Loic Bruni Interviews Brendan Fairclough - Outspoken Episode 7 7

Why was the shock not on his bike?

Yay!!! Finally someone openly talking about the 29 versus 27.5 wheel feel. And it being The Freeracer makes it feel far more genuine than anyone else. He didn't try to sell me anything. Completely new level of respect for him. Great insights on his passion to just ride all the time, the inability to say NO, his constant & firm affirmation that he's a racer first! Learning about his ACL injury finally, which by the way is the worst injury to come back from. Destroys the cushion inside. He said what I've said to everyone I know...you feel like you can ride your bike after a bit, but you shouldn't.

I have no idea how Brendan, Josh, Bernard, Danny, etc, etc can learn all their skills in the woods of England. He was talking about accessibility of the sport, but nobody does more than those guys by showing how just messing about in the woods can lead to professional careers. Love watching their 'Slice of Pie' segments and bits of GMBN, etc.

There has been a strong downhill race scene in the UK since the early 90's. This is where the likes of Peaty, Warner, and even Minnaar etc all cut their teeth before stepping up world cups. There are some pretty serious tracks in the UK and even without huge elevation, they were always super technical. Guys like Brendan and Josh were racing downhill from a young age. Ratboy was taken under Peaty's wing at around age 12 and supported throughout his entire career.

I was working in a hotel in Les Gets in circa 2003 when Danny Hart and his family arrived in their van. Looking back, he must have been 12 years old and he was already being talked about. Pretty sure they had been travelling around the Alps riding all the best spots. Don't forget that it's very easy to drive to the French Alps from the UK and this is where a lot of these guys went from a young age.

I've lived in Belgium, where the longest downhill is about 45 seconds of flat-ish trails, with very few trails to choose from, and I've lived in Queenstown where I got to ride the bike park every single day for 8 months of the year (+ amazing trail riding the other 4 months). I'm convinced that areas with limited riding breed better riders, since you're bound to end up riding the same (sections of) trails over and over and over again, and it's much easier to improve than if you were riding 10 different trails in one day. It's the age old "practice makes perfect" v.s. "perfect practice makes perfect" dilemma.
I think the whole "sessioning 1 corner for hours on end" culture that is so prominent in the UK is why they have such talented riders

Yes, I think these corner sessions must help. I guess a lot of them have access to farmland and motorbikes too, but we do seem to have a disproportionate number of talented racers.

In reply to Oz - Yes we do have a good grass-roots downhill scene and Llangollen/Inners are good tests. I wonder if the constant mud helps too?
Anyway - I guess the point I wanted to make was that Brendog and those others deserve some credit for making mountain bike racing an accessible sport. One minute releasing a quick edit of messing about in a local trail that everyone knows, then appearing in Rampage the next.

Loic is a clever guy and Brendog did indeed get robbed