Theo Erlangsen could be the most positive person in mountain biking and, with very good reason.
On this episode of The Ride Companion Theo Erlangsen joins Olly and Davi to talk about growing up in South Africa, discovering mountain biking and how DarkFest changed his entire career. Theo also talks about living in a van for most of the year, what it means to be a ‘freeracer’, the differences between Red Bull Hardline and World Cup downhill, YouTube and of course the Monster Energy girls summit and much much more…
Companionship, let’s come together and make Theo’s YouTube career happen by subscribing here https://youtube.com/@theoerlangsen8409?si=eF9wYawz_W9eZFWX
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Chapters
00:00:00 Transit van life
00:02:30 The life of a Freeracer
00:11:47 From South Africa local to world cup downhill
00:19:13 DarkFest
00:25:14 Greg Minnaar and Andrew Neethling paved the way
00:31:25 LAKA
00:35:24 Big jumps and World Cups
00:39:30 Riding 110ft jumps at DarkFest
00:49:22 “I die today!”
00:52:04 Why Theo didn’t race Fort William
00:58:32 How are top World Cup riders going so fast
01:01:12 Red Bull Hardline VS World Cup downhill
01:12:40 Snapchat course previews
01:10:02 AG1
01:19:12 Monster Energy Girls Summit trip!
01:27:00 Hardline 2024 teaser
01:34:00 Listener questions
01:55:59 LIKE & SUBSCRIBE
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Edited By: Doug Tucker, onlyflightdispatch.com
#TheRideCompanion #mountainbiking #mtb
we have a thing inide AF called being a sot pill which means um being like a having a salty Willie which basically means which basically means it’s it’s from like an old it’s basically old I want to hear you explain [Music] you welcome all the way from Cape Town he’s come over just for this podcast right is that right yeah yeah yeah yeah to Lans Round of Applause oh thanks for joining usary so you’re just starting a long period on the road in your van aren’t you yeah always the the migration across into uh being a gypsy again every year I kind of like less uh like being a gypsy a little bit less like when you’re like 22 you’re like yes I’ll stay in a trans van and do whatever you want and I’m like oh okay I guess we’ll get the transit out again it’s going strong though yeah it’s going strong Ian Reynolds picks a good Transit I tell that much is that shout out Ian Reynolds yeah sure yeah yeah like years ago I didn’t know anything about like British buying cars and insurance and anything like that and then I met him at darkfest and he was like okay need a b he’s actually a legend drove it cuz I couldn’t get visas to get into the UK on a South African passport he drove it across the channel and met me in C so I could meet him there and then drive it across no way big shout out he’s there’s something about dads they can just buy good cars yeah like what is it what’s is he in Reynolds a car dealer or is he just he’s good at cars he and does things lifetime Car Guy okay and he knows his [ __ ] B goes he knows him good he knows he knows him good so this trip this trip is for how long till SE September okay it’s like four months which gets quite hectic I feel like the Euro guys have a bit more of like it’s quite nice of you in Europe you can do a couple races and then pop home get a little reset like chill out for a bit and then go to the next race like from now until September I am Gypsy mode no hope no nothing like just event to event just going so like by like August you’re like okay so is it fair to say I would if I was to categorize you as a rider it would be a freeer yeah I I think brand dog’s the ultimate free racer but like I feel like I’m just like I can’t say no like just bikes or bikes and like if there’s fun bikes going on I want to have fun on my bike so if it’s a World Cup or big jumps or something like I mean I can ride a bike let’s go do it I want to do everything the official bio on the Monster Energy website isn’t it free racer is that so yeah it is yeah really yeah yeah yeah oh no way yeah I didn’t know that I the official bio on the moner website it is true though is it it is actually the best way to C you I think it’s just cuz they’re like we can’t just sponsor this mid pack World Cup Riders let’s be free racer yeah if you if you think about the events you’re doing so this next four months is what was what’s your primary concern World Cups having fun to be honest that’s Prim sick that’s the dream dude that’s so but it’s it’s like the next dude I’ll tell you the next few weeks it goes Poland this week then trans madira next week then Hardline the week after that then backyard battle at hji and Vero then Leo gang world cup then vosol World Cup then Le World Cup and there might even be another event in there somewhere but that is like I don’t know a lot of weeks just Event Event Event Event Event and it’s and it’s so many different skills so many different bikes when you actually think about it it’s actually like it’s not that easy it not that it’s easy doing any one of those things individually but like to be able to go and ride the biggest jumps in the world then race a World Cup and then race at Hardline but that’s what we’re talking abouto in there somewhere yeah probably I’m probably going to get smoked there but another thing Ryan was like do you want to do trans and you’re like well I’m not going to say no to B CU I’ve never been to Mad of course I want to do it like say yeah I will’ll do it you know why why are you here though why in The Sur Hills just where Ian Reynolds registered the van pick it up here drive it across I it’s good like if you go if you register of van in France and stuff you need like proof of address and like stuff like that in the UK you just need an address and then like it’s kind of just easier to register Vans and stuff here so right and to be honest you boys are on the S Hills so you know it’s always good well you’ve just done a trans vadira training ride and you’re ready now ready to go Big T electrolytes I’m good right so what’s the path to becoming like you make a joke of it it’s all it’s all just fun this and that but the path to becoming a free racer whatever that really means isn’t that easy as it I don’t know yeah I suppose yeah it actually yeah it’s not actually like it’s not as though you just like pop on a bike and like but I’ve just been riding bikes forever and ever and ever and saying yes to every opportunity Under the Sun so then you like okay well and then it kind of just I don’t know how it even happened to be honest but yeah like they I think I probably would have cuz there’s no like free ride and stuff like that well now it’s kind of growing in South Africa but like before darkfest happened in South Africa there was like some local races and some local national series and stuff and that’s just all I knew so I just grew up racing and then as soon as Sam started doing stuff in South Africa I was like that looks fun so I was like okay well and then did that and then that opened up a couple doors to other events like lose Fest and Royal Fest and stuff like that and you’re like no and then that’s again it’s like do you want to come ride some cool jumps in France yes of course I do so then and then you do that and then it like so it just kind of happened like that but um yeah it was the first couple years was pretty scary I bet so Cape Town’s got killer scene so you started off just racing downhill I guess when I think about Cape Town I think about Stell and Bosch and like cross country as well that’s that is the main scene there yeah so what stopped you doing that was it just to be honest I just kind of wrote actually when I was in school there was a couple older kids in my school who had downhill bikes and I was just like I was actually riding my mom’s hard tail like let’s call it a well no it was a a mountain bike at best it wasn’t an Enduro bike or anything and I was just smashing that thing around and then um like I saw some older kids in my school had downhill bikes and I was like that looks like the coolest bike ever and then I just smashed my mom’s bike enough that I was like okay and then I bought an old down bike from like a kid like whatever for 1,000 Rand which is don’t know £50 it was an old like Turner burner weapon of a bike and I rode that for like six months and ab like like rode the absolute pants of it until actually the chains day snapped and was dragging on the floor behind me and um I didn’t even know it snap until it was making a noise and then I was like oh no and then by that point it like ridden it good enough that like the guys in that little local scene were like okay we need to try to get you on a proper bike my man and then I got like a giant Glory like years ago and then I was like this is the sickest thing ever wow so there’s a good there’s like a race scene around Cape Town is there yeah there’s like I’d say like a local kind of Western Province like out like provincials series and then like a national series but like I mean it’s not even close to like your BDS series here and stuff like that your BDS series here is like pretty hectic like the podiums like Danny art Jordan Williams all of those guys yeah um so then but yeah that’s kind of just yeah went to a couple of like when once I had the bike I was like okay let’s go ride kind of thing and then um went from there and then started getting more interested and then saw overseas and this and then like morine and then yeah I guess had um the Neath Lings had were they first I don’t actually know in Cape Town were they first guys to sort of go overseas to race pretty much and they even so like him and Greg are so before my time that I don’t really know like the start of their career and how they did that but obviously as I got more into it I was like oh Greg okay needles and then needles was always rocking up to the local races and like trick Factory stuff and you’re like whoa that’s so cool I don’t know much about South Africa what’s like an elevator pitch about South Africa and the riding scene I I guess it’s got beaches question so I think Cape Town is the best city in the entire world do you really yeah is that where you grow up yeah grew up in Cape Town all right which is the capital no our capital is Petoria and that’s [ __ ] hole but it’s like our old capital and then johannesburg’s another big town and well City and that’s basically there’s so much gold there so that’s just like a gold mining place place but a horrific place if you’re a m biker because there’s no Hills or no nothing and it’s quite a rough area where Cape Town’s like nice beaches nice mountains nice things like that and honestly the more I travel the more I’m like Cape Town is the best place in the entire world wow just because like okay obviously I grew up there so I love it but like within an hour you can get surfing motoc Crossing mountain biking beaching nice restaurants hiking huge parties like there’s everything you can do in 1 hour all and it’s also unlike the UK absolutely banging weather for about 10 months of the year is it yeah it’s like sold dude sounds good let’s go get in the we’ll go back they use a currency called the Rand which is 20 to1 to your UK pound so that’s why every UK person goes over to South Africa and it’s like what it’s a 1 and A2B for a beer I love it like all food restaurant everything is like honestly a quarter of the price of Europe and right and all of that stuff so okay I was Lov it for that the first time I went I didn’t I’m not very good on the fly at doing conversions with numbers are you are you good at it n no that’s why Europe gets expensive yeah yeah well I got home and I looked at my I thought I’d spent way more and I was like buying I I think I was there on behalf of DMR or something I can’t remember what it was I was buying meals and I was thinking well this is going to be an embarrassing Bill to put in this is going to be a tough expense like and I filled it out I was like wow so good so good that’s cool but did the did the wages kind of reflect it if you live there oh yeah yeah well uh yes yes yes so yeah so know if you live there it’s like more or less yeah yeah if you come there with a pound it’s like who yeah boy no way so it’s mint for you to come here yeah well no no no tough for me to come here but luckily I kind of earned a couple Euros a couple yeah uh things like that so it’s quite nice to live in me sorry not yeah not cuz you come here and it’s cheap all way yeah okay all right so you were just racing in the local this there’s still a big gap how do you go from racing in the local racing racing for instance World Cups give yes I’ll give you a oneone okay I’ve been riding bikes for like since I was literally 2 and a half literally just around the street with like my brother and my neighbor and all of that riding bikes from when I was way younger I used to race a little bit of 50 cc Motocross and 65 I kind of went to like 65cc Motocross and then like the Moto dads get a bit hectic like it started getting like pretty Allin on like are you going to do this and be like and then at that point like School sport was still pretty fun and like I was loving playing rugby and stuff like that and then at a point my dad was like okay we either going to like go all in on Motocross if you absolutely love it or like let’s just chill so then I played School sports for like Prett long time and then still all the while riding like bicycles you know in and around like like stuff like that and then by yeah when I got like the D bike started racing more and then I guess when like needles and Mina are like I mean like they’re like cornerstones for our country and racing and stuff like that so if you I think it would have been really help like it is really helpful to see man needles overseas racing and be like okay it is possible for South African person to make the Jump and Go race overseas and do that kind of a thing so from there you’re like okay I’ll race it and stuff like that and then I’m trying to think now but yeah basically road bikes and just race like our local series and national series and stuff like that luckily had like some pretty cool like good people in my age groups growing up so that I was like trying to push to you know race and stuff like that and then I just loved riding bikes but then my mom was a [ __ ] school teacher so I like she was like I was like I want to go ride bike straight off school and she was like that sounds pretty risky so I actually finished school and did University at like a like yeah really good University in South Africa got like a business degree and during that it’s like a three-year Business Degree out of like yeah Stellenbosch University like a really good University and yeah in Stellenbosch there’s good Mount biking there and I honestly hated getting that degree so much that you wouldn’t believe how motivated I was to ride bikes after that so like every time I was like I don’t know studying and like learning some horrific accounting crap I was just looking at like pink bike and this and that just seeing people racing overseas and stuff like that so that whole thing I was just like watching the international scene and like you and Ollie and Brandon and those guys [ __ ] like you know riding and being like that’s the sickest thing ever pack away that laptop now back to accounting so like after that I was like okay I just want to go ride my bike and luckily a good M of mine Duran had been to morine a few times and stuff like that so he was like look BR if you are willing you want to ride your bike let me take you to morine and we’ll ride bikes so that was like kind of like my Gap year kind of thing right so and that was that was like a humble beginning CU we went me Duran and another South African guy stayed in a Citron van for 3 months in obviously we were like like at that point it was like okay we’re not going to like everything is in Euros so we like trying to keep everything cheap so Duran and he’s also like he can do things cheap and he was like listen all you need is to book a flight here buy a lip pass for this mat we’ll buy a van we’ll stay in Van that’s like cuz once you kind of know like the cost then it’s like okay it’s attainable let’s do it literally and um so the first year yeah I literally was just like finished University I was like okay I hated every second of that let’s go ride and just went to Moine for one summer when I was like yeah just outed University would have been 21 or so so that must have been quite different cuz you like obviously where you grew up it was like pretty dry Rocky Dusty and then you’re riding roots and mud and a thousand VT hectic steep stuff and all that but luckily like by that point I was like dying to ride some proper stuff you know what I mean yeah so then yeah I went over there for Mo and I was just like every single day just riding every single day and like that it helps a lot because I feel like a lot of South Africans now go overseas and they’re like oh we’re going to go straight to the World Cup and you’re like dude you need to like the bridge between what we do locally and what Fort William is you can’t be like Oh I’m sick at local Racing Fort Williams the next stop like you need to like so it actually helped to just go there for like and we were on South African passports then so we had 90 days so it was just like here we have 90 days in Moine let’s maximize every bit of riding we can do and then I just rode like one or two little Swiss EXs cups and stuff like that and yeah just rode every single day and act at that point I was frothing that’s like the first bit of international riding I’ve done I just every day like chel swissside Moine plany just riding and even like at the time I was also like just trying to learn how to get better yeah and husky L’s mechanic was working in a bike shop there and he was like king of Plenty at that point and literally every day I just go to him on his lunch break and like park outside and shop and just be like husky I’d like to follow you please and he just come up from lunch and bomb down like theane secret trails around Moine and I would just like try my hardest to hold onto his back wheel and that’s kind of where I learned to like bridge the gap between like South African riding and European riding and then the next year did it again in a Transit with like I love a guy named Jasper he’s an amazing guy but he was not a good guy to stay in a van with he didn’t believe in h soap or shampoo or shoes or anything and I slept Head To Toe with him in a transit for another season just trying to cuz I didn’t have like it’s not as though I had like any sponsors or anything at that point so I was doing everything on bare costs ever and at that point I didn’t have money for a van or anything so I just said like his dad was like he was too young to drive so he was like if you get in the van and uh like Drive Jasper around for the summer you could like stay in the van I was like Bingo there’s the shot but he was quite smelly so really tough tough summer but yeah and then and I tried to do a little more like EXs cups and French cups and stuff like that just to get a little bit more racing experience yeah and then only like the next year started getting into World Cups and stuff like that and started racing those you were doing well at the rxs and stuff not like insanely well not like showstoppers whatever but like learning at every Point yeah like getting better and better yeah definitely not like out the back end but like like still you know let’s say top 10 and things like that so like it was there and I knew it had speed but like it was always tough so and then um the next year I was like had a bit of cash and I bought my own Transit van and I was like y I am balling and then from there tried to do a couple more races slowly got into the World Cups and stuff like that and then actually the free free race jump from there was I was doing that stuff and then Sam came in and he he originally did two dark fests in uh Nisa up the coast I went to that one yeah did you yeah that was also insane at the time that was like hard ta wasn’t it it was like right on the border of being a big bike I think it was pretty much past the Border but by that point they’ flown in with the hard Tails I mean my experience of it was past it was definitely have enough travel so the year after that they were like okay these hotels are getting pretty hectic now for these jumps that we like we want to build these jumps that big but now these bikes are really hard yeah yeah so then like even dude what is it like having darkfest turn up at your yes town like I can’t imagine it here like an event like that just coming to your town yeah outrageous outrageous so the F they did it one year and nobody really knew about it cuz it kind of just they builted it happened and we saw like the video and we’re like that’s insane I didn’t even know that was kind of going on and then the next year they had it again I kind of just went up there by myself and like rode around the trail park just like being like hey guys I’ll help you out if you have need like and kind of got to know the guys a bit there and then the third year or whatever then they started doing it in stellos and then that was like right where I was studying in the garden I was like all right Sam I want to help you with whatever you need to do cuz like like at that point in South Africa you are just dying for like cool jumps and like that and then at that point if Sam comes to your little village and does that cool jever you’re like I want to be a part of this I guess they’re quite big though eh Savage so Savage was it a big jump up when you first hit like the most gnarly jump up was it yeah but you were motivated yeah at that point yeah dying for it and at that point when you like go around you’re local scene saying oh these drums aren’t big enough we need to build bigger stuff and then somebody builds bigger stuff like you put your money where your MTH is and you’re like okay well better drop in now do it but it was good the first the first time they were still building it they I think Sam told you they like bolt it at I think 60t to begin with and you rolled in off the road like from where now you Road Gap into the 90 footer you rolling they used to like rolling off the road just for the testing there and that was kind of like the kind of what would you call it like the the threshold of like like the next level because that six like a 60 foot jump is still big especially I was like I don’t know 20s like young 20s and um I was like yeah stressing about that first hit I mean when as soon as you attach numbers you can literally like quantify the jump you know like you’re like well I’ve written a 40ft jump in once so luckily I’d been to like that was like helpful that I’d been to like uh and stuff like that and rid some bigger stuff there so I kind of knew how to ride big stuff yeah and then at that point then we rode the 60 foter there and then I was like they were like okay you can ride you thinking things through and like you’re not just you’re not just like H like let’s go and just like you’re going to hurt yourself kind of thing like they could see I was calculating it thinking about it like knowing kind of what to do and then like hit the jump all good yeah so then that was for me that was like the what like that was the most stressful first dat of all time bet um were all the riding crew that you were hanging out with similar or was it just you that was like I want to do this stuff do you know what I mean I think there was a couple guys that were like pretty Keat on big stuff but I don’t think anyone that was that frothing on it if that makes sense just you and also like had the time to hang out with their with them at the time be like hey guys I will help you bold let’s you know dud like I want to get involved you know what I mean like most people yeah like couldn’t like you know take the morning off kind of thing yeah so yeah it was it was hectic do you think it helped being like a racer and thinking about stuff more yeah I yeah I think so i’ you full on racing at that point you were just all trying to be a wace even like at that point like like a brand dog career path wasn’t really a thing like brand dog kind of like pulled out like hey guys I’m going to race and do cool videos and do some jumps and do that like I’m sure back in the day when it was just broadcast racing it was like needles in Needle Zone like just like racer results so that’s obviously if you grow up that that’s all you know then you’re just like okay I’m just going to race but I don’t particularly love racing when uh just to unpack before what you talking about when did you actually decide right I’m going to follow the mountain bike path because you did a business degree which is gnarly in itself right like why why did you do mountain bike like when did you choose to um probably just because I hated doing that business degree so much I was like I don’t want to be behind a laptop at a desk so badly I’d rather sail myself off for 60 footer than do this sa myself but I I honestly I think just like from when I was growing up like amongst all the different sports and things I did mountain biking is just like the best thing ever like still to this day I froth for mountain biking because I don’t know I just feel like it’s such a unique sport where you can like it doesn’t get boring you like when you’re younger you get bored of sports quite quickly you’re like okay like rugby hockey okay cool like kind of got hockey now whereas mountain biking it’s so you can keep it fresh so often that like imagine if you’re an Olympic swimmer mate you go to the same swimming pool every day you do the same laps every day you do the same like it’s so boring to train whereas if you’re a mountain biker there’s just unique Trails all across the globe and you can just like every fresh Trail is sick to ride so every like I was just frothing on m bikes from like any and obviously when you’re in Cape Town and you’re riding the same boring Trail all the time and you see people doing videos and whistling New Zealand and this you like I just want to go and ride everything else you know what I mean I think what you said earlier as well like the importance of like people like needles and Min like it means so much doesn’t it like even for the UK possible yeah like py and Warner we wouldn’t have had all of the talent afterwards like it takes someone to do it first I can’t almost imagine doing it first like oh yeah you there’s no like even kind of map to doing it or anything like that or even if you go to your parents being like Oh I’m going to be a professional mountain bike they’re like show me one other person from this country who’s earning money from riding their bike it’s not possible yeah even my parents when I was like no I’m going to be a profession they were like mate you’re not going to earn money from m bikes like the first time I got like an actual paycheck I showed my dad I was like look at this they paid me and he was like no ways man like no ways you know what I mean cuz my dad’s like hardcore runs a factory like Works incredibly hard on like like you know just like Machinery like hardcore industry and he was like no no no like they they actually like the value I bring to a brand value you bring to a brand you do nothing mate like he was just like what are you like you talking nonsense dude so like cuz obviously they had no clue of M biking before I kind of did it yeah and then yeah so take somebody and even for your parents to be like okay Greg Manar South Africa he does something overseas kind of must be possible meet needles at a local race he looks like he’s not like a crack addict you he looks like he’s actually he looks really like a nice guy he must okay so like I don’t think without those few guys it would have been possible at all right interested if it gets made way harder being from South Africa yeah dude holy just cuz everything’s over here oh yeah like even to so many things but like even just to like all the UK guys let’s say you live in the UK and you want to race m bikes you can buy a van here you park it in your driveway do it up with your dad park it order stocks put in tires the first time I went overseas to race man horrible the first time I went to like Leo gang world cup I had like no clue dude I literally my mom booked me an a Airbnb like down the road I had like a bag with like that I traveled in with like some spares some goggles like a pump allink keys and stuff and I literally like peddled to Le gang pits and popped a bag at a lamp post that looked kind of safe and went up for practice like you literally like in the UK you can dial out your van get spares in a drive even just I can’t fly with spare wheels and stuff like that like in the begin now it’s like that I’ve know better and I can order stuff to stuff it’s a bit easier like in the beginning you can’t fly with spare wheels and do things like that so it’s like so much harder even I think like from where I realized it was really going to be tough was like when you go to like let’s say French like if you’re a really good french Rider and you’re riding French cups from when you’re like 14 years old if you’re showing a little bit of talent there there’s already team manager is kind of people saying like he’s pretty good okay like okay maybe we’ve got like even it’s not a team but it’s like a little team team or whatever you come yeah like we’ll we’ll we’ll help you at the races do this then you’re doing French cups from when you’re like 14 years old 15 years old then you meet somebody just before you Junior and then you’re like okay this kid’s Really T so like I literally went from like full nothing to like 21 or two and then be like okay now jumping overseas now I’m going to try to do something in races then it’s like really really really difficult where’s now like if you’re in France or Europe in the UK people can scout you from ages away and be like okay let’s this kid got a bit of talent let’s put him on some like flow program and do something like that yeah there’s lots of things as well that that that are more difficult like even just getting a Mech hanger for your bike oh God super hard in South Africa right are I didn’t realized this and no like nothing in South Africa is gravity orientated everything we’ve got a massive Marathon scene and cross country racing we’ve got a couple good really good cross country races and I mean like fair enough like we don’t have the Alps like like and stuff like that so most people just enjoy normal casual mountain biking there so like yeah dude you can’t get Saint stuff or like even like down and casing tires are always a pain in the butt to get you can’t get anything Saint or like now it’s getting better and better that you can get downhill stuff here and there but it’s still like you can’t walk into a bike shop like that’s why I even walk into bike shops in like like when I walk into NB cycles and stuff I’m like oh cool things oh like you know what I mean you just don’t get cool like gravity stuff there it’s just not massive there yet is it like the tax or something no it’s just like the greater Market is just general M go it’s just Market based yeah wow interesting I thought it was something like Chain Reaction didn’t post there or something like that back no we used to love of chain reaction yeah so they were the only people okay got you so then now like nowadays yeah it’s getting them like now that Enduro bikes is so big and uro is quite a big thing like now everyone’s getting more uro and being like hey actually rattling down on this horrible little XC bike is actually not enjoyable let’s maybe get some big beier suspension and stuff so nuro is getting better and stuff I guess it’s true isn’t it it’s like what any country you go in it’s like if you just say mountain biking what does it mean and like a lot of places it means cross country like not here you have to be aware you’re like in a bubble don’t you realize at all but like now at least and Juro is sort of like what I feel like it’s the definition of mountain biking I don’t know more so than ever yeah we probably quite a niche market but I’d say Enduro is Mountain viiking yeah yeah would you yeah I’d say so I’d say so yeah I’m sure many people would argue it’s just like what people do in country lanes on like a bike with a fork and they’re like well this is Mountain bik it’s not on the road it’s on a Country Lane yeah yeah exactly exactly hey um and this is fascinating but we should just have a quick break let’s have a break let’s calm it down quick break break all right let’s do a break Davey I want to talk to about hindsight dude h right so much biker crime happens in the UK and I dread to think how many people think oh listen to that lacer ad on the ride companion and I wish ID just carried it out got insurance for my bike yeah you know what I mean yeah definitely mate you’re right so we’re here to help are we or is that what we’re going to do well we are here to help but what what I was kind of thinking was I wish I could do the same with health insurance you know what I mean cuz I’m banged up wish I could have just yeah wish yeah should have would have could have that’s how I feel right now a lot of people live should have would have could have yeah and so many people do with bike theft and like I am right now wishing is a gnarly thing isn’t it sometimes you like let’s say unfortunately you have a bike stolen or you get injured and you just think imagine that time when I was sat in a chair yeah on the website yeah ready to do it and all I needed was maybe like a bit of a nudge a bit of a deal yeah which we can offer well for for bikes obviously you go to laca what do you do for health cuz that’s obviously well yes you can also go to laca I didn’t know this either until recently dude but laca now ho offers health and Recovery insurance so what do you want a couple of facts I’d love a couple of facts it’s not already in my bike cover is it it could be depends which bike cover you’ve got okay be so it’s a new kind of recovery policy for mind and body right made with cyclist in mind for less than an Americano a week depends where you get your Americano from they’re only like what couple of quid couple of quid cover that goes wherever you do which is worldwide like you Mr worldwide thank goodness I didn’t mountain biking I didn’t want to ask a question yeah okay thanks for do cover that does whatever you do which is cycling you I like cycling yeah skiing not got the buns for but maybe one day never hiking hiking I like hiking been doing a lot it lately surfing surfing I’d love to be able to Surf I need to swim first but it’s good to know and jet ski jet ski’s on there are you serious yeah you got jet ski they put jet ski on there yeah you got jet ski on there go uh it’s five star claims experience home or abroad and it’s made super simple dude all you have to do head to la. Co obviously we talk about Lac a.co quite a lot do the best bike insurance it’s made super simple they flipped Insurance on its head okay they don’t charge you a fix some every month only pay for what the collective has sort of uh what would you say dealt with yes exactly so you and the same goes for health as well does it same goes for health as well does it a cool model that is yeah really cool it’s uh M I love lacad do I’m glad we’ve got them back on board and we have got a bit of a deal for the companionship right so all you have to do head to lacquer. to sort your bike Insurance out enter the code ride companion 30 what is it ride companion 30 is that lower uppercase on screen it’s flashing red and blue oh yeah that’s ride companion 30 at lack. there you go and what do you get for that what is it like like what’s the offer you’re going to get 30 days free bike insurance free for 30 days it’s free 30 days you have 100% peace of mind for free that’s a dream really isn’t it it’s really good yeah you could be really Cavalier yeah you 30 days yeah you shouldn’t be no yeah good point but you could so yeah that’s 30 days free insurance bike Insurance not health and wellness with code ride companion 30 that’s flashing red and blue at lac.com amazing so good to know they do health insurance I’m going to get that added onto my policy right Away Great ad hell of an ad that was a good ad wasn’t it one that was really good ad I enjoyed that one right so talk you’re balancing like World Cups take a lot of training right yeah they do they do they do they do but you but you you’re training for well cups but you’re also doing really big jumps yeah how does that work then well I feel like any training is good training it’s not ASO like World Cup train like you need to like like if you fit and strong and got good muscles it’s not going to hurt you at like a dark I mean at like an event like that yeah so like yeah you just try train and ride as much as you can yeah but suppose the more you go ride at different places and stuff like that that’s just all training for jumps and stuff like that but as Sam says you can’t train for dark Fest like there’s nowhere else in the world that you can ride those jumps so it’s just once a year you’re going to Puck her up just sail it through for the first run and then you like K we got it yes why um might be a stupid question but if the jumps are there and you live there why are they not just like a little bit maintained just for the odd session it is it is a good question and I tried it the first year they did darkfest and Sam Niko and Clays came and bolted yeah I was like dude this is like I’m going to I’m going to ride this all the time I’m going to be so good at big jumps this is in my back Garden why would you not kind of thing yeah but it is it is a job and a half because if you like we used to do it in February Midsummer you have to water that whole jump line so like even when they left the weekend after when I was still like I don’t know 22 whatever I went there and by myself in a Land Cruiser with a bows are on the back watered the entire jump line all the way down to the bottom and then drove all the way back up by myself at the top but like those jumps are not like it’s so it’s it sounds like you’re making a drama queen but like they are really big on so like even even when you there at the event like there’s Medics on standby ready to go there’s walkie-talkies the whole way down the course and everyone at the top you might have seen everyone at the top has got a walk there’s a guy at the top of the Walky and you go hey dude give me a wi check at the 90 give me a wi check at the Rockets just stand at the top by yourself and just be like hopefully the jumps are good and S like and that was still in February when the wind was pretty kak so it was going to be windy but like I tried after that to go and like ride them by myself and like by the time you’ve like cuz then you got to wake up at 6 cuz the wind’s like you know Less in the morning yeah water the jumps that takes good 45 minutes back up to the top kit up get ready to the top you don’t even like I didn’t even have a guy to shuttle me pushing up pushing up and then you do one lap and you’re like is it worth it it’s windy already so like I thought I really wanted to and it is like it is like that but honestly those jumps are so big you need a little bit of peer pressure to be like okay boys we dropping in or something like that cuz even at the end of the week when you like have ridden the jump 10 times I promise you you still at the top of the hill like I’d worry as well if you if you could be someone that could make that your normality if you could make that like what you get up at breakfast and you’re like I think I might go and ride the 110 today like what sort of person would you be if you made that your normal who true I promise you every Trail sucks after that your noral is that so yeah yeah honestly you do darkg F then I was riding in Queen town I was like that’s kind of [Laughter] cool the bar too they are like the most unbelievably sick jumps you can imagine mint freshly watered freshly packed the week before like juicy with all of like your boys like you know 10 15 20 of the sickest riders in the world and then you like go ride like a bike Parky like this is kind of cck really so talk me through the run what it feels like to hit darkfest like the run the the most the most recent run oh didn’t you you tested them all this year too didn’t you oh they are um that was scary so scary obviously now like Sam always comes over the build and we do the build and that’s honestly such a Vibe because everyone’s just hanging out like riding every now and again and then Sam bloody blew out his ankle and honestly he joking not I didn’t know he was joking but he like blew out his ankle and flew home and was like haha now you have to test the jumps and I was like [ __ ] dude like [ __ ] and I was like okay yeah I guess I do and I was like to be honest I felt kind of confident like I’ve ridden there for a few years now I know how to ride the jumps but it is always so scary especially when you take 11 months off and then you go back to the jumps it’s so scary and then like yeah I did all the testing and then when he got back he was like dude I was kidding like what did you think and I was like Sam dude stressing dude but it was it was it was freaking scary um yeah honestly like you need a bit of peer pressure let’s call it camaraderie but like you like you you need somebody there to be like bouncing ideas off luckily Justin and Dr the trail buers there like they you I know them really well so you can like bounce stuff of them but honestly going up there by yourself is so so so scary and okay I’m also feel like I’ve got like a little bit of a conservative bone in my body if you know what I mean like I’m not like a let’s go check it send it kind of crazy like Tom IAD hodi kind of guy like I’m actually studied risk versus reward at University for 3 years unfortunately no that it’s like darkfest is not the place for risk and reward so um but it was it was yeah it was cool I actually I’m sure everyone kind of saw like the the videos on Sam’s Channel and stuff like that and I even felt like such a whuss cu ca was editing it and like we tested it that day and the next day he was like showing me this I was like dude CA I look like such a pansy like I’m like stressed s about the jump stuff like I’ve hit it before like obviously this is me hitting it and clearing the line so I’m like oh dude I look like such a wor cuz especially somebody like Tom IAD or hodgi just comes there and they go all right mate they just do it where I was like oh Justin how about the lip and how about this and how about that and then luckily he was like dude like not everyone in the world is Tom I dead so just actually like a lot of people will be quite interested to see that you are stressing about it and um I guess it was quite good cuz I was stressing about it it wasn’t made up at all it’s hard to watch a top to bottom run and it’s perfect and they do it fine and it’s hard to even imagine the stress that’s the problem with like doing things well is that it just sort of looks a lot easier is like I actually think there’s like such a funny one with darkfest cuz a lot of people look at darkfest and they’re like dude those jumps are banging like I can ride those kind of thing like I think I can get that kind of thing and I feel like there’s like three step ages to dark face like one looking at it on the internet being like wo those jumps are huge but they look pretty good bearing in mind you have like 20 of the world’s best Riders doing them so of course they look chilled because everyone’s so good at riding so then obviously it looks good second thing is getting there in person and looking at them in person because even like ca who’s edited Sam’s Vlogs and all that got there in person was like this is hectic like he was like this looks nothing like it does on the internet this is wildly big and then guess up there with your KNE guards and helmet on and being like ah it’s time to drop him that third stage is really stressful so often people are like a dark Fest is easy I’m like dude I don’t know I think you need to get up there with your KNE Gods on in front of a 90 foter and be like whoa at 6:00 in the morning in the windak yeah literally at 6:30 in the morning dude dog you wake up like that week is so stressful cuz as soon as you rise you look out the window at the trees and you see if the if the leaves are blowing and you’re like the leaves aren’t blowing it’s time you’re like okay it’s go time it’s so stressful so that yeah but that but I kind of ridden them for the like for a while now so it’s kind of know them but like even Sam will say like there’s no like oh I’ll just session those jumps every time you’re at the top and you drop in it’s like Focus like let’s go because like if you just lose focus for a second you it’s not as though you have like a little roasty like trouble so out of the gate there’s like the shark finny ones yeah do they s are they sort of like in my head they’re like to relax you a little bit right but they’re still big jumps shark vny On’s actually so Tech that you drop in on them and you feel like the worst riding you’ve ever done cuz they’re so Tech you’re like Tonk Tonk Tonk ton wa dude this SP like I don’t know what I’m doing actually but they are good like if you just straight drop into 90 it’ be horrific so it is nice to go like press pull up press pull up and then you like yeah once you once you do that road Gap into the 90 usually I’ll do like one or two like shark fins jump over the road Gap roll into the 90 and kind of like visualize it like go off the lip like kind of see what you’re going to do well feel what you’re going to do and then I’ll go up again and then I’ll be like I’ll do another practice lab and then as I cuz there’s a certain threshold in that run in where if you’re not on the brakes you in so like and then I’ll just land and be like and they’d be like okay you’re in now Bo just survive yeah and at that pace it’s just like you know that if you land you’re off the brakes you know that you’re approximately ballpark yeah ballpark yeah yeah the the the jumps are really well made like honestly you break a little bit into the first Sharin left and then I’m a little bit heavier so just before the road Gap I might do a little touch but pretty much those jumps you can drop into the top break break break first Shar V and you don’t touch the brakes from there to the last rocket launcher which is like for a set of jumps that is like massive and like all the way down and in and around of Valley really says a lot about the boulders made it because it’s like so well made so then you’re in you’re in at 90 and you know you’re Ballpark and you’re you hit the lip what what does a pull do what does a push through do what are you thinking at that point you just like don’t do a huge rning or like a don’t don’t don’t just tips up at that point a land I’m like tips up tips up keep that front wheel High we can survive anything with the front wheel up but down you are in trouble and then um even from that yeah you land commit look at the lip go keep the front up and then I always kind of forget to look at the twisty wizard in the hip yeah and then honestly you like in the air of the 90 and you’re like okay I’ve survived that and as you land you’re like okay wait [ __ ] twisty wizard RP let’s go and then you like by that yeah you like that twisty wizard is quite a tricky like quite a tricky jump survive that the hip I think is honestly one of the most tech jumps on the course because it is like super tight radius lip you you can’t see the landing at all you can just aim for a bit of the knuckle and you have to jump a little bit right of the knuckle to get The Sweet Spot in the landing which is a bit counterintuitive and then yeah so honestly if you survive the hip you can have a touch of a breather into the step up and then Touch of a breather into the Rockets okay yeah but the Rockets are hectic as well like like when you drop into them everything in your mind says no really because you are like you go big drop get so much speed do like a I don’t know 15 meter long and low like racer jump into it and that it’s a long like at the 90 you like into the lip whereas the Rockets it’s quite a like a long run into it and you are going so fast like 70ish K an hour 75ish K an hour and you’re looking up into the rocket and the lip is not a lip it’s a wall so huge and your brain’s like dude if you hit this now you’re are going to die you’re going to go like to Elon Musk Zone like and honestly if you think about touching the brakes you case it so you have to just be like and just sail it over and it’s possibly one of the best made jumps in the world so that really you literally just gun into it and you almost can’t go too long The Landing so nice and long I mean a lot of people have gone long on it but like hectic but it’s yeah really really well their jump so you kind of can just commit into it and be like no no no like let’s let’s just commit and do it and then once you land the first rocket you’re like okay I’ve survived the speed will be good for the second one land the second one and that those boys can take their crack Caine and heroin that is the best feeling in the entire world surviving that line for the first hit is the best thing in the world you are just like I always have GoPros doing the worst noises and [ __ ] out of my just like like levitating with like a in excitement and that’s what keeps you coming back yeah there you go and that’s probably what makes the week after quite difficult literally after you are you’ll go ride your local Trail and you like want to die is so craft how does it compare to World Cup dude World Cups also I’d actually say World Cups are more dangerous and kind of more scary interesting because dark vest it’s okay it’s a minute lap yeah but it’s not like it is it’s phys physically demanded cuz you’re doing like big squats into the radius of the lips and stuff like that and it’s like like the consequences are really hectic but you’re feeling kind of fresh dude like World Cups are actually so lowkey dangerous it’s insane because some World Cups you’ll go to vosol you do a track walk in the dry you do your whole practice in the dry you do your morning of qualifying practice in the dry and then the heavens will open and it’ll be like pissing down rain in the wet and you’re like well what what I do now for qualifying and you just sail into qualifying you like yeah and also World Cups you come in and your arm pump and every like by the bottom quarter of V disol I can’t feel my hands at all and your body and your brain’s like well if you like you know chill out now you’re not going to qualify mate so better keep it going so you just like I and like cuz you’re so fatigued you don’t actually like you not got good control of your hands and bars and stuff it’s so easy to just put your wheel over a rock and just slam your face into the floor or something like that like it’s actually so risky especially when you bring in the changing weather conditions and stuff like that like riding I promise you V soul is the gnarliest thing in the world and then when you rain it when it rains and you’ve not practiced it in the rain it is like so sketchy it’s just four minutes of spider roots of off campas they’re like on your marks get set go you’re like dude and all so high Pace as well so high Pace if you even just think about chilling you’re not qualifying that’s the case sir you’ve had some good results so you’ve had what what’s your best result 23rd yeah something like that yeah I had yes 23rd but I had a bit of a sneaky good result at Le because it was the one year where it rained Midway through finals so it was like a good run and I do usually do better at Le and stuff like that but it did rain a bit through finals but like even last year I did like a 19th at the semi and then like a 26th at Le final which was probably the best result cuz that was all complete good conditions and stuff like that but um I mean the pace is fairly high at World Cups these days dude the jarts like outrageous that’s also I have a bit of like a like a sensible bone of my body that says maybe you shouldn’t go 1210 out of 10 whereas like some French people are just like I die today they’re just sailing it down I don’t know whatever track you want and you’re like whoa I die today Anon videll is just like yeah I don’t care I do it what’s your favorite World Cup track definitely Le why because it is just the raw okay the vibe at L is was sick cuz the French fans go insane there the track is also just so sick because it’s like wide open like like it’s just the first year they did it RAR there they just taped through a forest and you honestly would have looked at the track Bing crew and been like what have you boys done like you’ve literally taped us through a forest and that is the sickest thing to do because it was like 10 m wide in the forest section at the top fresh lone everywhere you don’t know where the roots are going to PE from you don’t know what rut’s going to blow out and in the whole week the tracks just like adapting and changing and like getting like better and like you know what I mean like there’s a whole lot more to focus on Le is also nice in like two and a half minutes 3 minutes track which is quite good for my fitness levels instead of like a Fort William 4 and 1/2 minute pedal session so I love like a nice school like obviously we don’t have four minute tracks in South Africa so I’m pretty good at like shorter tracks if you know what I mean yeah did you race Fort William no okay is that a we not talk about for [Laughter] will many people may have wondered why I wasn’t there definitely um I just hate the play Roy physical rainy wet like is so not a place for South Africans it sounds like you just do what’s fun and if it’s not fun to yeah what we doing to be fair also like it’s not as though I’m on like a race team where like somebody’s crafted a budget for the year and they’re like four Williams in the budget I just kind of get a bit of money from people and they like do something of value with it so if I kind of know by like I don’t know four five years of racing now that I suck at Fort William like I’m not going to fly in early it spend like two grand going to Fort Williams staying in a cra Transit van in the rain and then not qualifying at like 80th and being like Oh well I kind of knew that was going to happen thanks for wasting 2 Grand like I’m like let me actually just pick the good races where I kind of know I’m going to do well at makes total sense do you think doing those like doing like the big jump events and doing Hardline take off a bit of pressure World exactly exactly so at least I can like I started the year by doing darkfest and then Hardline going to Queenstown and stuff like that so it’s not as I’m like just racing I go to my Brands like guys I’m just missing that one I’m playing golf in Cape to they like come on man where’s now been like guys had like a pretty cracking start of the year just give me a little moment of silence for for William I promise I’ll be at the next one but honestly like it’s like like coming over like everyone in Europe kind of cross trains and gets conditioned and so ready for the World Cups and stuff like that whereas if you come over and like it takes me a bit of time to like taper into European racing whereas if you start the first World Cup at Fort William it’s like the most physical the most like you need like your hands and everything need to be so conditioned it’s so Rocky it’s so rough like that’s like the worst one to go to and then if it’s your first one you’re like dude I’m definitely going to get smoked you don’t want to set the tone negative like 102nd Place I suck at riding you go to the next race like oh I’m 102 Rider you want to just pretend in your mind that you’re still like a real good has uh has the changes like made it harder for you if it was if it was top 60 like it used to be or was it 60 80 it used to be top 80 top 80 would it be a different story or would you still be like not really because like I’d like to not just be qualifying if you know what I mean your goal is to like like okay every weekend everyone actually the World Cups are so hectic nowadays I think everyone in the pits is like except the protected Riders are like [ __ ] we just need to qualify and then they’re like okay now we can race kind of thing but like yeah I don’t think it yeah interesting I don’t think it makes a huge difference now that it’s like 80 or 60 I haven’t raised this year now that it’s qualifying and semi in one day that’s quite hectic because even last year I did one semi to final combo and last year it was like on the same day so at least you could like qualify take a break off watch some GoPros do two runs practice in the morning and then go into semi being like okay this is what I’m going to do but even last year like I did like my best run like could do at Le semi-final and then they were like sick you made the final back up to the top of the hill now you’re in finals and I was like dude that’s all I got like what you no more practice that like you don’t get more practice and like more track walk or anything you literally go down have a quick snack and then go back up a final so obviously if you’re bruny you can like tap your speed for the weekend but like when I go to a semi-final qualifying and semi I am giving absolutely everything I got so I laughed last year I was like dude what what do I do in this final like that’s all I got dude that was the best run I could have did is it yeah so it’s 100% there’s nothing to be learned in i’ got to say for me the semis I thought as a race fan it was going to be um it was going to add I did I came in I was like being positive I was like I think the semi is going to add but I know now for me I don’t know as a again as an armchair viewer you know I don’t know if it really does add for me personally at the moment yeah I agree with you totally I think last year it was like too much it came into oh it’s going to be yeah like you say we tried to be positive it was like it’s going to be good we sit and watch it all day and then the reality of that is you’re like come on the thing is like you can’t like for the Riders who are like mid pack end of the pack riders for them just qualified it’s like whoa like you know somebody’s qualified like that’s quite cool but like this and then those kind of riders don’t really do the semi and like the guys who are going to win like the brunies and them like then you kind of win a semi but it’s like not really a thing because like like dude Jackson last year won uh Monson an semi by like 5 seconds or something ridiculous and it’s not like dude you just beat Everyone by 5 Seconds let’s celebrate that it’s like back up to the top of the hill youve got to do it again so if you’re like the top guys they’re not really Racing for the semi and it doesn’t help like the the mid pack end pack Riders because they also just not really R so it’s like kind of a weird mix of too much racing maybe yeah maybe does your your position like sort of being a bit like aloof or not relying on World Cup uh results and stuff as much can you see the difference between those top guys when you when you watch those top guys ride like what what is the difference I don’t even know but they are insane even like call it like the top five or even insane compared to like the top 10 or 15 or 20 what I mean like from like the like the top 10 or insane like when when I sometimes I will have raced the track and then I’ll see somebody’s winning GoPro run and I’m like whoa dude like whoa like how are you doing that kind of thing like I don’t know what those guys are doing well obviously they’re not drinking beers and playing golf in the off season probably doing suspension settings but like yeah they and yeah they everything is geared there and I think they really want it you know what I mean like they are willing to put a femur on the line to go for it and yeah a femur on the line I got to say watching it I I do absolutely love downhill yeah like watching it Fort William oh you’re in Fort William course never still uh you know I’ve watched enough races I know what’s approximately going to happen but I still see someone in 15th um 15th uh qual 15th semi come down going to the hot seat he’s I still think no one’s going to beat that I watch it I’m like that can’t be any there’s no time in it and then you watch the next five and you’re like whoa there’s they’re they’re skirting around it he might hold on and then the top five come in and you’re talking like two second differences and you’re talking like yeah bigun it’s an unbelievable sport dude I watched I watched ronan’s run down and I’ve been like with Ronan for a lot in the offseason and I was like convinced he was training and jyming and training so hard I was like ronan’s 100% winning the first World Cup Nobody Knows It But I know it ronan’s winning it and he I watched his run and he was just absolutely slaying down and I was like ring my boy let’s go and like literally went to the hot seat and you’re like oh my God like he’s he’s won it definitely won he’s won even like and then he comes he like bro no ways they’re going quicker and quicker and quicker I think he finished like 12th or 13th and I was like dude I thought was I watched his he just put a GoPro of his race run up on Instagram the other day I watched that and I was like got sick at the thought of going that fast William I was like dude he came like 12th or 13th and I was like that was and while I’m watching it I’m like whoa how are you doing this yeah yeah well talking to Ronan who just won Hardline oh but you’re also at Hardline how does it compare racing a World Cup to now Hardline that’s like a fusion of the two things that are probably your speciality love Hardline now yeah love Hardline now it’s like it’s so sick what do you mean you love it now didn’t didn’t only just started kind of and like it’s it’s it’s so cool because everyone okay it’s it’s hard to kind of replicate that at a World Cup because at a World Cup you have 200 Elite men so it’s like at Hardline when it’s you know really windy or Crap conditions or something like that like the 20 Riders can get together and be like hey guys if we ride now we’re just going to F this track up let’s not ride for this morning let’s wait until 2:00 we’ll let the track drive a bit and then we’ll ride so it’s quite like a it’s amazing to see like the organization and the Riders working together to make it the best riding thing you kind of get it feels like it’s on your terms almost yes yes yes and like kind of granted when you’re doing jumps and stuff like that you can’t ride it in any conditions so but also what I think the World Cup needs way more of is like the tracks that they’re making at Hardline now are sick like they’re putting so much time and effort like when we got to Tasmania you get there and it’s the sickest Dar track you can imagine like the top is like this FR raw Rooty Steepy droppy thing into like a kind of like crazy middle section with huge drops into like a fast middle section into like a crazy big jumps bottom section and I feel like that’s what the World Cups are missing these days like instead of going to Le gang for the fifth or sixth year again and then moving a pole and then just being the same lame track Hardline now is like it’s like a fresh track it’s like the track is yeah I’m I’m going so off on the track but like it’s like they’ve made the track sick so that all of the media and the broadcasting out of it is sick when like the World Cup do so much on like the press and the writers and this and the broadcast and that I feel like if they just spent a much more I don’t know what their budgets are but more Budget on making the tracks really really cool so each race track is unbelievably fresh and sick the whole racing the vital Ro the media the broadcast all of that would be better out of the World Cup where as we go to Fort William again and the tracks the same Fort William track and everyone’s seen the photos and seen the videos and knows the lines and knows everything whereas if you have like yeah I think of the UCI just put way more effort into the actual tracks That’s the basis of the racing there make the track really cool the racing will be cool everything else out of the event will be cool and like so that’s why yeah when you go to Le gang for the seventh time you’re like lame when you go to Tasmania you’re like this is I would never have flown to Tasmania like it’s such an out of the world place but now we going there it’s a sick track they’ve custom made the track tested it made sure it’s unbelievably sick and the whole race and everything out of it all the Riders are buzzing everything’s going good like use the track as the base point it’s interesting to think like if if if Hardline did the same as what the UCI have done right I’m gone right it’s x amount to watch it now it’s whatever would people have the same response I feel like people would back it’ be like actually no it is sick to watch the media is good coming out of it the whole package is what we want yes and people would be into it the problem is now there’s stuff missing out of that broadcast package yeah I feel like everyone’s kind of seen Le gang again and they know that one of the top five guys are going to win and now you have to pay to watch it so yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah interesting to think I just think like they the UCI need to make the tracks way cooler like not like oh there needs to be 90t jumps at the bottom just fresh tracks more crazy like yeah it doesn’t need to be like huge features and stuff just cooler fresher more raw tracks and the racing and everything will be so much better or just follows yeah that will it will Cascade from there instead of being like Oh we can na nail the broadcast and the pr release and the adverts on Instagram and Facebook and stuff like just make the track cool people will watch like if there’s insane racing with people like blowing up rats and flying out of stuff it’ll be sick people will watch with you so racing a Hardline what percentage does it feel like darkfest or a Fest series or a jump event and what percentage does it feel like a World Cup like how much are you racing and how much are you free riding that’s probably why I like Hardline because it’s actually more of like a chill Vibe like the whole week everyone’s working together like going through the features riding together like feeding off each other and like to be honest the whole week everyone’s like cracking beers throughout the week chilling having a good time chatting [ __ ] you know what I mean and then honestly I forgot that we were race this year Hardline Tasmania until they were like okay qualifying tomorrow should be and I was like oh [ __ ] qualifying times oh boy cuz the whole week was you just trying to get like cool videos over the jumps and stuff and then they’re like qualifying oh okay oh God RAC so then yeah and then it’s like it’s a much more fun week with everyone who like where is it at World Cups everyone kind of sticks to their own teams and pits and accommodation and whatever Hardline everyone’s staying in the same accommodation so you have like a breakfast with like everyone in the same room lunch with everyone so it’s like much more like morale experience if you know what I mean I guess as well as it like more of a both of those things you can picture as like a puzzle that you’ve got to solve like a World Cup racetrack you’ve got to solve the puzzle what’s quickest what is there an element of that with Hardline it’s more like the puzzle is just getting down it yeah yeah uh yes kind of but like you still the boys go fast yeah no doubt but like how like I guess what I mean is like on those big features how much are you thinking about getting a big feature done and then working out how you can do it the quickest or it is tough cuz like a lot of those drops at the top of Tasmania you always start off like somebody will give you kind of the speed formula and be like okay dude start here one crank roll drop and then you like always first hits at those places like I just come from darkfest I was like what are they going to throw at me at hline what and then I got there and there were these hectic drops and I was like whoa and then like you kind of like honestly it takes you a while to get like comfortable and just like just going in at like chill speed the right speed and doing the drops and stuff and then only yeah later in the week you’re like okay now I’ve got to like cook into this drop break late and then go off the drop that’s why I think like somebody like Bernie is pretty good at Hardline uh whales because he’s like ridden it for a few years now he’s not like worried about the features and stuff he’s like okay how can I cook into this drop and then scrub off it and stuff like that so like there is I should sharpen up on my skills about how to race that last little bit but also yeah you like only only after I finished the race and I was like oh man I was like 1 something seconds OFF Fifth Place man if I just didn’t do that I could have been oh then you like get into a race mode you know what I mean so like the whole week is kind of chilled and then you only start racing so it’s not as Fierce as a World Cup let’s say that yeah what’s how do you win it how do you win a hard line talk to Ron and D BR I don’t know get your bike to turn up late from the airport just no way sink energy drinks and go down no I think you just got it cooked on you’ve got to like you’ve got to take a bit of a World Cup approach to it and be like okay hi I’m going to do this because honestly like it is like an element of survival like you need to really do the like you need to not have huge crashes on those features and stuff and like they are hectic like I’m sure a lot of people are probably like oh you know Hardline whatever and you’re like no TR it is it is really scary so um yeah I probably yeah I should get into more race mode at Hardline but yeah do you know what I wonder is if there was like a Hardline series that had the same number of stops as a World Cup like would you feel the same would it would it is it because it’s like almost a novelty it’s not novelty but like it’s not what you’re used to doing if you had eight of them in a row and would it become then yeah I’m sure you would become a little bit more like adjusted to it are I’m sure and then I wonder if it would be more competitive and then the beers would start you know what I mean though then it just becomes downhill yeah 100% everyone always talks about that like Golden Era of every sport and I always feel like it’s like there’s like the golden era is like almost um it’s the point where it’s still a bit human it’s still a bit new a bit human a bit fun and then it gets to a point where now where people are doing like breathing exercises at the top of a World Cup run and whoa this has changed a little bit like yeah yeah 100% yeah um yeah I I mean I would still at the basis point we can be racing cooler tracks all around the world and then like it would just be way better yeah there you go how did you um were unpacking a little bit going back who were your first sponsors and how did you turn this into a career um probably yeah like first maybe like paid sponsors probably like monster and common Soul it’s a pretty big one yeah yeah yeah so how did monster like see um I was good mates like obviously I was in and around around the scene in Cape Town and the monster guys were all in the scene there and they could see I knew how to drink a beer and have a good time and race a bike fairly well and they’re like well this one of us this is the man so um but yeah it was pretty much dark V to be honest like I owe a hell of a lot to Sam because I was kind of just like a you know mid pack Transit Gypsy in Europe and then when did darkfest and then I yeah I did darkfest and one sa Champs down in the same year and then when you approach people like oh I’m just African champion and I just did Dark vs Sam they’re like okay who’s this guy let’s get talking let’s go from there so it was pretty much just from like dark ver I think was like the ticket out if you know what I mean just to be like okay I’m going to do at least one really cool thing a year let’s get involved kind of thing so from there and then you just meet people and here and there like even like Fox Clothing South Africa was really from the beginning and then it got to like Fox Europe and stuff like that so yeah it’s actually funny to think back not Happ actually just meeting people and being positive and seeing that you’re not like a prawn of a guy like this guy is pretty cool yeah we’ll give him some goggles yeah you know like you’ve been on Comal as well for a while yeah literally ages now get on really well with Max and the athlete manager perck um actually I think the reason I get on well with Max is actually just because I sunk a whole lot of beers with him one night and he was like my boy and from yeah and like yeah they’ve like their whole kind of brand culture is amazing obviously the bikes they make are like well leave it to Amry to do the talking really good and um yeah they yeah and yeah the bikes um Monster’s been amazing the whole time doing fun things with them yeah um that’s a big one to get in it like one of the first ones sign for Monster but that was still like monster South Africa so it’s still like local kind of thing and like obviously in South Africa everything’s a little bit of a bubble so like in South Africa was a pretty cool guy but then shortly went to Europe and realized I was outside of the 80th thought I’d train a bit harder get a bit better you are you hyped for any particular rounds this year we got Poland coming up right yeah Poland on Wednesday I’m I’m always so even I don’t care what the race or anything looks like any new track I’m hyped for you know what I mean like it’s just like I’ve actually now last night saw the Poland track on like a heus PO on Snapchat somehow last night have you what’s it look like is this a sneak peek horrific yeah I don’t know about when does this come out before Poland before Poland this will be the this will be the preview D the prev show Jackson sent me the POV on Snapchat last night and I was like it’s funny that Snapchat’s now like I know thing integral part of being W I think you not well if you’re 19 it’s still a thing yeah and um okay I haven’t got there I haven’t ridden it but like mate it looks like a blue black crog track like it looks like literally like bike par Corners the whole way around and like not a hell of a lot of tech and maybe like 2 and a half minutes so I’m like a little bit scared of that now that I’m like oh boy but to be fair you say that any World Cup track that even seems simple in the beginning gets so blown out and chopped up that it actually gets pretty technical like even luden last year had like super open flat grass let’s say like a grass section where you like going between bike park tracks and stuff and 3 hours into first pract like B practice the grass Corners are like chopped up like a whoop section there’s like a main line and outside line and inside line and they just get like so worked up that like any chill track is going to become tough you know what I mean like a World Cup’s pretty good way of going really quick down anything isn’t it like you could have a really mellow track and it becomes dangerous through going quick I don’t ever try and go that quick but when I if I do then it becomes you’re like even from a amateur point of view you’re like whoa that’s why I can never really talk I can be like oh the track’s boring cuz like somebody’s putting 10 seconds to me like well it’s not boring when you’re doing 80k an hour on the whole thing so like even if you have a fire Road it might be boring at 20ks an hour but like Brun is going to be doing 80k an hour darn it and then it’s not boring so yeah true but yeah that’s so it’s Monday now when we’re recording this when he headed to Poland um Wednesday late on the program driving out uh no flying out flying out cuz the next race after this is Hardline Wales so I don’t want to drive all the way to Poland and then drive all the way to Wales I’ll just fly to this one do Poland and then fly back but I mean any honestly any World Cup where there’s a fresh venue fresh track I’m so Keen like because dude it’s so hard even when I was just getting into racing you go and you try to go to like old school Andora World Cup track if everyone’s even RAC there for like 4 years if you go to that World Cup and you four years behind the curve and you try to learn a 4 and 1/ half minute insane track in 3 hours of practice it is so hard like Greg man has been Racing Fort William for 20 whatever years he knows that track so if you go to Fort William and you’ve not like done a BDS before or practice before or anything like that and you need to Learn 4 million rocks down the whole track in 3 hours of practice and not like the first the first mistake I made was go to Endora and try to Lear the track and do seven runs of it the day before and then you are blown by day so you really like it’s so like for me a new track even playing field everyone’s getting to grips with the track that’s why Le track when they first bought Le J track nobody’s ridden it they’ve just done like a little tester event there yeah everyone’s puzzling about lines everyone’s learning the track everyone’s figuring out where to go then it’s so much better cuz the vital role people are like where do we go go what do we do I promise you on a fresh track with nobody’s ridden like even like lenville last year sick fresh track and every I promise you every one of the racers as soon as they finish practice is on vital raw trying to check what other Riders are doing and their lines and their speed through sections because it’s like nobody kind of knows what the basis point is and stuff like that so it’s like I love a fresh world like if if it was my choice I’d have seven fresh venues every year organiz like it’s like free content doesn’t it the story is so much more exciting it’s 100% yeah yeah 100% where would you have one where’s missing after the break companionship are you looking to take ownership of your health introducing ag1 a powerful daily nutrition supplement designed by scientists 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recent training trip for you you went on a recent training trip I couldn’t not I knew people would get in touch ask me to you did a recent training trip with one of your key sponsors and maybe you can talk to us about it the best it was the like it’s honestly it’s rare that people send me stories and stuff but no it’s not rare personally I mean through the podcast thing so many people were just sending it like watch this actually oh matee they must have been been the most engaged stories you’ve ever had it was insane insane the numbers must have been like I promise what the stories we’re talking about it was so de from darkfest buol to darkfest testing it by myself riding darkfest doing cool things going to Hardline Tasmania Queen toown for a month afterwards nothing went harder on my Instagram than [ __ ] the Monster Energy GS trip it was kind of annoying like guys you I’ve done so many scary things like this is requires nothing but to just like a laugh people loving it how did it happen give us an overview so obviously monster like I mean they’ve got different budgets for different things somehow like every now and again you get on the right like trip or budget or whatever and so like I’ve sometimes gone to go watch like Moto GP in like Barcelona or something and then it’s like a sick week like fully cooked up by monster huge perks of the job what’s the perkiest of the job that you no so Banger so when we were at dark Fest there was a big up monster like a a high up monster guy there and I was like dude come on when’s the next cool monster trip I want to go watch like a you know cool GP or Motocross or something like that and he was like why don’t you go on the Monster Energy girl Summit and I was like yeah whatever made haha funny one and he was like Yeah there needs a couple M bikers there like come on we’ll send you in there I was like yeah I’ll see you like like that’s never going to happen kind of thing and then even like I still didn’t believe it until like like the one lady like called me like book flights for it and she was like okay like we need you to come I was like okay it’s maybe happening kind of thing then I she like booked the flights I knew nothing about it I thought it was going to be like eight girls me and Adolf bit of snowboarding Chill Vibes like just like I really wanted to go snowboarding actually I was like sick I want to go snowboarding and then only when I got there I was like oh waa this is the full chabang um so what actually was it what was the event what happened so like like it’s like the monster energ girl Summit so like once you’re like the cool girls and the like you know whatever the Monster Energy girls go together and they kind of suppose from their side like teach them like I mean they probably know about social media and stuff like that but like teach them how you know some cool things on social media basically probably just get them in a cool place get them to take photos of stuff in their outfits and have men like you gobbl it all up I’m you so it was like that and basically because like the monster girls also like monster and ambassadors they want the girls to be like ambassadors of the brand they want they don’t want the girls to not have a clue about mountain biking or Moto GP or anything they want the girls have an understanding of the sport so they talk to people about stuff like that so me and Adolf were there to talk about our Sport and explain and get them I think what I loved about it the most like it wouldn’t have been the same if it had been with someone else but it’s just because it was with you and I knew how much you would be so happy that you’re living your dream literally like I like the idea of you explaining it to your dad I like Dad like never make money out of mountain bike I think it was also because I couldn’t believe it myself and I was like guys you wouldn’t believe what’s happening and honestly I felt a bit bad posting about I was like dude I don’t know if I can’t like this isn’t mountain bike like my page is kind of a mountain bike page there was no M biking going on that week the conga video as well oh my honestly never never had like so many people message me saying like please oh my god post more about this like the people were like I was getting like 200 replies on multiple stories like through but past day one my phone was like well I was like just Gonic deep and my phone was gone I was like whatever I’m having the best time boys no ways so every now and again I still get messages from people that I’m like oh they’ve commented on my M as well it was best it was a perk of the job let’s say that 100% but honestly like I think it’s just what you brought to it as well it was just so funny mate honestly I think it was also like because at that point I just come back from New Zealand and everyone on my Instagram was testing be it and Spain or this or Endora everyone was like crossing the teas and dotting the eyes for the World Cup season and I’d already like said like obviously I’m going to go on this like I’m not going to say no like yes I’m going on thisle trip and I was like well we going to make this look any anything vaguely relevant to the World Cup season coming up so I was like let’s pretend it’s a training camp and it was technically the only training camp I could get on to but it was training monster girls not talking about F I tell you it was the best thing I’ve ever done so I don’t care if I miss for William I don’t care was the best you stuck to be a free racer at that point even a few people in the know were like mate the World Cups that’s a like a once in a lifetime go for it I say once in a lifetime I was unpacking bags carrying things around doing everything I can to be my best behavior to be on next year’s Monster Energy I was actually so like Nat the monster like the monster girl manager I was like look at the interest on my Instagram I think I should be on every one of these no I should sure but honestly I think it was a good like Bridge gap between the Thirsty M bikers that follow me and the monster girls so good it work and obviously as per a company culture I was extremely well behaved oh my g mate unbelievable all that effort all that traveling around in the well everywhere in that Transit van all came to that point you just like oh it was all it was the smelly feet all all good did you have like a montage moment the bag by the lamp post all came down I promise you you asked anyone of the girl my smile and Vibe was Unstoppable the entire week I was the happiest person on planet Earth like you couldn’t believe a more happy grateful person on every occasion it was I knew I was living the dream exactly and honestly I struggled to go on another like holiday was like the boys going to be like oh dude come to like Greece we’re going to do this like do you know how cool it was to like roll into like any bar with like 20 girls in front of you and just be like we’re here just rolling around with 20 girls the whole time I F like such boss oh that’s too good that’s too good we could not bring it up no fantastic but obviously I was extremely well behaved happened come policy of course of course of course of course yeah absolutely so uh hard lines coming up what’s different this year what are you hyped about um different this year do you know anything about what’s happening this year track changes I saw a rendering on Dan aon’s iPhone oh that’s scary scary yeah’s iPhone renderings have got to be scary obviously hopefully hopefully the rendering just looked quite basic but it was a gigantic Canyon Gap and I promise you on the rendering it looked the worst case scenario really yeah cuz obviously it was basic Photoshop skills but it was hectic but like so that’s up top is it whereabouts is that on track so I think instead of going into that deathly Forest we’re going to like go off the start gate and go left into some no doubt deathly other things go into a deathly Canyon Gap over because basically where you do that metal kicker and that drop afterwards and a couple corners afterwards is actually like a huge clip on the other side of that so we’re going to like go down there and then like ramp over the cliff I mean that like huge River thing and then back into the track into those two 90 foot jumps into the bottom of the course and stuff okay so it’s all above yeah it’s weird cuz as someone watching it for so many times I sort feel I’ve never been there but I sort of feel like I know the track I’ve watched enough povs like I know which bits we’re going to be doing fantasy for it there you go there you go that be good we like fantasy for Hardline yeah you want know is yeah yeah yeah we are yeah told Ronan if he cuz he won Hardline tazzy okay I’m going to swear now he won Hardline tazzy I was like if you win Hardline Wales this year he has to get up there and you know how Conor McGregor when he won the double title he goes I’d like to apologize for absolutely [ __ ] nobody I am the [ __ ] double CH say I apologize to [ __ ] no one I’m the [ __ ] double chat he does what he wants he’s so good [ __ ] anduse a scene M I was about to say you’re my pick but like might have to be R in Imagine That would be some good good gear for the downhill Scene It would you’re right you know who’s in it who’s entered sure I love entered it’s sign on my parents used to do mine what is it is it not entered I don’t know I guess it’s selected eh selected better Rob Rob just messaged is you like all right mate you want to do it yes Rob is that what you felt like first one yeah Rob like I Rob I’d love to and it’s sick how many times have you done it I think I’ve done like maybe three whales but one of them last year got cancelled maybe yeah the first one I did I had like pretty good result the next one I was riding pretty well stacked it in the rock garden and then the third one it was canceled because of the weather yeah granted the weather was Co did you have you had two e places this makes me seem like a real mountain bike maybe like an eighth the first year eighth and a ninth or something and then a ninth at the last one in tazzy something like that going isn’t it like at that point in the lead everyone’s racing at that point and then it gets to a certain point and people stop racing start coming down doing like no handers and stuff Remy Morton cruising on no change no but it is it is hectic I honestly feel like I like those like I love those races cuz like sometimes you’ll talk to like C like like let’s say like Ben kange is like tapped like what he can do the speed that he can go at like a certain world cap track is off the charts for me I’m like that’s crazy dangerous but you’ll be like do you want to do this big jump and he’ be like no ways dude like don’t want to do it kind of thing where it’s like it takes a kind of special person to be like no I want to do those crazy things and go super fast into them and do that so like I’m just dying for a Hardline series every be so sick go to Crazy places around the world like fresh unbelievably scary but fun rewarding tracks like have you done a street race no interesting those look hectic as well super scary I think you’d be good at a street race dude I think it’s a similar sort of yeah Vibe isn’t it yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and I like yeah like the reason I got into the sport was basically because I was like I want to do a gap year and travel and I can’t afford it so hopefully we can you know I just want to see different places around the world so you do a street race you’re like come to this place in I don’t know South America that you’d probably never travel to and we’ll come to a race there and then you get to see the place and do the race and it’s like super fun you know what I mean like that’s like I want to see the world you know what I mean t needs to be at Sarah bio this we can make this into a clip and then it can be like a we can send it out to people I’d love to go love to go calendar is pretty jam-packed but I will move aside some things would you move monster Summit no a one I will literally be available at any one point the rest of the C Nat if natal calls I am available the rest of the calendar is penil there that one week that’s it’s like whack sealed and with a quill ink but I think actually I I caused a bit of trouble for like let’s say Ryan Franklin who’s like the monster guy who like sponsors Riders cuz it’s a big company so like different sections get different budgets and stuff but like obviously I am just absolutely in helicopters doing crazy stuff and people were messaging Ryan like dude I needed like £1,000 for this video project why are you not paying me for this video project he was like dude it’s not me like I don’t it’s not my my budget’s this so I think it caused a bit of sweating for Ryan that week this monster is actually massive isn’t it dude it’s like it’s so much bigger than what I think anyone would even think it is even see like they sponsor like UFC like Valentina Rossy he’s like god tier athlete Conor McGregor was like a monster guy from like like they sponsor every man like everything Formula 1 McLaren like they sponsor everything that everything you can get your hands on you know what I mean so it’s astronomically big yeah cool company though I love it and I do rip through monsters did we do listener questions yeah we got a few and there’s some goodies I think we’ll be able to pick up some stuff in there as well should we do them yeah let’s I can do them have you got it or I I can log in we can do we can do uh okay let’s have a look see what we got see what we got see what we got all right let’s take it into I’m nervous for listen questions are you actually I wonder if there’s many about many about your lovely lovely trip yeah there’s going to be a few all right okay let’s see what we got let’s see what we got I only put it up not that long ago so okay we got DHC 619 can you juggle no dude I can do so many things in this world and juggling is so hard honestly I don’t know I can K surve wakeboard back flip off cliffs do what honestly almost anything but jug can’t juggle I use my skills juggling the other day at the melon oh God yeah but we can’t talk about it yet moving on um okay Barney penfold says physical how are physically I guess physically how are you so good love your riding style and amazingly an amazing darkfest runs kind of kind of a question but he clearly a fan but like I guess um physically how are you so good like I guess he’s asking about training well training look like is your training regime or not is there some I go to JY because there’s a guy who’s blim James who’s like he he like years ago was like what are you doing to train and I was like I don’t know mate and he was like dude like like come on and I was like I don’t know and he was like I’ll train you mate come on let me train you so like and I obviously discipline’s not the Paramount of my skills so he was really good at being like get to here now so I JY quite a bit and then honestly I just try to like be active and K Surf and ride and ride Motocross and stuff like that but to be honest I’m like not at my physical peak right now going into the season going into trans Madera yeah know I’m like really worried for my rims this season because it’s going to be a rough year for them and it’s it’s funny that he says like I love your stylist like that has he seen Caden chaos ride like what is he talking no you got it good good all good um okay what else oh this is a great one TM Mitchell 48 what do you enjoy doing off the bike um golf so much golf yeah somehow really okay never got the golf thing you you’ve never got the golf thing have you I’ve never got the golf South Africa is really like in Cape Town there’s so many nice golf courses so I just and a lot of my friends I went to school with play golf so like they always basally me come on let’s play Let’s Play Let’s Play you said it was more affordable as well didn’t you cuz it’s I think there’s like a part of the status thing over here that is attached to it that I don’t that I’m like instantly put off by so much money and whereas you’ve got the best courses for in South Africa it’s like beautiful courses and for 30 pounds you can play 18 a cart like no no drama so it’s amazing and I kite surf a lot in summer cuz Cape Town’s always windy so I just and it’s like it’s one of those things where you like start it sucks to suck in the beginning and then your scale of getting better is like so like you’re like oh my God so you’re like frothing the whole time and then every time in Cape Town when it’s like 30 knot wind and you’re like whoa sucks to ride a bike today you’re like let’s go and you can C and I feel like it’s good like you’re like in a constant Squat and you’re using your core and all of that so like it’s I think it’s pretty good training do you have like your own place and stuff in Cape Town no still living in like a we don’t have to mention that I saw I can’t remember what it was on but the garage oh yeah moner thing yeah see milky there full and I was like guys you don’t have to use this footage and they did and I was like [ __ ] have you seen it it’s so it looks great it’s just a bed and then 125 it’s so good you fa like I travel so much I’m not willing to like rent a place for 12 months and then like I’m like I’ve spent honestly maybe four weeks at home this entire year because as soon as dark V starts in January staying in Stell and wash with Sam and those guys doing that spent like a week at home went to T Tasmania in Hardline for like I mean Queenstown for like a month came back mon schol trip then here like never at home so I’m like I’m not going to and it’s I’ve got five bicycles kite surfing gear surfboards all of that so it’s basically like a storage unit or the bed bang okay next thing let’s go proper van life static vanl right we got one from Chris G7 and I think you’re a great person for this question what was the craziest feeling you’ve done on a bike great question so the craziest feeling thing you’ve done on a bike sorry I messed it up sorry Chris dude cuz it cuz really you’ve had a combination of crazy things so it’s I was like trying to like scam through now honestly I’d say maybe a race run at Le sick even like dog face and stuff is insane big Jump’s insane a race run at Le where you are absolutely just [ __ ] yourself for the two hours before your race right and then like warming up getting into the zone and then like once you in that zone and you’re in that state and you like you’re not thinking about anything else and then you’re doing like a race run down to J and luckily luckily because I’m like not qualified first usually most people spectate by like going to the top of the hill then like walking down the track and then congregating at the bottom for the final kind of few Riders but like let’s say you starting 30th last you honestly like Le you do the top section it’s kind of chilled and then from where the like the first gond comes off by the damn from there you cannot hear anything you cannot like think anything there’s just chainsaws cowbells noises screaming like like like like Brook McDonald has a POV because he was allowed GoPros of like a certain kind of time in the day when you do that run and there’s like four deep of Spectators for a full two minutes down that track and there is so much noise you you can’t think or do anything and you’re just in the state of like well I’m not going to slow down now like let’s just go and you’re like well I’m really tired by now but like like people are just going mental and then you get into that bottom section where they’ve kind of fold some trees and as you like enter a right-hander and turn left there’s like an ampu theater of people and you’re just like why are there so many people here right now and you just like and for like that call it two and a half minutes like you are like out of this like world like concentrating on Surviving and going way too fast than you should be going kind of thing and just like when you get to the bottom and you’ve survived you cross the line you’re like no ways that just happen like it is like a race run at Le like crack dude is this almost a specific race run cuz you got 19th yeah like I’ve had a few good race runs Le and stuff like that and they go top 20 time that’s you got to be pretty stoked that I don’t for a mid pack Rider always stok on to 20 dude and honestly like sometimes yeah dude those yeah you you have to like be on the absolute ragged Edge like so hard I that’s why when I see bruny come down I’m like dude how the hell are you doing that my man I was holding on to be alive hey actually whilst you’re talking about the Ragged Edge what does that actually almost feel like I know what it feels like on a one minute track in theal but like the Ragged Edge on a downhill bike in Le you’re going at the pace of the top World cut Rider what are you doing that’s different like what what are we talking I don’t know I’m just trying to absolutely like you you’re always trying to just nail like obviously once you’ve like you visualize the run so many times and then you’ve got certain points you’re like okay I just want to I need to exit that corner with speed I need to like leave my breaking there so it’s not so rough and then break there or something like that so you just trying to kind of go through that but you basically you’re just going flying down and kind of I think the way visualization works is like you try visualizing before so that you don’t have to think about it and you kind of just like ticking through each thing as you’re going down so often through a run I’m just like okay survived okay W like every now and again you’ll have a like a break point and you’re like we made it this far let’s go and then you like go again and I mean the Ragged Edge is basically last year when I did semis and I had the best run ever and then they were like back out for finals and then I had a huge moment where I basically exited a corner like faster than I had before and instead of going down hitting a like I went over and then bounced off a roller and then had like a huge over the bars like save almost moment and being on the raged Edge like you like save that and I literally like land with my like uh you know wheel on the ground I was like like feet on survived go like you just there’s no like who like if you had done that on a practice run You’ have been like like screaming like oh my God that in the race run you’re just like next thing go go go go yeah but like yeah that is you’re basically just riding that’s also one thing I feel like it’s tough people say you should practice how you practice how you compete or practice how you race but like I feel like Danel is not a sport where you can practice how you race like if you did 10 Le runs on the Ragged Edge you would You’ go home in a helicopter just just you can maybe like save a couple things here and there and like just survive the run like you can’t practice at 1010 like it’s just insane so like the whole point you’re just like I’m just like don’t hit the deck don’t hit the deck don’t hit the deck M it gets me hyped just hearing you talk about it it actually does so sick’s really scary last year I took out the wrong travel insurance so I didn’t Ure like race run racing crashes and at a World Cup like there’s like five helicopters a weekend like during practice just like okay next guy okay next guy and I’m just watching helicopters coming in and out and I’m like damn like my my strategy for insurance is like if I crash I get up from the crash I go down to the van I take my wristband off and I drive to the hospital I say man I was mountain biking and I broke my collarbone and I just saw helicopters coming in and out I dude I can’t afford one of those helicopters don’t hit the deck dude do not hit the deck Fu y want you want to do well at these races but you cannot afford one of those emergency helicopters oh man so I was uh panicking last year dude I bet I hate the idea of that and yeah and um even Greg also hates helicopters he uh rode down the hill with a broken back because he didn’t want to get in the helicopter you know about that no no dude when he broke his back in uh valder Soul he was like who this is not good but he’s got a horrible fear of like flying up being like hoisted in one of those baskets so he literally like told the physio at the bottom like get the bed ready Clos the pit tents like I’m coming down and Rod down the hill to the thing and then lay down on the bed and he was like okay now you can call the helicopter and everyone was like Greg dude not what you meant to do my man and he was like nah I don’t want to fly away in the helicopter I never heard that story that’s terrifying GG’s also African hard as Nails you know there you go clearly dude clearly holy um all right what else we got some of them we can’t read h Hest I knew even when I posted that a good Matty bacer 1985 how on Earth are you so [ __ ] positive all the time what’s a nice one because I feel like in South Africa there is so much horrific things going on all the time if you can like it’s like you you see so much horrible you know like poverty and this and that so honestly like you’ll drive past somebody and they’ll be living in a tent on the side of the road not even a tent moment like the worst version of a tent you can imagine and you’re like dude you’ve got money in your card and you got fuel in your tank and you driving a car like you have nothing to complain about so like any like yeah don’t don’t expect anything you know what I mean don’t be like oh somebody should be doing this for me and I should have this and like you could have nothing like you anything on top of your health is amazing you know what I mean like you can’t I feel like yeah just being in South Africa you see some pretty crazy horrible things and like if you’re driving around you know doing fun things you’re like man you are living the best life ever you know yeah this might be a stupid question but do you like it been in Europe do I would do you like do you like being in Europe because you kind of have to be here for your job as well like I know you’re not going to say no obviously Cape Town’s a beautiful place no no no so yes I love riding the trails in Europe seeing like all of the seeing like like you know being in these beautiful places all across Europe and like the architecture and stuff like that and riding all the trails around here but man being in Europe sometimes dealing with like French and German security guards just telling you nine and D not possible and Dish and dash and you’re like dude this is so possible my man like like you cannot park here and you’re like I’m literally parked there dude I’m literally parked there it’s so possible give me 5 minutes I’m getting the parking P they’re like Das not possible and like you can obviously throughout the year like now I’m like frothing to be overseas it’s just gone autumn in Cape Town so Cape Town’s kind of like going down yeah but then by like August you’re are Hut full of French and German people so I yeah and like honestly I like every time even if I get on a like yeah as you say I’m a pretty positive guy so anytime I’m doing I don’t know flying or traveling or doing anything like you it’s a bonus like nobody nobody you should like nobody’s granted that what’s the the word I’m looking for you know what I mean like yeah it’s not given to do this or go ride your bike or do that like even if I’m like ungodly hung over at a bike park I’m like dude the lift is open and you should be riding right now get on your bike and go ride like so I’m just like nothing’s a given enjoy every second of it you know what I mean that’s sick dude yeah that’s rad it does come across as well and it is fun like when you’re at the World Cups it’s like a moving circus you know what I mean like you everyone’s mates there everyone does things everyone laughs at everything you can do an afterparty with everyone so it’s like a big moving Gypsy circus then like everyone’s a little bit cooked as well if you know what I mean like often when I hang out with my Ms in Cape Town they’re like dude you are nuts and I’m like dude I’m like wellth thought out pretty conservative guy compared to the rest of the pack and like they are absolutely off the head on that note Cade 2000 a chap called Cade 2000 has asked DB and C oh double Brandy and Cooks nice right on yeah still we do dark V they have a prolific drink called the double Brandy and Coke okay and they are super delicious and super strong so people yeah so everyone in dark vest is just smashing double Brandy coat being part of our culture you know Zack Fowler favorite monster I actually and this is going to sound so lamp but like I think a crispy cold original monster has a certain superpower above like a monster juice or like a monster mang a loco or something like that like a crispy original if I have a I’ll I’ll literally gun for a crispy original before a darkfest session cuz I’m like you just buzz off literally 6 a.m. it’s so hard at dark face cuz you’ll literally wake up and like honestly a coffee does not do it to ride those jumps at 6:00 in the morning so you’ll do a coffee you get ready and you’ll be like still not ready do it’s a testament like you we’ve got so many question question dude yeah there is a lot there are so many it’s oh this is a great one I got another good one Gareth I think it’s Gare I can’t read it sorry Gareth W Nash why know YouTube you seem to have the personality for it and I’m gonna have to agree with Gareth on yeah I know me too to be honest G I really should I’m still driving around in a 2009 Transit and I could really do with that Matt Jones YouTube cash and honestly hey you could jump your house easy as well 71 bedroom um honestly I really really should but it is like when you go to a World Cup weekend and you mid pack you are really stressing about everything like I don’t have like I don’t finish practice and like park my bike and go for a massage and like somebody I’m like running to Shimano getting a new derailer running to Maxis getting tires like I’m like pretty full on on a race weekend so like and honestly those YouTube boys work pretty hard at like getting stuff up and editing and all of that stuff so I don’t know I really should because I think my mid pack results will not last a while so I better jump on the YouTube bus and I feel like it would be good like I mean even but documenting like the travels and stuff yeah I know I should honestly the only the only thing I’d consider is just doing like heinous YouTube just like no cut like it gets record goes on a timeline it gets uploaded but you also bur’s business model yeah burnard’s but you also you think it like it’s like quick and easy but like I don’t have Wi-Fi in my Transit band I can’t just upload a vlog like you know what I mean so the minimum effort is still a lot of effort effort you can put into YouTube is still a lot of it is in it but I really should maybe I mean I don’t know we’ll start a petition in the com something if yeah com for YouTube I I couldn’t believe like I feel like I’m pretty active on social media okay Instagram and stuff like that but like when I did Sam’s YouTube at at darkfest cuz he kind of went got injured went and I kind of like try to like you know make some fun things happen like YouTube’s a different Beast like when I went to Tasmania people there were like dude we like they knew me they like when like they were so amped on it I was like how did you how did you how I didn’t couldn’t believe how like Stoke they were on all of it and even CA who was editing all of it he’s like dude we need to get the YouTube going I’m like ca I just can’t pay you my man I know to do so start a petition tag I don’t know Ryan Franklin and CA we’ll put is fan and c will come to the World Cup so we’ll do honestly cuz I honestly if I don’t have to edit it I will make it a [ __ ] Vibe like it will be good I’m subscribing yeah I’m subscribing is there a channel set up already I think I have a YouTube channel but maybe got like one actually try to see if they can I’ve got like one heinous old video on it and maybe like a POV see if they can just subscribe to it and I’ll if if it’s going I’ll be like okay guys there’s people that cuz obviously thousand sub I’m kind of like a humble person I really don’t think that people are actually interested in my right this is where the companionship could be you what I mean like people like oh I’m like dude like I’m not that [ __ ] interesting subsscribe to Teo so if actually people subscribe to to I’ll be like there’s actually people key on it okay I’ll do something all right we’ll put a link in the show description for the YouTube channel you’re going to regret that hi boys we’re on the way to find a coffee shop to have a poo this morning please don’t put that in this coffee shop looks quiet let’s go in it blow it up um right I’ve got one from Rob grtt this could be a good one to end on what’s a puss clap and where would someone uh a um a I I can think I can swear in off foron a [ __ ] is a pretty not great word inard sometimes referred to female anatomy that’s what it is and a but basically it’s like a you know like it’s like a it can be P Le I mean oh sorry that’s another it can be puss hot the track can be puss [ __ ] like the track can be puss very very very and um basically yeah if you uh little like I don’t know if you’re causing trouble in a bar or something and you small some afans cuz Africans people are big and they love giving little English boys puss glovs so up we ever think it’s AF being a so pill which means um being like a having a salty Willie which basically means which basically means it’s it’s from like an old it’s basically old I want to hear you explain you Old English people were half English half South African so they wi used to hang in the ocean so they were called sois and and um basically Africans people love giving English people PS clubs when they get out of hand oh mate this has been this has been brilliant a fantastic time this has flown by this podcast fantastic great just um where could people find you follow the Instagram I’ll probably I don’t know keep on oh yeah I’ll try do some fun things on Instagram now that there’s some people asking question great follow one of the best one of my favorites yeah thanks yeah thanks you boys I uh was really scared before this because I don’t think I’m that very important and I’m and I’m scared Brun is going to be like mate who’s this mid pack Rider talking about his opinions what is he think he is get back to out of qualifying zone so at least we didn’t get too much into World Cup racing but um yeah I’m stoked I love I don’t really talk too much on Instagram so it’s cool to sit down with you guys and talk bit you’re the man thanks for thanks for listening peace and love thanks guys like And subscribe hey man what an episode that was you did amazing in it and so did you you Shawn like a star you Shawn like a moon I sha like a focus spring deal oh beautiful transition I got a question for you David to kick this final advert off yeah what would you do with up to $400 yeah if you got it back when buying a bike oo I could St in the bike shop and spend my €400 on accessories good point support your local bike shop great point I could take the €400 and go to another shop close by maybe buy 4400 of pasta maybe go to the euro store get 400 and just that’s Christmas done for eternity just keep handing them outy tickets yeah beans tires um shammy cream a new pet a new pet perhaps a water dragon or an iguana lovely idea well Focus are actually making that question of reality nice because with the focus spring deals you can grab up to 400 back when buying a new bike if you want to find out more check out the terms and conditions and all of the details in the link we’re going to put that below and I’m also going to read it out please okay you ready for me to read it out yes this is old school in it reading out links yeah anticipation I’m going do anyway it I want the deal ride. focus. bikes SLS spring deal TRC o nice so that is ride. focus. bikes SLS spring deals TRC and let us know in the comments what you would do with 4400 best answer wins a signed odub hat I like it good I’ve got hats yeah I’m ready yeah I’m good for that hey can we also put something up here that you can click on for the next episode how about we put a subscribe up there in the middle yeah we’re going to put a video we think that our lovely companionship will love on your face on my face yeah gone and on my face another video that we think people will love and thank you for watching thank you for listening please hit like And subscribe you guys are the best peace and love [Music]
38 Comments
Theo is the man! What a fantastic attitude and outlook on life. I want to be more like Theo. Thanks for a great interview!
Best TRC interview ever, hands down!
I really enjoy seeing how Theo have grown up and into the sport. I remember him coming into our offices at Csixx and doing some shuttle runs in The Glen with him. Not only unbelievably talented, but also an absolute hype monster!
Theo is a proper GC, one of the standout personalities of the gravity scene, no shortage of talent either, keep sending!
Fuck yeah Theo
Training monster girls should be his job title.
The best 2hr of my life!
What an absolutel legend. Thoroughly enjoyed that and as a South African living in the UK and seeing our boys do well and having an absolute blast, just makes me feel proud!!! Theo, go smash it bru, behind you all the way!
How do I see these monster girls event stories?
Great episode
WHAT.A.GUY! Infectious!
“I die today” lmao 👏 🤣
Theo is amazing. Love the positivity and vibe, I was there in les gets last year it was crazy. Please please please do YouTube Theo 🤙🏻.
Lets everyone subscribe to Theo's youtube channel to force him into creating content.
Soooo much energy, loves riding his bike and loves life. A legend!
Great pod cast !! Love Thoe his positively is infectious !!
I’ve never laughed so hard….Theo is a legend and fucking hilarious 😂
Subscribed! I’m No431!!
Dudes so glad you had Theo on would love to see a part 2!!!
What a dude! Great approach to life 👌 subscribed!
The best interview
Theo and the whole crew of us Saffers had a memorable (I can't remember much of it) night at Bar Robinson in 2018. We went for ONE demi and ended up buying jugs and making a bit of a noise. My head and wallet were really sore the next day.
Theo is a vibe… 😎
BEST guest by far… Absolutely legend 😂
Theo is so funny, what a legend
Theo makes us Saffas proud, most approachable guy, often see him round CT riding surfing, humble, full of energy , blaze a trail bro ! He deserves all of it
My face hurts from laughing listening to this Theo needs Youtube!
love it, so many laughs. love your work boys.
Im be relistening to this so many times
Theo doing amazing stupid shit on YouTube is a great idea, 🤟
hilarious
I’m always a few days behind and I just finished listening to this podcast in the audio only format. For me this one is right up there with the Rob Warner episode as one of my favorites. Even just with the audio you could hear Theo’s huge smile and his enthusiasm for doing anything cool on bikes is awesome. Theo has gained a new fan in me!
Too funny. Rolling laughter all the way, invite Theo back again after his season 😁
Such a cool guest really hope he does his own YouTube 👍
Oooo – too good. So South African that it I am sitting here looking at tickets to SA for the fall. Stellenbosch ftw.
One of the most natural Bike riders I've ever seen!!
I watched Theo go from Western Province DH Racing to now! We handled all the sound for the Cape Town DH Races. Met his parents, such amazing people. I wish this crazy Capetonian nothing but the absolute best. He is great for the sport.
Captain of the Stoke 🤠
This is my favorite episode to date! Thanks fellas, cheers 🥂 from Tennessee