This week I’m joined by one of the most talented young mountain bike riders on the planet, Finn Iles. Finn took the MTB scene by storm when he won the Crankworx Whip-Offs aged 14. He was quickly signed to a pro team and won the first World Cup that he ever raced. From there he dominated the junior category, creating big expectations for his move to elite-level racing. We chat about his background in Ski racing, how important that Whip-Offs win really was,  and how you go from being in the hospital on a backboard to becoming world champion in the same week. We discuss the pressure that his amazing junior career put on him as he entered elites, and how he’s working to manage that, including training while he’s in bed. We talk about his testing process, those Specialized mullet bikes, and plenty more, so hit play below and give it a listen.

You can find Finn on Instagram @finniles and you can watch his VLOG series on his YouTube channel here.

This episode of the podcast is supported by PNW Components. I’ve been using a PNW dropper post and their fabulous Loam Lever remote for a year and they have been absolutely faultless, which makes them the only dropper set up I’ve ever had that hasn’t caused me any issues at all in that time period! They have recently launched their new Rainier dropper which has lots of adjustability and a shorter overall length, allowing you to maximise your drop. Check out what they have to offer at www.pnwcomponents.com and for you lucky Downtime listeners you get 15% off during May using the code ‘pnwdowntime‘ at the checkout. You can also checkout PNW’s new recycling program here.

We are going LIVE again on Wednesday 20th May at 8pm BST with coach to the stars, Chris Kilmurray from Point1Athletic. You can watch the chat and ask your own questions by heading to youtube.com/downtimemountainbikepodcast. You can catch up on previous LIVE episodes there too, so make sure you get subscribed to our YouTube channel to keep up to date.

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