Welcome back to the original and still the best New Zealand mountain bike podcast brought to you by Maxus Tires and Fox Suspension, two of the best out there and two brands that our special guest today knows very well, even though he has a Little Rock Shop logo on his T-shirt, but we won't tell that against him.

I like that.

I got you.

Theme Rumors.

Jake Hood, welcome to the show.

How are we guys?

Good to be on here.

Fantastic.

It's great to have you here and Lester Perry and the Co host seat as well.

Hey boys, Yep, good food back.

Also has a fucking massive rock shock T-shirt logo on it's.

True.

Hey, what's our podcast motto?

As if it's free, it's for me.

Yeah, 100%.

So no, I can't knock you guys for that.

That's all right.

We will have Red Dog appearing at some point, but he's probably been out training, I'd say.

So he's running a bit on the late side, but yeah, special guest today, Jake is Dakota Norton's mechanic on the Mondraka Factory Racing team, so pretty cool to have you along.

He's also, I guess we'd call you a Queenstown local, even though, yeah.

I mean, I don't know when you become a local in Queenstown, it's been 11 years there now, so maybe local.

Some people say you go to 20 years, some people say you've got to be born there, so I'll just say I live in Queenstown, so yeah.

Yeah, fair, fair.

Yeah.

Now great to have you on.

Currently you're hanging out in the Tweed Valley.

You were just saying.

So you're in between races?

I'm just we're got a week off in between Langerhyde and Lake Placid so I'm just back at my parents house in the Tweed Valley in Scotland.

So pretty good, pretty good spot to be, heaps a good ride in the area.

They've ran a couple of enduro races here before on the world.

Cup on the AW S S.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, AW S back in the day.

So I think Justin Leo won one of them way back in the day.

God goddamn ride they did.

Yeah.

So yeah, good spot to be.

But yeah, just back here for the week, chilling, recovering, just getting ready for the the last block.

So yeah.

Do you basically between rounds are you like just responsible to like scout the Internet for the highest rise bars that you can find, so in the next round the code has got even bigger bars?

For the amount of Swiss fans, this this week that came by is like, whoa, look at the bars.

How high are they?

And then everyone's asking how high rise they are.

And I'm like, yeah, I think to be honest, I can't remember if they're 80 or 85, but yeah, it's, it's weird because I've spent so much time riding his bike around, like test riding.

I jump on other bikes now and it feels weird like feel like.

He's going to go out.

Inside I do not I do not want to be going up that high, but I feel like my E bike, I've got some 35 on there at the minute and I think I need to go up to 50 which is don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing so.

I.

Think 50s.

I think 50s acceptable, but yeah.

I've always been like a 15 mil guy and then recently I think on my E bike I put, I don't know, they've got like 30 mil rise or something and I was like, oh, oh, actually there's something here, yeah.

It's, it's interesting though, because everyone just comes in and they're like, oh, the bars are so high and stuff, but they're actually not that high.

Like I think Jacksons are about the same high.

I think Lickmeyer Smiths are actually higher.

So the bars are high, low.

It's not actually high like the, the, yeah, the stack is quite low.

And then we run the forks like into the stanchions a bit lower than recommended because.

So it's high, but it's not actually that high.

So yeah, it's, and it means we'd have to run heaps of spacers under the stem and stuff.

And I don't know, I'm kind of coming around to the look of it.

And I mean, it seems to work for DAC like it's it's working well for him, so.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Can't knock it.

That's interesting.

You say that Jackson's a kind of, I mean, this is already, we're going off on a tangent, but interesting you can hear that to Jackson's height because if you look at, I mean, if you go off the height, yeah, Jackson's probably shorter than deck.

No.

So people like did this right.

They did like a rider height to bar height ratio and Jacksons were like higher than anybody's because of his height versus his like bar height so.

And you watch Jackson ride and he's really upright, like he's ball upright, you know, he's not hunched over.

So it's an interesting thing.

Everyone thinks that's like bar height is really high, but it's it's not out there.

Like it is high, but it's not completely out there nowadays, so.

Wasn't his whole thing around like because he gets pretty low over the stem?

Like he wanted kind of space in between the bars basically to get his chest into?

That was kind of the idea, I think.

I think so, yeah.

I mean, I think that's changed a bit this year with his injury.

Like he's just not as flexible as he used to be and like he's still dealing with a lot of that.

So yeah, but you see him speed Tuck and he's like definitely like in and under the bar versus other people, so.

Or he was hitting his chin.

That's right.

He was hitting his chin when he was running like a standard pipe bar.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it's.

Wild.

Yeah, it's, it's crazy.

Like I think last year when I saw him, I'm like, these are absolutely disgusting.

And then this year working for him, like they're looking better than they used to be.

So, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, everything.

But he's around, doesn't it?

I mean, Doc has a lot of wild theories and setup, but when you like go into it, a lot of it actually kind of makes sense and especially for the way he rides now.

So I just.

Like.

His setup is I.

Did the podcast with John Hall, his old man, and he talked about that like, but he said you talked to Dick about it and he's got pretty valid reasoning for everything.

Yeah.

He's like, you can't really argue.

He definitely, he's an overthinker.

He analyzes everything, but he has a reason why he wants to do it this way or go that way.

And it's funny, when we test, we go, we start here and then we go and then we end up back here.

So we just, and like the start of this year, we were just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what was sticking.

And it was, I was with the race engineer Pablo, and he's like, watch this, we'll start here and we'll do this.

Go here, go here, go here.

And then we'll end up back where we start.

So it's pretty funny.

But he does like his theories make sense.

And I've, I've tested a couple of them on my own bike and I'm like actually feels real good.

So yeah, I haven't.

I've yet to ride the chariot.

I really want to ride the chariot, but I just don't think we're going to have time.

So that's what his wife's called the chariot.

So.

That is a great nickname for it too.

That is for.

Sure.

Yeah, so and yeah.

It had to have been a a little bit of a nerve wracking start to the year for you, wondering if you're even going to be working.

I guess with his injury he's been.

Impressive.

To see where he's got back to.

Yeah, it was definitely like I didn't actually sign the contract for Mondricker till January 2nd or something like that, and he'd already injured himself by that point.

But Jorge had told me that we had a fill in writer, so we had Greg Williamson.

I was going to be like a fill in till then.

So, yeah, but like, I mean, the injury that Dak had, like most people take a year to even like be able to walk properly again.

So to do what he's doing now, like get top 10's and top fifteens and like he's not fit.

Like he's he's not fit.

He's not bike fit.

Taking so long off the bike to do what he's doing now is like, I don't think people realize how much like goes into it, like he's it's impressive.

And like, OK, he's not getting the results he was getting last year.

But I don't think people realize how much pain he is in a lot of the time and what it does, like how little mobility has compared to last year.

So it's it's really impressive seeing what he's doing and yeah, how he's his results are doing.

And I think I think people have kind of written them off this year, but I think people are starting to take notice now of like the last couple of results.

So yeah, it's good.

It's good.

Yeah, it's, it's been impressive to see where he's got back to at this point.

Like I, yeah, I've had a friend who did a very similar injury and he was, you know, he didn't even come close to riding a bike for probably two years.

Yeah.

The dudes come back after a few months and he's he's riding, he's riding himself into positions in finals that there's guys who are full fitness and full strength are probably just sitting there shaking their heads like what am I doing wrong here?

And it, it was pretty crazy.

So his first, first race with him in the World Cup was Leo Gang.

And I think to that point he'd ridden his bike, his Dino bike, maybe two weeks.

So since 99 last year he'd had two weeks on the bike since he had pre injury and I think he was like a second of qualifying at that first race.

Yeah, it was close.

I remember that being super close.

It's not even like, I think The thing is like the pace is the Q1 to Q2, things like you have to do a race run now.

Like the pace has just jumped up massively.

Like there's no holding back.

Like you can't just cruise in, cruise down, like you have to go flat out.

And I think that was a bit of a, well, I think it's a shock to a lot of people this year, but I think that was a bit of a shock to him because he hadn't had any racing up till that point.

So yeah, yeah, pretty, pretty impressive.

So yeah, it's been good.

Very impressive, very impressive.

We've got an extra special guest joining the show, Red Dog Welcome.

It's nice to have you here.

Welcome.

I'm not an extra special guest.

I'm here all the time.

That's true.

Jacob's the special guest.

Hello, Jacob.

Hey mate, how are you?

Good.

Thank you.

Good to see you.

Great to have you.

Yeah, I'm stoked to be here.

Are you really don't?

Are you really?

I am.

I am.

I like the podcast.

I think it's great.

Yeah.

Need more Chris.

Chris Rance.

Chris wanted to bring this up that, yeah, that Jake had stolen Red Dog's kind of ambassadorship.

Now he used to stole a beef.

Yeah.

He does.

Oh no.

Love the kind of beef.

Yeah, he stole it.

From me, took it from me out in front of my nose.

I mean Caleb, just Caleb just found a better all round person I think.

And it was.

It was over the way.

It.

Was like anything kind of related.

You just blame Caleb.

Yeah, yeah, everything's Caleb's fault.

It's the easiest way, yeah.

I was actually, I was actually chant to him yesterday.

He's in Finland in the minute.

Finland, yeah.

Yeah, filming something and he's in like a like storm somewhere.

So yeah, just yeah.

Yeah, that also is like Caleb.

Yeah, like goes somewhere for a shoot and then the weather cramps out.

Yeah, yeah.

Another one.

Just another one.

Yeah, another.

One another one, yeah.

We've all been.

There, That's fine.

Yeah, yeah.

Shooting photos with Caleb.

Yeah.

Yeah, someone listed.

I was going to say something.

I won't derail us this quickly.

We should we get into some Lindsay Hide chat?

Go on then.

This, but went on.

Actually, I was obviously very rocky.

There's a lot of flat tires, more flat tires than I feel like we've seen in the Finals for a long time.

The from what the guys said from Track Walk, they came down pretty disappointed.

It's like they were saying like the trail crew has done nothing to the track.

So I think taking a year off and then all the weather, like just naturally the weather running like down the track.

So the trail, the track was like rough and there was a lot of rocks about.

So yeah, a lot of flat tires from a lot of people getting slow, kind of like leaks by the bottom as well.

So like slashing tires.

So yeah, it was a it was a pretty bad one for for tires, I think.

Does it raise the raise the anxiety as a mechanic Jack?

I mean, it's already high.

I don't know, I kind of you go up for the the warm up and you're like stressed out And then I don't even like I watch him go and then I don't look at the results till I get back to the the pits.

I don't actually watch any of the racing.

I just like stresses me out.

Yeah, the anxiety is like, is the bike going to make it to the bottom without like an issue or is that going to like have a crash and or is he just going to lay down a heater?

So I kind of know if he's done a heater because I'll get a text for the team.

But like, yeah, it's it's stressful.

But yeah, it's it's definitely stressful.

Just hoping the bike gets to the bottom of the hill.

Like it will, it's fine.

But in your head you're just like anything could happen.

So yeah.

Thank God you guys run Mex's tires so at least you had a little bit of stress taken off you with the.

Yeah, yeah.

Tires in the game out there so.

It was we were we were on the the new one.

It was you were on the prototype.

Yeah, the new one, it was really good.

I think the guys are really, really enjoying that tire and they've got some special things going on with the casing.

Can't really say too much, but yeah, it's what they have coming is some cool stuff so.

Yeah.

Do you guys run inserts?

No, no, it seems.

Like a lot of people aren't into it.

Yeah.

I think with this new casing, you don't need to.

I think that's as much as I can say.

So they've integrated.

I can't say.

I can't say to.

The tire.

I can say it's a lot harder to put the tire on than it used to be, but.

Yeah.

Oh, there you go.

I'm right.

I'm out.

I hope just.

Using some some of the old intense tire technology and just go into a four fly and Nathan.

Really.

Famously podium with a flyer bead.

Yeah, it's a no.

It's we, we, we have inserts in the drug and we have tested them.

But we yeah, Dak really doesn't like the feeling of them.

They do give the bike a bit of a dead feeling in the tire I think.

Yeah.

Like my experience.

Yeah.

So Valdisol, we probably should have used them.

Let's not talk about that though, but yeah, yeah.

I won't.

I won't bring up wheels with you.

We'll just leave that one.

To be fair, Zac hasn't broken any for a long time so.

That's good.

Valdisol, we won't bring up this.

We won't bring up.

His teammates wheels.

No, no, no, no.

Don't, don't talk about it.

I mean, maybe.

I don't know but.

Yeah.

Emery takes his was it 13th win, I think it was 13.

To tie him with Hill for on the all time World Cup wins list, that was a big one.

It's disrespectful.

Yeah.

I got this text from Red Dog that it's disrespectful.

Is it?

Both him and Lark should have just bowed out.

They should say no more, Yeah.

Peace out.

Yeah, we won't go.

We won't overthrow the king.

If I had said to you that Lowek and Emery both have 12 wins, and just off the top of your head, would you have thought that that was correct?

Because it feels like like has won so much more.

I would have thought he would have done more too.

Yeah, yeah.

That's world champs.

Wins, though, yeah, it's the world champs wins and I think like the overall titles just makes it feel like he's won so much more.

But Emery's really good hot take is really good.

He's really good.

He seems to be getting better too, like he seems to be not as erratic on the bike.

Yeah, I mean this is compared to last year seems to be not as ragged.

Like I think his and Dora run would have been a winning run as well if he hadn't blown off the track because he was going fast there.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's he's been on a steady improvement all season, I reckon.

And wouldn't surprise me to see him one another one of these, like one of the North American ones.

Yeah, from from what we have heard, the Lake Placid tracks kind of like a mighty Nan, but with loam.

So I think that should be pretty cool.

So yeah.

Me and Red Dog have raced there just in case you wanted to know.

Yeah, if you need tips.

Just give us some outside tips.

Not not the same track, but we we raced to the men were men and we raced a was it a 5K?

Wasn't it red dog, the white face 5K?

Yeah, it.

Was 5K long.

Downhill.

Track.

What was it dirt like?

Was it like, was the Dirk kind of like clay or gripping or it?

Was wet when I was there.

Yeah, it was also sort of wet when I was there.

Yeah, it was dirt.

There was a section full of dirt, like wood chip rollers.

Were they there when you were there?

Clay.

Yeah, they were.

They had.

Them like flat out down a ski paste.

Yeah.

Not as fun as you might think.

They're just kind of sly.

Yeah, it's kind of just kind of bogs you down.

We don't have much useful for you.

Just like this podcast, we don't have much.

Useful maybe.

Maybe we could bring in that section back though, That'd be good.

Yeah, I'll see.

I know, I know Aaron Aaron's there.

This was there yesterday because he's been helping out with the track design.

So yeah, I think it should.

I think it'll shape up to be a good, good race.

Hopefully, hopefully an American Mondraker rider wins.

That'd be that'd be wicked.

So he deserves a win.

That American Mondraker rider rode absolutely flat out in his race run after he got up off the ground.

He was that the run of the.

Day apart from the.

Start the the fastest time from the bottom of the start gate to the finish.

So yeah.

Yeah, I did.

I did a bit of rough timing and I reckon he lost 5 seconds out of that like for sure which which is purely just like watching the time and he was 4.9 back from Emory but he was actually from split two to the finish he was .4 faster than Emory.

Wow.

And then by the time because he fell and then to get going again, like he lost that momentum to do the gap into this.

So there was time there as well, so.

100%.

It sucks.

Me and Mark were joking.

I was like, at the next race you need to go in the gate before he gets there and put like to get like a can of yellow fluorescent paint and put it on either side of the timing bowls and then just an arrow at the start Hut, Yeah.

And then Mark was like so close to running out there and just beating him with the umbrella and getting him to get to go.

That would have been amazing on live TV.

Speaking of umbrellas and start gates, is Henry Kiefer the Beast or like show you Red Dog?

He could be the most improved.

Is he the most improved writer this year?

Yes, he's the most.

The breakout got to be it's got.

To be the most improved.

Yeah, holy shit, that was a that was a good run, man.

He has been on form the last few rounds.

Sneaky.

Going good, is he?

Now Kenyon's number one rider.

Is he saying his?

Favorite son?

I think he's got to be.

Surely.

Yeah.

Is the top of the pile on any given weekend?

Is is his favorite son?

Where was Brosnan back in 12th?

Oh, look.

It was not like it.

Yeah, no.

It's interesting what happens if you are the favorite?

Do you get to sit next to the baby and at dinner or something?

Probably.

Let's say I'm.

Not going to say anything.

Is that really something to strive for?

Yeah, maybe it's a.

Nice.

Maybe it's actually a really nice guy.

I know he is.

Yeah, I've, I've spoken with him before, but he is also very he loves a deep dive.

He's intense.

I'll be there for a deep dive, that'd be great.

Yeah, so 2006 Worlds Rotorua after the race was done, him, Dodzy and I sitting in the car park on the grass, deep dive and Dodgy's trying to glean any kind of bike development advice off him for the 00 dodgy.

Would have been deep.

And the yeah, yeah, they got so deep.

And in the end I was like, OK boys, I'm going like, I'm just.

Out of here, I'm out.

Of here.

This is way too much.

Anyway, I digress.

I will.

In 2006 he was off back-to-back World Championships, so it was a good person to he.

Doesn't know a few things about riding a bike.

I'll tell you who else knows a few things about riding a bike.

And he's been, it's been waiting for this year as young Lucky Stevens McNabb.

I was so happy.

To see him on the.

Bottom that was, yeah, that was really good.

Well deserved.

The the coolest part of that was that gap into that roller.

Yeah, that was sick.

There was a couple of gaps he pulled, there was another one he pulled and I think Carlson was about the only person who spotted it.

Yeah, yeah.

But did you see before he pulled that gap over that roller, he, I heard him one of those post race things or something, he thought his chain had jammed up because he looks down, he stops peddling, looks down and then just resets himself and picks up.

Yeah, I spoke to his mechanic that evening and he'd like smashed his chin guy to bits and his chambering was like pretty bad.

So yeah, he was.

He'd hit it hard on something earlier up in the run.

So yeah, no.

Way.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, that was good.

Very well deserved.

He's yeah.

He's sitting up and down season, isn't he?

It's like he's either flat out and, you know, like those 2 fourths and now a podium.

Yeah, but or it's been kind of like some bad luck.

Yeah, I hope he's like he killed this, killed this year, one month and on this year that.

'D be sick.

Oh yeah, last year was close.

Yeah, that would be awesome, that he's definitely the best performing trick, right, Right.

Oh, right.

Yeah, no.

Doubt.

Yeah, where was Holly this weekend?

Did he even qualify?

I don't think he made it, no.

He didn't qualify, No.

Yeah.

Carrying the team.

He is big shoulders and then another, well the other Mondraca rider, Ronan done with the 4th.

And this is a question for you Jake.

Does it feel like the last few rounds he has kind of mellowed out?

He doesn't look like he's riding as mental as he, well, the last two I'd say world champs in this week.

I don't.

Know the top of that run I was like oh he was pretty long yeah he just he.

Seems like he's less ragged.

I think he, I think with the Tasmania crash and then the little crash and then the injuries this year, he's been like really almost like pushing too hard to try win.

And then once he got that winning Leger, he's been a lot more chill since then.

So I think he's maybe like maybe that's been a re like a confidence set for him again.

So he knows he can like not push, not be as wild, you know.

Yeah, I haven't really spoken to him to him recently, but like much about it.

But he's been in the pits.

He's been way more chill as well.

Yeah.

I think he's like, he knows he can do it.

Yeah.

Also, that new bike is a lot better.

That could be.

Changed changed bikes mid season haven't you?

New frame.

Yeah, yeah, new frame, it's so much better just to work on from a work mechanic standpoint is so much better.

And all the riders are loving it like it's it's fixed all the issues we had with the older bikes.

So yeah, they're, I mean, the results kind of show for themselves.

Like since we've been on that bike, there's been a lot of like, well, I mean, thinking almost one, Ronan's one on it.

He got third.

Dak's been going faster on it.

So yeah, it's it's impressive.

Really nice for the kids.

What's the?

Difference.

Because the old one was that referring me to the old like prototype one, not the production one.

Yeah.

So this one's still a prototype.

It's closer to what a production 1 will look like.

OK, it's a lot stiffer.

The old bike was a bit of a noodle, like that's why it it was very flexy and it you had to like pull it apart pretty much every day because it just it did two runs in a Creek.

But this new one like it's a lot stiffer in like the around the linkage in the bottom bracket area.

So it's got a lot more pump and drive.

The kinematics are very similar to the old bike.

I think it's slightly higher leverage ratio.

It's just a lot nicer to work on.

Like it has sealed like all the hardware has like seals in it on the bearings.

So like even after Leger, we pulled it apart and there's still like clean crease in the bearings and everything.

We've got a little bit more adjustment on the change day length with the dropouts.

We've still got the BB adjustment and the reach adjustment in the headset, but it's just a more, it's just stiffer vertically and this side as well.

So you can get a lot more.

What the riders were struggling with was it was really good at like absorbing bumps and going through off campers and like kind of rough sections, but it wouldn't pump and carry speed very well.

Like it wouldn't generate speed and pumping and this new bikes kind of solved that, but still really fast through all the other stuff.

The big thing all the riders noticed when testing was it was a lot more vertically stiff and they were struggling a little bit till we got the longer dropouts.

So it's been, yeah, they're really happy with it.

So it's been it's been really cool and it's been cool to be part of that development program.

So yeah, Mondrick are doing some cool things at the minute with with the bikes.

So yeah.

Yeah, Darren, Darren Deep.

It's been pretty cool to see them really throw together like a a factory race team the last couple of years rather than just supplying, you know, like Ms.

like they had been and that in the past.

And for them to actually, you know, have a whole new bot, like whole new frame mid season, that's impressive stuff.

Yeah.

It's, it's been in.

We were meant to have that frame at the start of the year, but things always just, you know, yeah.

And it's they've, they're not stopping there.

Like they've got stuff in the future.

I've seen what the next version of the bike will be.

Who knows when it's going to be like, it might be years from now, but there's cool stuff coming, like really cool stuff's coming.

So yeah, it's, it's impressive.

And the, the owners just love racing like they were the the world champs and they were loving it.

And like, we have a really good race engineer.

He comes from like a background of 13 years of Moto GP.

So the way he looks at stuff and thinks about stuff is like so different to anyone else.

So it's really cool taking his ideas and then speaking to the engineers and then putting all that into a bike and seeing what comes out.

So yeah, we've got like a lot of things, I think, for the bike that we're going to test in the offseason for next year.

So like we got a floating brake arm that can go on it.

Who knows if that will use it or not.

There's like a hole in the head tube for like a steering damper, which again, who knows if it'll be good or bad, but we have the ability to test it.

So yeah, it's a, and it's a very adaptable bike with the adjustable BB and the adjustable headset.

Like you can set it up in a bunch of ways.

So yeah, to suit each rider.

So yeah.

It's cool.

It's really cool, Yeah.

Just in staying on brand with the podcast as we dive way off track into this.

But Bruni, he's got the latest jersey.

He's he's taken it over.

Jackson had a pretty bad run.

It was, it was good and then it went bad until it went and then it went good again at the bottom.

He actually won two splits still.

I think it was like the first split, first and last split C1 or something like that.

But yeah.

Directing the pressure is directing the pressure is getting to him.

Probably a lot going on in his mind, yeah.

Fresh, fresh rainbows on, you know, like a lot going down there so.

Question for you KB, you'll probably be across this or maybe Jake, did he flip that jump?

No.

I don't don't think.

Jackson, I thought.

I thought he did, but maybe not.

I thought.

They just did your dreams.

They just did massive.

Whoops from that maybe we'll know know where I'm going with this.

But I I called after qualifying when ASA flipped the jump.

I said put a pin in that career.

He's done.

He's he's got 3 racer tendencies.

He's going to turn up with flat pedals to the next round.

I was about to do a GoFundMe some for some of those baggy jeans that they were like wearing the free ride guys.

He already wears the weird sunglasses.

But then he redeemed himself.

So my theory's maybe got a couple of holes in it, but I'll be keeping a watching brief on that.

But did he not redeem himself by flipping and winning the qualifying?

Run still now.

The jury was still out.

I wish he'd flipped in his race run as well.

That would have been so OK.

He could have.

He had the time.

He had the time.

Yeah, he did around.

So what was the deal with his?

His run was second fastest of the day.

Was it?

Yeah, something like that, yeah.

That's that's impressive.

Very cool.

Interesting to see because he hasn't had a run like that.

No, that was the most, that was the most Acer run.

All year, that's what we've been expecting, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

I just love that that team's just doing really cool things.

Like, you know, that bike has not been developed by like it's been developed by Nico, not like Specialized that have poured heaps, heaps of money and then that bike's just a simple bike and it's just killing it.

It's sick, really light.

Yeah, really cool stuff.

It goes to show you that that just a plain and simple horse length 4 bar gets the job done.

Yeah, and you remove like he's managed to remove.

All.

Of the barriers, I guess like if you design that 4 bar linkage, wow, the full bike and all the geometry and all the rest of it all works together harmoniously.

There's no barrier anymore.

Like why do you need to go and do a Specialized and have a freaking black box thing that clearly works for some and doesn't work for others?

Maybe you could say at the moment, yeah.

Yeah, and maybe it's maybe it's just down to the people who are riding it and it's keeping it simple for them.

Like ICE is still only what, 1718, you know?

Like probably hasn't done a whole lot of testing.

If he's got a bike that goes up and down pretty good and he can point it down the hill without it doing weird shit, that's probably all he needs.

Yeah.

I mean, yeah, that's a good point.

What if you put ASA on these super bikes that other brands are making?

Would he go faster, you know?

All of a sudden he's got 85 different options of geometry that he has to try and work out, whereas he gets on this bike and goes, yes, wait, this does what I needed to do and I point it down the hill.

Yeah, yeah, for.

Sure.

I mean, when I talked to Ellie mid season, she was saying how she'd been so deep because there's so many options of things to test, things to try, you know, telemetry on the bike.

And she's like, I needed to just keep it simple.

So and Dora, she's like, didn't she's like, I didn't put the telemetry on and just rode the main lines and didn't touch anything on the bike and kind of got back to basics.

And yeah, I like for some of these younger riders, that's just what they need.

It's.

Been it's actually been an interest in on our team.

The last three races we've been having some issues with, well, we couldn't run it in Leger because it's just a mess, but the three last races we've not had telemetry working 100%, so we've not really been using it and we've had our best results without it.

Really.

So do you.

There's pluses and minuses to it, like I think it can send you off in the wrong direction sometimes and sometimes you have to just go off what the rider feels, you know.

So it's really handy tool to have, but I don't think it tells you everything so.

I think it's good for setting up a base, but then you almost need to just go back to, OK, here's here's where you're starting from.

But yeah, this is the only, the only time we're using it.

Like, you know, the, the baseline where it's good that we've got the right spring, right?

We've got the right, you know, compression within a box.

And yeah, we'll, we'll play with some clicks from here, but we're not, we're not doing multiple runs with it on.

Yeah.

What are you looking for on race weekend with that Jay?

What's the telemetry?

I don't look at the telemetry.

We we have a guy that looks at it, but he's basically just looking to see if the bike's balanced and then he'll take the rider's feedback and what kind of work out if we need to add compression, go up a spring rate, remove compression.

Actually, we never remove compression.

We're always just adding up the air pressure or whatever.

So yeah, it's a good tool to have.

I just don't I think people think they need it because it's the big flashy thing, but I don't know, like it's like that.

These guys have it, so we need to have it.

But I think you need to spend so many years learning it before you can use it properly.

So it seems to be more and more and more popular in the in the pits.

But what are you doing with that data?

You know, like, are you reading it?

Because it data tells one story and then the rider can say something else.

But do you want the rider super comfortable?

Like I'd prefer to have my rider in a spot where he's confident on the bike versus what the data says.

You know, the data can say something but make the bike feel like shit for the rider.

So I think you're better having the rider confident in the setup than what the data says.

So yeah.

So it's it's an interesting 1 and it seems to be we're just getting more and more and more electronics and bikes.

And is it for the better?

Is it for the worse?

I don't know.

So yeah.

I think, I'm sorry, heavily, heavily rider dependent.

Isn't that like, like you say, you could do it into someone's head, they could be told be told it's the best numbers that they've you've ever seen, but if they don't feel confident on the bike, it's all for nothing.

Yeah, it's like Menar and Rat Boy when?

They're on Syndicate.

And when I was like always chasing perfection on the bike, I remember listening to this, like them talking about it and rat boy person was like, yeah, I just I get the bike so it feels pretty good.

And then I just adapt myself to suit, you know, anything it needs changing, you know, like I don't don't go chasing millimeters of reach or whatever.

I just get used to the fact that it's 5 bill shorter than what I want or whatever.

So yeah, it's kind of kind of an interesting one on that side.

And I do think people just get lost.

They get too many options, too many things to try, and they're just, I mean, completely lost.

You take F1, for example, and they have a ridiculous amount of data, but they still get the setup wrong like yeah, you know, true.

So that's.

Right.

Yeah.

So I don't know, I think it's it's a cool thing to have and I really want to get a system and learn it myself.

But I also think rider feedbacks may be a bit more important than on setup wise, Yeah.

Back to the juniors, fantastic rides for the Kiwis with jaunty and Ollie Clark Palm his own third.

Palm his own that.

Was fantastic.

Yeah, you're a big, big Johnny fan.

I'm.

A big jaunty fan.

Yep.

Yep.

I really don't run Thomas N Mate.

He looks really good on the bike.

Yeah, Can we call him the Manawatu Turbo?

There's his new nickname, Fantastic.

But someone who was out to him and let him know.

Let him know.

Need.

To get him a T-shirt, yeah.

Someone doing a helmet painted up like a bucket.

No, he's he's been coming on form like all season.

It's just been like chipping away, chipping away.

And then this was such a good race for him.

Like he is just solidifying himself as the guy for next season.

I think at this rate for a lot of others.

Is he first year?

He's first year, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's pretty impressive.

Yeah, I mean, Tyler White, Ollie, the Olrens, all of them are off to a late next year, so.

Crazy I That's gonna be interesting, isn't it?

I this is this was the first race of the season that didn't have an Olren brother on the podium.

They were all fine.

What's the story there?

I mean.

Max got a puncture.

All.

Right, he broke his bulk and it went through the rim tape needed a puncture but not sure about the other one.

They were only 4th and 5th so it wasn't terrible, but yeah.

No.

Still first one of the season they haven't been on.

Crazy.

It sounds nuts.

This is so I actually had a bit of a look into this, but over the last two seasons, Max has 17 races between World Cups and World Champs.

He's had eight wins and this was only his fourth time off the podium.

In.

The last two years, wow.

So and the first, so the first two rounds of last season, like his first two World Cup races, he wasn't on the box.

And then he had one other round last year where he was like, I don't know, something went really wrong.

And then this race and that's the only times he's been off the podium and his whole career so far.

That's crazy.

Absolutely.

Crazy.

Those guys are fast.

So has.

He got room to go faster or is he tapped out?

That's the big question.

It'll be really interesting to see what happens next season.

Like, I mean, these young guys have been laying down some absolute haters between them and, you know, like, aces time this week of second fastest.

So it's going to be really interesting to see what translates when they move into elite.

I mean, we saw Jordan Williams come in and win his very first elite race at Lindsay Hide.

Yeah.

I just need to nip out for two seconds.

I'll be back in a SEC, sorry.

We'll don't.

I was.

Talking to a break.

So we've lost him, that's all right.

Jeez.

This is like when Red Dog.

Remember the episode we had Horse on and he did the same but he left his headphones on so we could hear him the whole time?

Yeah, there was a there was a show highlight, wasn't it?

It's.

So good and.

He was talking as well while he was in the toilet.

That was an iconic Cam Cole move.

Oh yeah, great.

One thing I made a note about that I noticed is that O'Shea and O'Callaghan didn't race in Whitey kit, he ran just straight Troy Lee kit.

Yeah, yeah, I was thinking about that myself.

So my first thought was maybe he's got something else lined up with another Troy Lee associated team.

That was my kind of like, oh, maybe he's got something going on there.

I mean this could be easy transition way too in too current to it, but.

Oh he already, he already has an affiliation with Troy Lee.

Like he runs Troy Lee helmets.

Yeah.

And I think he did run Troy Lee in the past.

Yeah, he did.

Yeah, it was.

That was.

An interesting one and then I went back and looked at some footage and he was wearing the YT kit during practice but then raced in the Troy Lee kit.

I just picked that.

I just, I was like, this looks different.

What's happened here and?

What was interesting too, but I mean, not only was it a kit change, but he still had his sleeve, right?

So it was obviously like a pretty preemptive kind of thing.

Yeah.

So I don't know, maybe.

What can you tell us, Jack?

What's happening with the YT mob?

I heard Valley is going to be on a different brand of bike for the next two races.

No, I.

I heard the same and I heard it's going to be a brand that already has a lot of very fast races on it.

Yeah, and I wow, I heard she's signed for a team already, so I'm not going to say too much because I don't want to.

Yeah, but.

So don't, don't incriminate yourself, but my my hot take is that it's going to be the common cell team, not not the muck off team, but the other one that's run by the revenues.

Yeah, yeah, surely I've heard that as well.

I've heard that as well.

No way.

Yeah.

Because Cecile is her coach, I think.

Yeah, I've had a lot.

To your own team.

So I heard that from a source the other day, because there's a rider on that team that's sort of, they can't afford to have that rider now, so they're looking for a ride because there's a big, big, big pays going somewhere else.

So you just put the dots together and yeah.

Yeah.

But from what I heard, from what I heard, the the YT team, they can't even afford to pay the mechanics to go to the next two races.

Yeah.

And like Bali paid for all the food world champs for the whole team and stuff like that.

And Steiner, the team, the manager, he paid for all the travel and accommodation to Leo Gang so.

I.

Mean, yeah, it's not great.

It's not a great.

Situation, it's a huge that's has it ever happened before?

Like you've got the series leader changing by, I mean.

There's been plenty of smoke and mirrors teams, as we like to call them Red Dog in the past, but not to.

I mean, this wasn't even smoke and mirrors.

This was like a legitimate team that had, yeah, you know, one of the fastest ever elite woman on it and guys and elite men who could win and have won in the past.

And then it's just mid season, see you later.

It's crazy.

Yeah, I feel real bad for Andy.

Like they're.

Poor dude, man.

Yeah, sucks.

Does umm, so YT owns the license, right?

The race team license?

Yeah, and.

This is what I was trying to work out because I guess in ocean and all that, they're racing under the factory team of YT, but if they're kind of privateer at the next races not on YT bikes, can they still race as YT team or do they need like jerseys?

Or they would either have to race yeah and like a national jersey or.

Yeah.

Or does it depend on where they are in points like?

Yeah, maybe they've got enough points.

Confusing.

Surely they do.

Yeah, you.

Would think so, right?

But I wonder being if if YT will put I don't know how it works in mountain biking, but I wonder if white if that if that race license holds all of those points right.

It does this year, so.

That is something that YT could potentially sell.

Well, I think I there's a couple of teams I've heard that are coming sell something.

Whether the people get it delivered or not, that's the question.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, there's a couple of teams coming.

Well, I know.

And you prefer wanting to come back to racing next year.

So all right, maybe they just buy the YT team, you know?

I don't know, I guess like could do something like that go and be like, hey, we want to buy whatever assets you have left including your.

Race license.

Wow.

Yeah, it could just be we want the license.

That kind of thing happens.

And on the road quite well.

It has happened quite a bit before.

Someone will come along and buy a team's license and start a whole new thing.

Yeah.

But yeah, that's going to be interesting to see how it shakes out, isn't it?

It's a big yeah.

It's a big old mid season shake up for three very top riders to be left out in the cold there.

I had heard, I had heard that ballet was going to be racing that bike this race.

That's what I'd do as.

Like as like a processed, but it never came to fruition.

Yeah.

But I think even the riders, it's not a good situation for them.

I think like yeah, they haven't been paid and stuff like that.

So it's just like, it's overall just a bad, bad place, the white YT team.

So yeah.

At least for Andy, he's really been showing his stock these last few races like a 7th again here that was that was solid world champs.

He was on an absolute hater before his crash.

But I think he's he's proving to any team managers that like, hey, the pace is there even with all the shit, Like you imagine just the headspace they must be in dealing with all this.

I think that's the biggest thing, right, is they can put those results and those runs together with all this going on in the background.

That's and even just for the support stuff, right to 1, to just be there, not like throw in the towel and walk away.

And two, that the vibes are still good enough that they're still confident and, you know.

Yeah, I think it says a lot about the the team manager, like, you know, like, yeah.

Yeah.

Putting in his own money to get them there.

It's yeah.

And like, they're still, they're still all branded up like they're in like sprinter vans, like, you know, fair play to them.

So it's, I think I think it's going to be interesting in America what, what happens.

So yeah, but yeah, not not ideal for them guys.

No, Speaking of YT and Valley, she's been locked out of another World Cup win.

It's been.

I thought after last week with the world champs, I was like, ah, here we go.

Like Valley's.

Yeah.

Back on she's back on form.

She's just going to go on as like steamroll the end of the season.

But no, that was but the shit she's going through with this team.

I'm not, you know, you can't, can't read too much into it.

Maybe she's embargoing those ones she wants the world champ stripes for next year.

Obviously a good deal, but she's embargoing those wins.

You know you don't get away until you get in your bike.

Yeah, Red Dog.

Do you reckon she's got a Tim Ferry away to the title without a Win I?

Was wondering about this, yes.

Nah, she's surely a win 1, Heft 2.

Got 2 to go.

Yeah, yeah.

No, I think she'll.

I think she'll win.

She'll get, she'll change bikes, and she'll win.

Imagine that change bike mid season, won the first race back on it.

That would be strong.

It is totally possible, yeah.

Yeah.

Totally.

That's going to be interesting.

Was she three wins?

Was she the one that looked at something in the middle there?

Was it her or the other one of the woman she looked?

Off to the side of the track.

Yeah, what was that for?

See.

Oh, that's telling her up or down so she knows whether or not to hold the window.

Slow down.

Yeah.

Was Martin Whiteley on the side with an umbrella?

He was a little umbrella board, yeah.

That's Martin Whiteley should have been there at the bridge for Acer and like Green to flip.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But plus B + 4, that's sweet.

I can flip on plus four.

Hey speaking, doesn't Martin actually manage the Modraker team there?

No, Martin, is DAX, DAX agent OK.

I thought he had something to do with the Mondraca team but I'm clearly wrong there.

No, he's Dax agent.

I've heard rumours of a team next year, but yeah, yeah, I'll leave it there.

Honda.

Hopefully Honda's.

Back Kawasaki.

With Jorge Prado, he needs to go do something with the Super Bureau of his contract.

Yeah, so, yeah, it's, it's funny, there's just so many rumors going around the pits and it's I think the favorite thing to do it.

The minute my mate started it, he's like, you see two people together and you go, ah, this is how rumors start.

And then they start to like scuttle away.

You just want.

Just send them.

Send.

Them your podcast?

They made their own podcast.

Yeah, we'll spread them even.

Further.

Yeah, it's like you just see two people chatting you, you ride by, you're like, oh, this is how rumors start.

And then they just walk away, different directions and stuff like that.

Yeah.

So it's pretty.

There's just people chatting everywhere and other stuff like it's funny, yeah.

That's good.

Any time the OTP podcast makes the vital forum with a rumour makes me happy.

So we'll we'll throw any rumours out there if it gets us on the forum.

You know, press is good press.

Otherwise, KB has to go in there and, like, pump our podcast up by himself.

Yeah, and they're fake and they're under an alias.

The file forums are some of the stuff you read on there.

You're like, how do you know this?

You can find this like it's crazy.

There's a gold mine.

I missed the missed the days of team rumours on Instagram that was the favorite in the offseason.

Yeah, yeah, trying to decode the like cryptic pictures that were getting drawn and it was good Yeah, it was great.

Tony Seagrave third one of the season.

She was good strong Rod, but she's.

She's won Poland, this one.

What was the other one?

Leo.

Leo.

There's a lot of many races I can't remember.

Lisa's favorite, though, Nina Hoffman was was right there knocking on the door it.

Was very, very tight.

I saw their pits were opposite ours and she wanted she she was getting a frame swap before her race.

Run a front triangle.

Oh.

Wow.

You know, so that was pretty impressive.

That's a lot.

Yeah.

That was more.

Like holy crap.

Yeah, that's it.

44 minutes KB.

Make sure you delete that OK.

The yeah, that is a super tight.

I'm just going to be totally honest, I didn't see any of the woman's race.

I did like the new kit that Tani had and the team, but aside from that I know nothing about the woman's race.

I've had a bit off.

Yeah.

But yeah, I've had a bit on.

We'll give you a pass on that one is.

Tony, back to.

His height she's she's right there.

It's more wins than I expected to see this season.

I.

Think she she sort of goes not peaks and troughs, but she's maybe just lacks the consistency.

But man, she's, I would say pretty close to her best again.

She dealt with some pretty gnarly head injury stuff though as well, which which had her out for quite a while.

So that definitely definitely put a hold on stuff for a while.

But yeah, she's she's running good.

That new obeyer seems good.

Speaking of teams with race bikes and things like that, it.

Looks like it's it looks like it's working well, Yeah, we have like, because because Mark was Martin's mechanic for so many years.

Martin always swings by our pits and seems like the bike works well and the team vibes over there seem good.

So yeah, like, definitely looks like it's working for the team well, so yeah.

It's sort of a similar situation to frameworks, right?

Like they've just well executed A relatively simple design.

Albeit albeit is somewhat larger than frameworks.

Yeah.

Yeah, as far as a development behind it.

But they haven't gone and chased like some crazy contractor.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, when they when when the sock came off that bike, you're like, oh, it's just the just the E.

Yeah, it's just the E bike and white to a download bike.

Yeah, which is not that surprising after Martin was just riding an E bike modified to work as a download bike last season.

So there you go, it's.

It looks like a good weekend for Sasha, and it was.

She was back a bit, but that'd be one of the better results for the year.

That was very strong considering she separated her shoulder just before world champs.

True.

So yeah, great result, great result, Sasha.

Actually a great result for the Earnest family as a whole was Lindsay Hyde because her dad Dionne actually won the OTB fantasy league.

So.

Shout out to the.

Earnest.

Huge one.

Did he pick his own daughter?

Yes, I had to double check this.

I was like, I saw that I was looking through the results and I was like Dion one.

I was like, better check and make sure he picks Sasha.

And he he had yeah, he stayed stayed strong.

He knew the result was coming and ultimately it probably helped him get the win.

Dion and our man Cam Cole from Virus who sponsors the Pig Bike Fantasy League are going to have to work out who Dion actually sponsors Cam with Pirelli ties.

It sounds like a conflict of interests all over the place there.

Is conflicts of interest everywhere you 2 with your Rock Shock T-shirts on?

I'm naming, I'm naming competing tire brands at the moment.

It's just going up shit Creek today.

Actually, Dan, could you get those Pirellis out?

Because Horse keeps complaining about how much drag his big heavy tires are on his tall boy and he we need to get him on some XC tires and he's been waiting on some Pirellis, apparently so.

So Mr.

Did you know that Cam Cole's racing the Wocker?

It what?

Yeah, and.

The horse, the horse, We put some caison on the weekend.

Oh, don't you worry about that.

This is great news.

Yeah, he's all done.

Fantastic.

Has he come into our special event on Friday?

I hope so.

The the No fun Beer event that Yeah.

It's the OTB which is the it's the On the Bears ride.

Do we need to like are we advertising this thing yet or is this still?

Nah, we're still just trying to lock in the Bears side.

Right.

Have you got a?

Sponsor, you won't say too much.

Yeah, so that's what we're just trying to get locked in at the moment.

But now, so the the plan is loosely a ride leaving from the Maxis tent on Friday afternoon won't be too long.

Might be We won't let Lester out front because he'll RIP everyone's legs off.

So we'll put maybe horse on his slow rolling tires out the front just to keep it a nice leisurely pace and.

Chris Is Chris racing the Fokker again this year?

He's entered, but I would say the chances of us seeing him there are very slim.

I think even he knows that now.

It's the problem with it is that it's really going to lack a lot of the entertainment value for the post race recap.

Yeah, I'm here for Chris's poster, like, because you already can.

You already know what he's going to do, but it's nice to hear it coming from him afterwards so.

That's true, That's true.

Chris has a real problem of that.

Like when you leave the house to go for a ride for about the first four KS, he is just wide open.

He's nano shooter.

He is, he's, he's straight out of the gate, so hot.

And I'm like riding along going holy shit, like I'm going to blow up soon, but then he blows up and then he just cooked for the rest of the ride.

Yeah, pretty much.

That's a great.

But if you like that, that walk is the perfect event.

Yeah, you've already.

Got 95 KS to go, yeah.

Those all your fluids in the 1st 20 KS everything you've got.

Yeah, exactly.

And then you just spend the rest of the day just cramping because you've gone so hard to begin with.

Cramp chat?

Yeah, indeed.

Has anyone used their new product yet that arrived in the mail?

Yes.

I've got AI, haven't even opened my box yet.

That's how I tapped.

I've been but.

This is one that we'll save for the next episode to officially launch, but we do we do have a new show partner which we will launch next episode, which is yes, that's cool.

I'm excited for that.

So yeah, we'll we'll keep the mystery on that until after what's the next round like Placid couple of weeks.

I don't have anything else in my notes.

Lisa, probably just watch.

Did you do like a Vandico can just watch the sleeper code.

Edit I haven't even is the sleeper code edit out.

No, I actually watched the means.

I watched a lot of it this morning and truth be told, I was on the trainer this morning.

And I.

Hate adaption.

We're using some techniques there, Lester.

No, but I tell you what, I've never felt so bad for the rest of the day after writing in the morning.

I was, I I did this.

I don't even know what it was.

It was just this brutal interval thing.

And I just felt crap all day after that.

It was terrible.

Anyway, that's my story.

But yeah, yeah, I was in the training training plan.

So it got done.

Nice.

Like I was, I was 2/3 of the way through thirty 30s which were on a platform on the computer the other day when I was on the trainer and laptop went flat.

So that was cool.

Oh.

I hate you when that happens, yeah.

What do you need?

Laptops.

Because it was like controlling the trainer because it was on a.

They do that.

Wasn't worth, yeah.

What are you running, red dog?

I thought you were into your training now.

Yeah, I just go on the like one, the one with wheels that goes outside.

Or you go outside, you just ride in the dark.

Red dogs just stacking case.

Stacking.

Yes, stacking case.

I am stacking case.

I have been a big fan of riding in the night lately, but I the weather's been so bad that I didn't have much option today.

There was actually the the XC race in Lanzerard was sick and there was, there was there was probably like 30,000 people there, 20 to 30,000.

Wow.

It was crazy how many people were there.

For the, for the, for the means.

The chain coming off twice what?

Was the story it just?

I never never found out, but I saw him riding back with the pits with no issues so yeah, they didn't mean it.

Ain't on there.

He doesn't change God hold it and players.

Have solved it.

Yeah, it.

Wouldn't have the double ever.

The double The double play 1.

Yeah, yeah, some orange rollers.

No, that was a sick race though.

I have to.

I got to be honest, the XC racing has been really good to watch the last few rounds.

Worlds was really.

Good too.

I only we we should actually talk about worlds a little bit.

I only watched the Elite Women's purely because we have a horse in the race with Sammy Pig so strong.

And that was, yeah, it was awesome.

So you heard.

Get a second there.

Yeah, that was Yep.

OK.

Yeah, yeah.

She had a bit of a rough weekend this.

I haven't actually watched any of the XC from this week though.

Look, let's watch you get it, Beth.

It's not terrible.

See that through the back wasn't sex, Yeah.

Might have been sex, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, the XCS riders really good this year.

Riders comes on.

I almost prefer watching the XC to the downhill nowadays, I think because I have to deal with like, downhill still fill on for us.

Like it's nice to sit back and just watch the XC, yeah.

The Mondraka have is the Mondraka team that's in the XC.

Is that factory or is that a separate?

Team yeah, it's a, it's a factory team.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So.

Does it operate completely separate to you guys?

Yeah, but we kind of hang out quite a lot, so it's pretty cool.

We can kind of share and compare and it's very XC is very different mechanic wise.

But yeah, it's it's cool.

We're going to, I think we're going to try to do some group activities at the next two races and they're cool.

But this this week we're quite far apart pits wise.

But yeah, the XC team, they're all really cool people, good vibes there.

And the team manager is pretty awesome, so yeah.

And that bike is that.

I don't know, XE bikes are so sick nowadays.

Oh, that's not cool.

Yeah.

I've I've just been riding a little bit a raise.

I think it is 1/3 my bike.

Yeah, that thing's it's got a

160 fork on it and it's 1:30 in the back and it is so much fun.

That's really good.

Yeah.

Super impressed.

It's light too.

They're they're XC bike the F podium.

That thing rips like it's impressive.

Yeah, that's yeah, yeah, actually.

Cross country bikes are mean.

Yeah, I think I saw some pretty interesting tire technology from a different team this week.

I can't say too much about it, but yeah, it the tire stretched this way and this way, and that's all I can say.

It was like a rubber.

It was almost like a rubber van, but yeah, it well, I was like wow, that is really cool.

So.

Almost like I chewed like a pretty nice sort of St.

Not that stretchy, Big no.

Yeah, yeah.

Wow.

So long as I wasn't 32 inch big, then that's that's interesting.

32 inch big 9.

Probably was 30.

Two, it's coming.

It's coming, Yeah.

It was actually 29, I've just stretched it to fit on a 30.

Two.

Yeah, that's right.

It's funny because those 32 inch wheels remind me of what 20 Niners looked like when they first came out.

Like they're just yeah, flimsier.

Like 29 looks so standard now, but the 32 just looks that bit taller but but flimsier.

It's quite funny.

I'd be interested to try it.

2932 Mullet downhill.

Then surely it would just steamroll things?

Surely the wheel can't be that stiff either.

But you like from an XE point of view, it would just steamroll.

It'd be like going from a 26 to a 29 was I guess it's crazy.

I mean, if it if it takes hold, I just don't even want to think about it.

But you would think also for like gravel or whatever or bike packing or yeah.

I think that's where they they reckon it'll take off.

Isn't it gravel and bark picking?

Yeah, I I think that it would fit that like.

Can't wait for Menard to have one of the Norco team testing your 32 inch front wheel and a 29 inch rear wheel on a downhill bike.

Yeah, Danny hard.

I reckon it will happen as well.

It'll be Danny.

Cole would be Andy.

Cole would be the man for the job.

I reckon he still runs a 29 Outback.

He'll yeah, ocean.

He ran oceans.

Last weekend, I think.

Yeah, today he's been on Mullet Ocean's their last, The last ocean, the last on back.

Maybe Ocean's on my program.

See, I like running a full 20 Niner because then I can put my front tire onto the rear and with the financial hardship.

With my T teams.

And he might need to be swapping those tires so that.

Yeah, yeah, he's a thinking man.

I actually just stumbled across a bunch of questions that I meant to that I got from Instagram on for our last episode, which I completely forgot about.

So I'm going to throw some of these at you guys while we're here.

Tim Farmer wants to know who will crack first out of you lot at the Waco 100.

Well, I think Chris has already cracked first, probably by not showing up.

Nicks and Lines probably me so.

How's the form lately KB?

It's been good, it's been pretty good.

I've managed to avoid the illnesses as much this year as I did last year.

So long may that last.

Knock on wood.

That's good, but.

We're we're we're in the right direction.

We're rolling, we're rolling.

So there's a question about Warner Brothers, but it's a bit of a weird one, so I'm actually just gonna not ask that one, but I really think the the World champs highlighted that the Warner Brothers footage is actually quite good.

I reckon the coverage is fine.

Yeah, I was in Zer.

You know how?

You know how they brought their viewing figures a while ago?

Yeah, Pretty unreal, I felt.

Like they were really made-up.

I was in Zurich airport yesterday for most of the day and the World Cup was on a lot of the TV screens in there so I wonder if they just count everyone at the airport.

It was there that day I.

Didn't read.

Somewhere that that is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I read somewhere that that is kind of how they do it.

Yeah.

Where did I read that?

It was actually unrelated to It was unrelated to mountain biking, but it was talking about is it TNT sports in the US?

Yeah, I think so.

Or TNT or wherever TNT is from.

How they calculate these was basically just like that.

Like they have a Public TV and then they figure out how many people around that and then that goes into the figures.

And that was talking about, I think it was football or something along those lines.

Interesting.

Yeah.

I was just there like, oh, this is how they get their crazy figures.

Yeah.

The numbers of.

People passing by.

Get a glimpse of two wheels.

Yeah, probably like some camera in there that catches people's eyes as they look.

Oh, there's another one.

There's another one.

Catch them in a related random thing.

When I was in Tokyo in March, the we're on this random street corner and they had this massive, you know, they're big, like screen billboards everywhere.

And one of them had some clips out of one of the Anthill films playing on it.

It was part of an ad, but it was obviously the same footage that was in one of the Anthill.

Sort of been colder if it was footage from the Arai World Cup in 2001.

Yeah, that's very true.

It'd be cool World Cup.

That's it's actually quite good to see the World Cup going to Korea next year.

It'd be cool to see it back in like Japan somewhere like that as well.

Make it I think.

Make it true World Cup.

From what I've heard, the plans is it's going to be 20.

Was it next year, 2627?

It'll be more of a World Cup.

From whatever, it'll be cool.

Yeah, a bunch of us are going to try stay on a week before, a week after in South Korea and just try to ride motorbikes around and go see the place they built the try day trip to North Korea and see a little Kimmy.

But.

Yeah, which mechanic is detained in North Korea?

All of that, yeah.

He might want to buy a general license.

Put him in touch with the YT mob.

Yeah, maybe they're running.

They run a World Cup in North Korea and Kimmy wins everything.

Imagine that.

Yeah, it was totally manufactured.

These questions are a bit out of date because one of them was as the start of another Jackson Goldstone winning streak.

Well, we've we clearly.

Saw.

No, it's not this.

Weekend.

It was not.

It was not How good is Jackson Goldstone?

Pretty damn.

He is quite good.

He is really good.

But yeah, he didn't, unfortunately.

He was pretty cool.

Yeah, but he didn't.

Flip his bike was cool.

I really liked their bike.

Bike is sick.

Woody was saying that Chris King got them hubs custom painted somewhere in Oregon and shipped out within like a week, which is cool.

Sick.

Yeah, that's wild.

Clearly Fox had the speed suit, the world champ speed suit all along because you're not building that thing in a week.

Like that had to have been built months ago.

Like, you know, some time ago anyway.

What actually this?

Is this is turning around some pretty quickly these days, that's true.

Yeah, actually that I just had an update, it could be delivered.

I reckon we're going to get that on Thursday, which would make it a week maybe.

It's impressive.

Pretty fast.

Maybe it's going to look good in that World Champs kit.

Yeah, the OTV World champ collab.

I did.

I did see that the speeds at this week.

I don't know I don't I don't really been paying attention, but it had like the armor built into the the suit.

Interesting.

Really.

Which was?

Kind of cool, Yeah, it's cool.

The top bit had like a chest armor thing built into it, so yeah.

Interesting.

This question here is definitely one for listed answer comes from mediocre mountain biker.

Third walk of 50 this year for me.

How hard is the jump up to 100 KS for a 45 year old dead of two with limited free time?

You'll be fine mate, just run it.

Did it say if you've done it before?

He's done the Walker 50 twice.

He's in the 50.

Sorry I wasn't listening.

Probably.

OK, how hard is this?

How hard is the step up?

The big difference, Well, it's twice as long, twice as hard.

I don't really have a great answer for that, but it is hard and you can't really just fudge it unless you want to go really, really slow.

You actually have to do some writing beforehand.

With A50 you can kind of fudge.

Like it's got to go get heaps of gels.

You do?

That certainly helps.

Yeah.

Yeah.

8 lots, but some actual riding.

That's Yeah.

I mean, to be to be perfectly honest, I haven't done any long rides over 2 1/2.

Oh, no, that's not entirely true.

But I haven't done many rides over 2 1/2 hours.

So I might get 2 1/2 hours in and the legs fall off.

We'll see.

That's about where.

Maybe I'm not the one to ask.

There was another question there about will anyone win the Gates belt dry purse?

I don't think so.

But is this anything that's on the radar for you guys, Jack?

Not for us.

Well, not for Mondraker, no, it's belt.

I mean they don't seem to work very well when it's muddy races.

So you know, there was a lot.

I know Ben from the Athens was in Le Jay was running around trying to find a 3D printer the morning of the race.

Well.

I did.

I did say that on his Instagram story.

Yeah, I was looking for, yeah, a 3D printer.

I mean, Athens might have problems with their belts or whatever, but they also have problems with their kit.

That endure a kit is horrible.

Horrible.

It's not great.

Charlie Hatton's kit on the weekend.

The orange with the camo pants.

Camo pants, Yeah.

Sorry, like start paying the start paying the bills.

Yeah, I mean, you wear what you paid to wear, but Endura should be doing better than that for them.

Yeah, fear.

Does it does suck that the junior category didn't count because Ollie's win was, you know, there's been, I mean there's been 2 World Cup wins on belts this year, but just not in the right categories.

Yeah, it's true.

Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know.

I don't think there's probably anyone to take it in the late Yeah woman at this stage, yeah.

Who?

Not without a few bit of luck, I would have thought.

Yeah, do.

You know what works real good?

Chains and derailers.

Yeah, I was, I was saying to Lloydie actually and Lejay when they're having bell issues is like, do you not have like a chain you can just put on there for this like when it's.

Really like.

A sprocket and a chain and then you wouldn't have these issues, you know, I mean, you might not well in 100, but at least your bike's going to get down the hill without it, but.

Yeah, what do you want to do?

Win a race or.

Yeah, what they need is like a modular, just like a cradle that slots into the same mounts with a bottom bracket in it.

So when the weather really turns shit they can just whop it out.

Turn it back into a derailer bike.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, they've got a UDH on the back of that bike, so you could hang a derailer off.

I was saying to, I was saying to Ben as well as like you should put a derailer on there and have like a 12 speed box and a 12 speed on the back.

Ultimate range.

There we go.

Yeah.

Too funny, let's put a roll off hub out the back.

Yeah, this is not good.

Would that be?

Yeah, that would be a little good.

One thing, one thing I want to get one thing I want to get on a donor bike next year is like a Reverb seat post, but not not have the button And just because you can press the button on the seat post to have the seat come up.

It's for when they're riding back to the pits.

Like I watched that ride to the pits and he's just sat down like pedaling.

And it'd be kind of cool to have to run, press the button, and then they can ride back to the pits and.

Then new ones like way lighter as well isn't it so?

Yeah, yeah.

Just give him a four mil allocate to put in his pocket and he can just undo it and pop it and lift it up.

Quick release man, get a quick release on.

There, put a QR on there.

Come on.

The less the less they touch on the bike, the better.

Or find him one of those old KS, the original dropper post where it had the.

Little yeah, yeah, yeah.

Just down in the front, you had to actually like reach back and lift it up.

So get him one of those.

Some brand has just released one of those for like bike packing.

Simon I think the was it Simon?

So the silver one.

Silver.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Red Dog knows.

He's a big fan of the red.

Yeah, he's been on.

Bike packing weekly?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

I did.

Have you seen the new New Zealand mountain biker?

Oh, I haven't score, no.

I haven't actually, yeah.

Are you the?

Cover KB wrecks up another cover.

E Bike too E.

Bike.

Oh, come on, is that the one?

Is that the one that you've written the story in Leicester?

Of course he's written the story in there.

Well, that's every.

Issue from the from the trip we did the 1 you.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and now burn the whole thing.

Yeah, get burn every copy now.

I've actually read dog this afternoon.

I was just quickly, well, I'm working on the video from that trip and I there's some AI enhancement going on in a couple of clips.

One particular one of you at the pub.

Oh, drinking the beer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's really clever.

I got a cup, I got a couple of clips in there which, which I've run some AI on it and they're pretty funny.

The one that you, that you, I can't remember if I sent you the one where you turn into a dragon and breathe fire across the, the desk after you've scaled your whole beard.

I, I put that in there and then I was like, ah, this is just a bit random.

It actually had a glitch in it so I pulled it out.

Oh no, I didn't see that one.

No, the.

Yeah.

Anyway, though, yeah, all fantastic, all to be revealed.

That's just my tease.

Yeah, Good.

Yeah, that's correct.

All right, boys, we're now 20 in and we've gone on so many tangents.

I think it's probably a good time to call it a night.

Lisa's probably got an early training session that's nearly

10:00 here.

So thanks, guys.

Thanks, Jake.

Much appreciate it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Cheers, Joe.

Yeah, I'll probably you and I.

For the next.

You and I have been messaging a lot and we have.

We've finally made it happen.

Yeah, thank God.

I've been wanted to do for ages and then.

Just auto.

Well, I just life.

The great thing, the thing I did appreciate, I tried not to bother you too much because I know you'd be busy, but the thing I did appreciate was you'd actually keep following up with me.

So that really helped move things along.

So we got there in the end.

Yeah, it's good.

Good to get it done.

So yeah.

There's a difference between.

Someone who works behind the scenes or just behind the scenes like Jake, and a writer who just leaves you on scene.

Yeah, yeah, shout out Eddie Masters.

I think that's a common thing.

He came through that dog.

He had a crash.

He came through.

He did come through.

The other week.

He did.

He did.

And he was.

Top quality is big, yeah, but.

When are you back, Jay?

When are you back in New Zealand?

Back on the 15th of October, I think yeah pretty soon I learned back in Queens just.

In time for the Walker.

And time for the Walker, yeah.

We could get you an entry, yeah.

When's the Walker?

What is the probably 7th something around there?

It's.

Like panic training for like 10 days.

Yeah, yeah, you'd be.

Fine, bring one of those cool mind trackers over.

To shock the body into it.

I'll, I'll bust, I'll bring out the Hanzo out of retirement.

It's just an average at the minute.

So 100K, can we just have it and make it happen?

It could be fine, because maybe coming in absolutely unprepared would be better than coming in half prepared.

I don't know.

Yeah, there's only one way to find out.

See the logic in there?

I mean, it's I've got to get fit somehow, so maybe I should just enter and see how it goes.

Let's start.

That's.

How you start your training?

Just maybe.

And then maybe I'll just bike back from there, back down to Queenstown.

Now we're talking.

Now we're talking, yeah.

Yeah.

All right, this is good idea.

Is that something I can work on today?

All right, we'll, we'll get you Chris Vanderkolk's entry.

We'll.

You can just, you can just erase this, correct?

So if.

It really turns to shit you.

Your name's not even on the results.

I'm actually it's a.

Kind of keen for this.

I'll look into this.

I'll look at flights.

We can.

We can make it happen.

I'm sure we can.

We can get some entries swapped over.

We'll make it happen.

All right, sweet, pencil me in.

All right, it's fantastic.

We'll fence you in for the post race episode too.

That's great.

Perfect.

All right, boys, we'll, we'll give it a couple of weeks and we'll see everyone back here after Lake Placid.

I don't think we'll be back in between because actually I'm away next week.

So now we won't be back in between.

We'll see you after Lake Placid.