 --> 00:04:01,614
only missed 4. Okay. So in the first

123
00:04:01,614 --> 00:04:02,805
year, I didn't go to the 2 North

124
00:04:02,964 --> 00:04:05,215
American races? Okay. Just budget related because you

125
00:04:05,215 --> 00:04:07,055
were like. It's just a full private. Another

126
00:04:07,055 --> 00:04:07,614
money Yeah Yeah.

127
00:04:08,414 --> 00:04:10,834
And then I missed someone 20 15

128
00:04:11,308 --> 00:04:14,020
through injury. Yeah. Made deer 20 19 through

129
00:04:14,020 --> 00:04:16,094
injury. Pretty good record doing it. Yeah. Yeah.

130
00:04:16,254 --> 00:04:17,609
I'm pretty... We actually went through some of

131
00:04:17,609 --> 00:04:19,444
the stats last year. Tj j Smith. He's

132
00:04:19,444 --> 00:04:21,554
he loves the stats. We went digging. And

133
00:04:22,166 --> 00:04:24,074
you have no Dns f's. Yeah. I think

134
00:04:24,074 --> 00:04:26,856
there's... It's almost 80 races I've done, and

135
00:04:27,015 --> 00:04:28,684
I think something, like, 60 of them are

136
00:04:28,684 --> 00:04:29,717
top 30. Wow.

137
00:04:30,289 --> 00:04:30,848
So I've been...

138
00:04:31,567 --> 00:04:33,802
Yeah. Pretty consistent. Yeah. That's solid. Yeah. Real

139
00:04:33,802 --> 00:04:35,079
solid. Yeah. I wanted to talk a bit

140
00:04:35,079 --> 00:04:37,554
about the the development of of because like

141
00:04:37,554 --> 00:04:38,831
you say, you've had the rings side seat

142
00:04:38,831 --> 00:04:40,384
for that and things. Have changed

143
00:04:40,759 --> 00:04:42,270
a lot like and not even on a

144
00:04:42,270 --> 00:04:44,496
sort of consistent trajectory that really it's been

145
00:04:44,496 --> 00:04:44,655
like,

146
00:04:45,450 --> 00:04:47,041
up and down and different styles and sort

147
00:04:47,041 --> 00:04:48,970
of finding in itself. Talk us a little

148
00:04:48,970 --> 00:04:50,990
bit through maybe some of the specifics of

149
00:04:51,209 --> 00:04:53,689
what you feels changed since back in 20

150
00:04:53,689 --> 00:04:55,770
13 to kinda of today. Yeah. Yeah. Like

151
00:04:55,930 --> 00:04:58,339
I think the the scope of the demands

152
00:04:58,339 --> 00:04:59,847
on what the sport is is really narrowed

153
00:04:59,847 --> 00:05:01,990
in because the, like, the first few years

154
00:05:01,990 --> 00:05:03,578
we had no idea we're in for. You

155
00:05:03,578 --> 00:05:04,610
know, when you would go to race in

156
00:05:04,610 --> 00:05:06,569
the French alps and it'll be too massive

157
00:05:06,609 --> 00:05:08,066
of days are racing and,

158
00:05:08,443 --> 00:05:10,196
you know, like, racing an hour in 20

159
00:05:10,196 --> 00:05:12,827
minutes over 2 days. Yeah. So you're... In

160
00:05:12,827 --> 00:05:14,182
terms of the pace you are riding, it

161
00:05:14,182 --> 00:05:15,787
was a lot less and it was more

162
00:05:15,787 --> 00:05:17,928
about being smooth being consistent. There was no

163
00:05:17,928 --> 00:05:18,984
track walk. So

164
00:05:19,515 --> 00:05:21,022
that brings the level down as well. There

165
00:05:21,022 --> 00:05:23,894
was no gopro really, Like, cameras weren't that

166
00:05:23,894 --> 00:05:25,165
good then. Can cameras.

167
00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:27,470
Whereas now, you know, we're track walking. And

168
00:05:27,470 --> 00:05:29,775
we're watching Gopro. We've got 5 or 6

169
00:05:29,775 --> 00:05:31,785
stages in 1 day of racing. So

170
00:05:32,414 --> 00:05:34,175
we're riding a lot closer to the limit

171
00:05:34,175 --> 00:05:35,535
now and the margins are a lot smaller

172
00:05:35,535 --> 00:05:37,634
but between riders for the racing. So,

173
00:05:38,254 --> 00:05:40,014
yeah. It's it's definitely changed. It's gotten a

174
00:05:40,014 --> 00:05:40,629
lot more

175
00:05:41,067 --> 00:05:43,136
professional and refined? Yeah. How would you describe,

176
00:05:43,216 --> 00:05:45,205
like, the key skills that you need now

177
00:05:45,205 --> 00:05:47,115
then to be successful? Like, what are the

178
00:05:47,115 --> 00:05:47,615
main

179
00:05:48,388 --> 00:05:49,954
attributes as a rider that that

180
00:05:50,632 --> 00:05:53,185
deliver successor at a current version of the

181
00:05:53,185 --> 00:05:55,259
interior world series or Ed. Actually, this is

182
00:05:55,259 --> 00:05:57,572
the challenge really. It changes so many even

183
00:05:57,572 --> 00:05:59,326
though it's still changing. Right? Yeah. It really

184
00:05:59,326 --> 00:06:01,491
is. And like like, you know, even week

185
00:06:01,491 --> 00:06:03,003
to week this year, like our schedule is

186
00:06:03,003 --> 00:06:05,868
changing a this. Yeah. Like you know, come

187
00:06:05,868 --> 00:06:08,031
last week, we raised... We practice and race

188
00:06:08,031 --> 00:06:09,385
back to back days. Next week we'll have

189
00:06:09,385 --> 00:06:10,976
a rest day in between. U. So in

190
00:06:10,976 --> 00:06:13,205
terms of your preparation, that changes it quite

191
00:06:13,205 --> 00:06:14,797
a. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Come, we had

192
00:06:14,797 --> 00:06:16,548
a lot more endurance involved whereas now we'll

193
00:06:16,548 --> 00:06:18,476
get a rest day less insurance, so you'll

194
00:06:18,476 --> 00:06:18,976
probably,

195
00:06:19,433 --> 00:06:20,868
you know, have another couple of percent to

196
00:06:20,868 --> 00:06:21,586
give on Race day.

197
00:06:22,623 --> 00:06:24,617
I think in terms with scale as an

198
00:06:24,617 --> 00:06:26,292
enjoy writer, learning tracks is probably 1 of

199
00:06:26,292 --> 00:06:26,770
them. Okay.

200
00:06:27,901 --> 00:06:29,676
Yeah. Only 1 practice runs. So,

201
00:06:30,292 --> 00:06:32,285
yeah. The more you can learn from that

202
00:06:32,285 --> 00:06:34,277
1 practice run is is it can really

203
00:06:34,277 --> 00:06:35,729
help you in a day. Is that something

204
00:06:35,729 --> 00:06:38,605
you actively go and train and, like practice?

205
00:06:40,283 --> 00:06:41,801
Yeah. I think so. Yeah.

206
00:06:42,934 --> 00:06:44,688
Know, without it being super intentional because it's

207
00:06:44,688 --> 00:06:46,362
kind of the writing you do. Yeah. Know,

208
00:06:46,521 --> 00:06:47,638
you go for a 3 hour ride, you'll

209
00:06:47,638 --> 00:06:48,456
probably ride

210
00:06:49,232 --> 00:06:50,587
3 or 4 tracks and you might repeat

211
00:06:50,587 --> 00:06:52,354
a couple of. Yeah. You And it is

212
00:06:52,354 --> 00:06:54,447
something we do plan in that I would,

213
00:06:54,583 --> 00:06:55,936
you know, do a day train and try

214
00:06:55,936 --> 00:06:57,688
find new places to. Gonna say that's the

215
00:06:57,688 --> 00:06:58,802
challenge. You can't do it on a track

216
00:06:58,802 --> 00:07:00,252
you note. Right? So every time you would

217
00:07:00,252 --> 00:07:01,687
do that sort of work you've gotta go

218
00:07:01,687 --> 00:07:03,841
some way... Yeah. Exactly. And... Yeah. Yeah Yeah.

219
00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:05,277
So it is something we'll do where, you

220
00:07:05,277 --> 00:07:06,792
know, I might do a ride and ride

221
00:07:06,792 --> 00:07:07,988
3 tracks and then go back around and

222
00:07:07,988 --> 00:07:09,758
ride them again and try go fast. Yeah.

223
00:07:10,475 --> 00:07:12,068
So... Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely... That that'd be

224
00:07:12,068 --> 00:07:13,184
a scale. And then... As well,

225
00:07:13,981 --> 00:07:14,777
in terms of riding,

226
00:07:16,132 --> 00:07:17,407
you know, being able to ride different tracks,

227
00:07:17,566 --> 00:07:18,863
different speeds, different

228
00:07:19,414 --> 00:07:20,290
trail demands. Yeah.

229
00:07:21,883 --> 00:07:23,556
Yeah. There's there's quite a lot of and

230
00:07:23,556 --> 00:07:24,693
bike setup and,

231
00:07:25,308 --> 00:07:27,379
yeah. There's hell every element kinda it comes

232
00:07:27,379 --> 00:07:29,307
in. Have the of the stages,

233
00:07:30,982 --> 00:07:33,055
like, as an average got shorter. Do you

234
00:07:33,055 --> 00:07:34,650
think? Like, we used to have some super

235
00:07:34,650 --> 00:07:36,485
long stage I we haven't had anything mega

236
00:07:36,485 --> 00:07:37,521
long for a while, but I might just

237
00:07:37,521 --> 00:07:39,049
be out of touch I think a little

238
00:07:39,049 --> 00:07:41,434
bit... Yeah. Like, the last few years we

239
00:07:41,434 --> 00:07:43,183
were talking about this last weekend that I

240
00:07:43,183 --> 00:07:44,933
think the longest stage in the calendar now

241
00:07:44,933 --> 00:07:47,492
is too Fruity in. Yeah. And that's about

242
00:07:47,492 --> 00:07:48,606
11 minutes now. Okay.

243
00:07:49,322 --> 00:07:51,333
But part of that is how much faster

244
00:07:51,867 --> 00:07:53,935
bikes have gotten riders have gotten and trail

245
00:07:53,935 --> 00:07:56,260
building has gotten better. Okay. Because, like, Venue

246
00:07:56,260 --> 00:07:57,935
that when we come back and repeat.

247
00:07:58,733 --> 00:08:00,328
The trail builders would have done touch ups

248
00:08:00,328 --> 00:08:02,401
on the track. Mh. And, you know, little

249
00:08:02,401 --> 00:08:03,837
pinch points that would have slowed things down

250
00:08:03,837 --> 00:08:05,527
and made it a bit more physical and

251
00:08:05,527 --> 00:08:06,325
slower to add time.

252
00:08:07,043 --> 00:08:08,479
They might make that in nice corner? Yeah.

253
00:08:08,639 --> 00:08:10,873
Yeah. So then what maybe started out is,

254
00:08:10,953 --> 00:08:13,118
like a 14 minute stage over the years

255
00:08:13,118 --> 00:08:15,420
develops into, an 11:10 minute stage? Yeah.

256
00:08:16,293 --> 00:08:17,086
So it's kind of...

257
00:08:18,197 --> 00:08:20,594
Yeah. Which came first whether the tracks actually

258
00:08:20,594 --> 00:08:22,183
got shorter or we're just covering ground faster.

259
00:08:22,342 --> 00:08:23,875
And I think it is a challenge note

260
00:08:24,090 --> 00:08:25,599
for the people running the races is to

261
00:08:25,599 --> 00:08:27,603
give us a course that's gonna get 20

262
00:08:27,603 --> 00:08:28,719
plus minutes of racing. Mh.

263
00:08:29,517 --> 00:08:31,591
Because I think... I know a few years

264
00:08:31,591 --> 00:08:33,984
ago. I'd heard that on average, we're we'd

265
00:08:33,984 --> 00:08:35,898
to descend a hundred meters vertical in a

266
00:08:35,898 --> 00:08:36,616
minute. Okay.

267
00:08:37,505 --> 00:08:39,014
So for 20 minute race, you need 2000

268
00:08:39,014 --> 00:08:40,760
meters of descent. Yeah. So you're not gonna

269
00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:41,950
do that with an uplift. Yeah.

270
00:08:42,744 --> 00:08:44,276
So even just to get a course

271
00:08:44,729 --> 00:08:45,125
big enough.

272
00:08:46,094 --> 00:08:47,449
For the recent to be long. Yeah Yeah.

273
00:08:47,609 --> 00:08:49,203
It's quite a challenge. Because 20 minutes is

274
00:08:49,203 --> 00:08:50,718
the, like, cut off in the rule. Are

275
00:08:50,718 --> 00:08:52,074
they're trying to make sure the races are

276
00:08:52,074 --> 00:08:54,227
over. Yeah. Exactly. It's like mandatory, but I

277
00:08:54,227 --> 00:08:56,078
it's the guideline. And I think Everyone would

278
00:08:56,078 --> 00:08:58,394
want would want that. Yeah. You know, because

279
00:08:58,394 --> 00:08:59,992
we do want a a decent length of

280
00:08:59,992 --> 00:09:01,670
race. Yeah. Fair. So you've been at this.

281
00:09:01,910 --> 00:09:04,228
Yeah 13 years and racing bikes for longer.

282
00:09:04,704 --> 00:09:05,816
And you I think it's fair to say,

283
00:09:05,895 --> 00:09:07,404
like, your results have gone from the highest.

284
00:09:07,563 --> 00:09:08,754
You know, you've had some wins over the

285
00:09:08,754 --> 00:09:10,673
years and then you've had some some tougher

286
00:09:10,673 --> 00:09:12,972
races and some tougher times. Mh. With with

287
00:09:12,972 --> 00:09:14,636
that, like, breadth of experience that you have,

288
00:09:14,794 --> 00:09:15,532
you started

289
00:09:15,904 --> 00:09:16,934
to work out, like,

290
00:09:17,902 --> 00:09:20,209
why it works when it works and maybe

291
00:09:20,209 --> 00:09:21,879
why it's not working when it's not working

292
00:09:21,879 --> 00:09:24,186
so well, is there like, e finding trends

293
00:09:24,186 --> 00:09:24,480
and

294
00:09:25,312 --> 00:09:27,451
correlations and starting to understand your own performance

295
00:09:27,451 --> 00:09:29,908
more. Yeah. A little bit a it. It's

296
00:09:29,908 --> 00:09:31,835
it's an ongoing, and that's

297
00:09:32,224 --> 00:09:34,536
that's the attraction sport isn't that you're always

298
00:09:34,536 --> 00:09:37,248
chasing this... The perfect recipe. Yeah. For me,

299
00:09:37,407 --> 00:09:38,683
like I think the biggest thing is just

300
00:09:38,683 --> 00:09:40,836
feeling comfortable. K. Feeling confident and feeling good

301
00:09:40,836 --> 00:09:41,235
on the bike.

302
00:09:42,204 --> 00:09:43,181
You know, if I

303
00:09:43,713 --> 00:09:45,461
race day, jump on the bike and hop

304
00:09:45,461 --> 00:09:47,447
around the car park, the wheel nicely and,

305
00:09:47,526 --> 00:09:48,956
you know, you just feel, you know, those

306
00:09:48,956 --> 00:09:49,989
days, you just get on the bike and

307
00:09:49,989 --> 00:09:50,863
you feel good. Yeah.

308
00:09:51,513 --> 00:09:53,525
That helps. It translates onto to the stages,

309
00:09:54,059 --> 00:09:55,594
to be able to ride well, but,

310
00:09:56,287 --> 00:09:58,458
yeah. Definitely it's it's hard to find the

311
00:09:58,689 --> 00:10:00,284
the recipe because if there was just a

312
00:10:00,284 --> 00:10:02,278
checklist you could go through then... Yeah. We'd

313
00:10:02,358 --> 00:10:03,794
I'll be winning every weekend when we. Yeah,

314
00:10:03,874 --> 00:10:04,990
this is. And if you got... Have you

315
00:10:04,990 --> 00:10:07,223
found ways to help yourself feel more comfortable

316
00:10:07,223 --> 00:10:08,260
on the bike. Because obviously,

317
00:10:08,994 --> 00:10:10,512
time and testing and all this kind of

318
00:10:10,512 --> 00:10:12,590
stuff helps. But, have you have you found

319
00:10:12,590 --> 00:10:14,907
techniques to sort of almost convince yourself and

320
00:10:14,907 --> 00:10:16,425
your mind that you're feeling good. Like, maybe

321
00:10:16,425 --> 00:10:18,517
it is popping Wheel or hopping around, like

322
00:10:18,677 --> 00:10:20,594
I think I saw you in Tweed Valley

323
00:10:20,594 --> 00:10:22,432
just doing a little bit of trials hopping

324
00:10:22,432 --> 00:10:24,442
across the river on some rocks and just,

325
00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:26,585
I guess getting becoming in 1 with the

326
00:10:26,585 --> 00:10:28,569
bike at that point. Yeah. Yeah. That's it.

327
00:10:28,728 --> 00:10:30,395
And I you say it is kinda convincing

328
00:10:30,395 --> 00:10:31,903
yourself, And, you know, I think, a big

329
00:10:31,903 --> 00:10:32,879
part of it is quiet

330
00:10:33,188 --> 00:10:35,971
quiet the brain. This and not having too

331
00:10:35,971 --> 00:10:37,323
much of a busy mind coming into racing,

332
00:10:37,482 --> 00:10:39,470
so there's that, you know, the mental performance

333
00:10:39,470 --> 00:10:41,792
side of us, and then there's hop around

334
00:10:41,792 --> 00:10:43,407
on the bike It just makes me feel

335
00:10:43,545 --> 00:10:44,921
light sharp and kinda,

336
00:10:45,457 --> 00:10:46,971
you know, as I would want to ride,

337
00:10:47,848 --> 00:10:48,348
but

338
00:10:48,819 --> 00:10:50,337
something I do as well, like I try

339
00:10:50,337 --> 00:10:52,415
not to ride the race bike too much.

340
00:10:52,815 --> 00:10:52,894
Okay.

341
00:10:54,652 --> 00:10:56,330
Because we... The hours we do,

342
00:10:57,223 --> 00:10:58,653
you know, on a weekly basis there are

343
00:10:58,653 --> 00:10:59,551
days where

344
00:11:00,243 --> 00:11:01,753
you feel tired or you know, you're gonna

345
00:11:01,753 --> 00:11:03,581
do and you're gonna feel bad after that.

346
00:11:03,740 --> 00:11:04,240
And

347
00:11:04,867 --> 00:11:06,137
you know, they they'd be days where I

348
00:11:06,137 --> 00:11:07,486
be like, okay. I'll ride the small travel

349
00:11:07,486 --> 00:11:08,756
biker or a road biker or whatever. So...

350
00:11:08,994 --> 00:11:10,264
Yes. I just go out and do the

351
00:11:10,264 --> 00:11:10,764
physical

352
00:11:11,136 --> 00:11:12,644
focus of the session. And. Okay.

353
00:11:13,374 --> 00:11:14,962
The more technical days of Like right, I'll

354
00:11:14,962 --> 00:11:16,470
get on the race bike, and Then, you

355
00:11:16,470 --> 00:11:18,138
know, when you throw the leg over that

356
00:11:18,138 --> 00:11:19,250
bike. It's like, I'm gonna ride it while.

357
00:11:19,329 --> 00:11:20,917
I'm gonna ride it fast, and then new

358
00:11:20,917 --> 00:11:22,845
kind of built good habits on that bike.

359
00:11:23,004 --> 00:11:25,158
Yeah. You associate that bike with riding well

360
00:11:25,158 --> 00:11:27,232
because you're not hopping on it like, hanging

361
00:11:27,232 --> 00:11:29,385
after an interval session in the morning or

362
00:11:29,385 --> 00:11:31,274
something like. Yeah. Exactly. And and there's some

363
00:11:31,473 --> 00:11:33,243
where we'll want to ride a tired

364
00:11:33,615 --> 00:11:36,234
because that's yeah. Racing. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah.

365
00:11:36,472 --> 00:11:37,583
You know, and, as, like, when you have

366
00:11:37,583 --> 00:11:39,350
it set up for racing, things it'll feel

367
00:11:39,350 --> 00:11:40,790
really good when you're on and you're riding

368
00:11:40,790 --> 00:11:42,790
well. Yeah. And then you might get on

369
00:11:42,790 --> 00:11:44,230
it not feeling good, and you'll start to

370
00:11:44,230 --> 00:11:45,509
go how the bike feels his bike feels

371
00:11:45,509 --> 00:11:47,190
out, and you'll make changes, and then that's...

372
00:11:47,764 --> 00:11:48,744
It's kinda counterproductive.

373
00:11:50,721 --> 00:11:52,239
And, yeah. I I think that's something that

374
00:11:52,319 --> 00:11:53,538
I've kinda noticed from

375
00:11:54,077 --> 00:11:55,835
maybe motors sport or downhill as well, you

376
00:11:55,835 --> 00:11:57,367
know, those guys don't... Spend a whole lot

377
00:11:57,367 --> 00:11:59,281
of time. On their race bikes, but when

378
00:11:59,281 --> 00:12:00,877
they do ride them, they ride them well,

379
00:12:01,036 --> 00:12:02,552
and they ride them with intent. Intent is

380
00:12:02,552 --> 00:12:03,987
the key I think isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

381
00:12:04,147 --> 00:12:05,503
And it's that kind of purposeful practicing thing,

382
00:12:05,582 --> 00:12:06,061
you know, So,

383
00:12:06,873 --> 00:12:09,661
Yeah. Try quality over quantity. Yeah. But. Have

384
00:12:09,661 --> 00:12:11,174
you ever... You mentioned the mental side? Have

385
00:12:11,174 --> 00:12:13,484
you ever had any, like, support coaching on

386
00:12:13,484 --> 00:12:15,259
that side of things. You work with people

387
00:12:15,316 --> 00:12:17,320
throughout that Yeah. Yeah. On and off over

388
00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:18,513
the years. And then this year, I've been

389
00:12:18,513 --> 00:12:20,422
working with someone from the Apc, the rebel

390
00:12:20,501 --> 00:12:22,410
Abc. Okay. Which has been a great help.

391
00:12:23,444 --> 00:12:23,762
And it's...

392
00:12:24,732 --> 00:12:26,165
Even when things are going well, it's a

393
00:12:26,165 --> 00:12:27,599
good thing to stay on top of. Yeah.

394
00:12:27,758 --> 00:12:29,669
And just keep yourself on track,

395
00:12:30,545 --> 00:12:32,830
so if things arise on race day or

396
00:12:33,427 --> 00:12:35,598
training, whatever you have, like, kind of a,

397
00:12:36,452 --> 00:12:38,283
you know, like, AAA system you can go

398
00:12:38,283 --> 00:12:39,875
through to get yourself on track and get

399
00:12:39,875 --> 00:12:42,037
yourself calm down or get yourself in the

400
00:12:42,037 --> 00:12:43,808
right right mindset because

401
00:12:44,182 --> 00:12:45,930
the mental side of things. It's it's quite

402
00:12:45,930 --> 00:12:47,519
often overlooked, but it's something you need to

403
00:12:47,519 --> 00:12:49,369
train as well. Yeah. It's not something

404
00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:51,112
know, it's not like you just... You feel

405
00:12:51,112 --> 00:12:52,226
bad and you can do this quick fix.

406
00:12:52,385 --> 00:12:53,522
It's something you to kinda

407
00:12:54,534 --> 00:12:56,228
work on and build upon and

408
00:12:56,604 --> 00:12:58,514
and untrained yeah. Yeah. Do you feel you

409
00:12:58,514 --> 00:12:59,365
can train it

410
00:13:00,121 --> 00:13:01,553
away from the races or do you need

411
00:13:01,553 --> 00:13:03,225
the pressure of a race to to be

412
00:13:03,225 --> 00:13:05,295
able to, like, train that the the muscle

413
00:13:05,295 --> 00:13:06,568
of the brain? If that makes sense.

414
00:13:08,336 --> 00:13:09,929
I think so. I think Can yeah because

415
00:13:09,929 --> 00:13:10,407
there's always...

416
00:13:11,124 --> 00:13:12,797
With training, there's always an element of pressure

417
00:13:12,797 --> 00:13:15,267
as well. Yeah. Well, because you know someone

418
00:13:15,267 --> 00:13:16,702
else is gonna see your numbers that you're

419
00:13:16,702 --> 00:13:19,355
working with coach and... Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. There's

420
00:13:19,355 --> 00:13:21,595
always a reason. Yeah. To be on, at

421
00:13:21,595 --> 00:13:23,434
least, you know, once twice a week even

422
00:13:23,434 --> 00:13:24,815
in middle of winter, there's a reason

423
00:13:25,208 --> 00:13:26,723
where you're gonna be measured or where you

424
00:13:26,723 --> 00:13:28,716
wanna perform well even if it's just against

425
00:13:28,716 --> 00:13:30,789
yourself. So so they're are all chances to

426
00:13:30,789 --> 00:13:32,463
kinda to train in those those things. Yeah.

427
00:13:32,623 --> 00:13:33,420
And what does that like?

428
00:13:34,151 --> 00:13:35,740
Structure of tool kit look like for you

429
00:13:35,740 --> 00:13:37,884
then if you're at a race and things

430
00:13:37,884 --> 00:13:39,870
aren't quite right, like, in the in the

431
00:13:39,870 --> 00:13:42,333
mindset, at what techniques do you use to

432
00:13:42,333 --> 00:13:43,286
try and bring things back?

433
00:13:44,577 --> 00:13:46,413
A lot of it is breathing based for

434
00:13:46,413 --> 00:13:46,892
me. Okay.

435
00:13:47,691 --> 00:13:50,006
You know, just slow breaths focusing on your

436
00:13:50,006 --> 00:13:52,081
breathing. Yeah. And that just kinda brings you

437
00:13:52,081 --> 00:13:54,270
into the present moment. Rather than thinking of

438
00:13:54,804 --> 00:13:56,316
what has happened before or what's coming next,

439
00:13:56,396 --> 00:13:57,749
year know, it brings you into the the

440
00:13:57,749 --> 00:14:00,136
here and now, which is very important. You

441
00:14:00,136 --> 00:14:01,751
know, I've had races aware of

442
00:14:02,779 --> 00:14:04,215
You know, I spent the whole off season

443
00:14:04,215 --> 00:14:07,008
dreaming of results and podium or whatever, and

444
00:14:07,008 --> 00:14:08,524
then I'd get to the race and I'll

445
00:14:08,524 --> 00:14:10,694
still be thinking about those results. And you're

446
00:14:10,694 --> 00:14:12,531
completely overlooking what you're doing right now. Yeah.

447
00:14:12,931 --> 00:14:13,431
So

448
00:14:13,890 --> 00:14:15,648
for me, like, I try focus on the

449
00:14:15,648 --> 00:14:17,746
process, which is quite cliche, but

450
00:14:18,299 --> 00:14:20,610
It does work because if you focus on

451
00:14:20,610 --> 00:14:22,384
stage by stage, turn by turn

452
00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:24,912
as good as good as you can, the

453
00:14:24,912 --> 00:14:27,315
results what kinda... Combat themselves. So, yeah. It's

454
00:14:27,315 --> 00:14:28,906
trying to bring yourself back to that. Amazing

455
00:14:28,906 --> 00:14:31,315
that breath work is such a simple thing

456
00:14:31,929 --> 00:14:34,336
and feels like, a lot of people just...

457
00:14:34,735 --> 00:14:36,412
I I think discount it because it's not

458
00:14:36,412 --> 00:14:38,328
got... It's not complex enough. It's not Surely

459
00:14:38,328 --> 00:14:40,164
you that's not gonna work, but Yeah. Is

460
00:14:40,164 --> 00:14:42,341
super centering and relaxing to just

461
00:14:42,733 --> 00:14:44,323
focus for a bit and slow it down.

462
00:14:44,482 --> 00:14:45,937
And I think a lot of us breathe

463
00:14:46,788 --> 00:14:48,935
naturally in the modern world like breathe too

464
00:14:48,935 --> 00:14:50,128
fast and shallow,

465
00:14:50,859 --> 00:14:52,295
Yeah. To take in the time to do

466
00:14:52,295 --> 00:14:54,130
that properly. And do you find that helps

467
00:14:54,130 --> 00:14:55,647
like physically as well? You... Do you think

468
00:14:55,647 --> 00:14:57,104
you've improved your breathing

469
00:14:57,641 --> 00:15:00,674
in race? Yeah. Actually, because I've actually noticed

470
00:15:00,674 --> 00:15:01,863
it on my Gopro, so I don't use

471
00:15:01,863 --> 00:15:03,529
to gopro racing, but even in training. Yeah.

472
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,197
Before I could kinda hear myself. Tens and

473
00:15:07,197 --> 00:15:09,510
not breathing. And it was really like, it

474
00:15:09,510 --> 00:15:10,946
sounded like I was struggling to breathe a

475
00:15:10,946 --> 00:15:12,222
little bit when I was riding and now,

476
00:15:12,940 --> 00:15:15,093
I'll hear myself taking more smooth, brat more

477
00:15:15,093 --> 00:15:15,970
controlled breaths. Yeah.

478
00:15:16,782 --> 00:15:18,793
Which... Yeah. You know, you hear

479
00:15:19,248 --> 00:15:20,600
power lifters in the gym. It's all the

480
00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:22,509
about breathing isn't it. So you get your

481
00:15:22,509 --> 00:15:24,577
strength from breathing correctly Yeah. And, again, it's

482
00:15:24,577 --> 00:15:26,505
another muscle. To train. Right? That the use

483
00:15:26,505 --> 00:15:28,659
muscles to breathe and not, I think we

484
00:15:28,659 --> 00:15:30,653
we use... We don't use them well enough,

485
00:15:30,892 --> 00:15:32,328
I think a lot the time. So... Yeah.

486
00:15:32,647 --> 00:15:34,822
Exactly. Yeah. And especially I think gonna

487
00:15:35,532 --> 00:15:37,442
a sport where, you know, we're quite red

488
00:15:37,442 --> 00:15:39,750
line on the car on the heart rate.

489
00:15:40,386 --> 00:15:41,500
So you you need to be getting air

490
00:15:41,500 --> 00:15:43,410
in. Otherwise, you're just gonna be you're gonna

491
00:15:43,410 --> 00:15:45,576
be hanging. Yeah. And and so over the

492
00:15:45,576 --> 00:15:47,751
time, like, has your enjoyment

493
00:15:48,208 --> 00:15:49,085
varied as well?

494
00:15:50,521 --> 00:15:52,514
Yeah. Yeah. It's actually... That something that's been

495
00:15:52,514 --> 00:15:53,870
very interesting for me because...

496
00:15:54,999 --> 00:15:57,065
I think Covid was a a big learning

497
00:15:57,065 --> 00:15:58,416
curve, for me especially,

498
00:15:59,211 --> 00:15:59,711
because

499
00:16:00,482 --> 00:16:02,469
the racing disappeared and all of a sudden,

500
00:16:03,359 --> 00:16:05,197
at least narration sensor was no reason to

501
00:16:05,197 --> 00:16:06,955
get up and train and it was kind

502
00:16:06,955 --> 00:16:07,455
of

503
00:16:08,073 --> 00:16:09,192
perspective change, and it was a bit like,

504
00:16:09,272 --> 00:16:10,710
oh, what's what's all this for. You know?

505
00:16:10,870 --> 00:16:13,921
Yeah. Because this massive problem was facing us.

506
00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:16,179
And I kinda learned

507
00:16:16,558 --> 00:16:17,517
to enjoy the training.

508
00:16:19,609 --> 00:16:21,365
And it was a thing from Kill Jordan

509
00:16:21,365 --> 00:16:22,641
and a a book from him. He was

510
00:16:22,641 --> 00:16:24,556
saying that, like, if a advice for a

511
00:16:24,556 --> 00:16:26,232
young person would be teach them to love

512
00:16:26,232 --> 00:16:26,950
training. Okay.

513
00:16:27,603 --> 00:16:29,356
And it'll be so easy for them, and

514
00:16:29,356 --> 00:16:30,732
it's so true because now

515
00:16:31,188 --> 00:16:32,701
I I enjoyed the train and like, I'll

516
00:16:32,701 --> 00:16:34,055
see a session that before. I would've have

517
00:16:34,055 --> 00:16:35,967
been like, oh, that's gonna be painful, You

518
00:16:35,967 --> 00:16:36,126
know,

519
00:16:36,778 --> 00:16:37,653
now I look at the numbers and then,

520
00:16:37,732 --> 00:16:39,005
like, that's that's gonna be really good and

521
00:16:39,005 --> 00:16:40,119
I reckon and I can maybe get a

522
00:16:40,119 --> 00:16:41,971
little more or whatever and it's kind of

523
00:16:42,187 --> 00:16:43,062
exciting to me. Yeah.

524
00:16:44,270 --> 00:16:46,177
How have you convinced yourself there? Like, a

525
00:16:46,177 --> 00:16:48,561
horrible session is gonna be fun, because I

526
00:16:48,641 --> 00:16:50,072
Like a lot of people would like. I

527
00:16:50,072 --> 00:16:52,077
know be there. Right? Yeah. I don't really

528
00:16:52,077 --> 00:16:53,274
know. And it's... I think it's the bulls

529
00:16:53,274 --> 00:16:55,290
afterwards. Yeah. Yeah. I think no 1 the

530
00:16:55,348 --> 00:16:57,024
average you're gonna be proud of yourself and

531
00:16:57,024 --> 00:16:58,595
you're gonna be pretty stoked on. So

532
00:16:59,034 --> 00:17:01,271
Yeah. It's weird. Like now, I'm kinda, you

533
00:17:01,271 --> 00:17:03,907
know, Chris come my coach like he kinda

534
00:17:03,907 --> 00:17:05,445
to hold me back sometime because

535
00:17:05,917 --> 00:17:07,267
I wanna do more, and I wanna just

536
00:17:07,267 --> 00:17:09,648
keep suffering and Yeah. You know, I I

537
00:17:09,648 --> 00:17:10,919
think sometimes I need to pull myself back

538
00:17:10,919 --> 00:17:12,348
onto the tactical side of things as well

539
00:17:12,348 --> 00:17:13,434
and realize that

540
00:17:14,269 --> 00:17:15,699
it's not only big watts that are gonna

541
00:17:15,699 --> 00:17:17,765
win races. So sure have the calm down

542
00:17:17,765 --> 00:17:19,195
on that side as well. Have you got

543
00:17:19,195 --> 00:17:19,990
better at suffering?

544
00:17:20,705 --> 00:17:22,628
I think yeah. Again, it's skill. Yeah. I

545
00:17:22,628 --> 00:17:24,223
think so. I think so. I think even

546
00:17:24,223 --> 00:17:26,297
just that learning into, like, I'm not so

547
00:17:26,297 --> 00:17:27,254
afraid of it anymore. Mh.

548
00:17:28,052 --> 00:17:29,488
And then, you know, the efforts have gotten

549
00:17:29,488 --> 00:17:31,481
more control as we use more power and

550
00:17:31,481 --> 00:17:32,040
stuff it's less.

551
00:17:33,010 --> 00:17:34,443
Just going all out and it's more controlled,

552
00:17:34,602 --> 00:17:36,910
hitting zones and targets? Yeah. Have you found

553
00:17:36,910 --> 00:17:38,263
that helps from a kind of,

554
00:17:40,429 --> 00:17:42,426
like, recovery and fatigue perspective...

555
00:17:43,865 --> 00:17:46,102
Being very targeted using power rather than just

556
00:17:46,102 --> 00:17:47,300
being, like, well, this is a 9 out

557
00:17:47,300 --> 00:17:49,474
of 10 and actually, you're probably doing 11

558
00:17:49,474 --> 00:17:51,315
out of 10 without realizing it and the

559
00:17:51,315 --> 00:17:53,154
the session is not very consistent and... Yeah.

560
00:17:53,474 --> 00:17:55,154
Absolutely. And I'm more... Even more so on

561
00:17:55,154 --> 00:17:56,595
the lower end of things. So, you know,

562
00:17:57,169 --> 00:17:59,242
when you're just out for an aerobic 2

563
00:17:59,242 --> 00:18:00,279
3 hour ride. Yeah.

564
00:18:00,917 --> 00:18:02,511
And you might, you know, before, I might

565
00:18:02,591 --> 00:18:03,708
I just been like, yeah, no. This is

566
00:18:03,708 --> 00:18:05,940
easy. So I swear it's easy. But you're

567
00:18:05,940 --> 00:18:07,546
actually... Sit at like, 300 watts or something.

568
00:18:07,863 --> 00:18:08,817
And now I look at it. Be like,

569
00:18:08,896 --> 00:18:11,121
no. No. The target is 02:30 watts. But

570
00:18:11,121 --> 00:18:12,710
surprise how dial isn't it Those kind of

571
00:18:12,710 --> 00:18:14,776
right. Like, yeah. It's a very low effort.

572
00:18:15,109 --> 00:18:16,621
Yeah. You feel like you're not doing anything

573
00:18:16,621 --> 00:18:18,530
and you're cheating yourself. But... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah

574
00:18:18,690 --> 00:18:20,281
And they're need more proud of myself when

575
00:18:20,361 --> 00:18:22,111
I finish our ride, like, the average powers.

576
00:18:22,683 --> 00:18:23,957
As low as it should be Yeah. Yeah.

577
00:18:24,116 --> 00:18:26,266
Nice. I didn't get carried away because. You

578
00:18:26,266 --> 00:18:28,415
didn't get chasing Roe or anything and exactly.

579
00:18:28,653 --> 00:18:30,460
Yeah. I'm so bad for that. Like if

580
00:18:30,579 --> 00:18:32,170
right the bike and someone doesn't say, hello.

581
00:18:32,329 --> 00:18:33,999
It's just like, right? We're racing now. Can

582
00:18:33,999 --> 00:18:34,954
you know I'm good out of yeah.

583
00:18:35,908 --> 00:18:37,340
I know. I know what you mean. Yeah.

584
00:18:37,594 --> 00:18:39,347
And so the the enjoyment side of things,

585
00:18:39,426 --> 00:18:41,657
do you think there's been a correlation between

586
00:18:41,657 --> 00:18:42,693
enjoyment and results for you?

587
00:18:43,490 --> 00:18:46,139
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. You know, I've

588
00:18:46,139 --> 00:18:47,740
always said, like fun is fast and fast

589
00:18:47,740 --> 00:18:49,980
as fun. Yeah. And it's it's so true.

590
00:18:50,380 --> 00:18:52,299
Like the days when you're you're just enjoying

591
00:18:52,299 --> 00:18:53,394
riding your bike and you're

592
00:18:53,910 --> 00:18:55,259
you're looking at the trail in front, and

593
00:18:55,259 --> 00:18:57,004
you're kind of stoked to smash that turn

594
00:18:57,004 --> 00:18:58,908
and Yeah. Pop off that jump and, yeah.

595
00:18:59,146 --> 00:19:00,122
There today is things

596
00:19:00,747 --> 00:19:03,204
flow linked together nicely and does work out

597
00:19:03,204 --> 00:19:04,789
to be faster. Yeah. And if you found

598
00:19:04,789 --> 00:19:05,447
a recipe

599
00:19:05,819 --> 00:19:07,587
at races to help yourself

600
00:19:08,214 --> 00:19:09,809
have more fun to to kinda of be

601
00:19:09,809 --> 00:19:10,128
happier.

602
00:19:11,245 --> 00:19:12,760
Yeah. I think I think it's a combination

603
00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:13,079
of things.

604
00:19:14,674 --> 00:19:16,349
You know, just being having good people around

605
00:19:16,349 --> 00:19:17,306
you, having a good bike.

606
00:19:18,356 --> 00:19:20,899
Being excited with the course, not worrying too

607
00:19:20,899 --> 00:19:23,838
much about the external noise if people are

608
00:19:23,838 --> 00:19:24,815
complaining about

609
00:19:25,284 --> 00:19:26,962
x y and z. Just kinda putting that

610
00:19:26,962 --> 00:19:28,980
aside and not folks not too much and

611
00:19:29,438 --> 00:19:31,435
just being positive really. Yeah. I guess there

612
00:19:31,435 --> 00:19:31,835
has been.

613
00:19:32,409 --> 00:19:34,405
Like, it certainly feels like there's been some

614
00:19:34,405 --> 00:19:34,905
negativity

615
00:19:35,443 --> 00:19:38,157
around the the entire kind of mountain racing

616
00:19:38,157 --> 00:19:40,073
thing. Is, obviously with all the warner brothers

617
00:19:40,073 --> 00:19:41,451
stuff, and there's been a lot of

618
00:19:41,924 --> 00:19:44,401
I don't know hate or online or whatever,

619
00:19:44,561 --> 00:19:46,020
like, there's definitely been

620
00:19:46,559 --> 00:19:48,796
negativity floating about and probably more so in

621
00:19:48,956 --> 00:19:50,889
Nigeria. I guess it's hard to not. In

622
00:19:50,889 --> 00:19:52,089
a way, not get wrapped up in that.

623
00:19:52,329 --> 00:19:54,329
Yeah. Absolutely. And like, I definitely have gotten

624
00:19:54,329 --> 00:19:56,490
wrapped up in it more than Should. At

625
00:19:56,490 --> 00:19:57,130
at some races.

626
00:19:58,183 --> 00:19:59,714
Paul, I think this year I've kinda

627
00:20:00,403 --> 00:20:02,384
with do my own program and kinda looking

628
00:20:02,384 --> 00:20:04,603
at things through a slightly different perspective I

629
00:20:04,603 --> 00:20:06,947
can realize that, A lot of the negativity

630
00:20:07,006 --> 00:20:09,720
isn't justified. Mh. And a lot of it

631
00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:11,475
sometimes reflects on people's personal,

632
00:20:12,114 --> 00:20:13,151
you know, if they're not having a good

633
00:20:13,151 --> 00:20:15,707
weekend or something it's kinda easier to point

634
00:20:15,707 --> 00:20:17,609
fingers and other things isn't it. So true.

635
00:20:18,322 --> 00:20:20,382
Yeah. You know, III think, overall, things are

636
00:20:20,382 --> 00:20:20,961
good to

637
00:20:21,349 --> 00:20:23,023
I think the matter will be complaining, but

638
00:20:23,023 --> 00:20:24,936
you just have to always. Right? Yeah. Not

639
00:20:24,936 --> 00:20:26,690
let drag it down. I guess. Yeah... And

640
00:20:26,690 --> 00:20:28,523
has the format shifting and changing over the

641
00:20:28,523 --> 00:20:30,293
years? Is that, like... Has there been a

642
00:20:30,293 --> 00:20:32,370
correlation again there with, like, happiness and enjoyment?

643
00:20:32,530 --> 00:20:34,767
Do you prefer a certain style or do

644
00:20:34,767 --> 00:20:35,965
you just love racing bikes?

645
00:20:36,698 --> 00:20:37,969
Yeah. Actual racing bikes be honest.

646
00:20:39,477 --> 00:20:41,065
Yeah. Like I Like an example that would

647
00:20:41,065 --> 00:20:42,653
be last week. I did the e bike

648
00:20:42,653 --> 00:20:43,289
race as well.

649
00:20:44,812 --> 00:20:46,318
Completely different format, but just as much fun.

650
00:20:46,556 --> 00:20:48,695
Yeah. It's just bike racing. Yeah. Yeah. I

651
00:20:48,695 --> 00:20:50,043
wanted to ask about that because I'm not

652
00:20:50,043 --> 00:20:51,628
actually sat down with anyone. I don't think

653
00:20:51,628 --> 00:20:53,019
yet. That's done an Ee.

654
00:20:53,877 --> 00:20:55,236
To it talk us through the format as

655
00:20:55,236 --> 00:20:58,192
it stands currently firstly. Yeah. So it's quite

656
00:20:58,192 --> 00:20:59,871
similar to endure really. Mh.

657
00:21:01,004 --> 00:21:03,800
Same similar Liaison stages. Last again, we had

658
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,357
2 extra downhill stages. 1 of them had,

659
00:21:06,437 --> 00:21:08,250
like, some climbing that you could say was

660
00:21:08,609 --> 00:21:10,289
specific to e bike in. Yeah. And then

661
00:21:10,289 --> 00:21:12,230
there's 2 power stages, which are more

662
00:21:13,490 --> 00:21:16,049
uphill, but technical stages to kinda use the

663
00:21:16,049 --> 00:21:18,063
e bike for what, it can do over

664
00:21:18,063 --> 00:21:18,942
a normal bike. Yeah.

665
00:21:19,981 --> 00:21:21,899
But, yeah. The... I think the overall experience

666
00:21:21,899 --> 00:21:24,057
is quite similar. Mh. Just the liaison. Like,

667
00:21:24,137 --> 00:21:26,545
there was Wool liaison we did. In the

668
00:21:26,624 --> 00:21:29,082
Ed was just a hike. Okay. And what...

669
00:21:29,557 --> 00:21:31,301
It's a hike which kinda sucks, but then

670
00:21:31,301 --> 00:21:32,808
we regroup, like, 10 people, and we were

671
00:21:32,808 --> 00:21:34,812
just hiking for hour and a half chatting.

672
00:21:34,972 --> 00:21:36,488
Yes. Not exactly bad is it. So it's

673
00:21:36,488 --> 00:21:38,005
not bad at all. Whereas on e bikes

674
00:21:38,005 --> 00:21:38,483
we wrote us,

675
00:21:39,681 --> 00:21:41,777
which is nice to be pedal up bus

676
00:21:41,915 --> 00:21:43,843
because the e bikes you finish the stage

677
00:21:43,843 --> 00:21:45,834
and everyone just keeps riding. I when an

678
00:21:45,834 --> 00:21:47,268
e bike Everyone climbs at the same speed.

679
00:21:47,427 --> 00:21:49,418
Yeah. Yeah. So, like, I climbed up at

680
00:21:49,418 --> 00:21:52,138
a loan with, you know, 2 guys ahead

681
00:21:52,138 --> 00:21:53,487
of me, and They just stayed the same

682
00:21:53,487 --> 00:21:55,392
distance ahead of. Yeah. There's no chat. This

683
00:21:55,392 --> 00:21:56,345
is there's no chat. Yeah.

684
00:21:57,218 --> 00:21:58,964
So as nice as it is to cover

685
00:21:58,964 --> 00:21:59,441
more ground,

686
00:22:00,408 --> 00:22:02,078
You kinda lose a social aspect a little

687
00:22:02,078 --> 00:22:03,509
bit, Yeah which it's a bit of a

688
00:22:03,509 --> 00:22:05,338
shame because that's 1 of the attractions of

689
00:22:05,338 --> 00:22:06,849
endurance. Feels like that's quite a big part

690
00:22:06,849 --> 00:22:08,201
of Enjoy a lot of you lot when

691
00:22:08,281 --> 00:22:09,712
I speak you mentioned that, like,

692
00:22:10,284 --> 00:22:13,223
the comrade and, you know, you'll become pretty

693
00:22:13,223 --> 00:22:15,050
good mates because you just start suffering together

694
00:22:15,050 --> 00:22:17,195
and Yeah. James on. And that, like, for

695
00:22:17,195 --> 00:22:18,307
me, it was 1 of the big attractions

696
00:22:18,307 --> 00:22:20,548
at first of neuro was the no matter

697
00:22:20,548 --> 00:22:22,223
how your race goes. It's... You'll probably have

698
00:22:22,223 --> 00:22:23,579
a good day on the bike. Yeah. So,

699
00:22:23,738 --> 00:22:25,254
you know, you'll always come away from events

700
00:22:25,254 --> 00:22:27,009
with something that you're like, yeah, that was

701
00:22:27,009 --> 00:22:28,365
that was cool. That was pretty good. Yeah.

702
00:22:28,604 --> 00:22:29,502
It's ee e.

703
00:22:30,214 --> 00:22:31,974
It a single battery day? Is they multiple

704
00:22:31,974 --> 00:22:33,095
batteries. How is that working?

705
00:22:33,654 --> 00:22:35,174
It's 2 batteries at the moment? Okay. I

706
00:22:35,174 --> 00:22:36,775
think it was free in the early days?

707
00:22:37,015 --> 00:22:39,015
Mh. Whereas now, it's 2 loops, 2 batteries.

708
00:22:39,255 --> 00:22:41,907
Yeah. And you'll use them fully. Yeah. Yeah.

709
00:22:42,146 --> 00:22:43,984
And are you having to conserve battery at

710
00:22:43,984 --> 00:22:45,343
all? Or can you pretty much go like,

711
00:22:45,423 --> 00:22:47,340
all in on it? Yeah. You can. Like

712
00:22:47,340 --> 00:22:47,840
the

713
00:22:48,233 --> 00:22:50,775
first loop on Sunday. I wrote most of

714
00:22:50,775 --> 00:22:52,761
the climbs in tour mode. Okay. It's quite

715
00:22:52,761 --> 00:22:53,715
low. Yeah. Assistance.

716
00:22:55,478 --> 00:22:57,941
So, yeah. And I finished with just, like,

717
00:22:58,100 --> 00:22:59,928
10 percent about earth. Okay. Fair. So you

718
00:22:59,928 --> 00:23:01,040
do have to that you can't just like

719
00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:02,630
piece made the whole thing and... No. And

720
00:23:02,630 --> 00:23:04,632
there have been races where people have drop

721
00:23:04,632 --> 00:23:06,620
into last stage with no battery. Okay. So

722
00:23:06,620 --> 00:23:08,211
you do have to manage it. Yeah. And

723
00:23:08,211 --> 00:23:10,143
how would you compare like, the physicality

724
00:23:10,915 --> 00:23:12,799
in the combo event for example, from the

725
00:23:12,999 --> 00:23:14,297
ed to the Ee.

726
00:23:15,154 --> 00:23:17,628
Yeah. So it's shorter day out and more

727
00:23:17,628 --> 00:23:19,543
intensely. Okay. So we did include the paris

728
00:23:19,543 --> 00:23:20,501
stages but at 10 stages.

729
00:23:21,153 --> 00:23:22,585
So that's 10 times you're getting your heart

730
00:23:22,585 --> 00:23:24,756
rate Max. Yeah. And then rather than having

731
00:23:25,051 --> 00:23:26,403
2 hours between a stage, you might have

732
00:23:26,403 --> 00:23:28,568
45 minutes or an hour. Yeah. So you

733
00:23:28,568 --> 00:23:30,644
feel like you're constantly just bouncing between red

734
00:23:30,644 --> 00:23:32,001
line and try and recover and then red

735
00:23:32,001 --> 00:23:32,320
line again.

736
00:23:33,518 --> 00:23:35,354
So, yeah. It's definitely a more in intense.

737
00:23:35,593 --> 00:23:38,240
Yeah. Interesting. And that... There's... Been some talk

738
00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:38,558
around,

739
00:23:39,513 --> 00:23:41,843
I guess the sort of sporting side of

740
00:23:42,218 --> 00:23:42,934
that in the,

741
00:23:43,810 --> 00:23:45,579
I think for you, you were like I'll

742
00:23:45,579 --> 00:23:46,698
just do a bit more bike riding and

743
00:23:46,698 --> 00:23:47,896
this would be fun, but then there's other

744
00:23:47,896 --> 00:23:48,876
people that there

745
00:23:49,415 --> 00:23:51,173
specifically for the e ed.

746
00:23:51,812 --> 00:23:53,571
And then I think you can sort of

747
00:23:53,571 --> 00:23:54,550
compete in the Ed

748
00:23:55,182 --> 00:23:56,692
And there's a lot quite a bit of

749
00:23:56,692 --> 00:23:58,043
overlap in the tracks. So there's like a

750
00:23:58,043 --> 00:24:00,746
benefit maybe. Alright? You drain yourself physically a

751
00:24:00,746 --> 00:24:02,335
little bit. Mh. But there's a... You can

752
00:24:02,335 --> 00:24:04,737
kinda go and race to eat, d r

753
00:24:04,737 --> 00:24:05,476
and learn

754
00:24:06,093 --> 00:24:07,369
and getting a bit of a vouch for

755
00:24:07,369 --> 00:24:08,964
the Ee yeah? Like, how did you feel

756
00:24:08,964 --> 00:24:10,719
about that side of stuff because it's... Yeah.

757
00:24:10,879 --> 00:24:12,793
It's a tricky 1. Enjoy always have that

758
00:24:12,793 --> 00:24:13,851
balance between

759
00:24:14,324 --> 00:24:17,041
purity and, like, the blind... Not blindness because

760
00:24:17,041 --> 00:24:18,399
you've got 1 run, but, like, you're trying

761
00:24:18,399 --> 00:24:21,275
to control. Yeah. And you're riding and all

762
00:24:21,275 --> 00:24:23,365
that stuff. Yeah. Absolutely, it's such a big

763
00:24:23,365 --> 00:24:24,960
element. Trying to keep that fair.

764
00:24:26,157 --> 00:24:27,273
And, like a lot of the e bike

765
00:24:27,273 --> 00:24:29,906
guys raised the normal race last week because

766
00:24:29,906 --> 00:24:31,102
it was an extra lap on the tracks.

767
00:24:31,341 --> 00:24:31,501
Yeah.

768
00:24:32,869 --> 00:24:34,562
To me, it's... I think that

769
00:24:34,937 --> 00:24:36,608
it depends on the rider, Like, for me,

770
00:24:36,926 --> 00:24:38,517
when I lined up on Friday for Ed.

771
00:24:39,408 --> 00:24:40,286
I could do a full run in my

772
00:24:40,286 --> 00:24:41,882
head of each stage. Yeah. And user stage

773
00:24:41,882 --> 00:24:44,116
is pretty well from practice Gopro track.

774
00:24:45,073 --> 00:24:46,211
So I don't think

775
00:24:46,604 --> 00:24:49,233
by Sunday, I'd really improved that much. Okay.

776
00:24:49,551 --> 00:24:50,826
But I know that on Sunday, I woke

777
00:24:50,826 --> 00:24:52,977
up and I was retired from Friday. Yeah.

778
00:24:53,216 --> 00:24:55,128
Okay. So it's kinda hard to about the

779
00:24:55,128 --> 00:24:57,367
way up, which is helping and hindering. But

780
00:24:57,367 --> 00:24:59,585
then you're going all in on the Friday

781
00:24:59,585 --> 00:25:01,962
because that's your focus whereas an ee ed

782
00:25:01,962 --> 00:25:02,834
rider, it might be like,

783
00:25:03,961 --> 00:25:06,688
somewhat chilling, but getting the practicing and then

784
00:25:06,745 --> 00:25:07,938
a bit fresher on the Sunday I guess.

785
00:25:08,097 --> 00:25:08,813
So it's like... Yeah.

786
00:25:09,529 --> 00:25:09,688
Yeah.

787
00:25:10,578 --> 00:25:12,170
That's it. And even there's another level there

788
00:25:12,170 --> 00:25:14,080
was a ride going around with a media

789
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,024
place on Friday. Interesting. Who was doing media

790
00:25:17,024 --> 00:25:19,094
stuff bus was also racing E bike on

791
00:25:19,094 --> 00:25:20,543
sunday. Exactly So that's...

792
00:25:21,899 --> 00:25:23,255
Yeah... I think there was an advantage there.

793
00:25:23,415 --> 00:25:24,931
What you're doing now. That that's kind of

794
00:25:24,931 --> 00:25:25,729
a blurred line for me.

795
00:25:27,580 --> 00:25:28,539
Yeah. It's a trick you 1. I don't

796
00:25:28,539 --> 00:25:30,299
know how they can please it. Yeah. Because

797
00:25:30,299 --> 00:25:31,900
you can't, you know, some people want to

798
00:25:31,900 --> 00:25:33,180
race both and they wanna go hard at

799
00:25:33,180 --> 00:25:34,619
both and some are gonna use the to

800
00:25:34,619 --> 00:25:36,945
advantage. Yeah. It's interesting isn't it like every

801
00:25:36,945 --> 00:25:39,251
sport, whatever, people will find a loophole. Right?

802
00:25:39,411 --> 00:25:41,160
It's mh. Even though it might not be

803
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,330
the kind of sporting thing. It's

804
00:25:43,879 --> 00:25:46,027
sort of done everywhere. Right? Like marginal gains

805
00:25:46,027 --> 00:25:48,891
and little gaps in the rule book and

806
00:25:48,971 --> 00:25:50,403
Yeah. We see it in f worm. We

807
00:25:50,403 --> 00:25:52,410
see it in in road cycling. I'm sure

808
00:25:52,410 --> 00:25:54,723
and what these areas say. Yeah. Absolutely. Well,

809
00:25:54,962 --> 00:25:55,760
at the end of the day, to be

810
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:55,919
fair,

811
00:25:56,876 --> 00:25:58,471
the top of the results sheet usually looks

812
00:25:58,471 --> 00:26:01,118
quite similar. Like Antoine ra who won last

813
00:26:01,118 --> 00:26:02,872
weekend, he didn't race on Friday. Yeah. Thanks.

814
00:26:03,111 --> 00:26:04,306
So, you know, you could say it that

815
00:26:04,306 --> 00:26:05,741
because he guys have... He had fresh legs

816
00:26:05,741 --> 00:26:07,255
or he was just better than everyone else.

817
00:26:07,415 --> 00:26:08,313
Yeah. So

818
00:26:08,944 --> 00:26:11,009
Yeah. There there's there's always these ways, but

819
00:26:11,009 --> 00:26:12,757
at the end of day, it's usually the

820
00:26:12,757 --> 00:26:15,141
best wins. Yeah. Jesse Man made this the

821
00:26:15,141 --> 00:26:17,127
same comment earlier this week that, you know,

822
00:26:17,286 --> 00:26:19,455
some... People might turn up and pre rider

823
00:26:19,455 --> 00:26:19,934
at a venue.

824
00:26:20,653 --> 00:26:21,610
But at the end of the day, it's

825
00:26:21,610 --> 00:26:22,728
still the same people at the top of

826
00:26:22,728 --> 00:26:24,644
the time sheets. It's like... Yeah. Because people

827
00:26:24,644 --> 00:26:27,051
that might have been 6 might come... T,

828
00:26:27,210 --> 00:26:28,642
but the top stuff the top people are

829
00:26:28,642 --> 00:26:30,631
still the top people. Yeah. Exactly. And I

830
00:26:30,631 --> 00:26:32,301
think among the top people there's not really

831
00:26:32,301 --> 00:26:34,066
any of that going on. Yeah. Certainly not

832
00:26:34,066 --> 00:26:35,576
much of it anyway. So it's a pretty

833
00:26:35,576 --> 00:26:37,484
level playing field. Yeah That's cool. Coming back

834
00:26:37,484 --> 00:26:38,835
to the physical side a little bit. Like,

835
00:26:38,994 --> 00:26:40,743
has your approach to training?

836
00:26:41,553 --> 00:26:43,087
Changed over the years either

837
00:26:43,461 --> 00:26:45,449
because of the sort of changing nature of

838
00:26:45,449 --> 00:26:48,550
what is, more like through experience or age.

839
00:26:48,709 --> 00:26:49,186
Right? Like,

840
00:26:49,837 --> 00:26:51,424
you can train differently at the age of

841
00:26:51,424 --> 00:26:52,933
20 than at the age of 30. I

842
00:26:52,933 --> 00:26:55,473
think like, I I certainly felt that change.

843
00:26:55,632 --> 00:26:56,743
Might well. I'm quite a bit older than

844
00:26:56,743 --> 00:26:57,712
you. Yeah.

845
00:26:59,144 --> 00:27:00,099
Yeah. I've been tired of a lot this

846
00:27:00,099 --> 00:27:01,451
year. I know it's an age or just

847
00:27:01,451 --> 00:27:03,281
because I'm going hard here now. Yeah.

848
00:27:04,649 --> 00:27:06,165
Yeah. I think definitely it has. And I

849
00:27:06,165 --> 00:27:07,520
think, like, with the years, like, I've built

850
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,392
up a certain resilience to big days out

851
00:27:10,392 --> 00:27:12,226
and endurance and that kind of things So

852
00:27:12,226 --> 00:27:14,141
could end... Like a base engine that almost

853
00:27:14,141 --> 00:27:16,714
just days there. Right? Yeah. Exactly. Because that's

854
00:27:16,714 --> 00:27:17,835
always kinda taken over. Yeah.

855
00:27:18,555 --> 00:27:18,875
I think,

856
00:27:20,075 --> 00:27:21,994
like, in the early days, it was just

857
00:27:21,994 --> 00:27:24,326
trying to survive big days. Yeah. And be

858
00:27:24,326 --> 00:27:26,637
strong while you're ill whereas now it's kinda

859
00:27:26,637 --> 00:27:29,108
more trying to be explosive and maybe closer

860
00:27:29,108 --> 00:27:31,043
to downhill style training because

861
00:27:31,673 --> 00:27:32,705
You say the stage are getting a bit

862
00:27:32,705 --> 00:27:34,078
shorter, and we're riding

863
00:27:34,531 --> 00:27:35,881
at a hundred percent all the time, so

864
00:27:35,881 --> 00:27:37,469
you you need that max power and that

865
00:27:37,469 --> 00:27:37,969
max

866
00:27:38,501 --> 00:27:39,057
speed? Yeah.

867
00:27:39,868 --> 00:27:41,860
Which is harder to keep. Right? That's like...

868
00:27:42,099 --> 00:27:43,374
That's the first thing to go if you

869
00:27:43,374 --> 00:27:44,888
have a bit of a break. Yeah. Exactly.

870
00:27:45,047 --> 00:27:46,344
And that's it. Like there's

871
00:27:47,293 --> 00:27:48,965
It was in... Actually, on sunday road around

872
00:27:49,044 --> 00:27:49,999
With a ago guy he was an ex

873
00:27:49,999 --> 00:27:51,591
road pro. Talking about this kind of stuff,

874
00:27:51,671 --> 00:27:53,263
and we were saying hey, you know, your

875
00:27:53,342 --> 00:27:55,491
Max power is cool. You can brag about

876
00:27:55,491 --> 00:27:57,419
that. Yeah. But it's you know, if you're

877
00:27:57,419 --> 00:27:59,179
gonna do a lot of 5 on, 5

878
00:27:59,179 --> 00:28:01,099
off sprints, it's a fifth or sixth 1

879
00:28:01,099 --> 00:28:03,259
that really matters. Yeah. That repeat power. Yeah.

880
00:28:03,659 --> 00:28:04,940
Because that's what In 0 is, you know,

881
00:28:05,019 --> 00:28:06,220
you hit a corner, you Sprint. You hit

882
00:28:06,220 --> 00:28:08,648
the neck Corn is Sprint. And if your

883
00:28:08,786 --> 00:28:11,657
first corner is massive, that's cool, but you

884
00:28:11,657 --> 00:28:12,693
need to be doing it for the whole

885
00:28:12,693 --> 00:28:15,267
stage. So... Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of that

886
00:28:15,657 --> 00:28:17,640
strength fatigue. Yeah. Do use create a team

887
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:19,306
for that? Like that seems to help. Mh.

888
00:28:19,703 --> 00:28:21,289
Repeat power stuff a little bit. Yeah. I

889
00:28:21,289 --> 00:28:23,529
do it. Yeah. Yeah. You notice the difference

890
00:28:23,529 --> 00:28:25,280
with it? Or you kinda on it consistently

891
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:26,871
in... Yeah. I think I'm probably on it

892
00:28:26,871 --> 00:28:27,747
consistently enough. That.

893
00:28:28,383 --> 00:28:29,975
Yeah. I just... It's hard to tell. It's

894
00:28:29,975 --> 00:28:32,019
a baseline. Yeah. Fair know. Is that do

895
00:28:32,140 --> 00:28:34,059
It's definitely a good sup for sure. And

896
00:28:34,220 --> 00:28:35,259
I spoke to your coach earlier in the

897
00:28:35,259 --> 00:28:36,380
week Chris Gilmore murray and he said you're

898
00:28:36,380 --> 00:28:37,660
an absolute animal this year.

899
00:28:39,019 --> 00:28:40,460
What would you put that down to? What's...

900
00:28:40,794 --> 00:28:42,393
What's different in in that respect.

901
00:28:43,112 --> 00:28:45,269
Yeah Yeah. I guess consistency is a big

902
00:28:45,269 --> 00:28:48,066
1. Like, I've had a good few consistent

903
00:28:48,066 --> 00:28:49,105
years of training? Yeah.

904
00:28:50,472 --> 00:28:51,904
So now that, you know, when you get

905
00:28:51,904 --> 00:28:53,040
a good block, your

906
00:28:53,892 --> 00:28:55,721
your base is already so good that if

907
00:28:55,721 --> 00:28:56,755
you get a good 4 or 5 weeks

908
00:28:56,755 --> 00:28:58,902
training, you're really springboard from there. Yeah.

909
00:29:00,271 --> 00:29:02,424
Of based in France and the alps this

910
00:29:02,424 --> 00:29:03,859
year? Yeah. You made the move to An.

911
00:29:04,018 --> 00:29:05,852
Right? Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's helped a

912
00:29:05,852 --> 00:29:08,026
lot, like, especially on the physical side

913
00:29:08,577 --> 00:29:10,647
you know, having big hills where you can

914
00:29:10,647 --> 00:29:12,398
do all your intervals and, Yeah. You can

915
00:29:12,398 --> 00:29:13,513
really get the quality out of a session?

916
00:29:13,752 --> 00:29:15,583
Because where were you based before? In Dublin?

917
00:29:15,901 --> 00:29:18,542
Okay. Which is amazing and, like, I've always

918
00:29:18,542 --> 00:29:19,735
said it is actually some of the best

919
00:29:19,735 --> 00:29:21,644
ride in the world. Yeah. Even if maybe

920
00:29:21,644 --> 00:29:23,888
people don't there don't realize it. It is

921
00:29:23,888 --> 00:29:25,881
incredible. But in terms of training, like, it's

922
00:29:25,881 --> 00:29:27,736
just hard to find hills long enough and

923
00:29:27,795 --> 00:29:29,150
hills consistent enough. Yeah.

924
00:29:29,868 --> 00:29:31,143
And even people to train with where it's

925
00:29:31,143 --> 00:29:32,911
kind of around here there's there's a lot

926
00:29:32,911 --> 00:29:34,502
of good riders you can train with. And

927
00:29:34,502 --> 00:29:36,253
you're spending more time altitude, I guess, which

928
00:29:36,253 --> 00:29:38,401
is probably not not a bad thing. Yeah.

929
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:39,753
At least this time of year. Yeah Yeah.

930
00:29:39,913 --> 00:29:41,400
Like, in the in the winter, you wouldn't

931
00:29:41,599 --> 00:29:43,279
wouldn't get that high But Yeah. Yeah. This

932
00:29:43,279 --> 00:29:44,420
time of your are getting

933
00:29:45,039 --> 00:29:47,279
regularly up above, you know, a thousand meters

934
00:29:47,279 --> 00:29:49,119
1500 meters, which is where most of the...

935
00:29:49,453 --> 00:29:51,045
Ed events are gonna take place. I guess,

936
00:29:51,205 --> 00:29:52,796
at some level of outage, which you're not

937
00:29:52,796 --> 00:29:54,945
getting in Dublin. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Like

938
00:29:54,945 --> 00:29:56,139
last week, I think a lot of stages

939
00:29:56,139 --> 00:29:58,607
were 17, 1800 meters. Yes. You're more conditioned

940
00:29:58,607 --> 00:30:01,014
to that. Like. Yeah. Yeah. True. Yeah. And

941
00:30:01,014 --> 00:30:02,290
the heat as well in summer. It gets

942
00:30:02,290 --> 00:30:03,268
really hot. So

943
00:30:03,885 --> 00:30:05,161
that's not as an irish showing, It's good

944
00:30:05,161 --> 00:30:06,140
to get you so

945
00:30:07,394 --> 00:30:07,873
Fair play.

946
00:30:09,164 --> 00:30:10,621
Is it hard to stay motivated?

947
00:30:11,238 --> 00:30:11,477
Like,

948
00:30:12,115 --> 00:30:14,667
year after year after year to keep doing

949
00:30:14,667 --> 00:30:15,406
this because,

950
00:30:15,784 --> 00:30:17,857
you know, what people see is the racing

951
00:30:17,857 --> 00:30:18,416
and the fun...

952
00:30:19,068 --> 00:30:20,500
Sort of glamorous side of it and all

953
00:30:20,500 --> 00:30:23,045
these awesome shots from the races and, you

954
00:30:23,045 --> 00:30:24,875
know, champagne and all that jazz. But, like,

955
00:30:25,193 --> 00:30:26,625
the work's done in the off season right?

956
00:30:26,784 --> 00:30:28,631
And in between and that's the much less

957
00:30:28,631 --> 00:30:30,545
glamorous part of it. How do you stay

958
00:30:30,545 --> 00:30:32,617
motivated it to keep keep at it? And

959
00:30:32,777 --> 00:30:35,249
I I think that's where the... That change

960
00:30:35,249 --> 00:30:37,336
for me of learning to enjoy the training.

961
00:30:37,496 --> 00:30:39,887
Yeah. Not seeing it as like, I want

962
00:30:39,887 --> 00:30:41,402
this results, so I have to do this.

963
00:30:42,199 --> 00:30:44,033
It's more like, I want to do this

964
00:30:44,033 --> 00:30:45,565
and as a result, I'll get a good

965
00:30:45,565 --> 00:30:47,565
result. Yeah. So that's made it so much

966
00:30:47,565 --> 00:30:48,125
easier for me.

967
00:30:48,765 --> 00:30:50,605
Like, I actually really enjoy the off season

968
00:30:50,605 --> 00:30:52,765
now and the... Okay. The routine of just

969
00:30:52,765 --> 00:30:53,724
training every day. Yeah.

970
00:30:55,338 --> 00:30:57,172
Yeah. It's it's it's been brilliant. Is there

971
00:30:57,172 --> 00:30:58,847
any mono to it? Or do you try

972
00:30:58,847 --> 00:30:59,246
and, like,

973
00:31:00,522 --> 00:31:02,915
make enough change to your program that every

974
00:31:02,915 --> 00:31:04,430
off season feels like a little bit different?

975
00:31:05,082 --> 00:31:06,696
Yeah. I think there's always changes

976
00:31:07,469 --> 00:31:09,617
just coming as a result of, like, okay.

977
00:31:09,855 --> 00:31:11,287
In 3 weeks, we're gonna go to...

978
00:31:11,859 --> 00:31:13,460
Somewhere Sonny to get some good ride in

979
00:31:13,460 --> 00:31:15,619
our good testing or whatever. So then you'll

980
00:31:15,619 --> 00:31:17,140
have these 3 weeks where you try be

981
00:31:17,140 --> 00:31:19,000
consistent, and that will be different to

982
00:31:19,314 --> 00:31:21,303
to 3 weeks before because of the kinda

983
00:31:21,303 --> 00:31:22,019
evolution of the off season.

984
00:31:22,736 --> 00:31:25,123
So there's always something kinda new and interesting.

985
00:31:25,362 --> 00:31:27,033
Yeah. And you're... Or even if it's the

986
00:31:27,033 --> 00:31:28,466
same for a few weeks, you're still trying

987
00:31:28,466 --> 00:31:29,676
to beat the week before.

988
00:31:30,393 --> 00:31:32,226
So yeah there's always something that you're kinda...

989
00:31:32,465 --> 00:31:34,697
Yeah. It keeps an interest. Has the move

990
00:31:34,697 --> 00:31:36,371
out here helps as well. Right? I... I

991
00:31:36,371 --> 00:31:38,141
mean, I for a while, every ride gonna

992
00:31:38,141 --> 00:31:39,337
be a new ride sort of thing, like,

993
00:31:39,497 --> 00:31:40,853
even on the road, it's roads you've not

994
00:31:40,853 --> 00:31:43,327
ridden before. And, Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That's it.

995
00:31:44,220 --> 00:31:45,655
A lot of rice end up being longer

996
00:31:45,655 --> 00:31:47,570
than planned. You get lost. You look at

997
00:31:47,570 --> 00:31:48,846
the map and you're like, just go up

998
00:31:48,846 --> 00:31:50,681
there and then there and you realize that

999
00:31:50,681 --> 00:31:52,074
climb takes 2 hour. And

1000
00:31:52,451 --> 00:31:54,365
half the hills are a lot bigger, especially

1001
00:31:54,365 --> 00:31:55,401
when you zoom out on the map, they

1002
00:31:55,401 --> 00:31:57,235
get smaller, but... Yeah. Nice.

1003
00:31:58,192 --> 00:32:00,366
Let's talk a bit about the the change

1004
00:32:00,599 --> 00:32:03,000
in program. Mh, so you were on fifth

1005
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:03,960
Vinci for a while,

1006
00:32:04,519 --> 00:32:05,960
up until the end of 20 23.

1007
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,093
At what point did you know that that

1008
00:32:09,093 --> 00:32:10,767
wasn't gonna be the case for 20 24

1009
00:32:10,846 --> 00:32:12,541
Like, when did you find out you were

1010
00:32:12,679 --> 00:32:13,715
gonna be looking elsewhere?

1011
00:32:14,352 --> 00:32:15,707
Pretty early on, Like, I think...

1012
00:32:16,758 --> 00:32:18,993
We could see the signs that Vinci were

1013
00:32:18,993 --> 00:32:20,749
kinda changing in their direction. Mh. In terms

1014
00:32:20,749 --> 00:32:22,345
of the bikes that are producing and selling.

1015
00:32:22,584 --> 00:32:23,941
And the markets they're are focused on them.

1016
00:32:24,753 --> 00:32:26,741
And then I think around June last year,

1017
00:32:26,900 --> 00:32:28,650
we were told the team wouldn't continue.

1018
00:32:29,764 --> 00:32:30,264
So

1019
00:32:30,638 --> 00:32:31,832
pretty early on, but it was kind of

1020
00:32:31,832 --> 00:32:32,968
at the same time

1021
00:32:34,071 --> 00:32:35,896
people were realized that the bike industry wasn't

1022
00:32:35,896 --> 00:32:38,276
doing so well. Yeah. And then general was

1023
00:32:38,276 --> 00:32:39,704
probably gonna take the brunt of that. Yeah.

1024
00:32:40,022 --> 00:32:42,262
So burst a bit than know. Yeah. Yeah.

1025
00:32:42,501 --> 00:32:44,197
Exactly. So at first, it was kinda

1026
00:32:44,654 --> 00:32:46,329
reaching out to Teams and brands that I

1027
00:32:46,329 --> 00:32:47,764
wanted to ride for and mh. It was

1028
00:32:47,764 --> 00:32:48,264
kinda

1029
00:32:48,641 --> 00:32:50,497
starting to realize like, this isn't

1030
00:32:50,969 --> 00:32:54,002
the usual year of negotiating. Yeah. So then

1031
00:32:54,002 --> 00:32:55,599
it kinda put things in perspective for me

1032
00:32:55,599 --> 00:32:56,658
a lot, and,

1033
00:32:57,355 --> 00:32:58,951
you know, I haven't had a a tough

1034
00:32:58,951 --> 00:33:00,878
few years and a couple years where I

1035
00:33:00,878 --> 00:33:02,309
was kinda finishing races feeling,

1036
00:33:03,105 --> 00:33:05,649
I hadn't given my best and not leaving

1037
00:33:05,649 --> 00:33:07,716
super proud of my performance. Okay. So I

1038
00:33:07,716 --> 00:33:09,878
was kinda like, right, what's my priority. Yeah.

1039
00:33:10,037 --> 00:33:10,513
For next year.

1040
00:33:11,388 --> 00:33:12,285
And it was

1041
00:33:12,898 --> 00:33:14,965
to finish this season proud of my results.

1042
00:33:15,203 --> 00:33:16,952
And yeah. In a position where, like, I'm

1043
00:33:16,952 --> 00:33:18,803
racing at my best or at least. I've

1044
00:33:19,033 --> 00:33:20,227
I have the tools to race reset my

1045
00:33:20,227 --> 00:33:20,704
best. Yeah.

1046
00:33:22,852 --> 00:33:24,204
So I you can, I kinda narrow it

1047
00:33:24,204 --> 00:33:25,477
down to a few teams at, like, yes?

1048
00:33:25,715 --> 00:33:26,988
I would like the ride for these teams.

1049
00:33:27,307 --> 00:33:29,069
Okay. They would get the best out of

1050
00:33:29,069 --> 00:33:30,737
me. And is that based on, like,

1051
00:33:31,372 --> 00:33:33,278
looking at bikes and kit that those teams

1052
00:33:33,278 --> 00:33:34,707
have? Is it based on looking at the

1053
00:33:34,707 --> 00:33:35,525
team kinda

1054
00:33:36,311 --> 00:33:38,696
infrastructure or the team via, like, what was

1055
00:33:38,696 --> 00:33:41,082
attracting you to certain areas. Yeah. It's kind

1056
00:33:41,082 --> 00:33:42,593
of a bit of both. Okay. So the

1057
00:33:42,593 --> 00:33:44,183
bike is obviously a massive part of us.

1058
00:33:44,740 --> 00:33:45,949
It needs to be a bike that that

1059
00:33:45,949 --> 00:33:48,262
works well, And then the people around infrastructure

1060
00:33:48,262 --> 00:33:48,820
around. Yeah.

1061
00:33:50,415 --> 00:33:51,931
Who your teammates would be, you know, because,

1062
00:33:52,090 --> 00:33:53,446
obviously, you want someone that you're gonna you're

1063
00:33:53,446 --> 00:33:55,654
gonna vibe it and work well with, which

1064
00:33:55,694 --> 00:33:57,133
to be various kind of most people in

1065
00:33:57,133 --> 00:33:59,211
endure. I don't think there's anyone you... What

1066
00:33:59,211 --> 00:34:00,569
that would have a red flag? Yeah. It

1067
00:34:00,569 --> 00:34:02,827
seems a good curry. Yeah. So,

1068
00:34:03,207 --> 00:34:04,805
yeah. Reach out a few teams and then

1069
00:34:04,805 --> 00:34:07,680
that wasn't working out because they were sorted

1070
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:08,236
really. Yeah.

1071
00:34:09,189 --> 00:34:10,618
So then I kinda realized I right,

1072
00:34:11,571 --> 00:34:13,733
what's what do I need? To do well.

1073
00:34:14,131 --> 00:34:16,124
Was there ever a thought of, like, maybe

1074
00:34:16,124 --> 00:34:17,319
this is it? Did you ever have that?

1075
00:34:17,399 --> 00:34:18,675
Or were you just like, I'm gonna make

1076
00:34:18,675 --> 00:34:20,667
this work wherever? Yeah. And that that was

1077
00:34:20,667 --> 00:34:22,994
interesting because I got, like, pretty deep 3

1078
00:34:22,994 --> 00:34:24,507
off season before I realized that that didn't

1079
00:34:24,507 --> 00:34:26,500
happen. Okay. And I was kinda because then

1080
00:34:26,500 --> 00:34:28,253
it was always just building towards whatever's is

1081
00:34:28,253 --> 00:34:28,731
next. Yeah.

1082
00:34:29,463 --> 00:34:30,580
And it would it would have been an

1083
00:34:30,580 --> 00:34:32,574
easy time to say, yeah. Put, you know,

1084
00:34:32,733 --> 00:34:33,930
I'm done of I've had a good run,

1085
00:34:34,169 --> 00:34:36,083
but, no. It never crossed my mind to

1086
00:34:36,083 --> 00:34:37,838
be honest. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Which was

1087
00:34:37,838 --> 00:34:38,396
really cool. Yeah.

1088
00:34:39,128 --> 00:34:40,795
Yeah. I I love it like a, I'll

1089
00:34:40,795 --> 00:34:41,929
keep going for a while.

1090
00:34:43,016 --> 00:34:44,762
But yes. So I kind of figured out

1091
00:34:44,762 --> 00:34:46,507
what do I need and, you know, step

1092
00:34:46,507 --> 00:34:47,714
1 of that as a good bike. Need

1093
00:34:47,714 --> 00:34:49,151
a mechanic around me and good people around

1094
00:34:49,151 --> 00:34:50,290
me. Yeah. And

1095
00:34:50,828 --> 00:34:52,046
they're the kind of the main

1096
00:34:52,584 --> 00:34:54,900
pieces of the puzzle because the interesting something

1097
00:34:54,900 --> 00:34:56,656
thing would endure, like, we're downhill now we

1098
00:34:56,656 --> 00:34:57,156
see,

1099
00:34:57,630 --> 00:34:59,329
you look at track walk photos and there's

1100
00:34:59,469 --> 00:35:01,170
20 people on our team, like it's crazy

1101
00:35:01,230 --> 00:35:03,390
and insane. Whereas end jira, it's quite different

1102
00:35:03,390 --> 00:35:05,390
because, like, on a practice day, we're out

1103
00:35:05,390 --> 00:35:06,670
on the bike all day. We're not in

1104
00:35:06,670 --> 00:35:08,123
the pits Yeah. So even if you have

1105
00:35:08,123 --> 00:35:09,961
a massive team, you're not really with them.

1106
00:35:10,121 --> 00:35:11,959
Yeah. And while it does help, it's not

1107
00:35:11,959 --> 00:35:12,278
everything.

1108
00:35:13,237 --> 00:35:15,235
So, you know, riders are a lot more

1109
00:35:15,235 --> 00:35:15,475
kinda,

1110
00:35:16,924 --> 00:35:18,833
independent I would say. Yeah. Self sufficient up

1111
00:35:18,833 --> 00:35:20,822
to a point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And

1112
00:35:20,822 --> 00:35:22,174
even a lot of the planning that goes

1113
00:35:22,174 --> 00:35:23,025
into a race week

1114
00:35:23,541 --> 00:35:24,572
in a lot of teams, it would be

1115
00:35:24,572 --> 00:35:26,081
the writer that does it anyway because Okay.

1116
00:35:26,319 --> 00:35:28,304
Where the ones that understands the course and

1117
00:35:28,304 --> 00:35:29,653
the practice schedules and what needs to be

1118
00:35:29,653 --> 00:35:30,130
done. Yeah.

1119
00:35:31,003 --> 00:35:31,503
So

1120
00:35:32,289 --> 00:35:34,047
you know, I think I'd kind of already

1121
00:35:34,047 --> 00:35:36,045
been maybe steer in the ship a abyss.

1122
00:35:36,444 --> 00:35:37,963
Yeah. And with with teams have been on

1123
00:35:37,963 --> 00:35:40,120
before so to now say, like, okay. I'll

1124
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,446
just take everything else My Yeah. Shoulders a

1125
00:35:42,446 --> 00:35:43,959
bit, It wasn't. It what it was a

1126
00:35:43,959 --> 00:35:46,291
lot more but not. Yeah. As

1127
00:35:46,667 --> 00:35:47,622
that could have been. And you've, you know,

1128
00:35:47,782 --> 00:35:49,710
you've done the private tier thing. You've done

1129
00:35:49,710 --> 00:35:51,950
the van life version. So you've you've experienced

1130
00:35:51,950 --> 00:35:53,390
it at all levels, I guess you know

1131
00:35:53,390 --> 00:35:55,470
what it takes. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And you've

1132
00:35:55,470 --> 00:35:57,410
just been around race so, like, I know

1133
00:35:57,470 --> 00:35:59,641
what I need, and I know what what

1134
00:35:59,641 --> 00:36:00,675
happens in a race week and needs to

1135
00:36:00,675 --> 00:36:01,788
happen in a race week. So it's pretty

1136
00:36:01,788 --> 00:36:03,220
quick you can make a checklist that Yeah.

1137
00:36:03,617 --> 00:36:05,469
That you need to go through. Yeah. So

1138
00:36:05,685 --> 00:36:07,991
Yeah. So once I establish kinda what I

1139
00:36:07,991 --> 00:36:08,809
needed Kinda

1140
00:36:09,439 --> 00:36:10,797
looked around, see what bikes are on the

1141
00:36:10,797 --> 00:36:12,715
market What bikes are wanna ride and kinda

1142
00:36:12,715 --> 00:36:14,633
came to 3 or 4 bikes. Mh.

1143
00:36:15,911 --> 00:36:17,110
And I reached out to the guys that

1144
00:36:17,270 --> 00:36:18,959
I was and because that there on that

1145
00:36:18,959 --> 00:36:21,668
list obviously, and straightaway away, Tom, the president

1146
00:36:21,668 --> 00:36:22,487
who have I've kinda

1147
00:36:22,943 --> 00:36:24,855
spoken to a few times over the, whatever

1148
00:36:24,855 --> 00:36:26,369
contracts come out. Yeah. Come up, but it's

1149
00:36:26,369 --> 00:36:26,927
never lined up.

1150
00:36:27,817 --> 00:36:29,407
And he was straight away just super honest

1151
00:36:29,486 --> 00:36:30,678
I'm just like, yeah. This is what we

1152
00:36:30,678 --> 00:36:32,903
can do. Yep. You know, he he... From

1153
00:36:32,903 --> 00:36:34,175
the outset it was like, we're not gonna

1154
00:36:34,175 --> 00:36:35,605
build a team around you or anything like

1155
00:36:35,605 --> 00:36:36,423
that. But

1156
00:36:36,734 --> 00:36:38,889
Yep. You can ride our bikes. Mh. So

1157
00:36:38,889 --> 00:36:40,646
that was like, yeah. Okay. Let's let's do

1158
00:36:40,646 --> 00:36:42,083
that. Nice. That's a bike on ride. A

1159
00:36:42,083 --> 00:36:43,519
week later, It I had I had the

1160
00:36:43,519 --> 00:36:45,116
frame there and got up. When was that?

1161
00:36:45,356 --> 00:36:46,567
Like, how? How early.

1162
00:36:47,125 --> 00:36:48,959
That it it was quite late. Okay. Things

1163
00:36:48,959 --> 00:36:49,996
that ran on quite a lot. So that,

1164
00:36:50,076 --> 00:36:51,590
like I got the bike. I think the

1165
00:36:51,590 --> 00:36:52,786
first ride was actually like the first of

1166
00:36:52,866 --> 00:36:56,147
January. Oh, wow. Okay. Technically. Yeah. Yeah. But

1167
00:36:56,147 --> 00:36:56,942
and gel straight away.

1168
00:36:57,817 --> 00:37:00,124
Yeah. Yeah. Like the first run. Even, I've

1169
00:37:00,124 --> 00:37:01,476
got a couple of clips from, like, my

1170
00:37:01,476 --> 00:37:03,146
first run on the bike. Yeah. And it's,

1171
00:37:03,226 --> 00:37:04,513
like, just... It was at home.

1172
00:37:05,229 --> 00:37:06,660
I just felt at home. Like, it's just

1173
00:37:06,660 --> 00:37:07,932
such a... It's an easy bike to ride.

1174
00:37:08,012 --> 00:37:09,682
It's an easy platform to ride. Yeah. You

1175
00:37:09,682 --> 00:37:11,511
know, when you're breaking breaking and the bike

1176
00:37:11,511 --> 00:37:12,465
doesn't behave too different.

1177
00:37:13,593 --> 00:37:15,104
So it's just the kind of bike you

1178
00:37:15,104 --> 00:37:16,775
can just jump on and and right? And

1179
00:37:16,854 --> 00:37:18,444
I think it's that platform like the D

1180
00:37:18,444 --> 00:37:19,342
link Click even

1181
00:37:19,717 --> 00:37:21,068
the e bike is the same as D

1182
00:37:21,068 --> 00:37:23,154
link. Yeah. Race it last weekend, but I'd

1183
00:37:23,154 --> 00:37:24,907
only ridden it 4 or 5 times before

1184
00:37:24,907 --> 00:37:26,421
last in Way. And I'm not someone really

1185
00:37:26,421 --> 00:37:27,855
rides an e bike that often. Yeah. At

1186
00:37:27,855 --> 00:37:29,608
least a years past now in in France,

1187
00:37:29,688 --> 00:37:31,121
it's a bit more attractive. Yeah.

1188
00:37:31,853 --> 00:37:32,353
But,

1189
00:37:32,964 --> 00:37:34,155
you know, all I did on up blake

1190
00:37:34,155 --> 00:37:35,584
was set the aside, and I went racist.

1191
00:37:35,743 --> 00:37:37,489
And and managed to get fifth. So, like,

1192
00:37:37,648 --> 00:37:39,339
I think that's a testament to just how

1193
00:37:39,807 --> 00:37:42,352
writ that platform is? And... And does it

1194
00:37:42,352 --> 00:37:45,056
feel similar other than the weight to your

1195
00:37:45,056 --> 00:37:47,203
race bike. Like, with the same, you know,

1196
00:37:47,282 --> 00:37:48,634
with the D link everything, I guess, the

1197
00:37:48,634 --> 00:37:51,123
kin cinematic is to some extent similar. Yeah.

1198
00:37:51,442 --> 00:37:53,680
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Was was it a relief

1199
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:55,119
then when you finally swung a leg over

1200
00:37:55,119 --> 00:37:56,877
that, and we're, like, good. This thing is

1201
00:37:56,877 --> 00:37:58,795
fast. We were all Yeah. Yeah. It really

1202
00:37:58,795 --> 00:37:59,090
wants

1203
00:37:59,608 --> 00:38:01,524
because I obviously had such a gamble. I'd

1204
00:38:01,524 --> 00:38:03,201
taken on myself to do this. Yeah.

1205
00:38:04,318 --> 00:38:05,755
And you wanna wanted to pay off, and

1206
00:38:05,755 --> 00:38:06,574
it was kind of

1207
00:38:07,032 --> 00:38:07,990
jumping on there, like,

1208
00:38:09,282 --> 00:38:10,958
Yeah. You you would know pretty quickly like,

1209
00:38:11,198 --> 00:38:11,677
right? Maybe.

1210
00:38:12,315 --> 00:38:15,188
I'm off or... Yeah. You get on a

1211
00:38:15,188 --> 00:38:16,840
good bike and it's like. Okay. Now we're

1212
00:38:17,039 --> 00:38:18,313
I I can still ride a with Cooking.

1213
00:38:18,473 --> 00:38:19,907
Yeah. What about the rest of the setup

1214
00:38:19,907 --> 00:38:21,420
then? Because you got a number of other

1215
00:38:21,420 --> 00:38:24,788
brands like, helping out? Yeah. Yeah. So Rocks

1216
00:38:24,925 --> 00:38:26,063
suspension. So that was 1

1217
00:38:26,453 --> 00:38:27,329
test in the off season,

1218
00:38:28,204 --> 00:38:29,716
and straightaway away I loved it as well.

1219
00:38:29,875 --> 00:38:30,830
Easy to set up. Yeah.

1220
00:38:32,103 --> 00:38:33,750
Be on your fox before with

1221
00:38:34,267 --> 00:38:35,938
Davinci? Yeah. I've been on Fox. I was

1222
00:38:35,938 --> 00:38:37,609
on Fox most of my career here. Okay.

1223
00:38:38,087 --> 00:38:39,838
So another big change. Right? Because Yeah. It

1224
00:38:39,838 --> 00:38:41,429
was a big change today. We'll do the

1225
00:38:41,429 --> 00:38:43,315
same thing, but in different ways and

1226
00:38:43,673 --> 00:38:45,430
Like the adjustment doesn't work quite the same

1227
00:38:45,430 --> 00:38:46,947
and, yeah. It takes bit of learning. Yeah.

1228
00:38:47,106 --> 00:38:49,262
Yeah. Absolutely. But, yeah, again, the rock trucks,

1229
00:38:49,421 --> 00:38:51,417
it's it's it's lot easier to set up.

1230
00:38:52,549 --> 00:38:53,984
Yeah. I think the attraction for me was

1231
00:38:53,984 --> 00:38:55,579
just that small bump sensitivity that it has?

1232
00:38:55,818 --> 00:38:55,977
Yeah.

1233
00:38:57,094 --> 00:38:59,485
Which for me is quite important. So what's

1234
00:38:59,485 --> 00:39:00,920
she greatly, I guess to an extent. Isn't

1235
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,164
it. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. So

1236
00:39:03,164 --> 00:39:03,960
that was that was good.

1237
00:39:05,074 --> 00:39:07,722
Hay brakes kept them S saddle

1238
00:39:08,098 --> 00:39:09,706
wolf 2 components on kinda of a lot

1239
00:39:09,706 --> 00:39:10,744
of the finish and kit, which was really

1240
00:39:10,744 --> 00:39:12,338
cool and Yeah. Contacted them. They were super

1241
00:39:12,338 --> 00:39:13,934
keen to be part of. And nice. The

1242
00:39:13,934 --> 00:39:15,768
whole thing, which is really nice. And that

1243
00:39:15,768 --> 00:39:17,124
something that's been cool is that dealing with

1244
00:39:17,124 --> 00:39:18,161
the sponsors myself now.

1245
00:39:19,291 --> 00:39:21,440
You kinda get... You see how keen they

1246
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:22,475
are to help and to be a part

1247
00:39:22,475 --> 00:39:24,067
of it and you kinda build that relationship

1248
00:39:24,067 --> 00:39:25,499
with them. Yeah. Whereas when you're on a

1249
00:39:25,499 --> 00:39:27,740
team, the writers don't often get that. Yeah.

1250
00:39:27,898 --> 00:39:29,487
You don't have that direct connection. I guess

1251
00:39:29,487 --> 00:39:31,313
it shows you doing something right. If you

1252
00:39:31,313 --> 00:39:32,504
if you ring up a brand and be

1253
00:39:32,504 --> 00:39:34,013
like hey, like, use your stuff and they're

1254
00:39:34,013 --> 00:39:34,172
keen.

1255
00:39:34,823 --> 00:39:36,416
It's a good sign that like... Yeah. Yeah.

1256
00:39:36,734 --> 00:39:38,805
You're promoting yourself well and that that you're

1257
00:39:38,805 --> 00:39:40,954
a character they wanna associate with. Yeah. Exactly.

1258
00:39:41,193 --> 00:39:42,229
It's a good reassurance. Yeah.

1259
00:39:43,596 --> 00:39:45,661
Yeah. And then silk wheels, which is which

1260
00:39:45,661 --> 00:39:47,170
is cool It's an irish brand. Oh, nice.

1261
00:39:47,567 --> 00:39:49,235
Yeah. Which is class. It's really good.

1262
00:39:50,109 --> 00:39:51,062
In Carbon Alley.

1263
00:39:51,634 --> 00:39:53,630
Alloy. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've never gone

1264
00:39:53,630 --> 00:39:56,105
over to Carbon wheels okay. Have you been...

1265
00:39:56,903 --> 00:39:58,500
Tried them. Not really Not on.

1266
00:39:58,979 --> 00:40:00,916
Yeah. Only of own small travel bikes

1267
00:40:01,229 --> 00:40:02,425
I've was just seen a few races be

1268
00:40:02,425 --> 00:40:04,499
ended by carbon wheels. So gives me the

1269
00:40:04,579 --> 00:40:04,738
He b.

1270
00:40:06,174 --> 00:40:08,088
And I like I like a a compliant

1271
00:40:08,088 --> 00:40:09,684
wheel, and that's kinda what Alloy gives you.

1272
00:40:09,843 --> 00:40:10,242
So... Yeah.

1273
00:40:11,453 --> 00:40:12,807
Yeah. I don't I don't see a reason

1274
00:40:12,807 --> 00:40:14,561
to change to be honest. Me anyway.

1275
00:40:15,757 --> 00:40:17,510
Yeah. Conte tires, which is 1 like I

1276
00:40:17,510 --> 00:40:18,865
just started out buying them. Mh.

1277
00:40:19,517 --> 00:40:21,108
Just to try because everyone's raving about. Yeah.

1278
00:40:21,346 --> 00:40:22,380
So Bought a few in the off season

1279
00:40:22,380 --> 00:40:24,527
to try and they were brilliant really good.

1280
00:40:24,845 --> 00:40:26,594
Especially at home and kinda the softer conditions.

1281
00:40:26,754 --> 00:40:28,676
They were really digging in nice. Yeah.

1282
00:40:29,948 --> 00:40:31,617
So I was prepared to just buy them

1283
00:40:31,617 --> 00:40:33,285
for the year, and then they kinda... We're

1284
00:40:33,285 --> 00:40:35,129
happy to help both. So that that's worked

1285
00:40:35,129 --> 00:40:37,044
out well, amazing. Tires is a big expense.

1286
00:40:37,443 --> 00:40:39,277
Yeah. Are these days they can you guys

1287
00:40:39,277 --> 00:40:40,953
get through of as well. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

1288
00:40:41,432 --> 00:40:44,002
So, yeah. Wow. So put there's a lot

1289
00:40:44,002 --> 00:40:46,159
of work to put that together and that

1290
00:40:46,159 --> 00:40:46,818
comes with

1291
00:40:47,357 --> 00:40:47,597
stress.

1292
00:40:48,236 --> 00:40:48,955
Yeah. And stress.

1293
00:40:49,927 --> 00:40:52,559
Whether at training stress or live stress and

1294
00:40:52,559 --> 00:40:54,631
can only take so much. So hap did

1295
00:40:54,631 --> 00:40:56,784
it, like, take away from your training in

1296
00:40:56,784 --> 00:40:57,820
any anyway way Do you think this winter?

1297
00:40:59,187 --> 00:41:02,366
At the start. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I

1298
00:41:02,366 --> 00:41:04,670
was quite fortunate that it was a late

1299
00:41:04,670 --> 00:41:05,226
start to the season.

1300
00:41:05,878 --> 00:41:08,589
So I kinda gave myself until Christmas New

1301
00:41:08,589 --> 00:41:09,488
year to really

1302
00:41:10,025 --> 00:41:11,858
put a lot of time into this. Mh.

1303
00:41:12,018 --> 00:41:13,453
And then I was kinda, like, write whatever

1304
00:41:13,453 --> 00:41:14,171
it is at that point.

1305
00:41:14,822 --> 00:41:16,253
We'll just crack on with us. Yeah.

1306
00:41:17,048 --> 00:41:18,717
Because yeah. It was it was full on.

1307
00:41:18,876 --> 00:41:20,148
A lot of a lot of stress. And

1308
00:41:20,228 --> 00:41:21,737
I got first, I was trying to build

1309
00:41:21,737 --> 00:41:23,486
it as a team with 3 riders. Okay.

1310
00:41:25,493 --> 00:41:27,246
But, yeah. It was quite apparent that budgets

1311
00:41:27,246 --> 00:41:28,998
weren't... Weren't gonna stretch that. I mean, it

1312
00:41:28,998 --> 00:41:30,273
was putting a lot of pressure on me

1313
00:41:30,273 --> 00:41:32,106
to be accountable for other writers as well?

1314
00:41:32,265 --> 00:41:33,873
Would you have been, like, team manager in

1315
00:41:33,873 --> 00:41:36,094
that case. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So it

1316
00:41:36,094 --> 00:41:36,967
would have been the same as it is

1317
00:41:36,967 --> 00:41:38,315
now just with a couple of riders As

1318
00:41:38,315 --> 00:41:39,450
as well. But

1319
00:41:41,029 --> 00:41:42,547
Yeah. It was a lot a lot of

1320
00:41:42,547 --> 00:41:44,566
pressure. And then once I kinda realized that

1321
00:41:44,785 --> 00:41:46,224
that was gonna be money out of my

1322
00:41:46,224 --> 00:41:47,742
pocket to pay all other the riders. Yeah.

1323
00:41:47,982 --> 00:41:49,580
Which I I wasn't really in position to

1324
00:41:49,580 --> 00:41:49,660
do.

1325
00:41:50,948 --> 00:41:52,219
I kinda knocked out on the head, and

1326
00:41:52,219 --> 00:41:54,944
then that lifted a massive waste. And then,

1327
00:41:55,477 --> 00:41:56,828
yeah, that was around Christmas time.

1328
00:41:57,559 --> 00:41:58,916
So I can add enough of a package

1329
00:41:58,916 --> 00:42:00,432
together at that point to be like, right.

1330
00:42:00,591 --> 00:42:02,426
Let's crack on, and I can kind of

1331
00:42:02,426 --> 00:42:03,783
flip my focus now into training.

1332
00:42:04,581 --> 00:42:06,273
Really got talking to train and for.

1333
00:42:06,672 --> 00:42:08,351
Could you see yourself being a team manager

1334
00:42:08,351 --> 00:42:09,549
at some point in the future then? Like,

1335
00:42:09,869 --> 00:42:11,228
was that something that you just felt you

1336
00:42:11,228 --> 00:42:12,586
were gonna do because you hadn't been forced

1337
00:42:12,586 --> 00:42:14,280
a bit? Or do you have a like

1338
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:15,719
a bit of a desire maybe 1 day.

1339
00:42:16,119 --> 00:42:18,840
Yeah. Definitely. Definitely, like, my goal, with this

1340
00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:20,199
would be to build it into a proper

1341
00:42:20,199 --> 00:42:22,440
team. Yeah. And, you know, maybe after Racing

1342
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:23,775
could be a team manager because

1343
00:42:24,452 --> 00:42:26,206
a lot a love racing, and it's something

1344
00:42:26,286 --> 00:42:27,801
I think at this point, I know quite

1345
00:42:27,801 --> 00:42:28,859
a bit about. And,

1346
00:42:29,316 --> 00:42:31,548
you know, even as a racer, I still

1347
00:42:31,548 --> 00:42:32,266
quite like to help.

1348
00:42:32,998 --> 00:42:34,347
Other writers are, like, give a bit of

1349
00:42:34,347 --> 00:42:36,037
advice here. And their wear cans. So

1350
00:42:36,410 --> 00:42:38,393
it'd be really cool to use that knowledge

1351
00:42:38,393 --> 00:42:39,266
after racing. Yeah.

1352
00:42:40,393 --> 00:42:42,060
To to help others so that'd be cool.

1353
00:42:42,219 --> 00:42:44,705
Yeah. Hopefully, hopefully, it can build. Yeah. Nice

1354
00:42:44,761 --> 00:42:45,158
that'd be nice.

1355
00:42:45,873 --> 00:42:47,064
Let's talk a bit about this season then.

1356
00:42:47,223 --> 00:42:49,069
Alright. How did you feel coming into the

1357
00:42:49,069 --> 00:42:50,349
first round. You feel like you were ready?

1358
00:42:50,829 --> 00:42:51,949
Obviously, a lot of change, a lot of

1359
00:42:51,949 --> 00:42:53,329
things to get used to and

1360
00:42:53,630 --> 00:42:56,029
that. But... Yeah. Yeah. I did. For sure.

1361
00:42:56,750 --> 00:42:57,969
I kinda knew that was

1362
00:42:58,364 --> 00:42:59,717
you you can feel when you're going well,

1363
00:43:00,592 --> 00:43:02,343
and even even before the season start, you

1364
00:43:02,343 --> 00:43:04,651
don't really know, but when you're good, you

1365
00:43:04,651 --> 00:43:06,164
kinda know you're good. Is it a feeling

1366
00:43:06,164 --> 00:43:07,858
or is it numbers? Like, how you

1367
00:43:08,407 --> 00:43:09,679
what's telling you that you're good.

1368
00:43:10,793 --> 00:43:13,577
It's like things or get easier. Okay. I

1369
00:43:13,577 --> 00:43:15,168
know you're training easy. The numbers are good.

1370
00:43:15,327 --> 00:43:17,091
You get on the bike and easy to

1371
00:43:17,091 --> 00:43:18,920
turn it on and go fast. Yeah. You're

1372
00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:20,351
not fighting it you're not struggling.

1373
00:43:21,622 --> 00:43:22,577
And I kinda had that.

1374
00:43:23,610 --> 00:43:24,110
So

1375
00:43:24,738 --> 00:43:25,932
I coming in. I I felt good.

1376
00:43:27,125 --> 00:43:28,876
And, yeah. We had a good course in

1377
00:43:28,876 --> 00:43:30,547
finale. It was good cut good physical course,

1378
00:43:30,945 --> 00:43:32,715
which I knew would kinda suit my strengths.

1379
00:43:33,114 --> 00:43:35,275
Hugely physically whatever everyone had to say. Yeah.

1380
00:43:35,515 --> 00:43:36,795
Was. I anyway, it was great. Yeah. To

1381
00:43:36,795 --> 00:43:38,474
be honest. Like, I... I'm all for that

1382
00:43:38,474 --> 00:43:39,295
because I think

1383
00:43:39,687 --> 00:43:41,116
Endurance is a part of the sport that

1384
00:43:41,116 --> 00:43:41,911
we should have. Yeah.

1385
00:43:43,101 --> 00:43:44,928
So, yeah. It was it was a proper.

1386
00:43:45,404 --> 00:43:47,724
Tightly liaison as well right, Super hot. Yeah.

1387
00:43:47,883 --> 00:43:50,996
Yeah. Really harsh. Tight liaison. I think the

1388
00:43:50,996 --> 00:43:52,433
tight liaison maybe surprise quite a lot of

1389
00:43:52,433 --> 00:43:54,508
people and the intensity and the heat. Because

1390
00:43:54,508 --> 00:43:55,865
it hadn't been tight for a while. Hey.

1391
00:43:56,025 --> 00:43:57,556
Is that why it was a surprise or...

1392
00:43:58,275 --> 00:44:00,110
Yeah. Think maybe. Yeah. It could've have been.

1393
00:44:00,269 --> 00:44:02,344
Yeah. And I think the physicality leader the

1394
00:44:02,344 --> 00:44:04,041
stage is adds to that as well because

1395
00:44:04,514 --> 00:44:06,340
you know, every time you bury yourself on

1396
00:44:06,340 --> 00:44:07,451
a stage, you get a bit slower on

1397
00:44:07,451 --> 00:44:09,039
the next climb. Yeah. And I guess you

1398
00:44:09,039 --> 00:44:11,421
can... You can't really simulate that on your

1399
00:44:11,421 --> 00:44:13,088
practice lap. Right? You're never gonna go as

1400
00:44:13,088 --> 00:44:13,326
hard.

1401
00:44:13,898 --> 00:44:15,971
Yeah in stage. So the transition feels out...

1402
00:44:16,130 --> 00:44:17,326
Yeah That's okay. Can do that in that

1403
00:44:17,326 --> 00:44:19,160
time And... And so that's actually an interesting

1404
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:21,892
1 because so like in finale, we shuttle

1405
00:44:22,204 --> 00:44:24,045
pretty much all the stages. So we hadn't

1406
00:44:24,045 --> 00:44:26,684
written billy liaison same practices. Okay. Interesting. And

1407
00:44:26,684 --> 00:44:27,724
that's been a bit of a theme this

1408
00:44:27,724 --> 00:44:29,005
year that, like, it was the same and

1409
00:44:29,005 --> 00:44:30,694
come last week. There was a lot of...

1410
00:44:30,932 --> 00:44:32,044
We could use the lifts and stuff and

1411
00:44:32,044 --> 00:44:34,268
practice and we did, like, a different loop

1412
00:44:34,268 --> 00:44:35,618
in practice than we do in the races.

1413
00:44:35,856 --> 00:44:38,215
Yeah. Okay. So then... And they give us

1414
00:44:38,335 --> 00:44:40,572
4 practice, they give us Liaison times that

1415
00:44:40,572 --> 00:44:42,490
they're gonna use. Yeah. And they say to

1416
00:44:42,490 --> 00:44:44,808
kind of, you know, check these. Yeah. But

1417
00:44:44,808 --> 00:44:46,406
yeah But if we're not right Liaison, we're

1418
00:44:46,406 --> 00:44:48,418
not... We can't check. So then we don't

1419
00:44:48,418 --> 00:44:49,774
know if they're tight. And, like, if we

1420
00:44:49,774 --> 00:44:50,651
were to ride the course,

1421
00:44:51,528 --> 00:44:53,363
a few would probably time the liaison, and

1422
00:44:53,363 --> 00:44:54,480
then we would say, like oh, I think

1423
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:55,835
this one's a bit tight. And they they

1424
00:44:55,835 --> 00:44:57,431
probably would add on 5 minutes or whatever.

1425
00:44:57,590 --> 00:44:57,885
So

1426
00:44:58,724 --> 00:45:01,125
but if we're not gonna... Yeah. If we're

1427
00:45:01,125 --> 00:45:03,284
not checking that, then that's how still. So...

1428
00:45:03,525 --> 00:45:04,965
Yeah. Like, for me, I I would actually

1429
00:45:04,965 --> 00:45:06,574
like to see it that in training, we

1430
00:45:06,574 --> 00:45:07,846
just ride the course the same as we

1431
00:45:07,846 --> 00:45:09,912
raise it. Yeah. Because it also, like, it

1432
00:45:09,912 --> 00:45:10,412
adds

1433
00:45:11,502 --> 00:45:13,171
adds advantage to those who have the support.

1434
00:45:13,410 --> 00:45:14,443
Yeah. So, like,

1435
00:45:15,174 --> 00:45:16,612
this year there's quite a few private around,

1436
00:45:16,693 --> 00:45:18,791
and I'm fortunate fly of a mechanic and

1437
00:45:19,250 --> 00:45:20,847
and people that help me so I can

1438
00:45:20,847 --> 00:45:22,445
be shuttle around and practice but for some

1439
00:45:22,445 --> 00:45:22,925
people, like,

1440
00:45:23,738 --> 00:45:25,572
you don't have that luxury. Sort of are

1441
00:45:25,572 --> 00:45:27,508
people ride on the course and practice somewhere

1442
00:45:27,965 --> 00:45:29,640
stop. The shutters aren't being put on by

1443
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:31,474
the organizers then they're like, a... You have

1444
00:45:31,474 --> 00:45:34,042
to sort out your own shut. Yeah. But

1445
00:45:34,042 --> 00:45:36,355
it's allowed in the form. Yeah. Yeah. So

1446
00:45:36,515 --> 00:45:37,631
I I think it'd be cool if we

1447
00:45:37,631 --> 00:45:39,147
just rolled the course in practice as it

1448
00:45:39,147 --> 00:45:40,662
is in the race. Do you think they're

1449
00:45:40,662 --> 00:45:42,996
doing the the lift and the shut thing

1450
00:45:43,309 --> 00:45:44,896
to help keep you fresh so that the

1451
00:45:44,896 --> 00:45:46,483
racing is more intense and, like, more of

1452
00:45:46,483 --> 00:45:48,308
a spectacle what? Do you know why it's

1453
00:45:48,308 --> 00:45:50,451
going that way? Potentially. Yeah. If it's kind

1454
00:45:50,451 --> 00:45:52,370
of always been that way. Okay. It's not

1455
00:45:52,370 --> 00:45:53,720
a new. Yeah. And I think it's kind

1456
00:45:53,720 --> 00:45:54,990
of venue dependent. Some venues...

1457
00:45:55,625 --> 00:45:56,974
Yeah. You just have to pedal it because

1458
00:45:56,974 --> 00:45:58,800
it's only fire roads and others there's lift

1459
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:00,570
some tar roads around. So

1460
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:02,320
it kinda just depends on the venue. Okay.

1461
00:46:02,559 --> 00:46:05,039
So Finale felt good then. Yeah. Yeah. This

1462
00:46:05,039 --> 00:46:06,400
was great. It was just 1 of them

1463
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:07,380
days where it kinda

1464
00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:08,500
it felt

1465
00:46:08,813 --> 00:46:11,112
easy. You know, Felt like I could just

1466
00:46:11,112 --> 00:46:12,881
ride a little bit over the edge and

1467
00:46:13,095 --> 00:46:14,840
smash all the smash all the pedal and

1468
00:46:14,919 --> 00:46:17,315
Yeah. Yeah. It just felt good. And I

1469
00:46:17,315 --> 00:46:19,224
didn't know the times for the first few

1470
00:46:19,224 --> 00:46:21,395
stages. Mh. And after stage

1471
00:46:21,849 --> 00:46:23,934
3, it was real physical stage and I

1472
00:46:23,934 --> 00:46:25,848
was piling up just after with Hugo Pedro.

1473
00:46:26,088 --> 00:46:28,401
Yeah. He was a beast. Like he's so

1474
00:46:28,401 --> 00:46:29,918
strong. So I said to him was just

1475
00:46:29,918 --> 00:46:31,686
like, did just smoke on that 1, you

1476
00:46:31,686 --> 00:46:32,880
go, and he was just like, no, you

1477
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:34,155
smoked to. I was like, really?

1478
00:46:34,791 --> 00:46:36,725
Okay. And, like this is... So I was

1479
00:46:36,782 --> 00:46:38,852
seated around twentieth. Yes. Still quite lot of

1480
00:46:38,852 --> 00:46:40,224
writers to come. But, at least at that

1481
00:46:40,224 --> 00:46:41,503
point, like I was in the hard seats

1482
00:46:41,503 --> 00:46:43,500
were like, okay. Maybe yeah. Because when you

1483
00:46:43,500 --> 00:46:45,498
watch the live, like time think quite often

1484
00:46:45,498 --> 00:46:46,776
hugo be at the top for a while.

1485
00:46:47,016 --> 00:46:48,429
Yeah. Because he's like, 1 of the fast

1486
00:46:48,549 --> 00:46:50,228
during in the the the second pack kind

1487
00:46:50,228 --> 00:46:52,305
of thing. Yeah. And then the the rest

1488
00:46:52,305 --> 00:46:53,983
come through and pip, but Yeah. So I

1489
00:46:53,983 --> 00:46:55,981
kinda knew, like, oh, for. The feeling is

1490
00:46:55,981 --> 00:46:57,260
good, but also the time and is good.

1491
00:46:57,594 --> 00:46:59,512
So would you normally not look at the

1492
00:46:59,512 --> 00:47:01,189
times that any someone that stays away from

1493
00:47:01,189 --> 00:47:02,947
that or... It kind apparent that day was

1494
00:47:02,947 --> 00:47:04,065
just so hectic that we didn't have a

1495
00:47:04,065 --> 00:47:06,239
chance? Okay. Too busy. Like. Yeah. We're literally

1496
00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:08,239
too busy. Yeah. We hadn't we hadn't really

1497
00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:09,280
rested at at all up to that point.

1498
00:47:09,519 --> 00:47:09,679
Okay.

1499
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:13,255
Sometimes, like, I'll generally try not to look

1500
00:47:13,454 --> 00:47:15,952
after the first stage. Yeah. Because quite often

1501
00:47:16,171 --> 00:47:17,789
you can have 1 stage that

1502
00:47:18,248 --> 00:47:19,926
the times might be really tight and your

1503
00:47:19,926 --> 00:47:21,538
position is like t, but you're actually 3

1504
00:47:21,538 --> 00:47:23,769
seconds off. Yeah. Top 10 or whatever. So

1505
00:47:23,769 --> 00:47:25,283
she might just glance on at c t

1506
00:47:25,283 --> 00:47:27,434
and then get a bit deflate. Yeah. So

1507
00:47:27,514 --> 00:47:29,107
I'd rather kinda look after 2 or 3

1508
00:47:29,107 --> 00:47:31,193
stages. And it kinda balances out then. So

1509
00:47:31,193 --> 00:47:32,252
did you start to realize

1510
00:47:32,630 --> 00:47:34,804
where you were in the overall kind of

1511
00:47:35,022 --> 00:47:37,096
midday then? Or... Yeah. And I didn't look

1512
00:47:37,096 --> 00:47:38,372
into too much? I just knew ones around

1513
00:47:38,372 --> 00:47:39,967
the top 10? Yeah. Which I was just

1514
00:47:39,967 --> 00:47:41,496
like I get. That's good. Keep going where

1515
00:47:41,496 --> 00:47:44,039
we wanna be. Right? Yeah. And then, yeah.

1516
00:47:44,198 --> 00:47:45,867
We had a stage canceled unfortunately, There was

1517
00:47:45,867 --> 00:47:48,513
a, like girl crushed at the top of

1518
00:47:48,649 --> 00:47:49,841
stage 4. U.

1519
00:47:50,494 --> 00:47:52,255
So that 1 was canceled, and then, yes,

1520
00:47:52,414 --> 00:47:54,175
stages 5 and 6 were good, and actually

1521
00:47:54,175 --> 00:47:55,375
kinda got better as the day went on.

1522
00:47:55,534 --> 00:47:57,295
So, like, I was fourth on the last

1523
00:47:57,295 --> 00:47:57,454
stage.

1524
00:47:58,188 --> 00:47:59,144
There was only 5 stages, I think.

1525
00:48:00,818 --> 00:48:02,174
Yeah. For it on the last stage Hd

1526
00:48:02,174 --> 00:48:04,645
man and, yeah. Felt. It was kind of

1527
00:48:04,645 --> 00:48:06,494
wasn't after that was cool. Like, and saying,

1528
00:48:06,891 --> 00:48:07,926
that was a top to bottom, just a

1529
00:48:07,926 --> 00:48:10,075
really good on. Yeah. Crowd was good. Track

1530
00:48:10,075 --> 00:48:11,052
was good. So

1531
00:48:11,587 --> 00:48:13,179
regardless a result, you just finished. Was like,

1532
00:48:13,258 --> 00:48:15,009
oh, that was that was kind of the

1533
00:48:15,009 --> 00:48:16,776
race run. You you're dream of you know

1534
00:48:16,776 --> 00:48:18,448
why you're just swinging off it and the

1535
00:48:18,448 --> 00:48:20,758
crowd going well and everything's working well. That's

1536
00:48:20,758 --> 00:48:23,466
such an incredible, like, stage the view. I

1537
00:48:23,466 --> 00:48:24,741
guess you're not taking in the view, but

1538
00:48:24,741 --> 00:48:26,666
like, the image real from that stage is

1539
00:48:26,666 --> 00:48:29,054
in incredible. Yeah. It's amazing. And it's quite

1540
00:48:29,054 --> 00:48:31,044
like it's quite a scary 1 to race

1541
00:48:31,044 --> 00:48:31,544
because

1542
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:33,684
the top... I think it's like 4 minutes

1543
00:48:33,684 --> 00:48:35,510
stage with a top, 2 minutes or just

1544
00:48:35,510 --> 00:48:36,462
pedal. Sprint.

1545
00:48:37,097 --> 00:48:38,367
And then it kind of the hill just

1546
00:48:38,367 --> 00:48:39,716
like you come over a crest and it

1547
00:48:39,716 --> 00:48:42,510
drops into the stuff you see. Yeah. From

1548
00:48:42,510 --> 00:48:45,131
the photos and videos. But you're hanging.

1549
00:48:45,846 --> 00:48:47,514
The crowd is going mantle. So you know

1550
00:48:47,514 --> 00:48:48,308
you're gonna turn it on.

1551
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:50,800
And sometimes like, when the depend on how

1552
00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:53,039
it's tapes, you can't really see the track.

1553
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:55,280
Okay. Because the crowd is so thick. Whoa.

1554
00:48:55,519 --> 00:48:57,528
And, like this year, it wasn't too bad.

1555
00:48:57,608 --> 00:48:58,879
The crowd gonna work back a bit from

1556
00:48:58,879 --> 00:48:59,594
the track, but

1557
00:49:00,467 --> 00:49:01,976
yeah, it can be pretty wild because you're,

1558
00:49:02,135 --> 00:49:03,882
you know, you're really close to those people

1559
00:49:03,882 --> 00:49:04,677
hanging nice.

1560
00:49:05,249 --> 00:49:06,765
That must have felt so good though to

1561
00:49:06,765 --> 00:49:08,521
be back in the top 10 seventh place.

1562
00:49:08,681 --> 00:49:11,155
I think it wasn't Finale. Mh. Like, it's

1563
00:49:11,155 --> 00:49:13,150
been a it's been a little while. Yeah.

1564
00:49:13,563 --> 00:49:15,155
Yeah. It happened well. I think it was

1565
00:49:15,155 --> 00:49:16,348
20 21

1566
00:49:16,348 --> 00:49:16,826
tweed Valley.

1567
00:49:17,462 --> 00:49:19,371
I was 8. U. So was my last

1568
00:49:19,371 --> 00:49:21,202
top 10. Yeah. I've had a load of

1569
00:49:21,202 --> 00:49:21,838
11 and 12.

1570
00:49:22,888 --> 00:49:23,685
Which has been really the annoying.

1571
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:26,795
But I think, like, the result was 1

1572
00:49:26,795 --> 00:49:28,411
thing, but also just to race

1573
00:49:28,947 --> 00:49:30,701
forwards, you know, race, like you're attacking the

1574
00:49:30,701 --> 00:49:32,147
track and your know, you're, like, come can't

1575
00:49:32,147 --> 00:49:33,258
give me more. Give me more thing.

1576
00:49:34,608 --> 00:49:36,432
That was a big thing for me. Just

1577
00:49:36,432 --> 00:49:38,416
to finish a ace, feeling that good. The

1578
00:49:38,416 --> 00:49:39,607
process goals basically.

1579
00:49:40,098 --> 00:49:42,081
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And it just... It had

1580
00:49:42,081 --> 00:49:43,748
been a while since I felt like I'd

1581
00:49:43,748 --> 00:49:45,414
attacked rigs like that. Yeah. Yeah. I was

1582
00:49:45,414 --> 00:49:46,922
really happy. So coming out of that, like,

1583
00:49:47,414 --> 00:49:49,489
all these big changes stressful for our season.

1584
00:49:50,047 --> 00:49:51,563
The results there. You must have been feeling

1585
00:49:51,563 --> 00:49:53,718
pretty confident after that 1. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

1586
00:49:53,958 --> 00:49:55,130
And I just made a all where to

1587
00:49:55,328 --> 00:49:56,523
because, like, as I say, I took a

1588
00:49:56,523 --> 00:49:57,877
gamble on myself, so it was kind of

1589
00:49:57,877 --> 00:49:59,788
a it was like, yeah, that gamble paid

1590
00:49:59,788 --> 00:50:01,938
off. And whatever happens afterwards it we've got

1591
00:50:01,938 --> 00:50:03,053
at least 1 top 10 for the year.

1592
00:50:03,212 --> 00:50:05,942
So I it's a success. Yeah. Poland. How

1593
00:50:05,942 --> 00:50:07,141
was that? New venue?

1594
00:50:07,700 --> 00:50:09,697
Yeah. Yeah. Poland was sick. That was a

1595
00:50:09,697 --> 00:50:11,296
real. It's always good to go to new

1596
00:50:11,296 --> 00:50:13,308
venues and I think venues that haven't had

1597
00:50:13,308 --> 00:50:14,746
an event like that before. They always get

1598
00:50:14,746 --> 00:50:16,744
so excited about it. Yeah. The crowd would

1599
00:50:16,744 --> 00:50:18,023
seemed like it was pretty good there. Yeah.

1600
00:50:18,182 --> 00:50:20,021
Crowd was brilliant. Support was brilliant and it

1601
00:50:20,021 --> 00:50:20,521
was

1602
00:50:20,914 --> 00:50:22,355
Yeah. I really loved the in injure as

1603
00:50:22,355 --> 00:50:23,635
well, which was cool like they kinda knew...

1604
00:50:23,875 --> 00:50:25,074
They knew all the riders, they knew what

1605
00:50:25,074 --> 00:50:25,554
was going on.

1606
00:50:26,514 --> 00:50:27,954
Like it rained for Most of the Race

1607
00:50:27,954 --> 00:50:31,000
day. And the crowd was still just everywhere

1608
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:31,957
in the middle of the forest. You were

1609
00:50:31,957 --> 00:50:33,791
seeing people and, yeah. Fair play to them

1610
00:50:33,791 --> 00:50:35,465
because it's... Yeah. It's not easy to spend

1611
00:50:35,465 --> 00:50:36,740
a whole day in the rain. Yeah. To

1612
00:50:36,740 --> 00:50:39,148
watch something. Definitely. How did that raise some

1613
00:50:39,148 --> 00:50:39,547
unfold for you?

1614
00:50:40,584 --> 00:50:41,780
Yeah. Quite good. Like it was...

1615
00:50:42,578 --> 00:50:44,093
I felt really confident in practice because the

1616
00:50:44,093 --> 00:50:45,529
tracks are quite similar to home. They're, like,

1617
00:50:45,609 --> 00:50:47,934
an a gradient where you're not breaking too

1618
00:50:47,934 --> 00:50:49,764
much, you're not pedal too much, but you're

1619
00:50:49,764 --> 00:50:52,468
always trying to generate speed. Yeah. So like

1620
00:50:52,468 --> 00:50:53,604
that's something I've always

1621
00:50:54,635 --> 00:50:56,235
been good at because at home, it's more

1622
00:50:56,235 --> 00:50:57,934
about generating speed than

1623
00:50:58,235 --> 00:50:59,434
not scrub speed by braking.

1624
00:51:01,515 --> 00:51:02,635
So, yeah I felt really good.

1625
00:51:03,845 --> 00:51:05,595
First stage had a pretty good 1 and

1626
00:51:05,674 --> 00:51:07,742
Had Jesse. Starting behind me, and he came

1627
00:51:07,742 --> 00:51:09,095
down quite close efforts. And I was like,

1628
00:51:10,623 --> 00:51:12,377
what, I don't want him here already. Like,

1629
00:51:12,536 --> 00:51:13,653
not, you know, it wasn't at my ass,

1630
00:51:13,813 --> 00:51:15,647
but you kinda know what a 30 second

1631
00:51:15,647 --> 00:51:17,082
interval should be And, yeah. You wasn't doing

1632
00:51:17,082 --> 00:51:18,677
it long enough that you can feel 30

1633
00:51:18,677 --> 00:51:20,603
seconds. Yeah. Yeah. So I I knew he

1634
00:51:20,603 --> 00:51:21,717
taking a bit out me. I was like,

1635
00:51:21,956 --> 00:51:24,183
right. Okay. That's not exactly I want, but

1636
00:51:24,342 --> 00:51:25,137
I think he just had a good 1.

1637
00:51:26,982 --> 00:51:28,573
And then it rained. So on the way

1638
00:51:28,573 --> 00:51:30,800
up to stage 2 it hammered what rain,

1639
00:51:31,277 --> 00:51:32,709
and it really changed thing. So it kind

1640
00:51:32,709 --> 00:51:33,209
of

1641
00:51:33,759 --> 00:51:35,430
some people have been through the stage in

1642
00:51:35,430 --> 00:51:36,385
the dryer, I think. Yeah.

1643
00:51:37,500 --> 00:51:38,238
And then

1644
00:51:38,773 --> 00:51:40,603
I kind of... It was just so tricky

1645
00:51:40,603 --> 00:51:42,195
because it rained the amount that, like, it

1646
00:51:42,195 --> 00:51:43,230
wasn't completely saturated.

1647
00:51:43,642 --> 00:51:45,945
Okay. Some sections were, but then some sections

1648
00:51:45,945 --> 00:51:46,342
were dry.

1649
00:51:47,135 --> 00:51:48,247
So it was so hard because you'd be

1650
00:51:48,247 --> 00:51:49,676
like, okay, this is dried there's good grip.

1651
00:51:49,914 --> 00:51:51,264
You can crack on, and I need, like,

1652
00:51:51,343 --> 00:51:52,217
hit a corner and I'll just be like,

1653
00:51:52,709 --> 00:51:54,463
and you'd have a moment, and that would

1654
00:51:54,463 --> 00:51:56,478
make you, like, tense up tighten up

1655
00:51:57,094 --> 00:51:58,848
for, you know, the next 30 seconds and

1656
00:51:58,927 --> 00:52:00,442
Need relax again, and the same thing it

1657
00:52:00,442 --> 00:52:00,602
happen.

1658
00:52:01,494 --> 00:52:02,690
So I kinda struggled just to get a

1659
00:52:02,690 --> 00:52:04,286
rhythm going for the rest of the day.

1660
00:52:05,083 --> 00:52:06,040
Had some good stages,

1661
00:52:06,678 --> 00:52:07,178
but

1662
00:52:07,635 --> 00:52:08,991
just not know. I think the level is

1663
00:52:08,991 --> 00:52:10,507
so high now and the field is so

1664
00:52:10,507 --> 00:52:10,666
deep.

1665
00:52:11,399 --> 00:52:13,632
That if you're not completely on, you'll quickly

1666
00:52:13,632 --> 00:52:16,185
just drop 10:15 places. Yes. It's tight as

1667
00:52:16,185 --> 00:52:18,897
all. Yeah. Really tight. Real tight. Yeah. The

1668
00:52:18,897 --> 00:52:20,992
margins are crazy. Like. I think now that

1669
00:52:21,463 --> 00:52:22,416
was looking the other day, and I think

1670
00:52:22,416 --> 00:52:23,925
the top 10 is spread by by, like

1671
00:52:23,925 --> 00:52:24,323
2 percent,

1672
00:52:25,038 --> 00:52:26,468
which I think is pretty similar to downhill.

1673
00:52:26,706 --> 00:52:26,865
Yeah.

1674
00:52:27,580 --> 00:52:29,169
Sometimes, I think the insurers are actually tighter

1675
00:52:29,169 --> 00:52:31,338
than downhill. Which is why considering the amount

1676
00:52:31,338 --> 00:52:33,175
of time Yep. On the clock. And the

1677
00:52:33,175 --> 00:52:35,013
things that happened, Like, the mistakes everyone makes,

1678
00:52:36,052 --> 00:52:38,880
Everything All just balances out. Like last weekend

1679
00:52:39,334 --> 00:52:41,719
before the last stage, Ritchie Alex Trudeau. Had...

1680
00:52:41,957 --> 00:52:43,229
I think it was 5 hundreds of a

1681
00:52:43,229 --> 00:52:43,786
second between them.

1682
00:52:44,580 --> 00:52:46,908
So like they've done 5 stages race over

1683
00:52:47,298 --> 00:52:48,652
6 and a half hours. Yeah. And amazing

1684
00:52:48,652 --> 00:52:49,846
but I done not I'm like. You know,

1685
00:52:50,005 --> 00:52:51,301
there yeah which you'll say

1686
00:52:51,677 --> 00:52:52,393
0 like. Yeah.

1687
00:52:53,190 --> 00:52:54,782
Well it's amazing. It's amazing to follow. It's

1688
00:52:54,782 --> 00:52:56,795
really interesting. Yeah. Super Cool. And Leah gang

1689
00:52:56,795 --> 00:52:58,555
was another challenge you went right, like, quite

1690
00:52:58,555 --> 00:53:01,035
wet, slippery the race day. Yeah. Yeah. Again,

1691
00:53:01,195 --> 00:53:02,735
it was just that kind of in between

1692
00:53:02,875 --> 00:53:04,889
where it was like, kinda hard packed trails,

1693
00:53:04,968 --> 00:53:06,164
but They I just had this shine on

1694
00:53:06,164 --> 00:53:07,998
top of. Yeah. So it was just so

1695
00:53:07,998 --> 00:53:10,471
hard to to relax because it just felt

1696
00:53:10,471 --> 00:53:11,986
like your were... The trail was kinda try

1697
00:53:11,986 --> 00:53:13,342
to catch out. So she felt like is

1698
00:53:13,342 --> 00:53:15,434
an element of luck with the races when

1699
00:53:15,434 --> 00:53:16,394
the conditions are like that.

1700
00:53:17,594 --> 00:53:19,355
Sounds harsh because there's a lot of skill

1701
00:53:19,355 --> 00:53:21,114
in all of you lot. But like, you

1702
00:53:21,114 --> 00:53:22,315
sort of need things to go your way.

1703
00:53:22,474 --> 00:53:24,321
Right? You're taking risk and sometimes they're pay.

1704
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:26,542
Sometimes they won't. Yeah. To be honest, I'm

1705
00:53:26,542 --> 00:53:27,811
not I'm not a big fan of the

1706
00:53:27,811 --> 00:53:30,349
word look. Okay. That's fine. Yeah. Like, I

1707
00:53:30,429 --> 00:53:32,032
I don't think everything happens. For a reason.

1708
00:53:32,191 --> 00:53:33,464
Yeah. You know, I think if someone gets

1709
00:53:33,464 --> 00:53:34,737
a puncture and says are lucky. It's like,

1710
00:53:34,896 --> 00:53:36,408
well. You might got a puncture because you

1711
00:53:36,408 --> 00:53:37,681
had a rock too hard. Yeah. You know?

1712
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:39,909
It's sonya you. Yeah. Yeah. And I think

1713
00:53:39,909 --> 00:53:41,595
it's kinda... Like you Yes. You can be

1714
00:53:41,595 --> 00:53:43,425
on unlucky if it started raining and when

1715
00:53:43,425 --> 00:53:45,095
you're in start case. Yeah. Like a timing

1716
00:53:45,095 --> 00:53:47,107
thing. Yeah. Yeah. But I think

1717
00:53:48,213 --> 00:53:49,727
whatever the conditions are, you just need to

1718
00:53:49,727 --> 00:53:51,183
make the best of it really and,

1719
00:53:51,639 --> 00:53:53,631
yeah. Leo gang, maybe I didn't quite do

1720
00:53:53,631 --> 00:53:55,463
the best of that. K. I think when

1721
00:53:55,463 --> 00:53:56,818
when it's at hard ground that you can't

1722
00:53:56,818 --> 00:53:58,346
get your tires into I struggle,

1723
00:53:59,459 --> 00:54:00,970
struggle to just just relax on us.

1724
00:54:02,083 --> 00:54:03,275
And that, you know, that race we had

1725
00:54:03,275 --> 00:54:04,389
a couple of stages where the ground was

1726
00:54:04,389 --> 00:54:06,235
a bit softer and it was kinda more

1727
00:54:06,235 --> 00:54:08,074
muddy almost. Yeah. And I went really well

1728
00:54:08,074 --> 00:54:10,074
on those ones. Say that's that's when the

1729
00:54:10,074 --> 00:54:12,074
the irish light up. Right? Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

1730
00:54:12,315 --> 00:54:14,888
That's it. That's What about combo I imagine

1731
00:54:14,888 --> 00:54:16,007
that would be a sort of place that

1732
00:54:16,007 --> 00:54:18,324
you'd quite like as well. Yeah. Comedy was

1733
00:54:18,324 --> 00:54:20,661
sick. I think that was 1 of the

1734
00:54:20,801 --> 00:54:22,731
better races we've had in a few years

1735
00:54:22,731 --> 00:54:23,447
in terms of tracks,

1736
00:54:24,163 --> 00:54:25,437
proper natural French,

1737
00:54:26,391 --> 00:54:27,688
you know, not super

1738
00:54:28,222 --> 00:54:30,146
built trails, but they still work quite well,

1739
00:54:30,225 --> 00:54:31,337
and there's still support where you need it

1740
00:54:31,337 --> 00:54:32,845
us and some fresh cut as well. Yeah.

1741
00:54:33,083 --> 00:54:35,306
Some fresh coast, and that's kinda Alex

1742
00:54:35,782 --> 00:54:37,131
Who does a lot of the courses. He's

1743
00:54:37,131 --> 00:54:39,692
like, he's so good to getting creative with

1744
00:54:39,692 --> 00:54:41,608
tracks. Yeah. Because there are tracks that have

1745
00:54:41,608 --> 00:54:43,603
existed before, and I think not many people

1746
00:54:43,603 --> 00:54:44,242
had written numbers.

1747
00:54:45,119 --> 00:54:46,317
I don't know if we rode much of

1748
00:54:46,317 --> 00:54:48,321
the actual tracks he'd kinda pop on and

1749
00:54:48,321 --> 00:54:49,590
then he'll tape in a couple of corners

1750
00:54:49,590 --> 00:54:51,495
here and there. So it kinda takes away

1751
00:54:51,495 --> 00:54:54,035
any kind local advantage jonathan, which is which

1752
00:54:54,035 --> 00:54:54,511
is quite cool.

1753
00:54:56,194 --> 00:54:57,553
I think what made comedy so good for

1754
00:54:57,632 --> 00:54:59,630
Racing was we practice in the wet. Yeah.

1755
00:54:59,790 --> 00:55:01,388
So a lot of rot got cut in

1756
00:55:01,388 --> 00:55:02,667
and then they kinda dried up for race

1757
00:55:02,667 --> 00:55:04,265
day. Oh, nice. And some of them were

1758
00:55:04,265 --> 00:55:06,110
in. Someone of them were really hard. But

1759
00:55:06,110 --> 00:55:07,780
some of them were, like, class. So it

1760
00:55:07,780 --> 00:55:09,530
meant like, by race there you could really

1761
00:55:09,530 --> 00:55:10,166
push on. Yeah.

1762
00:55:11,041 --> 00:55:13,108
Very special. Mh. So do you do you

1763
00:55:13,108 --> 00:55:14,301
feel like you've got what it takes?

1764
00:55:14,952 --> 00:55:16,222
To win 1 of these still?

1765
00:55:17,650 --> 00:55:17,888
Yeah.

1766
00:55:18,523 --> 00:55:19,317
I do. Yeah.

1767
00:55:20,666 --> 00:55:21,539
You know, I I say.

1768
00:55:22,348 --> 00:55:23,461
I know some people might hear me say

1769
00:55:23,461 --> 00:55:24,494
that would be like, Come on, like get

1770
00:55:24,494 --> 00:55:26,322
a grip bush. I mean, seventh place in

1771
00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:28,467
Finale. Right? And that's it. And, like, fourth

1772
00:55:28,467 --> 00:55:29,818
on that last stage, and I know that

1773
00:55:29,898 --> 00:55:32,163
I do have the speed. I just needs

1774
00:55:32,301 --> 00:55:34,694
all the ingredients to kinda to line up

1775
00:55:34,694 --> 00:55:36,688
and even, you know, last year, I was

1776
00:55:36,688 --> 00:55:38,443
kinda getting 20 it's 30 it's and now

1777
00:55:38,443 --> 00:55:40,038
jumped up into the top 20 with... On

1778
00:55:40,038 --> 00:55:41,130
a top 10. So

1779
00:55:41,889 --> 00:55:43,569
it doesn't happen overnight either, So I noted

1780
00:55:43,569 --> 00:55:45,170
if I can keep building on from where

1781
00:55:45,250 --> 00:55:46,929
I am now. Yeah. You know, towards the

1782
00:55:46,929 --> 00:55:47,969
end of this year, into next year,

1783
00:55:48,704 --> 00:55:49,663
could be back in the Sharp end. Yeah.

1784
00:55:49,823 --> 00:55:51,181
Yeah. So you think it's it's a matter

1785
00:55:51,181 --> 00:55:53,978
of time rather than, like, any changes that

1786
00:55:53,978 --> 00:55:55,496
you're happy with the process. It's just that

1787
00:55:55,496 --> 00:55:56,615
you gotta give the process time.

1788
00:55:57,428 --> 00:55:59,575
Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. And that that's the

1789
00:55:59,575 --> 00:56:00,767
thing as well with this season is that

1790
00:56:00,767 --> 00:56:03,175
there's no not much time for changes. Because.

1791
00:56:03,311 --> 00:56:05,633
It's tight. Yeah. Like, we're what first week

1792
00:56:05,633 --> 00:56:07,946
of July and Yeah. Next weekend, we have

1793
00:56:07,946 --> 00:56:09,940
our fifth race out of 6 for the

1794
00:56:09,940 --> 00:56:11,535
seasons. Yeah. Pretty quickly. The season's is gonna

1795
00:56:11,535 --> 00:56:12,811
be nearly over. Yeah.

1796
00:56:13,768 --> 00:56:14,746
And that was gonna

1797
00:56:15,058 --> 00:56:16,649
somewhere very aware of coming in this year,

1798
00:56:16,728 --> 00:56:18,001
it was like, if you start well and

1799
00:56:18,001 --> 00:56:19,432
you're in a bit of a good rhythm,

1800
00:56:19,671 --> 00:56:22,215
it'll keep going nicely for you. Yeah. So,

1801
00:56:22,295 --> 00:56:23,567
yeah. I think I think it's just building

1802
00:56:23,567 --> 00:56:25,334
from here. Yeah. Pretty much. Do you think,

1803
00:56:25,494 --> 00:56:27,971
like, riders like Richie and Slab mirror and

1804
00:56:28,211 --> 00:56:30,048
Guess Alex Charlie? Like, what... Are... Do think

1805
00:56:30,048 --> 00:56:30,868
they're doing anything

1806
00:56:31,807 --> 00:56:33,325
differently or they just had a bit more

1807
00:56:33,325 --> 00:56:35,174
of a consistent in program for longer or...

1808
00:56:35,891 --> 00:56:38,201
Yeah. I think so. I think it's... The...

1809
00:56:38,520 --> 00:56:39,954
Consistency is the big thing, and that's what

1810
00:56:39,954 --> 00:56:41,171
amaze me is that,

1811
00:56:41,547 --> 00:56:42,981
you know, race like last weekend again there

1812
00:56:42,981 --> 00:56:44,985
was it was hectic. There was a lot

1813
00:56:44,985 --> 00:56:46,177
happening and it was physical.

1814
00:56:47,052 --> 00:56:48,641
And on paper, it'd be like, that's a

1815
00:56:48,641 --> 00:56:49,300
race where

1816
00:56:50,470 --> 00:56:52,457
people are gonna have crashes make mistakes up

1817
00:56:52,457 --> 00:56:54,246
mechanical Yeah. Maybe bunk

1818
00:56:54,623 --> 00:56:56,058
because it was such a a hard day,

1819
00:56:56,218 --> 00:56:57,334
and it was it was hard as well.

1820
00:56:57,812 --> 00:56:58,609
But just doesn't happen.

1821
00:56:59,407 --> 00:57:01,812
Everyone's just so good all day. And which

1822
00:57:01,812 --> 00:57:03,241
is the thing. So, like, there's no...

1823
00:57:04,036 --> 00:57:06,179
Like, if after 4 stages you're in tenth,

1824
00:57:06,656 --> 00:57:07,688
the best you're gonna get us a gate.

1825
00:57:07,847 --> 00:57:09,435
Yeah. You're not gonna jump 5 place on

1826
00:57:09,435 --> 00:57:10,626
the last stage or whatever. Yeah.

1827
00:57:12,310 --> 00:57:13,820
So, yeah. I think you need to be

1828
00:57:13,820 --> 00:57:16,523
consistently, really, really fast. Mh And do you

1829
00:57:16,523 --> 00:57:17,079
think, like,

1830
00:57:17,794 --> 00:57:18,294
consistency

1831
00:57:18,684 --> 00:57:20,919
IIE staying uni injured as well. Right? That

1832
00:57:20,919 --> 00:57:22,617
just being out and train and ride

1833
00:57:23,154 --> 00:57:25,230
for a couple of years without any interruption

1834
00:57:25,230 --> 00:57:27,145
from, yep. Time out to injury and stuff.

1835
00:57:27,479 --> 00:57:28,828
Yeah. I think so. I think so Under

1836
00:57:28,828 --> 00:57:30,177
our riders who manage that very well. Like,

1837
00:57:30,336 --> 00:57:31,765
some riders come and go and injury quite

1838
00:57:31,765 --> 00:57:33,534
often. Yeah. It still seem to come back

1839
00:57:33,670 --> 00:57:34,543
very fast. Yeah.

1840
00:57:35,510 --> 00:57:37,334
Jack, more, I guess would be 1 example.

1841
00:57:37,493 --> 00:57:40,031
Right? Seems to be. Incredible at her. Casper

1842
00:57:40,110 --> 00:57:41,880
Williams well his. Like he's had

1843
00:57:42,189 --> 00:57:43,647
some of the earliest injuries

1844
00:57:44,105 --> 00:57:45,382
and he just comes back the same speed.

1845
00:57:45,541 --> 00:57:46,898
Yeah. Like, it's amazing.

1846
00:57:47,776 --> 00:57:48,276
But,

1847
00:57:49,133 --> 00:57:50,352
yeah. I think it's just

1848
00:57:51,304 --> 00:57:53,385
Just racing well, training well and just trying

1849
00:57:53,385 --> 00:57:53,885
to

1850
00:57:54,184 --> 00:57:55,565
consistently move forwards

1851
00:57:56,025 --> 00:57:57,545
for me. Anyway. Like, for me, I'd be

1852
00:57:57,545 --> 00:57:59,144
kinda 1 that would make smaller steps over

1853
00:57:59,144 --> 00:58:00,918
a long period of time. Okay that 1

1854
00:58:00,918 --> 00:58:02,593
that's gonna have a light bulb moment and

1855
00:58:02,593 --> 00:58:05,067
just fine 5 percent of speed. So

1856
00:58:05,944 --> 00:58:07,141
yeah. For me, it's just it's just build

1857
00:58:07,141 --> 00:58:09,223
them gradually. Nice 1. So you're back on

1858
00:58:09,223 --> 00:58:10,969
your own? You're missing anything about being in

1859
00:58:10,969 --> 00:58:11,286
a team?

1860
00:58:12,635 --> 00:58:15,096
Some things like, in terms of support, like,

1861
00:58:15,255 --> 00:58:16,310
Of I've got

1862
00:58:16,779 --> 00:58:18,457
with me, which is Brilliant. You know, we're

1863
00:58:18,457 --> 00:58:20,295
traveling as I say, I'm mechanic my film.

1864
00:58:20,615 --> 00:58:22,613
My girlfriend. So, like, on a... When everyone

1865
00:58:22,613 --> 00:58:24,770
is there, I'm 1 rider with 3 people

1866
00:58:24,770 --> 00:58:26,542
around me. Yeah. So I mean helped out

1867
00:58:26,542 --> 00:58:27,979
as much as I've ever been, maybe even

1868
00:58:27,979 --> 00:58:29,336
more, which is amazing.

1869
00:58:30,613 --> 00:58:32,528
Sometimes you would miss having a teammates, someone

1870
00:58:32,528 --> 00:58:34,306
to bounce off. Yeah someone to

1871
00:58:34,697 --> 00:58:36,365
ride with during the week or whatever, but

1872
00:58:36,365 --> 00:58:38,272
there's still... The cool thing we're in in

1873
00:58:38,272 --> 00:58:39,622
enjoy is we're all friends and there's a

1874
00:58:39,622 --> 00:58:41,291
good crew ends, so you're still you still

1875
00:58:41,291 --> 00:58:43,135
find people hanging out with. But... Yeah. Yep.

1876
00:58:43,375 --> 00:58:45,934
And upsides to being like a a solo

1877
00:58:45,934 --> 00:58:47,614
operator, Italy, but you've got your crew around

1878
00:58:47,614 --> 00:58:49,295
you. But I think the flexibility,

1879
00:58:49,855 --> 00:58:51,614
you know, especially in the off season, like,

1880
00:58:52,109 --> 00:58:53,704
if I felt like I needed a certain

1881
00:58:53,704 --> 00:58:54,342
type of writing,

1882
00:58:54,980 --> 00:58:56,175
I didn't need to wait for a team

1883
00:58:56,175 --> 00:58:57,531
camp to be organized. Yeah. You could just

1884
00:58:57,531 --> 00:58:58,589
book for flight and go somewhere

1885
00:58:58,967 --> 00:59:00,482
or load the van and go somewhere. Yeah.

1886
00:59:00,800 --> 00:59:02,114
So that's been

1887
00:59:02,491 --> 00:59:03,928
that's been really good and it it's as

1888
00:59:03,928 --> 00:59:04,747
well with

1889
00:59:05,444 --> 00:59:06,960
the race weeks, you know, I can decide

1890
00:59:06,960 --> 00:59:07,859
when I arrive

1891
00:59:08,476 --> 00:59:08,976
when

1892
00:59:09,449 --> 00:59:11,040
I do Track walk whatever.

1893
00:59:11,836 --> 00:59:13,586
So that's been really good. Yeah. I guess

1894
00:59:13,586 --> 00:59:15,120
you've gotta do your own kind of

1895
00:59:15,496 --> 00:59:17,644
media and promotion stuff, but also, you're not

1896
00:59:17,644 --> 00:59:19,970
then, like, being pulled by a sponsor to

1897
00:59:19,970 --> 00:59:21,724
go and do something necessarily have a bit

1898
00:59:21,724 --> 00:59:23,878
more say over your own time and schedule

1899
00:59:23,878 --> 00:59:26,111
maybe. Yeah. Exactly. I like Tom Firmer. He's

1900
00:59:26,111 --> 00:59:27,148
been brilliant on the media side.

1901
00:59:28,358 --> 00:59:30,187
He's been so helpful this year with doing

1902
00:59:30,187 --> 00:59:31,936
my Youtube stuff and instagram stuff. And, yeah.

1903
00:59:32,175 --> 00:59:34,083
Know, he's super keen to to help with

1904
00:59:34,083 --> 00:59:35,594
that and get creative with it, So that's

1905
00:59:35,594 --> 00:59:37,502
really taken a a big weight off me

1906
00:59:37,502 --> 00:59:37,875
because

1907
00:59:38,873 --> 00:59:40,072
In Jar is an interesting someone 1, like

1908
00:59:40,151 --> 00:59:41,510
I don't know if there's many sports where

1909
00:59:41,510 --> 00:59:43,827
the riders do as much media work. Yeah.

1910
00:59:43,986 --> 00:59:45,105
If you look at Charlie Murray this year.

1911
00:59:45,279 --> 00:59:47,266
He's... He's on it. Yeah. He's anna. And

1912
00:59:47,346 --> 00:59:48,300
Like, he's putting a lot of time and

1913
00:59:48,300 --> 00:59:50,765
effort into him. Yeah. It's impressive. Same with

1914
00:59:50,924 --> 00:59:52,673
Jack more and more Tv and Yeah.

1915
00:59:53,483 --> 00:59:54,989
Yeah. Exactly. So it's good to be able

1916
00:59:54,989 --> 00:59:56,811
to get involved in that, but what I

1917
00:59:56,811 --> 00:59:58,238
would happen to invest too much of my

1918
00:59:58,238 --> 01:00:00,750
own. Yeah. Time energy. Yeah. Hey. You got

1919
01:00:00,949 --> 01:00:02,389
got plenty of other things going on so...

1920
01:00:02,550 --> 01:00:04,469
Yeah. Exactly. I wanted to talk a little

1921
01:00:04,469 --> 01:00:06,070
bit before we wrap up about the Irish

1922
01:00:06,070 --> 01:00:06,230
scene.

1923
01:00:07,670 --> 01:00:08,789
I guess you... You know, you've been a

1924
01:00:08,789 --> 01:00:10,962
big part of growing the scene out there

1925
01:00:10,962 --> 01:00:13,356
and showing an inspiring Irish riders showing them

1926
01:00:13,356 --> 01:00:13,915
what's possible.

1927
01:00:14,474 --> 01:00:16,469
And the scenes I guess grown.

1928
01:00:17,347 --> 01:00:19,272
And now you've got you know, young downhill

1929
01:00:19,272 --> 01:00:21,417
riders as well like Ronan and ocean. Mh,

1930
01:00:22,608 --> 01:00:25,309
yet again, kinda leading the charge and and

1931
01:00:25,309 --> 01:00:26,683
boy up that, like Irish

1932
01:00:27,231 --> 01:00:28,978
riding community. How is it these days? And

1933
01:00:28,978 --> 01:00:30,328
how has it changed since you were a

1934
01:00:30,328 --> 01:00:32,870
kid and started riding? Yeah. It's amazing. It's

1935
01:00:32,870 --> 01:00:34,697
so cool. I like, the buzz coming off

1936
01:00:34,697 --> 01:00:36,126
running the machine at the moment is brilliant.

1937
01:00:36,459 --> 01:00:38,775
Yeah. Like, everyone's... You know, everyone at home

1938
01:00:38,775 --> 01:00:40,291
is so buzz another, and it's so cool

1939
01:00:40,291 --> 01:00:41,249
to see that

1940
01:00:42,287 --> 01:00:43,564
yeah. Just to see how io air shredder

1941
01:00:43,564 --> 01:00:45,894
doing well, and especially at down because you

1942
01:00:45,894 --> 01:00:47,815
know, we don't at the biggest hills. And,

1943
01:00:47,974 --> 01:00:49,494
you know, on paper, maybe it doesn't really

1944
01:00:49,494 --> 01:00:50,295
make sense. Of course,

1945
01:00:51,015 --> 01:00:52,215
yeah, The boys are put in the work

1946
01:00:52,215 --> 01:00:54,074
and, you know, they've they've

1947
01:00:54,548 --> 01:00:55,825
I've come out swing and haven't they. They

1948
01:00:55,825 --> 01:00:58,058
have. So it's really cool. In terms of

1949
01:00:58,058 --> 01:01:00,690
the scene at home, it's crazy. Like, I

1950
01:01:00,690 --> 01:01:02,764
think the having the Aws those 3 years

1951
01:01:02,764 --> 01:01:05,174
really change things. Yeah. For Mike and as

1952
01:01:05,174 --> 01:01:06,614
a whole because it really put it in

1953
01:01:06,614 --> 01:01:09,494
the limelight of the government and just day

1954
01:01:09,494 --> 01:01:10,694
to day people. Like, I think the amount

1955
01:01:10,694 --> 01:01:12,590
of people, Like I was at riding once

1956
01:01:12,869 --> 01:01:15,022
it's a few years ago now, and there

1957
01:01:15,022 --> 01:01:16,936
was, Like, god, I think in his fifties,

1958
01:01:17,176 --> 01:01:18,133
and he was at Met Biking.

1959
01:01:19,010 --> 01:01:20,446
And he was just wasn't. And he was

1960
01:01:20,446 --> 01:01:21,483
telling me, like, oh, I got into it

1961
01:01:21,483 --> 01:01:22,932
and I went and watch this race. Blah

1962
01:01:22,932 --> 01:01:25,239
blah He's like... And it just made me

1963
01:01:25,239 --> 01:01:26,512
love mountain bike, and I told him like,

1964
01:01:26,751 --> 01:01:28,262
like, I and he said, like, oh, local

1965
01:01:28,262 --> 01:01:29,296
guy want it, and I was like, I

1966
01:01:29,296 --> 01:01:30,887
was me. Funny. And he gave me a

1967
01:01:30,887 --> 01:01:32,736
big hug. No was just like, yeah, you

1968
01:01:32,736 --> 01:01:34,092
got me, Mike and I was like nate.

1969
01:01:34,331 --> 01:01:37,123
That's so. It's crazy. It's amazing. Yeah. And

1970
01:01:37,123 --> 01:01:38,081
to see now like,

1971
01:01:38,813 --> 01:01:41,035
the trail development going on, like, I think

1972
01:01:41,035 --> 01:01:42,781
there was a grant of I think, 13000000

1973
01:01:42,781 --> 01:01:44,607
from the government to build trails in Ireland.

1974
01:01:45,400 --> 01:01:47,164
So we've got Think there's like, 7 trail

1975
01:01:47,164 --> 01:01:49,073
centers around the country. Yeah. Yeah. And the

1976
01:01:49,073 --> 01:01:50,902
standard of trails is unbelievable.

1977
01:01:51,539 --> 01:01:53,542
Like it's not. Like, my local hill we

1978
01:01:53,542 --> 01:01:54,733
used to go up there when I started

1979
01:01:54,733 --> 01:01:56,401
riding and you get told off by walkers.

1980
01:01:56,560 --> 01:01:57,989
And there was a handful of tracks, but

1981
01:01:57,989 --> 01:01:59,896
they were not very good. And now you

1982
01:01:59,896 --> 01:02:01,246
go up there and like there's purpose builds,

1983
01:02:01,563 --> 01:02:02,437
world class trails.

1984
01:02:03,168 --> 01:02:04,599
And there's still, like, off piece stuff as

1985
01:02:04,599 --> 01:02:06,269
well. And then on the... So that's the

1986
01:02:06,269 --> 01:02:07,461
front of that hill Is that trail center?

1987
01:02:07,621 --> 01:02:09,609
There's. Knock. Yeah. And in the back of

1988
01:02:09,609 --> 01:02:10,722
the hill, is a bike park. The gap.

1989
01:02:11,040 --> 01:02:12,764
Glen on adventure park, and they've got uplift

1990
01:02:13,123 --> 01:02:15,917
they've got so many tracks And makes crazy

1991
01:02:15,917 --> 01:02:17,273
amount of tracks. And, like, that used to

1992
01:02:17,273 --> 01:02:19,189
be a Golf course. Yeah. And in the

1993
01:02:19,189 --> 01:02:21,677
recession, the golf course closed and the reopen

1994
01:02:21,677 --> 01:02:22,314
it as a bike park,

1995
01:02:23,111 --> 01:02:23,669
which is, like,

1996
01:02:24,865 --> 01:02:26,539
what like, how that's crazy you Yeah.

1997
01:02:27,335 --> 01:02:28,531
And, like, you go there any day of

1998
01:02:28,531 --> 01:02:30,061
the week, especially on the weekends and so

1999
01:02:30,061 --> 01:02:31,416
there's such a buzzer in the place the

2000
01:02:31,416 --> 01:02:33,647
place packed. Yeah. Everyone just love Biking.

2001
01:02:34,763 --> 01:02:36,676
So... Yeah. Like I genuinely anything.

2002
01:02:37,568 --> 01:02:39,002
Around Dublin is some of the... Is 1

2003
01:02:39,002 --> 01:02:39,959
of the best place in the world to

2004
01:02:39,959 --> 01:02:41,632
ride like now. How it filled to have

2005
01:02:41,632 --> 01:02:44,422
been, you know, part of doing that promoting

2006
01:02:44,422 --> 01:02:44,502
that?

2007
01:02:45,552 --> 01:02:46,745
Yeah. Cool. Like, I wouldn't...

2008
01:02:47,382 --> 01:02:48,734
Yeah. I wouldn't take too much credit I

2009
01:02:48,734 --> 01:02:49,927
think there's a lot of people who have

2010
01:02:49,927 --> 01:02:51,280
done sure. A lot of work behind us.

2011
01:02:51,598 --> 01:02:53,507
But that I... The Irish win at home.

2012
01:02:54,237 --> 01:02:55,190
I think it was a big deal or

2013
01:02:55,349 --> 01:02:57,334
I think that really did kind of spark

2014
01:02:57,334 --> 01:02:59,319
a few things. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. It

2015
01:02:59,319 --> 01:03:00,114
was it was big.

2016
01:03:00,987 --> 01:03:02,416
It was definitely big for the sport. And

2017
01:03:02,416 --> 01:03:02,972
just to see us,

2018
01:03:03,862 --> 01:03:06,009
Yeah. How it's gradually grown from then until

2019
01:03:06,009 --> 01:03:07,918
now it's is incredible. Yeah. It's a amazing.

2020
01:03:08,077 --> 01:03:09,588
Have you had much chance to ride with

2021
01:03:09,747 --> 01:03:11,338
Ocean and Ronan when you've been at home?

2022
01:03:12,149 --> 01:03:13,844
Oh, good. Yeah. Ronan lives

2023
01:03:14,778 --> 01:03:16,451
20 minutes me. So we do when we're

2024
01:03:16,451 --> 01:03:17,566
both home at the same time. Yeah. We

2025
01:03:17,566 --> 01:03:19,239
do ride. And he's very good at... Whenever

2026
01:03:19,239 --> 01:03:20,434
I get home, he'll send you a text.

2027
01:03:20,594 --> 01:03:22,360
Let's go riding. Yeah. Which are really good.

2028
01:03:22,838 --> 01:03:24,270
Oh she needs a bit further away. Mh.

2029
01:03:25,543 --> 01:03:27,134
So I haven't ridden with him so much.

2030
01:03:27,771 --> 01:03:29,615
Actually, funny story. I I did a coaching

2031
01:03:29,615 --> 01:03:31,764
and day with his, like, club when he

2032
01:03:31,764 --> 01:03:32,241
was, like,

2033
01:03:33,116 --> 01:03:34,707
12 or something. Is... Is that dad actually

2034
01:03:34,707 --> 01:03:35,344
organized Chris?

2035
01:03:36,393 --> 01:03:37,824
It was so funny because he was, like,

2036
01:03:37,983 --> 01:03:39,812
so flash. He had all the kids. And

2037
01:03:39,812 --> 01:03:41,085
he was such a good little rider and

2038
01:03:41,085 --> 01:03:42,914
he was on this hard tail, and I

2039
01:03:42,914 --> 01:03:44,345
was kinda teaching them about, like, kind of

2040
01:03:44,345 --> 01:03:46,587
race lines and race craft. So, like, opening

2041
01:03:46,587 --> 01:03:48,101
up turns and being smooth and carrying speed.

2042
01:03:48,260 --> 01:03:48,737
That anything.

2043
01:03:49,375 --> 01:03:51,127
And he just wanted to shred. And there

2044
01:03:51,127 --> 01:03:52,401
was, like, this corner and it was like

2045
01:03:52,401 --> 01:03:53,755
a few bumps coming in and it was

2046
01:03:53,755 --> 01:03:54,552
like, a left hand boom.

2047
01:03:55,203 --> 01:03:56,396
I was saying, like, hey, you know, you

2048
01:03:56,396 --> 01:03:58,066
could set up and, like, get the entry

2049
01:03:58,066 --> 01:03:59,895
wider and Yeah. Carr to speed, and I

2050
01:03:59,895 --> 01:04:01,485
know she was just coming in manual through

2051
01:04:01,485 --> 01:04:03,473
the bumps on his little heart. And, like,

2052
01:04:03,553 --> 01:04:05,636
doing like, a scan flick it, like, slap

2053
01:04:05,636 --> 01:04:06,034
on the be.

2054
01:04:06,829 --> 01:04:08,501
And I was like, yeah. That was class

2055
01:04:08,501 --> 01:04:10,251
but like, not what it's like you're gonna

2056
01:04:10,251 --> 01:04:12,240
win it. Let's try this. Like this thing

2057
01:04:12,320 --> 01:04:13,275
And he just came in into the same

2058
01:04:13,275 --> 01:04:13,672
thing again.

2059
01:04:14,722 --> 01:04:15,916
And I was like, right. There's not Hell

2060
01:04:15,995 --> 01:04:17,825
Kid. He knows what he's doing. Fair play.

2061
01:04:18,302 --> 01:04:19,655
What a, yeah. Hell of a rider, and

2062
01:04:19,655 --> 01:04:21,087
he... Like, he has been a hell rider

2063
01:04:21,087 --> 01:04:23,651
since so age. So... And both taking world

2064
01:04:23,651 --> 01:04:25,425
cut wins in the not to do

2065
01:04:25,802 --> 01:04:28,749
yeah. Distant past. Yeah. So I'm. And more,

2066
01:04:28,908 --> 01:04:30,922
I think. More to come and they're both

2067
01:04:31,473 --> 01:04:32,989
consistent now as well. Like it's not just

2068
01:04:32,989 --> 01:04:34,506
a flash in the pan. Yeah. They're both...

2069
01:04:34,666 --> 01:04:36,022
Like, they gotta go head and their shoulders

2070
01:04:36,022 --> 01:04:36,522
and

2071
01:04:37,538 --> 01:04:40,109
they're racing to win now. You know, it's,

2072
01:04:40,188 --> 01:04:41,487
like, I think, when

2073
01:04:42,026 --> 01:04:43,545
on shane worn and Snow shoot, It was

2074
01:04:43,545 --> 01:04:45,063
a bit of a surprise maybe. Oh, you

2075
01:04:45,063 --> 01:04:46,262
could see it on his face. Right? I

2076
01:04:46,262 --> 01:04:47,460
don't think he believed he could win a

2077
01:04:47,460 --> 01:04:49,152
world cup at that point. Yeah. Where now

2078
01:04:49,152 --> 01:04:50,668
he knows he can. Yeah. Exactly where it's

2079
01:04:50,668 --> 01:04:51,943
now, like, I think the 2 of them

2080
01:04:51,943 --> 01:04:53,459
are maybe nearly disappointed if filling out the

2081
01:04:53,459 --> 01:04:54,576
podium, which is, like,

2082
01:04:55,293 --> 01:04:56,570
such a cool place to be in. Yeah.

2083
01:04:56,729 --> 01:04:58,300
For both of them. And for us has

2084
01:04:58,419 --> 01:04:59,692
fans to watch as well Let's cool to

2085
01:04:59,692 --> 01:05:02,318
see them right with that confidence? Yeah. 100

2086
01:05:02,318 --> 01:05:04,387
percent. Mh. Nice, man. Well, we should start

2087
01:05:04,387 --> 01:05:05,444
wrapping up and

2088
01:05:06,074 --> 01:05:08,311
we... When we when we chatted last time

2089
01:05:08,311 --> 01:05:10,068
we had 3 final questions, we now have

2090
01:05:10,068 --> 01:05:11,746
4. So we've got 1 more to do.

2091
01:05:12,959 --> 01:05:15,109
And that is if you... Oh, sorry. What

2092
01:05:15,109 --> 01:05:17,657
is 1 thing you do every day that

2093
01:05:17,657 --> 01:05:18,612
you feel benefits to you.

2094
01:05:23,332 --> 01:05:26,368
Every single day? Well, or that you would

2095
01:05:26,368 --> 01:05:28,046
like to think you do every day, but

2096
01:05:28,046 --> 01:05:29,976
maybe don't quite always manage it. Probably ride

2097
01:05:29,976 --> 01:05:32,203
a bike? Yeah. Say? Like, I'd probably ride

2098
01:05:32,203 --> 01:05:34,271
6 days a week and yeah. You definitely

2099
01:05:34,271 --> 01:05:36,021
feel better afterwards. Do you find it hard

2100
01:05:36,021 --> 01:05:37,374
to rest or not? Are you getting better

2101
01:05:37,374 --> 01:05:37,612
with that?

2102
01:05:38,422 --> 01:05:40,486
If the weather's going is very hard. Yeah.

2103
01:05:40,804 --> 01:05:42,470
Especially live in our air. We've got good

2104
01:05:42,470 --> 01:05:44,931
trails. Yeah. There's always some... Because especially, I

2105
01:05:44,931 --> 01:05:45,248
think, like,

2106
01:05:46,056 --> 01:05:47,800
I've got a few quite a few different

2107
01:05:47,800 --> 01:05:49,148
bikes. So there's always 1 like you're like,

2108
01:05:49,386 --> 01:05:50,416
I'd love to do that right on that

2109
01:05:50,416 --> 01:05:50,892
bike. You know?

2110
01:05:52,636 --> 01:05:54,882
Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. So was never a

2111
01:05:54,882 --> 01:05:57,040
bad bike right, I think. No. Are doing

2112
01:05:57,040 --> 01:05:58,158
the bike is a good day. Even if

2113
01:05:58,158 --> 01:05:59,676
you look out on this raining and you're

2114
01:05:59,676 --> 01:06:01,446
like, I'm not sure about this. Once she

2115
01:06:01,446 --> 01:06:03,036
gets stuck in. Yeah. You come in with

2116
01:06:03,036 --> 01:06:04,945
a smile on your face. Yeah. Exactly. Nice

2117
01:06:04,945 --> 01:06:06,694
1. Well, it's been an absolute pleasure catching

2118
01:06:06,694 --> 01:06:08,761
up mate. If people wanna follow you throughout

2119
01:06:08,761 --> 01:06:10,192
the season, where's the best place to be

2120
01:06:10,192 --> 01:06:13,322
looking Yeah. Instagram. Ask Greg underscore Call. Yeah.

2121
01:06:13,561 --> 01:06:15,739
And Greg Call on Youtube. We've been doing

2122
01:06:15,799 --> 01:06:16,438
race videos,

2123
01:06:17,078 --> 01:06:18,117
recap from me each. Trying to give a

2124
01:06:18,117 --> 01:06:20,289
bit of insight into what's happened. So tune

2125
01:06:20,289 --> 01:06:21,726
in for little sweet. Yeah. We'll stick links

2126
01:06:21,726 --> 01:06:23,482
in the show notes all that stuff. Yeah.

2127
01:06:23,641 --> 01:06:24,838
Thanks, man. I hope the rest of the

2128
01:06:24,838 --> 01:06:27,393
season goes well. Hope the build continues. And,

2129
01:06:27,553 --> 01:06:28,830
yeah. Look forward to seeing where it goes.

2130
01:06:29,322 --> 01:06:31,072
Thanks very much. Awesome. Cheers Greg. Cheers.

2131
01:06:35,047 --> 01:06:36,637
Alright. That's it for this. Episode with Greg.

2132
01:06:36,876 --> 01:06:39,119
I really hope you've enjoyed listening. Like I

2133
01:06:39,119 --> 01:06:40,877
said in the intro, this episode is supported

2134
01:06:40,877 --> 01:06:43,194
by our wonderful Patreon. If you wanna help

2135
01:06:43,194 --> 01:06:45,112
the podcast through these challenging times for the

2136
01:06:45,112 --> 01:06:47,030
industry, then you can from just 3 pounds

2137
01:06:47,030 --> 01:06:49,188
a month over at patreon dot com forward

2138
01:06:49,188 --> 01:06:51,725
slash downtime podcast. You can also help by

2139
01:06:51,725 --> 01:06:54,103
grabbing yourself merch from downtime podcast dot com

2140
01:06:54,103 --> 01:06:56,263
forward slash shop by sharing the episodes with

2141
01:06:56,263 --> 01:06:58,332
your friends are online or by subscribing to

2142
01:06:58,332 --> 01:07:00,798
my Youtube channel at youtube dot com forward

2143
01:07:00,798 --> 01:07:03,359
slash at downtime podcast and sharing the video

2144
01:07:03,359 --> 01:07:04,951
some love with likes and comments to help

2145
01:07:04,951 --> 01:07:05,747
the channel grow.

2146
01:07:06,384 --> 01:07:08,214
Stay connected by following the podcast hit that

2147
01:07:08,214 --> 01:07:10,044
button in your podcast app now or visit

2148
01:07:10,044 --> 01:07:12,289
downtime podcast dot com for. Slash follow.

2149
01:07:12,927 --> 01:07:14,125
Don't forget to follow on in instagram or

2150
01:07:14,204 --> 01:07:16,759
Facebook 2 where we're at downtime podcast. And

2151
01:07:16,759 --> 01:07:18,595
for that extra hosted of downtime, you can

2152
01:07:18,595 --> 01:07:20,670
sign up to our newsletter at downtime podcast

2153
01:07:20,670 --> 01:07:22,202
dot com. Forward slash newsletter.

2154
01:07:22,999 --> 01:07:24,435
Alright. That's it for today. We're gonna have

2155
01:07:24,435 --> 01:07:27,307
another awesome episode coming up really soon. But

2156
01:07:27,307 --> 01:07:28,106
until next time,

2157
01:07:28,756 --> 01:07:30,025
get out and ride.