Leigh Donovan is a former downhill world champion and mountain bike legend. Leigh has had an incredible career, from BMX, through the early days of mountain biking, and being at the top of the game in mountain biking boom of the 90s. We sat down to chat about the path that Leigh has followed. It’s not all been plain sailing, and there are plenty of ups and downs along the way. We chat about mind games, the toll that high level racing takes on the body, athlete pay, anxiety and plenty more. Hear why Leigh left the sport, her comeback, and ultimately why Leigh chooses bikes. Leigh is a rider with tonnes of wisdom to share, and a career that sees her in not one, but three halls of fame. So sit back, hit play and listen to this episode with Leigh Donovan.

You can find Leigh on Instagram @ichoosebikes and her website is ichoosebikes.com.

Supporting Partners

Muc Off

Muc-Off have just launched Punk Powder, their first plastic free bike cleaner. Punk Powder has enabled Muc-Off to cut down on packaging for their cleaner by 92%. It comes in small sachets that you add to lukewarm water to make 1L of cleaner, and the cleaner itself is readily bio-degradable and made from plant-based ingredients. It also means that we aren't shipping water around the planet unnecessarily.

So you can hop onto muc-off.com and grab yourself a lovely aluminium bottle for life which is perfect to mix and store the cleaner in, along with some compostable Punk Powder sachets, which come in a handy recycled cardboard sleeve that folds into a funnel to help you pour the powder into the bottle. The packaging is also printed with vegetable-based inks!

If you want to try Punk Powder, or get your hands on any of the rest of the Muc-Off product range, then as a Downtime listener, you can get 20% off during the month of September using the code DOWNTIME20 at the checkout over on muc-off.com.

Canyon

Over the last few weeks, I've been riding the Canyon Spectral CF 29 LTD. As one bike to do everything, the Spectral really excels. It's light and climbs with efficiency and heaps of grip, but point it downhill and its 150mm of travel really excels. The geometry is confidence inspiring and easy to ride fast, and the suspension platform provides a great amount of grip and support. If you want to find out more, then you can head over to canyon.com.

Podcast Stuff

My 2021 Spring/Summer merch is here, including our first ever recycled t-shirts. If you want to support the podcast, and represent, then my webstore is the place to head. All products are 100% organic, shipped without plastics, and made with a supply chain that's using renewable energy. So check it out now over at downtimepodcast.com/shop.

Give us a follow on Instagram @downtimepodcast or Facebook @downtimepodcast to keep up to date and chat in the comments.

For everything video, including riding videos, bike checks and more, subscribe over at youtube.com/downtimemountainbikepodcast.

Are you enjoying the podcast? If so, then don’t forget to subscribe. It’s free and means you’ll get every episode delivered to your device as soon as it’s available. You'll find all the links you need at downtimepodcast.com/subscribe. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google and most of the podcast apps out there. While you're there, why not join our newsletter, to get our Weekend Warm-Up email every Friday, full of interesting bike-related stuff, competitions, product recommendations and more.

Our back catalogue of amazing episodes is available at downtimepodcast.com/episodes

Photo - Austin Millsap