The A Line Podcast

Welcome to The A Line Podcast, the ultimate XC mountain biking podcast for racers, coaches, and fans. Covering Short Track, Olympic, and Marathon disciplines, we dive deep into the riders and races, offering educational and entertaining insights into the world of cross-country mountain biking. Tune in for everything XC MTB! In this episode, I chat to Jay Cracknell, a Jersey-based rider who has bee...

Welcome to The A Line Podcast, the ultimate XC mountain biking podcast for racers, coaches, and fans. Covering Short Track, Olympic, and Marathon disciplines, we dive deep into the riders and races, offering educational and entertaining insights into the world of cross-country mountain biking. Tune in for everything XC MTB! In this episode, I chat with Ric Jamieson, XC MTB Talent Development Coach...

Welcome to The A Line Podcast, the ultimate XC mountain biking podcast for racers, coaches, and fans. Covering Short Track, Olympic, and Marathon disciplines, we dive deep into the riders and races, offering educational and entertaining insights into the world of cross-country mountain biking. Tune in for everything XC MTB! In this episode, I continue chatting with the legend that is Steve James,...

Welcome to The A Line Podcast, the ultimate XC mountain biking podcast for racers, coaches, and fans. Covering Short Track, Olympic, and Marathon disciplines, we dive deep into the riders and races, offering educational and entertaining insights into the world of cross-country mountain biking. Tune in for everything XC MTB! In this episode, I chat with the legend that is Steve James, we had so muc...

Join us as we break down all the action from the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Leogang, covering both the XCC and XCO races. We’ll dive into key moments, course previews, hot takes and news. Hosted by our trackside correspondent Joe Curran and studio host Ashley de Lotz, giving you the A Line on everything that happened. We cover everything - from bike set up, race winning moves, tacti...

We welcome back to the show Lewis Martin, unfortunately he’s a bit of a tough year dealing with some setbacks, but also some positives of a new team and new bike. Making this a great episode for anyone who loves riding and racing as we dive into his self coached approach, how he has been successful in getting support from sponsors and how he has been dealing with some injuries. There are sure to b...

Join us as we break down all the action from the 2025 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series Nové Město na Moravě, covering both the XCC and XCO races. We’ll dive into key moments, course previews, hot takes and news. Hosted by our trackside correspondent Joe Curran and studio host Ashley de Lotz, giving you the A Line on everything that happened. We covered everything - from X to X. Expect course i...

Please welcome to the show Will Gell, it is great to have Will on as not only is he a strong XC MTB racer but he is also works as a mechanic at BRINK on races bikes from recreational to those competing at the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series . Making him the perfect person to talk to about race bikes, giving insight to the technical side of mountain biking but in simple and practical terms tha...

Today we sit down with friend of the show Amy Henchoz, to catch up on her training and racing. She is a phenomenal rider but unfortunately had a few issues and injuries over the past year, so we have a great chat about how she has overcome these and adapted her racing schedule. Making it a great listen for riders who may have experienced similar, or having their racing plans derailed and having to...

Today I chat with James Dilks, a Jersey-based athlete that has smashed his way up through the ranks and is now racing Elite in the UK and Europe. We discuss the challenges he's had to overcome due to living on a small island, as well as opening up about issues in his personal life. This combination of experiences and James great reflection makes for an interesting episode that listeners can use to...

I have a brilliant chat with young up-and-coming racer Ben Coppola. Ben has many talents and has actually decided to step away from mountain biking to focus on racing on the road, we discuss what drove this decision as well and get some great insights into his career so far. This episode is a must listen for any young aspiring racers and their parents/guardians. Other listeners and fans will also...

Anyone who has been to one of the UK Nationals will recognise Hannah as a very familiar voice, since she does the live commentary at each of the rounds. Others may know Hannah as an author of many outdoor books, the latest being the Dirt Directory so go grab a copy of that if you haven't already. We have a great chat about everything from how Hannah found bikes, why she still loves it and how...

Al Griffin doesn't do things by half measures, not only having double ACL surgery but also doing two XCO National Championship races in one day. It was great to chat with Al, hearing his backstory coming from Moto Enduro before progressing onto Gravity Enduro and finally into cross country. His path hasn't been straight forward though, with lots of hurdles in the way this is a great listen for any...

I sit down with our first podcast couple in this episode, chatting to Grace and Joe about their training and racing. Both are really fun to chat with and absolute weapons on the bike, we get each persons unique perspective on training and racing for their perspective goals. I really enjoyed seeing how despite their different skill and fitness, they still have a lot of fun with training and racing...

Happy New Year! In our first episode of 2025 we catch up with Sam William Andrews, a Bristol based hitter who flies on almost any bike. Sam offers a unique perspective as an elite rider, but also someone who works in the industry and has a strong media game. We find out what makes Sam tick and discuss his unconventional route into elite racing, how to build yourself as a brand, and how to collabor...

In our final episode of 2024, I went to visit Sprung Suspension to have a chat with Jake Ireland. We dive into lots of different areas of mountain bike design and suspension. We dive quite deep at times but Jake does a great job of simplifying these engineering topics into digestible chunks, which you can use to improve your bike set up and riding. If you do want any help from Sprung then get in t...

In this episode, I have a transatlantic chat with Starla Teddergreen, who is a fascinating figure in US mountain biking. Starla races both XCM and gravel at world level and , but runs the non-profit Distance To Empty programme which supports women in off-road racing. In fact, if you are a Colorado-based female athlete, check out their Instagram if you’d like to get involved in the programme in 202...

In this episode, I hit the trails with Damian Groves, an ambassador for Niner Bikes to test ride their RKT XC bike. I was really impressed, not only with the bike but also to learn more about the brand and Damian himself who is a great gravity athlete. I was fortunate enough to spend the day riding it around the Forest of Dean and can safely say it is a mega capable bike. I jumped on it straight o...

Welcome to the A Line Podcast! The dedicated Cross Country mountain biking podcast, covering everything from short track to marathon. Speaking to athletes and experts in the sport help you maximise your mountain biking experience. If you enjoyed the show then share it with your mates, spread it like butter! Perhaps if you feel as though the show has added some value to your riding experience then...

In this special episode, I chat to and with Dave from Dialled Telemetry. Dave specialises in instrumenting mountain bike suspension to help riders optimise their set up and is very good at it, having helped recreational riders through to World Cup racers in this area. We dive into how your suspension works, as well as the changes we made to my Canyon Lux race bike by following the data and getting...

In this episode, I speak to Daphne Jones, who is a rapid racer with an impressive XC Marathon palmares. Having successfully stepped up to racing the longer distance, racing World Cups and World Champs. It was really interesting speaking with Daphne, as she is a rider that is very involved with her bike set up. I don’t think we’ve had a guest on to date who is changing their position and settings t...

I catch up with Scottish hitter Lewis Martin, who can produce fantastic results on any bike, having the deadly combination of power in the legs but the skills to match. Lewis has lofty goals but is very down to earth, we have a great chat about some of the challenges and barriers that riders of all abilities can relate to. It was also interesting finding out how Lewis transitioned from junior raci...

In this episode, I chat with videographer Joe Brennan, who has been making waves in the UK with some awesome edits of the UK National Series races. We chat about Joe's camera and bike skills, discussing his inspiration and how he is actually a bit of a hitter! Be sure to follow Joe to stay up to date with his projects on Instagram and YouTube. The podcast end of season party is also coming up...

In this episode I discuss some common ergogenic aids with James Allan from Evo Exercise Science. James is a Sports Scientist based in South Africa who has worked with a range of recreational and elite athlete, so makes him a great person to have this chat with. As always if you are considering taking any supplements or changing your training then be sure to consult a coach, doctor or other relevan...

In this episode, I catch up with Paige from the Hope MTB Marathon Series following our chat previously I was invited to come give one of their events a go. Having never raced a XCM before it was going to be interesting and there were definitely some highs and lows along the way. It was brilliant and really good fun, I will be back in 2025 to do it again for sure and recommend you give one a go as...